Day 22, June 20th, Falcon Lake to Kenora Ontario! (75km)

Thousands of Lakes.  Manitoba Near Ontario.

Still a bit groggy, I could hear something going on in the ditch ahead.  It was early morning and I was near the border with Ontario.  Peering into the ditch, I saw the turkey vultchers.  They are ugly, massive, bald, red beaked birds.  Seven of them were ripping out fresh steak for breakfast from the carcass of a dead deer.  Spotting me from only meters away, they flapped their massive wings.  Those wings must have been almost 5' wide.  Scared of my intrusion, they took off into the morning sky. I wish I had my camera ready. That feeding frenzy would have been quite the picture.

One of the First Lakes in Ontario

Slowly it dawned on me.  Falcon Lake, Hawk Lake... these lakes were a haven of sorts for all the wild birds.  Last night, one of the RV's had pulled up for a chat.  The gang was heading home.  They had been fishing for Walleye and Pike in the lakes.  The guys claimed there were so many fish here you can catch them off the dock.  Looking up at the morning sky, I could see the hawks and falcons stalking the wetlands looking for breakfast.  They weren't the only ones looking for breakfast, I was hungry too.  Everything was still closed when I left in the morning and I was too lazy to cook.  Breakfast would have to wait until I hit Ontario.

Happy to be Here!

As I approached the border, I came across an information center for Manitoba.  Dropping in to see if they had WiFi, the friendly lady started to chat.  I told her about all the flooding I'd seen and how I'd cut down from the Yellowhead back to Highway 1 and battled fierce headwinds most of the way.  She said that had been a good decision.  Manitoba has received a lot of rain this year plus all of the water from rivers east of the continental divide in the Rocky Mountains.  Fearing flooding at Portage La Prairie, the government had blown up some of the dikes outside of the city.  It explains why the farmland looked like lakes.  One of the nationals parks renowned for its sand dunes had be washed out.  It was the first time this had happened in 350 years.  The lady mentioned some of the dikes south of the Trans Canada had failed the night before.  Some of her friends had been told to leave as a torrent of water raced towards Manitoba from Saskatchewan.  I remember that storm.  I was sleeping in a park in Portage La Prairie.  At 3am it felt like someone had taken a hose to my tent.  Apparently, this was just the remnants of the storm that hit Saskatchewan.  All trip I've been battling storms and headwinds blowing the wrong way.  No WiFi was available here, she suggested to head 2km up the road to the information center in Ontario!

Wildflowers Everywhere

Highway Blasted Through Rock

Oh Ontario!  I was so happy to enter the hills of the Canadian shield.  Crossing the border, rock walls surrounded the highway on both sides.  The Canadian shield is formed by igneous rock from volcanic activity and tectonic plates.  While it is rich in minerals, it is also logistically challenging to put in a road through this type of terrain.  The "Master Blaster" who built the Trans Canada Highway must have used a lot of TNT.  There's no avoiding the hard rock of the shield so they blasted a route for the highway right through it.  Northern Ontario is lake and cottage country.  For about 5 minutes, I contemplated taking a picture of every lake I encountered on this stretch of the highway.  After coming across more than 5 lakes in the next 5 minutes, I abandoned that idea.  They say that Canada has more lakes then the rest of the world combined.  It's not too hard to believe that after seeing all the beautiful lakes out here.

While the lakes were stunning, by now I was starving.  I had pedaled over 50km for the past 2 hours without breakfast.  Nothing had popped up beside the road except for a bunch of signs promoting fast food joints in Kenora.  A kilometer away I saw a yellow shack.  As I got closer, a sign said Welcome to the "Olde Chip Truck."  The place looked really old and run down.  Hmm... homemade fries at 9am?  No way, not when they serve poutine.  The lady running the place was awesome.  She heaped on the gravy and cheese.  Those fries were good too.  Breakfast was served.

Lake of the Woods.  Kenora Ontario

Pushing closer to Kenora, I traveled down a road filled with wild flowers.  Purple, yellow, red and white, the grass to the side was filled with them.  Climbing a hill, I got my first view of Lake of the Woods.  It's a massive lake dotted with 14 552 islands that occupies parts of Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota.  Its shore is also the scenic location for Kenora, one of Canada's most beautiful cities.  I was happy to see Kenora.  After pedaling almost 75km with little in the way of amenities, it was time to call it a day.  Dryden is the next major center after Kenora but it's 148km away with nothing in between.

Downtown Kenora, Main Street

Pulling up into the campground, I saw a familiar RV.  The team from Montreal was here.  I'd last seen these guys on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan.  I confirmed it at the office and mentioned to the owner to keep a close eye on those trouble makers.  Jean-Pierre spotted me and came over to chat.  He was pretty banged up.  His team had gone south in Saskatchewan and he had hit a crack on the road with his bike.  The crack caught his wheel like a vice and he'd flown over the handle bars and gotten knocked out. It was good to see him in such good spirits.  His arm, leg and shoulders were full of scabs.  He's still riding, "Don't tell my wife," he said with a sheepish grin.

Ontario Wetlands 

Distance: 75km
Average Speed: 18.1km/h
Maximum Speed: 43.9km/h
Time: 4:07
Odometer: 2779km