Week Three

Thursday, May 18, 2023

1.    Mackinac Island

Last night, it was so cold that we turned on the space heater. It has a thermostat, but the heater never turned off during the night.

After coffee we went to the office to buy tickets for the ferry to Mackinac Island. The lady in the office called for the shuttle to pick us up at noon.

As soon as the driver pulled up and opened the door, Bijke ran inside. He was so excited to be on the bus.

We were a little early for the 12:30 ferry and waited in line with other passengers. It didn’t take long or Bijke caught the attention of some kids. They wanted to pet him and asked for his name. Bijke is an unfamiliar name, and the girls thought his name was Bacon. That name got the attention of everyone in line.

When the staff finally allowed us on the ferry, Bijke pulled and pulled. He was so excited, but once on the seat he quieted down and our fellow passengers thought he was a well-behaved dog. The ferry took us on the scenic route, underneath the Mackinac Bridge. It was an impressive structure and I found it hard to believe that we drove over it, yesterday.

The wind was brutal when we disembarked. Hundreds of bicycles were parked for visitors to rent. Down on Mainstreet, the horse and carriages stood waiting for us. The people on those carriages looked frozen, so we decided to walk to Fort Mackinac. First, we explored the town and enjoyed watching how everything from lumber to luggage was transported by horse and wagon or by bicycle. We bought a coffee at Lucky Bean, and then started our climb up to the fort. We didn’t go inside as Bijke wasn’t allowed, but instead walked around to the back of the building. A young man, walking uphill beside his bicycle, told us that there were some beautiful trails with spectacular lookouts. We followed his advice. It was much warmer in the woods than down by the water. We passed an interesting structure made of bark, which was called the bark chapel.

Behind the fort we found washrooms, which was perfect timing after our coffee. We discovered several trails, but as we followed the one to the cemetery, we constantly had to dodge horse poop, as Bijke wanted to eat it and roll in it. It was busy with horse-drawn carriages and tourists, so we decided the take the trail to the lookout point. The Skull Cave, which we passed next had an interesting history. The cave, a limestone formation had been formed 11,000 years ago when wave erosion had eroded the limestone and over time created the narrow opening.

At the lookout point, we looked down at an interesting pointy rock, but we also had a great view of Lake Huron. Albert had a big smile on his face after we climbed to the top. “I didn’t feel anything,” he said. “No pain in my chest and no shortness of breath.” We are so grateful. On the way down I took pictures of the trillium, their white flowers were in full bloom.

Back in town, we visited the Grand Hotel. Built in 1887, it was a lavish resort. Red carpets covered the stairs to the entrance and doormen were dressed in red tailcoats with black top hats. Tulips and daffodils were in bloom in the lovely gardens. A giant chess board and an amazing swimming pool were all part of the hotel. Everywhere in town, we saw dark people cleaning up horse manure, taking care of horses, doing jobs white men refuses to do. This island made us think of the time of slavery, colonialism.

When the canons at the fort blasted, Bijke panicked. He had enough, so we slowly meandered down to the Main Street, but we were too early for the five o’clock ferry and went to the beach. We watched several ferries arrive at the various docks. The five o’clock boat was packed with school children on a field trip and workers who worked on the island.

Our shuttle to the campground was waiting for us. The same driver, who had dropped us off greeted us with a big smile. But this time the bus was quite full as we had to drop off several workers, before he turned back onto the highway. He told us that most of the workers come from Jamaica. They have a work permit for the summer. Some rent housing on the island but most of them commute to and from the island. But just like everywhere else, he said, there was a shortage of workers, this year.

This time he dropped us off at the campsite. We were grateful, as we had walked all afternoon.

Back in the snail house we made soup and hot tea and we turned on the heater, to warm up.

The forecast for tomorrow calls for 30% rain. We won’t have a long travel day to Canada. It’s only 85 km to Sault Saint Marie.

2.    Pancake Bay Provincial Park

Rain woke us, early this morning. Yuck, the news reader mentioned that the rain wouldn’t start until 11:00. It would be no fun to pack up and get wet. Oh, well, those are the risks when camping.

Around ten o’clock, the rain stopped. We took Bijke for a long walk and packed up. We were on the road by eleven.

The road up north wasn’t busy at all and there was very little construction. The Sault Saint Marie bridge to Canada wasn’t as scary as it looked and the incline wasn’t as steep as the Mackinac Bridge. The young lady at the toll made us laugh when she said, “A Tesla can tow a trailer? Wow, I’m very impressed.” We arrived at the border by noon. Four cars with boats were lined up ahead of us. The one in front of us was pulled over and we had to wait. But five minutes later, the border guard waved us through after only two questions: where had we been and what purchases had we made?

We found the Super charger at the Water Tower Inn. There were no other cars charging. We made and ate lunch.

The grocery store was tricky to get to as there were no traffic lights to get to the main road, and we didn’t want to risk turning left on this busy street. We took the long way to the Independent super store, as the fridge and the cooler were now empty. The store was busy with shoppers buying groceries for the long weekend and it took me an hour to find everything I wanted. Albert and Bijke wondered again, why it took me so long.

Dark clouds accompanied us on our way to the campground. Lake Superior on the left, looked somber and grey, but it was still dry when we reached Pancake Bay Provincial Park. The campsites were quite muddy, and the temperature never rose above eleven degrees. We decided to put the tent up, it makes it easier to leave wet coats and boots outside the snail house, instead of dragging it all inside.

During supper, the rain started again, and we stayed inside for the evening.

We had a quiet evening reading as the provincial parks don’t offer wifi. We felt homesick but realized that it was a normal feeling at this stage of our adventure. A hot water bottle, warm socks and the space heater on low, kept us comfortable during the night.

We woke up to sunshine, which lifted our spirits, immediately. We went for a shower and did laundry, which was needed after towels and clothes had gotten soaked during the rain, before we put our tent up.

While waiting for the dryer, we met and talked to a couple who’d traveled from Victoria. They were on their way east visiting friends and family in Ontario. They even planned to go to North Bay. We inquired about the wildfires in Alberta, but they told us that they had not encountered any D-tours, even though the smoke had been bad, at times. We hope we can stick to the Trans-Canada Highway, because that’s where all the charging stations are.

We went for a walk along the beach. This park has a great doggy beach. The wind blew from the north, and the temperature at the beach was very pleasant. After picking up the laundry and eating lunch, we packed our bag pack with snacks, Bijke’s long leash, the beach blanket and some water.

Several families with dogs were already at the beach and it was fun to see the dogs playing in the ice cold water of Lake Superior. The five km long, sandy beach hugs the shore of Pancake Bay. Bijke was impatient and crazy to get to the water, but he had to wait till Albert attached his harness to the long leash. As soon as he was attached, he leaped into the water and started barking right away. As is his habit, he swam in circles going around and around and barking at the waves while drinking half the lake. After ten minutes, Albert pulled him ashore, took of the long leash and then the fun part began for Bijke. He rolled and rolled in the sand, looking like a sand dog. After digging a big hole, he sat in it for a while, watching other dogs playing in the water. When he was somewhat dry but very sandy, he sat comfortably on the blanket with us.

We watched a family of Canada geese. The goose and gander with their four goslings swam by in a straight line. The family went ashore, and stayed on the beach for a while. Waddling back into the water, they continued their journey along the shore, forming a perfectly, straight line with the gander at the end.

We made cauliflower soup for dinner. During supper we got neighbours on both sides. A family with four children and a dog on one side and a motorhome with five adults on the other side. We enjoyed watching kids biking and playing ball, not like at the rv campgrounds where the people never seem to leave their big riggs. At the provincial parks families are outside and kids are playing.

We went for a long walk around the park, before going back inside the snail house where the heater had already been turned on.

Bijke his inner clock, wake us up at 7:00. The campground was very quiet, as the cold kept people inside longer.

During their early morning walk, Albert spoke to some people who were camping in tents. The man told him that they couldn’t get warm during the night.

We are so lucky to have our cozy snail house.

Later that morning we hiked the nature trail. We remembered the trail from three years ago, when we camped in this park on our way to Sjoerd and his family. The trail wound along the beach and lake shore and the view was breath taking. Walking inland, we were met by majestic maple trees and white pine. Along the path grew eastern juniper and various spring flowers. The lilies of the valley were not yet blooming. The three and a half km trail ended in the wetland and the bog and we remembered that there was a board walk, but all we encountered was deep mud, water and tree trunks. At one point I almost lost a shoe and Albert didn’t fare much better. Bijke waded up to his tummy through water and mud. Near the end of the trail, we met another couple, who had difficulty keeping their feet dry.

After an hour and a half we ended up at the dump station and we tried to rinse off Bijke, but the mud was really sticky. After lunch we took him for another swim and he came out of Lake Superior squeaky clean. It was warmer than yesterday at the beach, but not as sunny and no clear blue sky.

Later that afternoon we took down the tent and put it away. We ate quinoa with celery, mushrooms, peppers, chickpeas and broccoli for dinner.

One more walk after dinner before we said goodbye to one of our favourite campgrounds.

Monday, May 22, 2023

3.    Neys Provincial Park

Three hundred and sixty kilometres north, on Lake Superior, awaited another one of our favourite campgrounds. We left Pancake Bay at 9:00, this morning. On this long weekend Monday, we had expected lineups at the dump station and busy traffic on the highway. We didn’t have to wait to empty our tanks and once we were on the highway, we couldn’t believe how few cars, campers or transports we met.

Breath taking views of the lake accompanied us to Wawa, our first charging stop/ coffee break and home of the big, Canada goose.

From Wawa to White River was only 120 kilometres. At a busy gas station, we found six charging stalls. With no other Teslas charging we were able to park across. We made and ate lunch and enjoyed watching the people who frequented the Fish and Chips stand, right beside the gas station. White River is the home of Winnie the Pooh. 

At three, we arrived at Neys Provincial Park. The office staff was just leaving, but one of the attendants went back inside the building to check on our site number, which we of course couldn’t remember. We found our site right beside the visitor’s centre, which unfortunately, was still closed till June. 

Neys Provincial Park was a POW camp for German prisoners, during the Second World War.  A replica of the camp is inside the centre and we were interested in this exhibition as it was closed in 2020, due to Covid. Our view from our snail house was spectacular. And even though it wasn’t very sunny, we enjoyed the beach and the shoreline. The beach was littered with driftwood, each piece a work of art.

After we had set up, we went for a long walk through the campground. In August 2020, we had camped on site 28 in area 3. As we backed into our site, our snail house hit the post and damaged the wood. Sure enough, the post was still damaged. We had left our mark.

After dinner, we went for another long walk. We found the doggy beach right beside Prisoner’s Cove, but the forecast showed rain for tomorrow, so we’ll have to wait and see if Bijke can go for a swim.

A big rig had just set up and we talked to the couple from Alberta, who had experienced terrible smoke on the way to Ontario.

The sunset on the beach was gorgeous, but difficult to capture with the camera.

All along Lake Superior are interpretive signs of the paintings of the Group of Seven. Seven artists formed this group in the 1920s. They all painted the rugged landscapes of Canada. One of our favourite painters of that time was Lawren Harris. The sign in front our campsite explains that Harris took his first trip to the north shore of Lake Superior, in 1921 and fell in love with the landscape. He returned many times bringing fellow painters, Jackson, Lismer, Casson and Carmichael with him. Their painted landscapes are now protected by Neys Provincial Park. Harris his most well-known painting is, Pic Island Lake Superior, which he painted in 1924.

It turned cool quickly and we turned on our heater. It was quiet, except for the train whistle every couple of hours.

We both had slept really well which hadn’t happened too often since we’d left the Peever Line. The thermometer showed 4 degrees. The people from Alberta, who had arrived late, were gone by seven thirty. They had camped at a reserved spot. The site was reserved till October nine. Hmm...

Fog blanketed the lake this morning and the weather forecast promised thunderstorms and rain by eleven. We went to the shower house before the dark clouds moved in. Many campers left and several were lined up at the dump station. By eleven the thunderstorms arrived and Bijke went crazy. He can’t handle gun shots, fireworks … or thunderstorms. I hugged him tightly, while his heart hammered a million beats a minute.

When the rain stopped and the thunder subsided, we walked to the camp office, to get our official number for the site. On our way back to the snail house the rain returned and a little rumbling in the distance made Bijke pull the leash hard as he couldn’t wait to be inside.

The rain continued all afternoon and we decided to stay in. We read and wrote as a grey Lake Superior shared our somber mood.

Around five, the rain stopped but the wind had picked up. We dressed in layers, added toques and mittens and went for our walk. It felt like fall. The wind was brutal, but it still felt good after a long day inside. On the way home we met a family from BC who had just arrived. Their motorhome was huge and they’d brought two cars and were traveling all the way to Nova Scotia. Their daughter son-in-law, baby and a big dog all lived in that big unit. They found it very cold here.

We made rice and beans with beanburgers. We have a good system going. I cut up all the vegetables, Albert throws them in the Instant Pot and sets the timer. The pot sits on Bijke’s bin, outside the trailer. It saves us a lot of space compared to cooking on the propane stove inside.

We went for one more walk along the shores of this beautiful campground. Tomorrow we will travel to Sjoerd’s family in Thunder Bay.

Seven degrees with the heater on. Brr… There was a frost and a smoke advisory in the news, last night. The lake looked stunning, with the clear blue sky and the islands in the background.

There were no lineups at the dump station and were done in no time. 

Our first stop, Terrace Bay and once again, there were no other cars charging. We hit some construction at Ross Port, but nothing as bad compared to the road construction in Michigan.

The steep winding road gave us incredible vistas during our drive to Nipigon. The visitor centre was closed, but we charged and made lunch in the little park. There was more road construction from Nipigon to Pass Lake, but we arrived in Thunder Bay around two in the afternoon.

Sjoerd helped us set up the snail house in his back yard. 

Femke was home and made us tea. We hadn’t seen her in two-and-a half years. As soon as she sat down on the couch, Bijke snuggled up beside her. He really missed his couch, so this was his chance to get some couch time. When Mia and Allie came home, it got busy as Mia had to go to work, training new workers at Mac Donald’s and Allie needed to get ready for a soccer game.

Sjoerd picked up Ghislaine from work and at five we all cheered on Allie, but she only played for 10 minutes , before she was taken off the field and never played again for the rest of the game. It was very disappointing. She is in grade nine and the older girls get more playing time. But her school team won. It was very cold at the soccer field and we were glad when the game ended.

Back home, Sjoerd made a fire in the fireplace, as even their house felt cold. After a delicious dinner, we all retired quickly. Albert had been pre-heateing the snail house since supper time, so it wasn’t too cold when we went to bed, even though they called for minus two and another frost warning for tonight.