BRO QUEST 2009

Greetings from America's Hat!

We crossed through Sault Ste Marie, MI into Sault Ste Marie, Ontario a few days ago (three? four?). The Canadian version of Sault Ste Marie is about 6 times the size of the American version, and also has all the jobs because of the Algoma Steel Mill, which "smells like a butt" according to Pat.

The north side of Lake Huron is pretty much untamed wilderness with the occasional tiny-ass town plunked down off of the highway. Highway 17, by the way, is narrow, has no shoulder, and is host to a significant amount of truck traffic. I almost got my ticket punched by a cattle truck.

Anyway, Northern Ontario is extremely expensive due to nobody lives there, transport costs, marginal expense, etc. One thing that Canada does have is poutine:

Pat kind of got his manhood insulted and had to order a "medium" plate of fries covered in gravy, bacon and cheese, which he couldn't finish. Here I am with my sweet fake money and reasonably sized portion:

After two days of rain, mosquitoes, hills and gorgeous landscape, we rode through the La Cloche foothills and onto Manitoulin island, which is basically a bicycle obstacle course when the wind is blowing out of the west--the highway curves around the east side of the island, rolling along straight, flat west-east stretches and then turning north-south to cross rolling hills. Essentially, every time you weren't in a head wind you were uphill. It really wasn't bad. We made it to the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry (literally "big canoe") with about 10 minutes to spare, and they let us load with the motorcycles, in front of all the cars. Here's pat pretending to be a real biker:

Anyway, the ferry ride was like an hour and a half and the food was that awesome combination of expensive and not very good. But it was covered in gravy and was high calorie, so hey!

Southern Ontario is mostly farm land and protected forests, with really awesome rolling hills. Also we found a place with all you can eat fish and chips and a live musician who refused to play "Tom Sawyer" or "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald", which were really all we wanted to hear.

At the end of the day yesterday I managed to wear out a trailer tire en-tire-ly (hahahaha), which meant I had to use the spare I had been carrying since North Dakota. Also, Pat and I both noticed that our rear tires were pretty much worn out, so we're working on that, too. Also I look homeless now?

We're currently in Owen Sound, which is like Guthrie, OK, except with a much bigger downtown. And a huge, really nice park that lets you camp there and also take showers. Back in the USA in two days (we think). Going to leave you with an inexplicably angry puppy (from Tobemory, Ontario):