Our camp site last night was not the best. Surrounded by trees and not a breath of a breeze. It was hot and muggy, (humid). Muggy and Buggy. Mosquito’s and No-Seeums feasted. We are set up to deal with mosquito’s, but the ‘No-Seeums’. They are minute and just fly straight through or mesh. They must be all jaws, as while you cant see them, they let you know they are feeding on you. The only way we could get any sleep was to smother ourselves in Mosquito repellant. The best thing about the site was that there was nobody anywhere near and it was free. Ontario know how to charge campers.
Our GPS took us the shortest route into Thunder Bay. A mystery tour. It took us down tracks and paths but got us there. I like that. Anything’s better than the main roads and you get to see a lot more variety of countryside.
I have to say Ontario is very pretty. Diverse scenery and lovely rivers. We are currently working our way along the shore of Lake Superior. The road is both hilly and and winding. A lovely driving surface but there are trucks galore. The 90kph speed limit is just rough guide. People pass on double yellow lines and trucks are trying to get up your exhaust pipe, till a cop car appears and they are miles behind you.
Canadian Tire in Thunder Bay provided us with the days latest news and the opportunity to post Jens blog report. It also proved us with the best priced diesel in town. $1.26.9/L. The Landy is doing 29+mpg constantly now. It’s making a huge difference to our running costs.
Leaving Thunder Bay, Pop 125,000. The sat-nav again took us down an obscure road for 20k’s, instead of the Trans Canada. This proved to be of immense benefit to us, as being lunch time, we stopped to look for a track down to the Lake. A ute pulled up in front of us and the driver got out, walked back to us and asked if he could guide us? We told him we were looking for a track to take us down to the lake where we could make lunch. “Follow me” said Gary. It turns out he has a lakeside holiday home and he was going to cut the lawns around it. This is the very best part of our travels. Meeting locals and chatting. Gary who’s parents are from Graz in Austria, (hope I got that right Gary) is a retired council water maintenance supervisor. We got talking about, filtration, Chesterton seals, packings, water pumps, Land Rovers and maintenance in general, while he joined us for lunch
We are now camped at the end of a gravel track down beside the lake. Dipping our toes in lake Superior before setting up camp. The sun is shining and it’s glorious. Being a public area, we may well be joined by others coming to relax by the water side, as there are no public access for such an experience. Having taken a couple of other wild goose chase turns, looking for a place to camp I asked the local petrol pump attendant in Terrace Bay if there was anywhere we could camp? “Anywhere you like down by the lake he said”. So, here we are, with just enough space behind the vehicle to put up the Caranex. It’s Canada day weekend so every man and his dog are off to enjoy the weekend and the outdoors.
Jen mentioned our dilemma regarding a visa extension for the US. We are hoping we can make a trip across the border and obtain another 90days on re entry. If not, it we will be a having to put the foot down. However, in planning the mileage for our route, I had scheduled to be in Mexico City by 28th August. So if we were to stick to that plan, we would be pretty much on target for our present visa requirements, to depart the US by 23rd August. Jen likes to have something to worry about so we mustn’t deny her..;). There is always the option of changing our planned route if timing becomes a problem. There is also the fact that we are now running a few days ahead of schedule, despite departing Whistler 5 days after the planned date. It’s all good…:)
Dinner tonight of salmon, salad and Kumera fries. Excellent.
From being beautifully sunny one minute, the next, fog has obliterated the landscape and sun. It’s turned cold and that is most welcome.
A quick check of the oil level and walk around. Everything seems in order. Now we’ll settle down to our respective books. Jen is about to start reading a novel by Anna Jacobs called ‘Lancashire Lass’. About an 18 year old girl who decides to emigrate to Australia in the 1800’s. Gary gave it to us. He asked what a Pom was. Our explanation triggered a memory and he went to his truck and came back with this book. It had fallen from a pile he was getting rid of. Amazing coincidence.
I’m reading a book by Antony Beevor. ‘The Battle for Spain’. Had I mentioned that? It’s a thick book and fairly heavy going, with all the complications and intrigue. You might laugh, but it brings Brexit to mind. A socialist government elected and the opposition not willing to accept their rule, a repressed working class, the army, facist Italy, Nazi Germany and the fear of communism. Whats that got to do with Brexit, I hear you ask? Simply the unwillingness of a sizeable percentage of the population to accept what the majority voted for.
Visits: 47
Ahhhh….the Nipigon Bridge….that wasn’t completed when I went by there last September and it’s the cheapest diesel you’ll find in that part of Superior just up the road. Your pick of the cottages on the lake there bring back lots of great memories from my childhood!!!
You can get no-seam netting It has two to three times more threads going in one (up/down) direction then the other (side to side direction). You might be able to find it at Crappy Tire (aka Canadian Tire) 😉
Also….try buring a citronella candle the bottom of the carnex before you turn in for the night. They don’t like the citrus odours much. Outside the only solution is a good smudge fire (smoke). You too can smell like an old tanned moccasin . LOL
You could try spraying some insect repellant on the mesh to discourage the little bugs from passing through. Good mosquito nets are dip-treated with a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide such as deltamethrin or permethrin.
Thank you John. Good thought. Jen has finished “The Mongol” and enjoyed it also. The next challenge is to get it in the mail..:)