Canada – the Reprise

July 27, 2023

Beautiful Lake Huron. More pictures below.

Churning across the water in the darkness and rain, above the rumble of giant engines strong enough to carry semi-trailers and RVs and trucks and cars across the mouth of Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay. Joe has gone upstairs to the passenger area of the Chi Cheemaun Ferry. Darwin and I are staying below, as dogs aren’t allowed out of the vehicles. It’s surreal. We are clearly moving, but the view outside the window is just a sign that says “Les freins doivent être appliques pendent le voyage" – “All vehicles must have brakes applied while aboard vessel.”

When we left you, we had returned to the U.S., and it was lovely, but the coming week promised to be too warm for living in a black steel box, so we have headed north again.

First though, we had a delightful visit with my friends (Joe’s new friends) Nathaniel and Trina Borenstein on the east side of Michigan’s mitten. Nathaniel and I were at Grinnell College together. We were both religious studies majors who loved to sing, but he double majored in math and went on to help develop the Internet and the tools we use every day to share files. It was great catching up, and Nathaniel and I stayed up until 1am singing karaoke our second night there.

We are coming from two days in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, where we watched a giant ship pass through the locks from Lake Huron to Lake Superior, played Putt Putt golf on a wonderful course nestled into a hillside, enjoyed delicious pastries, and strolled the rocky beaches just outside downtown. We also took a hike to see a lighthouse in Hiawatha National Forest a few miles southwest of town.

We slept both nights at the Walmart, where both mornings we were woken by the clop-clop-clop of Amish buggies whose drivers were coming to shop. The store even has a buggy parking section!

And now we are in Canada again.

It was an impulse to come down Manitoulin Island to take this ferry. It will cut miles off our journey to Toronto, and it looked interesting. The island population is largely First Nations, and the road winds around hundreds of little lakes in its interior. Unfortunately, it rained most of the day, so we only took one short hike. Fortunately, that hike was timed perfectly for us to come within view of Little Current’s swing bridge – a bridge that rotates sideways every hour to let boats through – just as it swung. (Picture below)

The ferry at the south end of the island only runs three times a day in the summer. As we drove down the island, we didn’t even have enough internet to be able to check to see if we could get on the 7:45 ferry tonight, and the ferry phone line had closed at 4, so our back-up plan was to sleep in the ferry parking lot. When we got here, we learned that the ferry is sold out until August – EXCEPT for this evening run, which tourists shun because there’s not much to see, and not much open on the other side at night. Whew!

Update before sending: When the ferry docked in Tobermory at 9:30pm, it was totally dark, and the rain was coming down in torrents. The tiny town was completely shut down, with no streetlights or even business lights to be seen. Parking lots that our app iOverlander said had once been available now had big signs saying NO OVERNIGHT PARKING. Little frogs jumping across the road were the only living creatures we saw until we noticed another van like ours circling the grocery store lot after encountering its unwelcome sign. They were French-speaking Québéquois, and had tried a couple spots we’d missed, with no joy. Finally, remembering a couple of parking spots we’d seen just as we came off the boat, we circled back, drove the wrong way on the one-way street for a bit, turned around and parked. The rain continued all night. This morning at the Visitors Center – where we saw our Québec friends again – we learned that almost four inches of rain had fallen!

We’ve spent the day wandering Bruce Peninsula, hiking, visiting waterfalls, eating ice cream, and strolling rocky beaches. We even (Darwin included!) took a swim in Lake Huron at a secluded beach. This is a beautiful place, and I’m so glad we came here. Tonight, we’re in another parking lot, Home Depot this time, in Owen Sound. More adventure to come in our last week on the road before heading home.