August 2022

After another longer distance driving on the flat lands of middle Canada we arrived to another "Boondockers Welcome" location near Regina, Saskatchewan. Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. Regina had a city population of about 215,000.

We have stopped at Cedar Creek Gardens just outside of the city. The kids favourite was the petting zoo of goats, pigs and ponies.

I was thinking to change our trailer to one these vintage models but finally I decided to keep the slideout version.

There is a lot of development going on at Cedar Creek Garden, the owners are adding new features including minigolf and the two dinosaurs promise a Jurassic themed maze in the near future.

It fits well with the barred tiger salamander who frightened me in the evening when I was about to feed Echo. When I moved his water bowl this thing moved next to it. I did not notice it just when it started to run. Then several other came on the wet ground so I took a photo of it. We keep learning new species by using the "Seek" app which tells the species based on a photo.

Good place to stop on your way East-West. We are now going on, already excited to spend the next 3 days at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.

The long, straight roads of Manitoba are almost endless and the horizon is really stretched out. Quite an unique experience. I really like the messages of the gps in the morning: "After 330 km turn left." Long driving days and we have to be careful with fuel as there are long stretches without filling stations. To reach our stopover for tonight we had to drive on an unpaved road for several miles. Locals do 60-70 km/hour without a blink of their eye and the dry dust after the fast cars looks like the movie Mad Max.

After arriving to Goodwill Farm

we visited the nearby small town of Souris. There is the longest (walk) suspension bridge of Canada (remember, USA and Canada likes the BIGGEST, LONGEST, LARGEST...) The bridge was rebuilt several times and the remains of the old bridge was preserved. Even the wider, new bridge was swinging a lot, I imagine the old one, must have been a frightening walk across the river.

We also found out that the Souris-Glenwood Outdoor Pool & Waterpark is open for public swimming from 19:00-21:00 so we closed the day with some wet sliding fun.

The next morning we had a good chat with the owner, Mr Joe Goodwill about the farm. Very kind couple with Lynn, good meeting them and learning about their farm. He kindly showed the technicals of raising cattle. Abel, our son was vere much interested in the locking systems to keep cows in place why helping them with their calves. He also let to feed the horses by the kids. Great memories for sure.

After our rest at Aaron Provincial Park we stayed for another resting day at a KOA West of Winnipeg. By now we already left Ontario, the home of thousand lakes (including the Great Lakes) and reached Manitoba which is flat and provides corn, potatoe, grain and livestock to feed Canada.
We also stopped at a landmark at the Center of Canada which is at 96° 48' 36" longitude west.

In the afternoon I took the two larger kid into the Children's Museum and they had a blast there. It is more like a big indoor playground including a real train, an excavator kids can operate and some other fun activities including a wet corner with miniature dams and whirlpools. Their favourite was another corner teaching them how milk is produced and it was fun with an air blowed pipe system and many small balls. They can turn switches to change the course of the balls in the pipes, they can fly either to the huge milk bottle or just fall out of the ceiling. It was a fun afternoon for sure.

Provincial Parks are our favourite campsites. They have the basic utilities (electricity and water, sometimes even sewer) and they still almost feel like boondocking alone in a forest. Large, shaded spots further away from each othen than spots in a KOA or private camping. So we were looking forward to get into a park again after long days on the road. So we booked two nights i n Aaron Provincial Park to have a relaxing day after our arrival.

Enroute to the park we were still in Ontario but crossed a time zone and entered the Central Standard Time zone. We have also seen an old airplane at a fuek stop just a bit before the timezone change.

The Aaron park is next to the TransCanadian Highway still feels like in a forest. There is a nice lake in it and some hike paths as well, and a dam. At the registration we were warned that there are bears in the area so we should lock all food away and be careful in general.

We went for a short walk in the evening and the next day we explored the hiking paths in the morning. I have seen an otter swimming under the bridge where we stopped for a morning snack.

After sleeping well in Marathon we left our kind host (who provided electricity and water for free) we continued to West and found a beautiful stopover for lunch right on the shore of Lake Superior. It was windy and fresh but the sunshine warmed up the sand what was a great spot for Echo as well.

Right before arriving to our next evening stop we noticed a sign of "Terry Fox Scenic Lookout". We quickly pulled over and we were grateful to find this place by coincidence.

Who was Terry Fox? A Canadian athlete who first lost his leg due to cancer, then decided to continue running and raising money for cancer research. He started his fundraising run from St John's in 1980 and completed a marathon every day until June, when he reached Thunder Bay. Then the spread of his cancer forced him to end his "Marathon of Hope" after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres. Although he lost his life he left an ever lasting legacy and since then over cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. Until today more than C$800 million has been raised in his name.

I was speechless at his memorial site and these moments were also unforgettable memories like our recent visit at Jack Kerouac's grave.

My accomplishment for the day with such honorable role models was to back in into my tightest parking spot. A passerby even applauded and showed a thumbs up, yelling "good job!" after watching how I manouvered the trailer between the stairs and a tree.

At night - serving proof of the name of "Thunder Bay" there was a storm, rain and thunders. In the morning the rain stopped so our leaving procedure was quick and easy. Another host who accepted no money for the electricity.

It was raining heavily at night and we had a very poor sleep. I was a bit tense to do the whole attaching-leaving process in rain as we needed to dump the tanks (black and grey) and I also wanted to check the air pressure of 8 wheels. But by the time we finished everything inside the trailer the rain stopped so the roughly 1 hour outside process was much easier.

After leaving the KOA Camp with all the facilities we went to a nearby Walmart to fill up with food for the next three days without electricity. We left Sault St Marie about 11:30 and we had about 210 kms for today. One stop was planned at the Agawa Rock Pictographs which is west of the Agawa River along the east bank of Lake Superior. They were created between 150 and 400 years ago, most of the paintings date back to the 17th or 18th centuries. The rockface is 15 storeys high, composed of white crystalline granite. From the parking there is a slippery and steep, rocky path which is almost a small creek (i.e. water is flowing between the rocks).

After our slow but steady descent we arrived to the shore which is also rocky and offers a very beautiful view of Lake Superior.

The last 50-100 meters is already on the edge of the water and the cliffs with a rope to help you stay on the course. We did not risk falling into the lake with the smallest kid attached to me so we have seen the first few drawings. It was still worth the short walk and it is highly recommended to visit this sacred site.

Afterwards we continued to Wawa and stopped at a wild blueberry farm for the night. About 3,5 kms from our overnight parking there was a great waterfall called the Scenic High Fall. There were some informative boards about how wood was first stored on iced lakes and then at spring how it was transported on the river to Sault St Marie in the early 1900. A nice little side-tour for us before dinner.

We spent one relaxing day at a KOA campsite in Sault Ste. Marie which was very much needed after long driving days. The town is between Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, its river St Marys River is connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron. It is also a border city to the USA.

In the morning I went for a run with Echo, then we tested the pool woth the kids. After our last night stop at a golf club they were very much interested in minigolf so we played at the campsite before lunch. It was also good to talk to my wife's mother using the wifi of the camp. After lunch we went to see a lock which is still working for recreational boats, big commercial ships use the newer lock called Soo Lock (which is in the USA).

After seeing the lock we walked to the riverbank. The walking path ended and some balancing was needed on the last 15 meters which the kids
enjoyed a lot.

In the evening I used the well equipped campsite for an RV Wash which took about 40 minutes to complete.

And less than 4 hours larer it started to rain, so the old magic works.

After a nice stop at the Horseshoe lake (where we had a chance to rent a double kayak and I took the kids for a nice round with it) we had a lazy morning. After a short run with Echo and a nice breakfast we packed everything and left around 11:00 as we planned only 196 kms for the day. First we were heading NW to Sudbury. We stopped for lunch at a fuel station and then arrived around 16:00 to our overnight stop, the Timberwolf Golf Club.

After parking and detaching the trailer we did a 12 minutes drive to the Big Nickel, which is next to a nice museum, the Dynamic Earth.

After the attraction we stopped to fill the car and at a playground to let the kids run and climb a bit. Tomorrow will be a lomger day of 330 kms so we plan to leave early, stop for lunch somewhere on the road (I roasted some chicken in the evening) and then press on to arrive to the KOA of Sault Ste. Marie.