Day 34, Thursday, September 22, Agawa Bay Camp, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Day 34, Thursday, September 22, Agawa Bay Camp, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Wow, if there is something known as the perfect day, or way, to end a journey, today was it for me.  Although this journey has already had several endings, today is a big one because it is my last day in Canada, at least for a while.

The wind last night died down sometime during the night and it actually had a soporific affect instead of threatening my sleep.  I actually slept quite well despite the wind and cold.  Needless to say, the dogs did, too, and then had no wine as I did.

I had hoped to get an early start today because I knew my hoped-for destination, Lake Superior Provincial Park, was about 350 miles south down route 17, and I had no idea at all about the road conditions, weather, or other such things.  After doing my laundry --- laundry is a major chore on these road trips which I try to time to coincide with other things, and the discovery that a campsite has a laundry, as well as hot showers and flush toilets, a cause for great celebration and joy --- I left SGPP about 11:00.  My reliable impeccable math informed me that if it takes me an hour to get off the camp access road, I could probably do the remaining 330 or so miles in 7 hours, putting me in Agawa Bay between 7 and 7:30.  With warning signs posted everywhere about the dangers of encountering moose on the highways, that would be pushing my limits, both for driving at night and wanting to have all the evenings chores done by 9:00.

The journey down route 17 was nothing short of extraordinary.  Fall was in it's full splendor the entire route, even with the special effects of ominous clouds overhead, and was accompanied by extras playing the walk-on roles of mountains, lakes, and rivers.  There were not more than two or three villages along the route and no traffic or stop lights.  I was so distracted by the natural drama that I forget to gas up when I should have and when I pulled into Wawa to get gas, the dial was near the end of the red zone and I had three more miles.  And with a bum satellite phone on board, I would have been faced with a predicament.  Not to fear, though, I still had five gallons in a Jerry can on my roof.

The ominous weather than hung overhead all day, turned ugly at about 4:00 when the heavy started.  As good fortune would have it, however, as soon as we came in sight of  spectacular Lake Superior, bordered by beaches, mountains and cliffs, the weather turned for the better, as if right on queue.

As I drove down route 17 all day, my determination to make Agawa grew stronger as I discovered that there were virtually no campsites along the way, until I got to the vast Lake Superior Provincial Park.  The only one I considered bivouacking in was one named Rabbit Blanket Lake, and the only reason I would have stayed there, forgoing my goal, would  have been in deference to my friend Karen Hamrick, who would have been touched by the gesture.   (Karen is the consummate rabbit lover.)

There have been many things during this journey about which I never ceased to me amazed at.  One of those things is my ability to pick extraordinary camp sites and my ability to be precise in my timing.  At precisely 7:30, right on schedule, we rolled into the gates of Agawa Bay Camp.  Just when I thought that I had seen the best of all the camp sites I have stayed in, and there have been many, I could not believe my eyes when I rolled in Agawa.  Wow, what a place.  It is no wonder that there was only one camp site on the beach left, as if some guardian angel had reserved it for us.  Although my priority when I get to a site is to set up camp and make dinner before anything else, I could not resist a walk on the beach with the dogs to luxuriate in a sunset the likes of which I had never seen before.  In fact, there were two sunsets, the second a reflection on the water 70 degrees to the south of the setting sun.

Although I only pulled into my camp site at 7:50, all chores for the evening were over and done with by exactly 9:00, a record for me, and just 30 minutes after the usable daylight retired for the evening.

It's now 10:04.  My  dogs are asleep beside me.  My wine is finished.  The waves are pounding the beach.  The sky is brilliant with stars.    Benny Goodman is playing Goodbye on my iPad.  Although I still have 96% battery left, I think it is time for me to play taps and turn in for the night, as the dogs already have after a busy day on the road.  Tomorrow we cross the border into Michigan.  I have no idea where I will stay tomorrow, but my goal from now on is to get home as fast as I can, but safely, either Sunday or Monday.

Ed