From Sault Ste. Marie - Eastward Towards Ottawa

Dear Friends,

The difficult terrain is behind me and I'm enjoying a rest day in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario over 400 km. west of Ottawa. I never fully recharged my batteries from the Wawa to Sault Ste. Marie leg so today was necessary. The terrain has been generally flat with a few rolling hills to keep things interesting. Sturgeon Falls and neighboring Verner are largely French Canadian communities, originally settled by French farmers. I read a historical plaque which indicated that an influential Catholic priest encouraged French farmers living in Michigan to move here and farm. Although I'm sure that folks came from other parts, the farms around here are some of the most beautiful I've seen in my ride across Canada so far. They are absolutely picturesque.

On my travels east from "The Soo", I camped in Thessalon (had blueberry panckes at the beautiful Carolyn Bay Inn, owned by a remarkable couple, Andrew and Sue).
I carried onwards through many other small towns and on the third day I stopped in Lively, Ontario, a little larger town about 10 km before Sudbury. Many km's before, I met Terry and Sylvia Carscadden at a campsite on Lake Superior near Schreiber. We had a short, yet interesting visit where we exchanged e-mails and in a few days, I received an invitation to stay at their gorgeous home on Long Lake near Lively as I would be passing by Sudbury on Highway 17. I had another great visit with the Carscaddens and an overnight stay at the lake, including a sauna followed by repeated jumps in the lake. Ahhh, the life! This is one of the best things about travelling in such a fashion, you get unique opportunities to meet some interesting and often very kind people, a few I would now refer to as "friends" for life.

In my eastward ride, I moved from the top end of Lake Superior to the North Channel of Lake Huron. This place is loaded with history of the First Nations people and the Colonials over the past few hundred years. I had an interesting conversation with a councilman from an Ojibway band and I sensed his pride in the heritage of his nation in this area. Samuel de Champlain travelled through this area, although the only evidence of his presence that I've seen is a motel that is named after him and it's not even recommended. I hope to locate some evidence in the form of a plaque or something like that soon.

Tomorrow I continue east towards Ottawa, travelling through places like North Bay,
Mattawa, Pettawawa, Pembroke, Renfrew, Arnprior as I approach the "Big O" in 4 or 5 days from now. I'm looking forward to gleaning more historical evidence of our rich Canadian past as I move further east if I get to take my eyes off of the road...the shoulders of Highway 17 (Trans Canada) have been poor, non-existent and often hazardous. I hope they'll improve as I approach our nation's capital.

Take care,

Doug