We left Bancroft around 7:30 and took highway 118 through Haliburton and continued on it until we reached Carnarvon, where we turned on to highway 35.  We went through Dorset and proceeded until we connected up with highway 11 near Huntsville.  We continued on to North Bay and got onto highway 17, the Trans Canada, where we gassed up at 10:40.  We remained on hwy 17 going through Sudbury and to our final destination for the day- Sault ste. Marie.   Arriving around 3:30, after travelling 700 Km.

There wasn’t much traffic for a Friday, and the leaves on the trees were just starting to turn from green to yellow.  We met up with Pat and Marcia Gillespies for supper at wild wings.  It was great seeing them, as it was 2019, when we had last visited them. I didn’t have a great night—the bed in our hotel room was very hard almost like sleeping on the floor, I pulled out the extra pillows and slept on top of them- but it wasn’t much better.

On Saturday, we got up and left shortly after 7:00.   We were going to do some reconnaissance for our planned Lake Superior circle tour by boat in 2023.

  Our first stop after gassing up in the Sault was Katherine cove, we had never anchored here but it does seem quite sheltered, and has a nice sandy beach. 

Then it was on to Wawa, where we made a pit stop at the Welcome centre.  Here’s some pictures from there.

Then it was on to Marathon, on the road leading into town, we saw a large cat crossing the road- likely a lynx- but I was too slow with my camera to get a picture.  We then went down to the boat launch to see if anything had changed there.  The docks were as they had been in 2019, when we had stayed there during the Marathon town’s 75 anniversary.

  It does look like something is happening at the old mill dock, but we couldn’t reach it to investigate further as there were closed gates.  But here’s a picture from across the water. 

We then went in search of the Peninsula—the Marathon pulp tug boat which we had seen in 2019.

The boat was originally built in 1943, used for decades in Marathon and then brought back in 2018.  But we couldn’t find it, after stopping an OPP officer we were told that there was an issue trying to lift it on shore, so it had been dismantled in 2020.  The town was concerned about liabilities, as the boat was full of asbestos and other hazardous materials like benzene, lead and PCB’s.

After lunch, we continue on our mission of checking out possible marinas along he north shore of Lake superior. First stop was Rossport, there was a dock here, but signs that said no docking allowed.

There was a second dock, but we didn’t visit it.  Upon checking the website for the Rossport marina, it seems a little outdated as the last entry was from 2009.  Might not be stopping here.

So, it was on to Nipigon, which is a larger centre with more amenities.  Here’s a look at this marina. 

This looks more promising, and they have diesel. 

I spoke with a Parks Canada employee, and he directed me to the marina office, which was closed, but I did get some pictures of information which will be useful.

Our next stop was Red Rock,

which also has a marina.  Some of the docks appear to have power, this looks the most promising. 

This blurb was taken from their website: the building will offer boaters washrooms, shower and laundry facilities.  Additional amenities include Wi-fi access, the marina restaurant and superior treasures gift shop.  Gas and diesel fuel, pump out, water, electrical and launch facilities are available from May to October.  The posted slip fee was 0.85 per foot. Unfortunately, the marina office had already closed for the day, but we will be in contact over the winter to get more information.

After our visit to Red rock, we gassed up at Pass lake and then continued on to Thunder Bay and checked into our hotel.  We met my friend Teresa and her partner Maureen for supper at a Chinese restaurant close to our hotel.    We had a very nice visit with the two of them.

On Sunday morning, we left the hotel before 7:00.  It was still dark out, and as we left Thunder Bay it began to rain.  There wasn’t a lot of traffic heading west, but we did meet many trucks heading east.  As we got nearer to Kenora, the traffic increased.  We crossed into Manitoba around noon, and continued towards home, arriving around 2:00.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon, unpacking the car and checking out the yard and garden.  The weeds have once again taken over the garden, however I did find some of my tomatoes and peppers.

On Monday, I spent some time in the garden pulling weeds, but progress was slow.  We also went grocery shopping, as our fridge was bare.  On Tuesday, more weeding took place in the garden and flower beds, and I cut the lawn. I have now accumulated 9 bags of garden weeds.    Andy went golfing and I met them for supper at Tapp’s in the Dakota Inn.  On Wednesday, I started spraying the remaining weeds with Roundup in order to kill them off before pulling any more out.  I also installed Microsoft office 2016 onto Andy’s new computer, which took me some time, as the instructions were not very intuitive.  But I finally got it done, now he can play around in Windows 11 and open up his old files. I will spend a little time everyday for the next few weeks in the garden killing weeds, before I roto-till the garden.  I found after the first couple of days that my right wrist, was numb or pins and needles through the night—I likely have carpal tunnel in this wrist, and the act of repetitively pulling weeds has inflamed it.

I will also   start purging stuff in the house in order to get it ready for our move next year.  Here’s an updated picture of the construction.  Progress seems to be a little slow, and we were informed that earliest move-in is now slated for mid July. 

We are going to contact the management company to see if we could move in later in September, so that it doesn’t mess up our summer boating plans.

For Thanksgiving, the plan is to go to Swan River to visit with my sisters and other family.