July 30 2025

We both felt physically pretty good after our race, but my cold was still here (I was hoping I’d sweated it out while racing). Aaron Provincial Park in Ontario was our destination for Sunday. The day was overcast and we had about 5 hours to travel. After dinner, we headed to the lake (aptly called Thunder Lake) for a dip.

Storm clouds building

We quickly vacated the area when the lightning started. Back at camp, we tucked away everything, including ourselves. Just in time, as the lightning seemed to be hitting the ground around us in the campsite! Our phone emergency alerts were going off like crazy: “thunderstorm warning” “high rainfall warning” “tornado warning”. What’s this with us and tornado warnings! Luckily we just had heavy rainfall and lightning for about 15 minutes, then things eased off. Safe and sound.

The next day dawned sunny’ish so off to the beach for another quick dip before leaving. The lake is very pretty, with treed shoreline and small islands covered in trees interspersed with cabins. The water was clear, with trails in the sand, snails perhaps?

We stopped at Kakabeka Falls, near Thunder Bay. What a pretty spot! The river flowed silently and flat until…oops, over the 40m falls you go! The water was an interesting orangy-red from iron and tannins in the neighbouring soil.

Our next stop was the Terry Fox Monument, near where he stopped on his cross-Canada marathon. As with the statute in Victoria, we were teary eyed thinking of this young man and what he went through to give hope to kids with cancer. The world is a much better place because of his determination to make a difference.

Our resting spot Monday was the KOA just outside of Thunder Bay. As we packed up the next morning, we chatted with our neighbours, Denise and Mark, whose friend had ALS. Another case of taking a long time for diagnosis.

The skies were smoky again, making what we’ve heard is a pretty drive not so pretty. The terrain was rocky with rusty-coloured rocks, and evergreen trees mixed with deciduous. It must be quite pretty here in the fall. Lake Superior is….BIG! Can’t see the other side; some white sandy beaches; some seaside-like rocky coves. Too bad we don’t have time to relax and explore. Got to our final destination, Harmony Beach Lakeview Resort, where   were lucky that Cathy found a spot for us (she too has a connection with ALS). It took a while to get the trailer level on the sloped lot, but it  worked for the night. We were able to relax for an hour or so at the beach while we watched the waves, then decided to join them, then watched the sunset. It was nice to sit back and decompress a bit.

Wednesday morning it was up early for a short run along the beach, some stretching at the beach, then a swim. The water was a perfect temperature – cool enough to not sweat while swimming, but warm enough to make it enjoyable. Our plan for the day was to hit Sault Ste. Marie to see the locks, then end our day in North Bay. We stopped for about an hour to see the locks and walk around Whitefish Island. This island was inhabited by Ojibway for thousands of years until 1900 when the government took it away for the railway to use, which they never did. The First Nations fought for and eventually regained ownership and control of the island. It has lovely walking trails and history boards explaining the importance of the area to them.

Wednesady night was our first night at Chez Walmart. We were heading to a campground, south of North Bay, that might have had a spot and saw a bunch of RV parked in te Walmart....sharp left hand turn. We kill three birds with one parkoing job...bought groceries, bought dinner and had a place to sleep. Thanks Walmart.