Going to Winnipeg! This time for real. Shortly after we got on highway 11 there was a semi trailer carrying wood chips that had caught on fire and burned through the sides of the trailer. The fire was out and they seemed to be waiting for the clean up crew.
Sign said from here on all streams flow north into the arctic waters. Greg marked the coordinates north 48.40, west 90.49 at as elevation of 487 m, near Burke creek.
Rain near Fort Frances so heavy the wipers couldn’t keep up. Should have suspected something when the lake was called Rainy lake.
Travelling through Fort Frances had an added bit of challenge. There were only a couple of little signs that indicated your last chance to change direction before being forced into the USA, which is not on our agenda for this trip. Fort Frances was the first European settlement west of the Great Lakes. After the series of battles of 1812 that defined both Canada and our southern neighbour, the Hudson’s Bay Company built a fort here in 1817 (remember that former CANADIAN icon Hudson’s Bay?
Fort Frances was incorporated until 1903, which is only 2 years before Alberta and Saskatchewan joined Canada. In 1946 Fort Frances was struck by a tornado that seriously damaged the community (it is unclear if there were fatalities).
Stopped for fuel and the place was filled with Americans getting fishing licenses. All along the highway for many many km were places to go to fish. One could even fly to some remote campsite to fish. One could but minnows, worms and other exotic bait almost any and everywhere.
Greg was all excited as we entered Manitoba and the speed on the highway went up to 100km/hr. Ontario is wide and slow at only 80 & 90kmph when not on the 401 or 402 or 403 which for good portions of most days is ZERO kmph.
Then it happened. Construction, construction and more construction. Very inconsiderate contractors. They have torn up both westbound lanes of the TransCanada. Okay. But they have not bothered to run a grader down what is left of the highway. Potholes, potholes and more potholes. Even just letting that big diesel idle was too fast. Pretty much had to ride the brakes for about 30 kilometers. The great news was that nothing new shook loose on the trailer.
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