I left Marathon today right on schedule. I stopped by Neys Provincial Park, but it was closed. I took this picture nearby:

Hwy 17 wasn’t that busy, just the usual transports trying to keep on schedule. I had to move out of the way a couple times. My next stop would be in Terrace Bay for about 15 minutes - I went to the beach this time.

The waves from Lake Superior were crashing into the shore.

On the way back to the highway to fuel up, I couldn’t resist stopping at the golf course!

I found my way through Rossport, and then Thunder Bay. A stop at the A&W for a swiss veggie burger also revealed several newspaper articles on the panic that hit Ontario regarding gasoline supply. Hamilton topped out at $2.15 per litre. Hmm… An article about climate change and the US reluctance to pay any attention to Kyoto made for an interesting read. There was also an article about some official Ontario tourist guide making ZERO reference to any place west of Thunder Bay. How timely. I’m heading into the heartland of the ‘other half’ of Ontario now.

Pushing on towards the Hwy 17 and 11 junction, came across a sign that was perplexing at first:

Apparently, ‘MOM’ refers to ‘Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota’. Hardly a vehicle was on the road. I was talking on the phone to my friend Mark for a couple of minutes when I saw a sign mentioning something about an Arctic Watershed sign coming up. Odd… and 1 km later, there it was…

There’s nothing west of Thunder Bay…

I was humoured to see some signs officially marking what I initially thought was a 4×4 route nearby at N 48:40.424 W 90:47.009

Turns out these are snowmobile routes.

I pulled into Atikokan around 7:15 pm, checked into my lodging and verified I had internet, and then went downtown to have a pizza. I’ve been offered a tour of a few spots around town in the am. My car was quite a curiousity for the kids who were having a birthday party. And apparently, there is a Honda Insight here I may get a chance to see.

There’s nothing west of Thunder Bay…