Day 30, Sunday, September 18, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Thunder Bay, Ontario, 326 miles today

Day 30, Sunday, September 18, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Thunder Bay, Ontario, 326 miles today

Well, we made it.  Here's the story for today.

We got off to a later start than I wanted to this morning, 9:30, because there was no usable daylight until after 7:00.  Our goal today was  to make Sleeping Giant Provincial Park,  nearThunder Bay, more than  300 miles away, by 5:00 p.m., a tall order for the three of us, but I was still confident we could make it if the road was like we experienced these last  few days on  highway 11.  Along the way I found one spot about 50 miles up the road where we could have camped overnight, a real nice  picnic area with a secluded parking area and tent spot, but I was thrilled with my decision to do what I did.

The road was absolutely wonderful.  Vehicles were the exception rather than the rule, except that we could have done without the trucks coming at us in both directions.  The scenery was out of this world, even going 70, which was easy to do on this road.  I recognized none of it from my journey along this same route 11 years ago with Sonntag, perhaps because we were going in the opposite direction.  The dogs got their promised stops every 100 miles, always at unbelievably beautiful picnic areas, courtesy of Ontario government.

Surprising even me, we turned onto the acces road to Sleeping Giant at precisely 5:01, one minute behind our target.  Considering that we travelled 326 miles, that was remarkable.  The narrow access road, 26 miles, took us  only another 30 minutes, and so we met our goal.  More than that, although we day started off beautifully, the rain came and followed us right to the gate of the park, but then stopped, continuing my almost perfect record.  I picked the best site in the park, #140, on the water, and equidistant between my site Sonntag in 2000 and my sitecwith Leben and Erde in 2001.  This site is so nice, with a direct view of the sleeping giant on the other side of the lake, i decided to stay at least one extra day here before heading north to world famous Lake Bukemiga, 157 miles to the north, where the rich, famous and powerful hang out.  I hope they have a casino, maybe even an opera house there, as I am ready for both, after I take a sower, of course.

Incidentally, when  I went to unload the Defender and let the dogs out, I discovered that the step stool that was double strapped to the platform step in my receiver hitch on my rear bumper, there for Leben to jump into and out of the vehicle so he does not have to rely on me to help, had fallen off during the last hundred miles of our journey today.   Fortunately, I have a spare at home and a back-up plan for the road in the event this happened.

When I got to my campsite, I was told by a fellow camper that the camp had to be evacuated recently because a pack of lynx moved in here.  They're gone now, but can still be heard howling at night near the camp.  I was  more concerned, though, about the skunk  that came  right up to my tent in 2000 here, but he does not seem to be here, yet anyway.

The dogs are sleeping soundly now, and it is raining quite hard outside the tent.   The rain doesn't concern me, especially since I will stay put tomorrow.  Whatcwill concern me, though, is my malfunctioning winter sleeping bag, but I'll figure out a solution to that problem, too, short of just buying a ne one.

Taps just sounded on my iPad telling me it's time to retire or the night, and so I have to end this here.  Soon, after our journey to Armstrong and Bukemigs, we will be heading home, by which route I do not yet know, but we'll decide that soon.

Ed