The next goal of this Fall’s journey is to get across Canada. Callie and Portland are waiting for us on the west coast! So we decided to travel via the Trans-Canada Highway for a change of scenery. 

The Trans-Canada highway extends all the way across Canada and is 4860 miles long. We just did 1800 miles of it. We were looking to put miles behind us, so not a lot of sightseeing happened!

Ontario

It took us a good three days to get out of Ontario. The portion of the Trans-Canada Highway north of Lake Superior is gorgeous. But it was not the easiest driving. There was lots of hills and curves that demanded Jim’s full attention. By the end of the day we were both exhausted. We were also finding it tough to get into campgrounds. A lot of Canadian families take vacation in August and thus fill up the campgrounds.

You can’t beat beautiful roads like this.

Getting an early morning start meant less traffic and some beautiful views

We saw lots of signs for deer, elk and moose. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we didn’t see any.

We did see our share of construction on the Trans-Canada Highway, including this stop light with no one else around!

We kept seeing food trucks that served Fish and Chips. What the heck…let’s try one. It was yummy, as expected.

We spent one night camping for free behind May’s Gifts in Marathon, Ontario. I wish I had taken a picture of the gift shop. Anyway, the nice older couple that own the shop lets RVers spend the night for free parked in the trees behind the store. We got an excellent night’s sleep that night. FYI…the fifth wheel trailer was just being stored there, we weren’t encroaching on someone.

Terry Fox

We talked to a local who suggested we stop at the Visitor’s Center in Thunder Bay. From there you could get a great view of Lake Superior and there was also a memorial to Terry Fox. Terry Fox was a young man who lost a leg to cancer. In 1981 he decided to run across Canada (with a prosthetic leg) to raise funds for cancer research. He started at the Atlantic Ocean in Newfoundland and by the time he reached Ontario, much of Canada was following his journey. His run was cut short near his memorial in Thunder Bay when the cancer was found to have spread to his lungs. He died not long afterwards at the age of 21, but not before he raised $23 million for Cancer Research. Fund raising runs are still held in his memory. It truly is an inspiring story. You can read more about him at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox.

Coming down the hill into Thunder Bay

This is Lake Superior from the Terry Fox Memorial site.

Terry Fox Memorial

Terry Fox Memorial silhouetted against the sun.

Manitoba

Finally, we crossed into Manitoba. In the blink of an eye, we went from curvy, twisty mountain roads to a straight road and farmland. The driving was much easier and we could make better time. We opted not to stop in Manitoba. We did a pretty thorough job visiting in 2014 (read that blog post if you want).  We blew through the province in a day.

It was amazing how quickly the terrain changed

Crops were everywhere.

Jim saw these silos and said “Oh look…a family of silos.” I agreed. The adults are on the left and the toddlers are on the right. We have such intellectual conversations when driving!

Saskatchewan

We made it to Saskatchewan the same day we left Ontario. All we can say for Saskatchewan is it was HOT! 102 degrees hot AND looked a good deal like Manitoba. We scrambled and found a campground to stay in Regina. We probably would have dry camped somewhere for free that night, but we really wanted power to run our air conditioners with those kind of temperatures!

Yes, that says 102 degrees.

After 5 days of driving, driving, driving, we have finally made it to Alberta where the temperatures are MUCH cooler. But that’s the next blog post.