Manitoba to Sault St. Marie

After our sojourn through backcountry Saskatchewan, some of it on gravel roads, we decided not to forgo our plans to visit Lake Winnipeg and the beach there, and instead push past the prairies.  We'd had enough of the prairies after two days and there were three hours left to drive in it to get out of Manitoba.  Crossing into Ontario, it was all trees ... and there followed three days of trees thereafter.

The little city of Kenora faces on the Lake of the Woods, which we picnicked beside, next to said wall:

Here's another view of the lake in a different direction:

The temperature was idyllic and the food was good.  We're making our own as we go along, but so far we haven't actually used the barbecue.  There never seems to be the right place to set it up, at the time we want to eat.  At the end of the day, we just want to crash and eat raw fruit and vegetables, bits of cheese, the hard-boiled eggs we're able to buy and such goods.  Most of our diet has been vegetarian, but not because we're vegans; it's just easier to get unsalted, unsugared food from the store with fresh produce.

Pictures get thin at this point.  We spent Monday night in Dryden, a depressing little burg with expensive lodging, taken up by fisherfolk.  From thence, it was down to Thunder Bay and more groceries.  The drive through the Canadian Shield hills north of Lake Superior was stunning.  Yet I didn't take a picture the whole day of Tuesday until late in the afternoon, when we encountered this fellow in front of us in a small village named Schreiber:

This fellow was making a left hand turn off the Trans-Canada Highway.  I didn't get the camera up in time to show the two big trailer trucks in the other lane, that ruffled his hair and his shirt.  We nearly missed seeing him, as we came up behind.  He's not sitting in a "turn-lane."  He's right there on the inside lane of the four lane highway.  He didn't seem concerned.

Soon after, we pulled into Terrace Bay, where I finally got my computer to work two days ago.  Here's the terrace outside our room, overlooking Lake Superior:

And here's the John Ford shot, from inside our motel room:

Somehow, after this, the camera got forgotten as we continued on yesterday, from Terrace Bay to Sault St. Marie.  That was a long rainy day along the Superior shore, though we did get out and walk along the beach for a while.  I had the phone in my pocket and it didn't occur to me to take a picture.  The signs all said the water was cold, but it felt warm to me, a fellow who's swam (swum?) in Alberta lakes in May.  I considered getting my suit on and taking a dip, but the rain caught up with us.  Tamara went swimming in Superior at 14, but she wasn't game to join me yesterday.

Today, we set out south from Sault St. Marie into the United States, where I am now writing this.  I have no pictures for today, only stories.  But they'll wait until tomorrow.