All the way to Ontario. And back. In air-conditioned luxury

August 1:  Castlegar

Left the motel in Sidney before 5:30, and off to the ferry. Not, as it happened, very full (and only $32!) Breakfast of coffee and salads on the ferry.

Arrived Tsawassen before 8, slow to freeway, then top speed. To Princeton, fuelled ($1.44 for diesel, the most we’ve ever paid, I think). Lunch at Bromley Rock Day Use site. Straight on to Castlegar, where I decided I’d had enough, even though it was only just after 4PM. To the Home Hardware to purchase 2 fake ice (the ones brought from home proved inadequate in the heat) and a container for water. Tried the Flamingo Motel, recommended on some internet site, but it was booked solid. Very small. 

So we went up the road to a variant on the Best Western theme called the “Sure Stay” and were successful in booking a room.

Cartwright's Pub

Walked a couple of blocks down Columbia Street to Cartwright’s Pub. The theme here is pretty obviously stained glass windows. Terrible beer selection, but they did have OK Springs Pale Ale on tap. And San’s fish&chips and my Greek Pizza were more than acceptable. And the pub was mostly deserted, which suited us, though not so much the very pleasant server.

August 2:  Another day, another pub. 

This one in Medicine Hat, Alberta. We’re at the Baymont Inn, (right behind the Imperial Motor Inn, which we rejected because it has a pool and is close to the highway) having visited the local Superstore to purchase a pillow for San (she left hers at the Motel 6 in Victoria), plus spreadable butter and fake ice, (which we carefully left in the fridge in Castlegar). The motel is fine (another variant on the Best Western theme).

We got up this morning around 6, were on our way before 7. Through Salmo, and to the lake on the top of the Salmo-Creston for breakfast, where it as 17 and windy. Then on to Creston and beyond. Fuel in Fernie. 

the lake at the top of the Salmo-Creston

By the time we were in Alberta it had reached the high 20’s, and when we stopped (5:30 PM Alberta time) it had peaked at 36. Love that air-conditioning!

Coffee at a Starbucks in Lethbridge.

After some futsing around the Medicine Hat downtown, we found a motel off Highway 1 and checked in. They not only had room, but it was very reasonable. We didn’t care to do much exterior exploring, so opted for the VLT Lounge and Bar, which occupies the same building as the hotel and an Indian restaurant. Did I complain about the selection in Castlegar? This was much worse, and the wine we asked for with dinner turned out to be unavailable...what was available is pretty much undrinkable, so we settled for an unimpressive lager brewed in Airdrie. But the food was good: impressive hamburgers and fries. They obviously make their money on the 28 VLTs, which were packed the entire time we were there. The bar? Not so much. Country music played at some volume, but we found a seat where the impact was limited.

August 3: Why one might not be keen to live in Brandon

Up around 6, out before 7. Breakfast at the (closed due to the time of day) tourist information site entering Saskatchewan. Windy!

Flat day today, featuring nothing over 32 degrees, and a serious thunderstorm. (Serious mileage too!)

Coffee at a Starbuck’s in Swift Current around noon.

Time change, so we ended up in the Travelodge in Brandon just after 5. It's fine; our room overlooks the Andrew's Field baseball diamond. There are presently two teams playing, but it's hard to make out much, looking into the setting sun.

Andrew's Field

Did some research on places to eat in Brandon that aren't fast food, but most of the interesting ones appeared to have closed. Finally found a decent pub in "downtown" Brandon. They had beer from BC, Winnipeg, and Ontario on tap, plus, of course, the standard Pabst, Coors, and Millers. 

Where "The Dock" is, in the heart of the old downtown, appears pretty desperate. The only people we saw outside of the white people in the pub were guys smoking in groups and women of colour mostly decked out in hijabs. Most of the houses, Prairie architecture from the 1930s or '40s, look rundown. Once you get out of downtown, into the newer business section where the hotels are, walking isn't an option. There appear to be some nice walks in parks along the watercourses, but we didn’t explore them.

August 4: Into the USA

At the Super 8 in Eveleth, Minnesota. Finally.

We had planned to find a hotel in Virginia, Minnesota, but the one we found had about 20 middle-aged frat boys checking in, and all the others appeared to have disappeared. At least, they eluded us, even after two tours of the place. So eventually we carried on down the highway, finding this place. The lady at the desk suggested the Boomtown Brewery across the road. Bingo! Excellent beer and food, good pub ambiance. And full, suggesting a clientelle from further afield than Eveleth, which at least appears to be quite limited.

Boomtown Brewery

We had started the morning after 6, left around 7. Breakfast near Portage La Prairie, in a park supporting the water treatment plant. Complete with pelicans.

near Portage

On to Winnipeg, then fuel in Richer, Manitoba, and finally Kenora. Thought we’d catch a coffee there, so drove off the highway in. Mistake: the city was mobbed with people celebrating “Harbour Days”. Nowhere for them to park plus roads covered in ambulatory and celebratory tourists, so traffic just crawled. We eventually managed an escape, and found our way back to the bypass highway.

Onward to the highway to Fort Frances where we arrived without incident. 

Fort Frances features a smelly pulpmill. International Falls doesn’t, but gets to share the smell and smog. We weren’t impressed positively with either.

(Correction: Irv Arnquist, who has lived there, tells us the Fort Frances pulp mill is dormant, and that International Falls does have a mill, and it’s responsible for any smell. I extend apologies to Ft Frances for implicating it.)

Crossed the border and motored down the straight but rather dreary highway to Virginia. 

Super 8 in Eveleth

August 5: Mackinaw City is a tourist Mecca...with all thereby entailed

We had breakfast (?) in the hotel, and were out shortly after 7. After that it’s a lot of the same until one gets to Duluth: endless trees, more trees, small hills, more trees, no towns, no rock. Turns out, rather to our surprise, that Duluth is very presentable if approached from this side. But the part one drives through after the bridge looks really sidelined and old.

the bridge into Duluth

On the outskirts before Duluth we missed a turn of the highway. Happily, in correcting this mistake we saw a “Cariboo Coffee” place, so were able to deal with the lack up till then.

Ashland is very pretty,  though: a real tourist town on the lake (Superior). Then it’s a lot more of the same, with added muskeg, until one gets to Escanaba on Lake Michigan, another tourist town. Occasional views of the lake, and very picturesque sand dunes in the stretch before the bridge. 

Across the bridge to Mackinaw City, through a packed downtown, to the Super 8, which had room. Expensive @$165 US before tax, etc, but we no longer cared after nearly 11 hours of car travel.

We think they were trying to emulate Fort Mackinac

We attempted a recommended restaurant, but it was packed with a serious lineup, so we passed, and went on to the “family restaurant” around the corner. Their IPA came in cans, but it was a fine version of the “American IPA” from Bell Breweries in Comstock, Michigan. San and I both had the blackened whitefish sandwich, which was fine, and turned out to be a fish burger.

view of the Mackinaw Bridge

August 6: London: Back to where the natives aren't armed

part of the back garden chez  Dawes

This morning we drove the freeways from Mackinaw City to the bridge to Sarnia. Uneventful, fast, and beautiful if one likes the trees of this part of the world. Which we do.

One discovery en route: because we knew that one could buy wine in grocery stores, and because the best selection is in large ones, we left the freeway in search of one. We passed miles of big box stores, and were starting to despair of finding any place that sold groceries when I spotted a huge store that said, "fresh" and "Maijer". Turned out to be large by even Superstore standards, and did indeed sell an amazing selection of wines. So now we know, should we ever be driving in Michigan in the future.

We arrived at the border just as the car ahead of us was leaving, so were through in less than a minute. But people traveling in the other direction, mostly semi-trailer rigs, were lined up for at least a couple of kilometres. 

Less than two hours later we were in London, following Garmin's strident directions, and relaxing chez Dawes. 

To be continued...