We had another day of fine weather, and less road construction (I think). After all, we only went through 5 flagged stops and two one-lane sections controlled by traffic lights. Road construction here is not trivial, given that it involves blasting through great depths of hard rock. The importance of Highway 17 and the cross-Canada trucking means that roads get a lot of heavy use.
We learned a new game called truck-tag today. There are a fair number of passing lanes every 12-15 km to give faster traffic a chance to overcome those of us doing the speed limit. I have learned, however, that the passing lanes are inevitably on the up hill portion of the road, leaving trucks to the disadvantage. However, when you start dropping on the 6-7% declines, Mr. Truck (who has only done this route several hundred times) is breathing up your tailpipe. Generally, the truckers are the smart folks on the road, compared to the beamers, pick-up trucks and sports cars who feel the need for speed, especially when confronted with oncoming traffic.
When I say the scenery was spectacular, it was the small stuff that really caught the eye. Roadsides featured abundant wildflowers coloured orange, yellow, white and purple.
And even of greater surprise were patches of.....
Lupens! I saw a few at first and dismissed them as erratics, but then we came upon patch after patch in the afternoon. They didn't seem widespread, but every now and then you would come upon a ditch full of them. I don't know what prompted them to grow in such spots, but they were in full bloom and beautiful.
The trees have changed as we have moved from east to west. Black spruce has become prevalent, and the forests are not as tall. In the eastern part, poplar was more prevalent, although many patches looked like they were just coming into spring. I suspect an explosion of tent caterpillars because many trees were completely exfoliated.
We have had a couple of great wildlife sightings today, including that of a wolf crossing the highway directly in front of Brian's car (a very healthy looking wolf) to what I suspect was a young wapiti (elk) grazing in a ditch outside of Thunder Bay.
We have seen and met a number of intrepid road warriors. We saw about a dozen touring cyclists today, comprising about 75 % men, with a big number of them sporting our hair colour. (Wow!) The big touring motorcycles again comprised about 75% men, and about 75% sporting our hair colour. Apparently we are the ones with time and money to do these things.
We cycled around Lake Superior in 1990, and I marvel now at what we did. As car gas tank ranges get longer and longer, all the smaller stops along the way have closed down. For much of the day, the Transcanada was only two lanes going up and down over long hills and drops.
Before I bore you to tears with nostalgia, I have to mention the minor excitement in the afternoon. Severe thunderstorm warnings had been posted in the afternoon, and we ran into a really nasty little hail cell that forced us off the road. Bean-sized hail pelted us for about 5 minutes, causing Brian to twitch every time one hit his new car.
The picture isn't great, but it does give the suggestion....
Near the end of the day, we stopped at the Terry Fox statue, which we have now seen two times. In 1990, it was merely at the side of the two lane highway, and just featured the statue. Today, there is now a monument which has been moved into a park to overlook a four lane divided highway.
Given the roads and hills we have covered for days now, the statue is so evocative of the effort Terry Fox made and a tribute to how he has changed the perceptions of Canadians.
After 500 km on the road today, we ended up at a hotel outside of town with a beautiful view in its ample backyard.
Life is good.
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