Travelling through Northern Ontario

We left Dryden, under a warm and sunny sky. A great start to the day.
The road was free of accidents, and most important, construction.

You may think that this portends to a very good day. Stay tuned.

Our 1st stop was in Thunder Bay and the Terry Fox Memorial.
Terry Fox was diagnosed with cancer at age 18. He lost his right leg, but was determined to raise money for cancer research. Running across Canada was Terry's idea to help the cause.
So in 1980, at the age of 21, and with his cancer in remission, Terry started his "Marathon of Hope"
On his journey across Canada, Terry ran 5,373 km in 143 days doing a marathon on most days.
His journey ended in Thunder Bay where the cancer finally ended his marathon, and eventually his life. A memorial was erected to honour Terry at the point his journey ended.

These pictures below show the "sleeping giant" in the background, (hard to see I know) and were taken from the Terry Fox Memorial, looking out over Lake Superior.

A couple of scenes as we headed east from Thunder Bay towards Marathon.

You remember the "stay tuned" comment earlier, well, our intent was to spend the night in Marathon, Ontario. We arrived around 5:00 PM. Apparently there are only 3 motels in Marathon and we checked them all. As Mary and Joseph discovered in Bethlehem all those years ago, there was "no room at the inn".

An hour east was White River with all of 2 hotels. Again, all full when we called.

A couple of hours further east was Wawa.

I reckon driving to Wawa was slightly better then sleeping in the car.

Your fearless adventurers, tired as they were, set off for Wawa.

We stopped at the Wawa Motor Inn, only because Bob noted they had a lounge, and happy hour was fast disappearing.

Terrific decision Bob. Sue and I went in and grabbed the last place at the Inn. (sorry Mary and Joseph but we were thirsty and a little tired). It was a 2 bedroom chalet with a full kitchen, lounging area and a fireplace. 

More important, was the lounge was still open, as happy hour was not quite done.

The interior picture does not do justice to the chalet, but it was the best I could do.

An outside look at the chalet.

Stay tuned as tomorrow we hope to make it to Elliot Lake.