Mike returned to us in the Soo this morning from a couple days away at the Biker’s Reunion in New Liskeard. He met us on the shores of the St Mary’s River just in time to watch the annual Great Tugboat Race! I really thought the starting line was going to be all “Ready! Set! Pppputt-putt-puttt…” but those fat little suckers sure can go. All decorated in their Canada Day splendour and adorned with patio furniture and cheering guests, they burbled up and down the river for an hour so in the sunny afternoon.

We chatted with Debbie Dixon, the organizer of the Northern Ride for Sight, also taking place this weekend in the Soo, at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion. We’ve definitely been hearing the rumble of motorcycles for the last few days on the roads in and out of the Soo, and it was great to see them parade down the main streets this morning.

We spent some time exploring those same main streets on foot. I find the old downtown core of Sault Ste Marie really quite beautiful, with some gorgeous old heritage buildings and interesting coffee shops and eccentric fashion houses. It has an interesting vintage feel, with the old store signage and old-school diners like Mike’s Lunch, but vibrant and alive at the same time. I also dropped into the historic Ermatinger-Clergue National Historic Site, the oldest log house northwest of Toronto. It’s a sort of museum devoted to the period 1808-1870, with staff in period dress who tour guests around the house and grounds. They also have some really interesting knick-knacks in the gift shop — and I am regretting not buying a few gifts in hindsight!

Tomorrow — we head back up the shore of Lake Superior to camp on the beach at the glorious Agawa Bay Campground.

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki 

While Mike is off in New Liskeard, the rest of us visited one of his favourite places in the north: the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste Marie. The centre is housed in an old bushplane hangar right on the river, where planes used to take off over the water. It’s not only a repository of 25 bushplanes and water bombers, but an educational centre dedicated to preserving the history of Bush Flying and Forest Protection in Canada. You can even climb inside many of the planes — one or two you’re even allowed into the cockpit where you can pretend to be a pilot.

From the first innovative water bombers to the Bell Bubbledome Helicopter, the planes all tell a piece of Canada’s story. You could get lost in here for more than a few hours, with exhibits ranging from morse code and telegraph operators to the first bush fire fighters. We even clambered up into the fire tower and reported some new smoke sightings over the CB radio. For those considering a career in the air, there’s a flight simulator and several vision and reflex tests to make sure you’re up for the job. Not to mention the 3D documentary about the water bomber pilots who helped protect the town of Pickle Lake (we’re going there!) from an out of control forest fire.

It’s really a spectacular showcase, and provides a lot of insight into an important part of Canada’s history.

Tomorrow — Ride for Sight and the Great Tugboat Race!

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki 

After being on the go for pretty much a month straight, today we decided was a well-earned day of rest and relaxation. After bidding adieu to Mike and Roger as they headed off for Biker’s Reunion in New Liskeard, and a leisurely breakfast at the trailer, we piled in the pick-up truck with a picnic lunch in the back and set off to see what we could see of this lovely little island tucked away in the North Channel.

Our first stop was the town of Richard’s Landing, where Alexe and I spent quite a long time in the knick-knack laden Calico Hen, inspecting old needlepoint patterns, vintage china sets, used books and knitting supplies. We spent just as long in Moose Sweats while Bogdan checked out the old jail. After exhausting the commercial joys of the town we headed off to have lunch and a swim at the local beach, saddened that the ice cream store was closed.

St Joseph Island is a great place to while away a summer’s day. The Kentvale General Store – established in 1888! and still going strong – has something for everyone and is a fun place to get lost. Bogdan set himself up with a whole fishing rig, while I found my annual summer straw hat and Alexe delighted herself with a pile of crazy old vintage greeting cards. We were too early in the season for the old school and history house, but we made it to the St Joseph Island Museum Village with an hour before it closed. It seems like every historical building that was still standing on the island was brought to one location, and outfitted with an amazing array of pioneer tools and beautiful antique homewares. The original Kentvale General Store building is set up with authentic period dry goods and supplies, and the old Sailor’s Encampment schoolhouse makes you feel like you’re just about the get your knuckles rapped for misbehaving. If you’re interested in any kind of antique implement, you’ll find it here — from hearses to dictaphones to trailers to maps to old lace and irons to the bill of sale for the island from the Chippewa to the English Crown. There’s even a “motorcycle only” parking area out front!

We spied several more gorgeous swimming spots on our way home through the tree-lined backroads — and several mama and baby deer just chilling on the fields, in the gullies and even on the roads!

We couldn’t have asked for a better place to enjoy a mini-vacation.

Tomorrow — exploring Sault Ste Marie!

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

We picked Roger up at the Water Tower Inn this morning, and then I went on a solo mission with Ol’ Willie and the trailer to the Hilton Beach Tourist Park where I set up the homestead at a gorgeous spot right on the water, and got all those domestic tasks done that keep the trip going — laundry, groceries, budgets, cleaning out the fridge, bathing, etc. I may or may not have also had a nap, a couple of Kelly’s leftover Palm Bays, and finished several Sherlock Holmes short stories in the shade while watching the North Channel roll by.

While I was being a cozy little homemaker and exploring the island for butter tarts, Roger, Mike, Bogdan and Alexe took off for highway 129, the Ontarian “Tail of the Dragon”. Stories of this road told at Motorcycle Show booths in the dead of winter are what lured Roger up here to write a story for Motorcycle Mojo, and apparently the experience more than lived up to expectations. Mike will tell you all about the road in his ride report.

The gang returned at 6:45pm, almost ten hours after they left the Soo, and having ridden over 600km — up and down 129 twice, and then back home. Over spaghetti, salad and homemade bread at our picnic table, looking out over the water with a cold beer in his hand, Roger declared he had enjoyed every minute of it.

After dinner, he made his way around the corner to enjoy the comfort of his room at the Hilton Beach Inn.

Tomorrow — Mike and Roger make their way to New Liskeard for the Biker’s Reunion, and the rest of us explore St Joseph Island!

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

Agawa Bay, Lake Superior Provincial Park

Oh what a glorious day.

Mike and Roger were frolicking up ahead on their bikes like happy harbour seals in the surf, and we had the windows down on Ol’ Willie, wind blowing, hair crazy, actually driving fast and relatively smoothly for once. I loved driving this road in a 1979 3/4-ton 4×4 Chevy pick-up with a bit of a high-speed tremor towing about 2000 pounds of trailer, so I can imagine how awesome it would be in something with a little kick. Everyone was happy. And the views! The views. Last year it was rainy and grey on this part of the route, so we didn’t actually get to experience the full impact of the Lake Superior provincial park coastline. But with clear blue skies and sunshine, it just hits you like that old Beastie Boys song: I’m talking hip. Pop. Pow.

And the lounging! The lounging. The boys and Alexe would go off to shoot some video of the bikes rounding a particularly gorgeous curve, and I would laze my fat self on the gloriously hot sand of Old Woman Bay, Katherine Bay, and Agawa Bay, dunking my toes in the water every once and awhile to stay awake. We had a great picnic lunch on the beach at the visitor’s centre near the Agawa Bay campground, and had a wander through to check out the really beautiful historic, cultural, and geographic exhibits.

I really feel this route deserves a dedicated balance of riding (or driving) the road and sunbathing (or hiking, or wandering) the stunning bays and beaches. Please, do not be in a hurry on these 180km. And please, stop for dinner at the mind-blowing Salzburger Hof Resort in Batchawana Bay. The dining room looks out over the Bay, and features gigantic portions of traditional German-Austrian cuisine. It’s definitely an old-school dining experience with seamless, attentive service in a room presided over by a 12-foot rack of antler and a stone fireplace adorned with gnomes.

Plan on having a post-dinner lie-down on the shuffleboard court too because I had a hard time waddling afterward. But eventually, after some soft-shoeing in the topiary, we made it to the Soo and tucked Roger into his room at the aptly named Water Tower Inn.

Tomorrow – an early start on an all-day Highway 129 riding extravaganzaaaaaaaa!

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

We woke up to bird calls and the sun streaming through the windows of the log cabin in the middle of nowhere, right on the edge of the Chapleau Game Preserve. It’s not often on this trip that we go far enough away from paved roads that we’re out of earshot and sight of any other human activity, and it was a real treat to be totally remote for a whole twelve hours, away from electricity and the internets and cell phone reception, to recharge ourselves.

After a quick stop in Chapleau to pick up Mike’s motorcycle and the trailer, we headed on west down highway 101 toward Wawa.  On the way we stopped for a picnic on the round rocks beside the waterfalls at Potholes Provincial Park, about 50km outside of Wawa. It is the absolute perfect place for a picnic or a little swim on a really hot day! We even came across a newly-retired couple from Kentucky who were fishing off the rocks. We made sandwiches and refreshed our feet in the freezing creek while Mike enlightened us by reading the informative geological plaques very loudly over the sound of the falls.

The last 15 minutes of highway 101 on the way into Wawa were absolutely gorgeous — a pretty good indication we’re getting close to Lake Superior. Tight curves around rock cuts opening up on lovely lake vistas — Mike was having such a good time he didn’t even notice the bee in his coat until it stung him in the belly. (That is exaggeration. He totally did notice it). The sun was shining as we rounded the last corner by the sandy beach and headed to our chalet at the Wawa Motor Inn to wait for Roger Parsons from Motorcycle Mojo Magazine, who’ll be riding with us for a few days down the coast of Superior.

While we were waiting for Roger to hightail it up the coast from Sault Ste Marie on the last leg of his 14-hour ride up from Georgetown, we paid a visit to the emporium of all things useful, useless, bizarre and delicious in Wawa, Young’s General Store. Last year we were awestruck by the tantalizing Pickle Fudge, but were too chicken to try it. This year, Mike spoke with the inventor of this deliciousness and brought home both Pickle and Jalapeno fudges! (I stuck to my annual 1/2 pound of  Chocolate Skor and Pralines & Cream). Alexe bought a racoon tail and a wolf tail for $5 each. All in all, we had a pretty great time in there.

Tomorrow — cruising down the coast of highway 17 to the Sault Ste Marie, and enjoying all the sweet curves and hot sand of the gorgeous bays and beaches of Lake Superior provincial park.

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

This morning the gang picked me up at the Timmins airport at 9:30am, and we started our journey west along highway 101 toward Chapleau. We stopped along the way to check out some of the fire damage caused by the May forest fires. Also, to rescue Mike’s laptop bag which was momentarily resting gently on the platform of the trailer’s open side door (it opens down) as we hurtled along the highway in the rain. (The door locking mechanism snapped when we had that flat tire, and we’ve been jimmying it closed and hoping for the best ever since). Luckily, Mike was riding behind us and noticed it right away. So, after many pinched fingers and wrists and mosquito bites and almost a whole roll of duct tape, we devised a new closing mechanism: a ratchet strap hugging the width of the trailer. It’s pretty effective.

We ate your standard diner lunch at the very sweet Gus’s Family Restaurant on the main drag in Chapleau, an interesting little town with a lot of history — especially the lumber industry — right on the railway line. After lunch we met our host for the evening, Alain Gervais of Ride the North ATV Trails & cabin. We headed out to stay at his rustic log cabin on Racine Lake just on the border of the Chapleau Big Game Preserve for a little RnR sans internets. Al suggested we leave the trailer and BMW in town as the logging roads into the Preserve are pretty hairy. Mike dropped his bike off at Al’s shop and the lovely folks at Gus’s let us park the trailer in their lot overnight, and then off we went.

The 47km ride out to Al’s cabin was beautiful — and kinda fun with the Chevy 4×4. The cabin itself was in a gorgeous spot — the white sandy drive lead to a big clearing with blueberry bushes all over, and a little path down to the water, which you can see glistening through the trees at sunset. Mike even found a wild orchid growing by the shore! Al took the boys fishing for trout and pickerel at his favourite spots, and entertained with too many stories to count about his interesting encounters in the woods with bear, wolves, moose and even a horned owl. He headed back to home to Chapleau for the night, leaving us alone — with the bears and wolves — at the campfire in the dusk. With no internet, no electricity, and no running water, it really was a little vacation. There is no hunting or trapping allowed in the Preserve, and so it offers some of the best wildlife viewing in Canada. We saw a bear walking down the road!

Tomorrow — toward the shores of Lake Superior! West on highway 101 with a picnic stop at the Potholes, then we’re meeting Roger from Motorcycle Mojo Magazine at the Wawa Motor Inn. To the Goose!

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions
and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca.

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

The rest of the crew was hanging out in Timmins while I flew to Toronto for 36 hours to attend my Grandma’s 97th birthday party, so all I know about what happened today is what they tell me.

After breakfasting with fellow motorcycle traveller Chris Hughes, the UNORT visited the Timmins Gold Mine for a tour of the mine and a lesson in panning for gold. Apparently Bogdan rendered the tour guide speechless when he asked, with a straight face and his typical earnest expression, “but why it is they would build the CN Tower inside the mine?” (The guide was explaining that the sculpture in the photo illustrates how deep the mine is — it stretches upward three times as big as the Tower outside of the photograph — relative to the CN Tower. (This was a much funnier story when I heard it)).

Then everyone made a pilgrimage next door to a place of great cultural significance in Timmins, the Shania Twain Centre, where they checked out some of Shania’s memorabilia. (I heard that Mike may have allegedly become greatly moved when reciting the lyrics to the song “It Don’t Impress Me Much”. But don’t quote me on that.)

While I was singing happy birthday to my grandma and eating carrot cake with my family in Toronto, the crew in Timmins was enjoying chicken Cordon Bleu and apple pie for dinner at Jamie‘s, and then they had a big fun sleepover without me.

Tomorrow — Riding highway 101 to Chapleau, and a visit deep into the bush of the Chapleau Big Game Preserve!

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

Chris from Wild Exodus and Marie of Post 392

So much food today.

After our epic excursion to Moosonee, we were all feeling a little sleepy this morning. Luckily the Best Western Swan Castle Inn in Cochrane, right across the street from the Ontario Northland train station, has a huge continental breakfast buffet where we could fortify ourselves for the coming day. They even have this amazing cast iron waffle machine that creates the most perfectly browned waffle! After breakfast we said goodbye to the hotel manager, the lovely Renee Vezeau, and headed down highway 655 back to Timmins.

We arrived at the Wawaitin Falls Holiday Park, home of Wild Exodus Outfitters, and were immediately whisked away on a luxurious covered pontoon boat for a tour of Lake Kenogamissi with our local guide, Chris. We curled up in the deep seats and tried not to nap as we floated down the lake toward Post 392 Bed and Breakfast, where a fabulous luncheon awaited us. Marie, a retired Timmins schoolteacher, opened her B & B in 1998 to cater to the large groups of snowmobilers who flock to the area’s massive trail network. She’s been adding rooms ever since, and she can now sleep 16 and feed more than 50 at a time. She certainly seemed to cook for 50 today!

We arrived at Marie’s dock around 1pm, and were seated at a large dining table overlooking the lake, surrounded by steaming dishes, about 4 minutes later. We ate like a crew of hungry snowmobilers — roast chicken, braised beef and gravy, roasted potatoes, carrots and broccoli, spaghetti, and warm fresh homemade bread with butter. For dessert she brought out a blueberry cobbler with real whipped cream, and regaled us with stories of her time cooking in remote mining camps, where her food was a favourite with the miners.

I had to be at the Timmins airport at 4:30 for my flight back to Toronto — returning in less than 36 hours! — so we didn’t have the time we would have liked to linger on the deck and chinwag with Marie. Chris made up for it though with some interesting local information on the trip home about the lake, the houses and road access, the dams, and the forest fire damage nearby.

I hit the dock running back at Wawaiten and left the rest of the crew in the capable hands of JC, who runs the camp. They’re  spending the night in a cozy cabin on the shores of the lake, hanging with JC.

Tomorrow — my grandma’s 97th birthday party! And those other guys will be having fun with Jamie, hitting up the Shania Twain Centre in Timmins, and panning for gold on a gold mine tour. And uploading Episode 4!

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki

Today we woke up early in our cozy quilt-covered beds in our four private rooms in the upstairs of the Moose River Guesthouse. We trickled downstairs to enjoy the substantial breakfast Candice had laid out for us — bagels, toast, homemade muffins, yogurt, fruit, cereal, eggs, juice and coffee — and yawned around, reading Candice’s old books about the history of the area, getting ready for our trip out to James Bay.

By 8am, we’d learned that we could go back to bed for an hour or so, as there was a big storm coming in, and Nolan wanted to wait until 10 to see what was going to happen. Nothing like curling back up in bed after a nice big breakfast for an extra nap before the day starts for real.

The sky started to clear, and Nolan Tozer and Jenn Little, the duo behind Moose River Tours, picked us up around 10. We boarded Nolan’s sturdy old cedar strip boat from the dock in ‘Tozer-ville’, the Tozer family business Bushland Airways’ headquarters, surrounded by floatplanes.

Nolan Tozer grew up in the bush and on the river, son of a bush pilot and legendary trapper. His parents say he’s the only child they never worried about — in fact, they wouldn’t even start to look for him until he was two days late coming back from an adventure. After he’d spent a few years working for Ontario Hydro in different areas in the north, Nolan’s partner Jenn — a paramedic from Kirby, Ontario, who moved to Moosonee for work three years ago and now can’t imagine leaving — encouraged him to start his own guiding company. And it definitely feels like it’s what he was meant to do. He’s full of stories about the history of the area, and information about the birds and animals. And with the kind of experiences he had in the wild growing up, he’s definitely qualified.

They took us down river, sharing interesting anecdotes for every passing island, flat, and sandbar. We spotted two eagles — a bald and a golden — and a blue heron, all relatively new to the area, Nolan says. He also had some slightly terrifying stories about black bears — the largest in Canada, they can get up to 800 pounds around Moosonee.

Then all of a sudden, the shore just opened up around us and there we were, floating by the tidal clay flats at the mouth of James Bay, eating Jenn’s homemade bannock, still warm.

And guys, it’s salt water.

Heading back to Moosonee, we found that storm we’d been worried about earlier, and plowed right through it. We were soaked to the skin and grinning ear to ear when Jenn and Nolan dropped us off at Candice’s to grab some dry clothes before we headed out for lunch.

They took us to the local hangout at the quarry, a creek-fed rock pool down the longest road in Moosonee, where we roasted smokies on the fire and were visited by a cheeky fox. Then they awesomely drove us back to the train station, and we loaded in for the five-hour return trip.

And then it was across the street in Cochrane, and back to the Best Western for a nice hot shower!

Tomorrow — A boat trip down Kenogamissi Lake with Wild Exodus Outfitters, and Marie’s homemade lunch at Post 392!

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki