Friday, September 14, 2007

"More before Espanola...."

I had pulled off into a "snow plow" turnaround, where a sign said no parking. Being the pushy American, I ignored it, as this strip of highway had very few other alternatives for my stopping points. I was hoping that it meant when conditions were snowy, rather than during summer, so I took my chances. It must have been OK since I did have a few policemen drive by. I don't really know what to call them, but they looked like Canada's version of our state troopers. Would they be Mounties, or is that a special branch?
Here you see one of the many semis that Don had whiz by him on the Trans Canada Highway. They really were quite good about pulling out and giving him some space.
I'd pulled onto a side road for my stopping point. It was the furthest I'd gone between places (around 6.5 miles), and had been lucky enough to have stopped in a regular parking area for a fishing/boat site. A man had been walking to his boat when I pulled in, who looked at my license plate and yelled WISCONSIN! He came over and we talked a bit. He was from Holland, MI. I'd told him why I was stopping there, so when he had gone back to his motel for his gear, he'd come out and saw Don so headed across the road to waylay him to talk with him. :) (double click on the photo to see it better)
There I am across the river (white car). Since the town we'd stopped in was named Blind River, I'm assuming that this was the Blind River.
I thought this was pretty good so I took a photo of it.
Remember that "iffy" front tire? It wasn't totally flat but conditions were good for stopping to change it, so that is what we did. :) This shows downtown Blind River.

2 comments:

Barb said...

Hi Michael,

Did Don stop and talk to you every five miles or so, or did he just whiz by and wave?

Also, how many spare tires did you take? I imagine it might be difficult to find replacements along the way.

Barb

MadCityMike said...

More often than not, he stopped, but not always. Remember, I had the cold Gatorade. :)
As for tires, 1 front and 1 back, but multiple tubes for both.