Waking early to a dreary sky, I was disappointed to see the tent had not handled the excessive amount of precipitation as well as I had hoped. As Dani rolled up the sleeping pad and bag, I prepped our gear inside the Jeep for us to quickly pack it up. We looked around at the empty “campground” and drove away slowly, headed a short ways to the only building on site that I had read housed free showers. Sure enough the doors were unlocked and we were each able to rinse off before beginning another long day on the road. We hit the road at 08h00, turning back onto the Trans-Canada Highway and quickly searching Google on the iPad to find the nearest gas station. The Jeep’s digital display showed 15 miles to empty, eventually dropping to “Low Range” on the gas gauge hit the bottom of its scale; we were still 5 miles from the nearest fuel supply. In what was probably the most nerve-wracking moment for me during our trip, the GPS announced our arrival at the gas station as we arrived at an empty field… no fuel to be found. Saying a quick prayer in my head we continued on, eventually finding the gas station a mile down the road. We paid a shocking 119 cents per liter, the most we would on our entire journey, and the Jeep took an impressive and scary 23.5 gallons in the 24 gallon tank.
After fueling up and carrying on, our scenery changed a bit to include a lot more lakes and higher-rising rock mountains. The road carved through the country as we moved further through the western side of Ontario, and the clouds from the storms the night before lingered overhead. After almost two hours we started seeing signs for a visitor center at a nearby mine, thinking it’d be a good rest stop as Dani had never seen one before. We hopped off the highway and took a gravel road another 15km before arriving at the main building for the Amethyst Mine Panorama. They offered a tour of the 1,100 foot long mine, having been in continuous production since 1965, but where we had neither the time or interest in spending the money to walk through a field of rock, we politely asked to go peer over the railing into the mine itself and made a quick return to the Jeep to carry on with our journey. Before pulling out of the parking lot we looked at the maps and choose the large city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, as the appropriate destination for our upcoming lunch.
After fueling up and carrying on, our scenery changed a bit to include a lot more lakes and higher-rising rock mountains. The road carved through the country as we moved further through the western side of Ontario, and the clouds from the storms the night before lingered overhead. After almost two hours we started seeing signs for a visitor center at a nearby mine, thinking it’d be a good rest stop as Dani had never seen one before. We hopped off the highway and took a gravel road another 15km before arriving at the main building for the Amethyst Mine Panorama. They offered a tour of the 1,100 foot long mine, having been in continuous production since 1965, but where we had neither the time or interest in spending the money to walk through a field of rock, we politely asked to go peer over the railing into the mine itself and made a quick return to the Jeep to carry on with our journey. Before pulling out of the parking lot we looked at the maps and choose the large city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, as the appropriate destination for our upcoming lunch.
 Abandoned Church - Longlac, ON |  Exceptionally Low on Fuel |
 Gorgeous Scenery |  Cooking Lunch in Thunder Bay |
As the highway descended from higher elevations we began seeing the vast waters of Lake Superior to the south of us. Signs for Thunder Bay began popping up, and we chose a random exit to find a restroom and a place to cook lunch. We found a McDonalds with a nearby city park, and in short order were set up with our grill and cooking pasta with chicken sausage to strange glances from onlookers. We were exceptionally efficient, in and out of Thunder Bay in under an hour with our sights set on making it to Winnipeg before the sun was too low on the horizon. It took a while to get out of the more pedestrian roads of Thunder Bay before the Trans-Canada Highway again opened up to the two-lane road we had become familiar with. In the early afternoon we passed by a sign marking the Arctic Watershed, the geographic point where all streams flow north to the Arctic Ocean. I snapped a quick photo of the Jeep with the sign, and we carried on as Dani drifted to sleep in the passenger seat and I quietly listened to a 40s swing channel on the satellite radio, tapping my fingers to the beat as the Jeep’s tires endlessly rotated on the well paved road beneath them.
We crossed out of Ontario and into Manitoba around 18h30 with only 150km left until we arrived in Winnipeg. I drove alongside a slowing trail for the last few miles before entering the city proper, and Dani turned her attention towards finding us somewhere to eat. Not having an interest in cooking another meal at the end of the long day we stopped at an Applebees for a quick dinner only a few miles away from where we would spend the night. I had found an Airbnb for us nearby to the Trans-Canada Highway for a mere $30, which bought us a large in-law apartment in the basement of the young family’s house. We arrived and unloaded the minimal but necessary gear, took quick showers, washed our pots and pans from lunch, and climbed into bed. We had covered 988km, or 614 miles, and were celebrating that the next day’s distance would only be 80% of that, a “relaxing” day, if you will. We were over a thousand miles from Ottawa with a thousand left to go; our eyes, hearts, and imaginations were set on Jasper, and we couldn’t get there fast enough.
We crossed out of Ontario and into Manitoba around 18h30 with only 150km left until we arrived in Winnipeg. I drove alongside a slowing trail for the last few miles before entering the city proper, and Dani turned her attention towards finding us somewhere to eat. Not having an interest in cooking another meal at the end of the long day we stopped at an Applebees for a quick dinner only a few miles away from where we would spend the night. I had found an Airbnb for us nearby to the Trans-Canada Highway for a mere $30, which bought us a large in-law apartment in the basement of the young family’s house. We arrived and unloaded the minimal but necessary gear, took quick showers, washed our pots and pans from lunch, and climbed into bed. We had covered 988km, or 614 miles, and were celebrating that the next day’s distance would only be 80% of that, a “relaxing” day, if you will. We were over a thousand miles from Ottawa with a thousand left to go; our eyes, hearts, and imaginations were set on Jasper, and we couldn’t get there fast enough.
 Open Roads |  Arctic Watershed |
Racing Against Trains
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