June 28, 2017, Day 38, Nipigon to Jellicoe, 117km

“Goodbye Keigo! Have a fantastic trip! Our destination is the same. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll see you again somewhere else on the road! You can text or email us and let us know how you’re doing!”

These are some of the words we said to our young Japanese guest when we left him at the motel. That and “Please make sure you’re gone by 11am, so we don’t get charged for another night.” Lol!

Keigo planned on taking the south route through Ontario via Sault Ste Marie. That’s the route Charlie and I had planned on taking originally. We have driven it before and it is so beautiful. We opted for the more northern route because of several factors including shoulder width, visibility, fog from the lakes, wind off the lakes, hills, types of vehicles and types of travellers, and days of the week we expect to be there. Settlements are few and far between no matter which route you choose, so you do have to carry more food and fill up on water wherever you go. We have those purification tablets too and I’m sure hoping to never have to use them.

Another nice day. Cool in the morning but it warmed up as the day grew older. This north route is beautiful too.       Remote and quiet, its silence is broken only by frequent birdsong and occasional trucks. There tends to be no vehicles on the road and then 5 or 6 will pass by, usually all in a huff, nose to tail, nose to tail….    I wonder why anyone wants to drive like that. It would stress me out so much.

Getting back to the birds, there is one in particular that I love. It sings 3 separate notes descending in order, the last note held longer and with a little “thrill” at the end. I’d like to know what type of bird makes that noise. There are a lot of them because we hear them all day long. We saw a rabbit today; otherwise no other wildlife.

About 40km from Nipigon, we came across a group of First Nations people, all wearing yellow shirts and walking for a number of issues including abuse of alcohol, abuse of drugs, for missing andmurdered First Nations men and women, for residential school survivors and their descendants and for suicide prevention.   We spent some time talking to some of them, including “Old Turtle Man” otherwise known as Fred  and Golden Eagle Woman, who goes by Tabitha.  Things are pretty rough on the reserve.

Uphill. Did we do anything other than uphill today? We must have, but it didn’t feel like it. The bugs were out in full force too so I wore my bug suit most of the day. The unfortunate thing about that is that it cuts down on the breeze I can feel and tends to feel hot. Mosquitoes, of course are everywhere. The horseflies and  deer flies appear from time to time, especially when it’s hot and sunny. Then there are the no-see-um’s….but we don’t know what they look like because, um… we’ve never seen ’em. Black flies swarm continuously and we just learned about another bug we have to look out for; the sprucebug! Apparently they are brownish, have long hard bodies, long antennae and have a nasty bite. I haven’t seen any yet but Charlie did. Apparently the best way to get rid of them is to grab them by their antenna and toss ’em. Ugh! The locals are saying that the bugs are especially bad this year.

Cedar Shores Resort on the outskirts of Jellicoe conjures up images of lovely cabins, sandy beaches, nice walking trails, kids playgrounds, ………     It actually is a run-down hunt-camp property the owner has had since 1989 and is now trying to sell. Bob gave us a “delux” cabin with a kitchenette.     Charlie went off to town to forage for food while I talked with Bob, who told me that the one store in town would be closed by the time Charlie got there. He asked what we wanted and I told him we were hoping to get ingredients for salad and a few beer. Several minutes later he appeared at my door with 4 beer, romaine lettuce, 2 tomatos (one was bad through and through), a withered orange pepper, an energetic looking cucumber, some mozzarella cheese and a brand new jar of Rene’s Caesar salad dressing . He said his wife was away and all that food was going to go to waste. He only wanted $10 but I gave him more and we left the rest of the salad dressing. I was thinking that his wife might kill him when she gets home. So when Charlie got home with Beeferoni and beer, I had a nice salad made.

Biking day after day after day can be a bit tiring and we were out cold in minutes. No insomnia for us these days. And speaking of bed, it’s time to head there. Goodnight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.

………BEDBUGS……..?!!!