Day 2: Wawa to Brandon

I woke up at 5 30 AM, earlier than my alarm. Turning on the TV, I noticed it was nearly -40C, so my first concern was that the car will not start. I have a new model car, but I don't think it was designed to be parked in Wawa at night when it's -40C.

Indeed, the car did start, but it didn't like it. I call my car Fritz, because he looks like a Fritz. And yeah, my car is a male. I'm not sure why. I had to warm up the car for better than 10 minutes, and then found the steering was nearly frozen, as was the oil in the manual transmission. Not that it was frozen, just very very thick so I had to drive up and down main street to get the fluid moving. It was around 7 AM, and there were NO people on the street at all, nor any cars. Even the Tim Hortons was completely empty, something I've never seen at 7 AM in my life.

The next 5 hours of driving to Thunder Bay are incredibly beautiful & incredibly desolate. Every hour or so, you hit a small village of a few hundred people, which has a gas station & a small store. Places like Marathon & White River are really small, quiet places, I'm guessing the locals work at a local lumber mill or something. I also drove thru this area which was obviously the aftermath of a huge forest fire. Nearly treeless, you could see some burned out stumps and it lasted for what seemed like 25 kms.

On the North Shore, the scenery is amazing. You climb up hills and overlook the north shore of Lake Superior. It's incredibly desolate, and beautiful, and if I had more time, would have spent time there taking photos. I'm glad I drove through there in the day, and if you're going to travel in this area, make sure it's sunny and nice out.

It seemed like forever to get to Thunder Bay, a city of about 123,000 on the North Shore. After hours in the woods, it was nice to see a city of any kind, complete with fast food & other such rubbish of the modern age. Turned off Sat Radio to listen to the local stuff, only to hear the same old classic rock on the radio. It's wierd how these radio stations find the most obscure rock songs and spin them. I guess without competition you can try that kinda stuff. In Thunder Bay it started to snow....alot.

The next few hours were incredibly annoying. High winds, bad snow, but the road was wide open. I still flew along at 110 km per hour, sans the times I was behind some lumber truck that would blow snow at the car. The land is a touch more flat, but still very desolate, a few small towns & alot of snow.

Coming into Northwestern Ontario, around Ignace & Dryden, it gets a little more flat with less trees. Dryden has this huge plant which produces something to do with wood & the emissions from the plant create this giant mushroom cloud over the town. It's not very large, maybe 7 000 people, but it sure feels good to see humans again. I am not VERY sick of driving in the forest. And, this town has a Tim Hortons. There are like NO Tim's up here at all, the only coffee you can get is this pisswater crap served at truck stops. It's wierd, but I was listening to CFRB 1010 in Toronto. It's sorta surreal to hear Toronto traffic in the middle of the bush, 2000kms from home.

After Dryden, the land gets back into the all trees, no human thing again. I am now doing at least 115 KMPH because I'm so sick of seeing nothing. Dryden to Kenora doesn't seem that long, but it sure as hell feels like a long trip. Kenora sorta marks the end of Ontario. I have now been driving for 2 days non stop, most of it through the bush. I love nature, but ENOUGH already.

Seeing the Welcome to Manitoba sign was cool, the road opens up to four lanes (finally) and you can hear Winnipeg on the radio. I was blown away to hear Jen Militia - Not a Test on Power 97 in Winnipeg. It was a song I was given back when I was at CJIQ FM & after playing it about 100 times, I always wondered why no other radio bothered to play it. It's just too good.

Coming into "The Peg" as the locals apparently call it, I was doing 140. I could see the city lights in the distance, and it sure felt good to see a real city. It had been two days since I left Toronto, the last time I saw a major urban area. Winnipeg has about 700,000 people, and had this intersting radio station called Freq 107 (they say freak 107). It's a hard alternative station that plays stuff like Disturbed. It reminds me of Faction 28 on Sirius. The chick on the air in the evening was cool, not that usual blah blah blah DJ, but one with personality. I don't really like really hard alt rock non stop, but I like the idea of it. Winnipeg seems to be a rock city & the concert listings were very big. Stopped for gas outside of town on the bypass.

Once you leave Ontario, the land gets flat, and near Winnipeg, all the trees disappear. So you go from non stop trees to no trees it all. I admit to being happy to be on a four lane road and letting the car go. It's wierd, but the trucks out here have 2 trailers on them, guess cause it's so flat? There isn't alot to see, but you can see towns in the dark that are miles away, so it's sorta surreal. Arriving in Brandon, I found a hotel for 70 bucks complete with Wi Fi internet. I sat on the bed, checked my email and .....watched CITY TV Toronto.....ice falling from the CN Tower.