1967

No wild animal count this year.

Crossed the Bridge at Sault Saint Marie toward evening . What a sight!

Saw one big ship just coming thru the locks. Getting rather late so will stay in a motel tonite. Fun seeing the strange road signs and hearing the cute accents of the natives...some English and some French.

Editor's note: The International Bridge should not be confused with the Mackinac Bridge over which Mom, Dad and Deby were one of the first to drive across in 1957.

Wednesday
Left the Soo and headed North. Beautiful, beautiful scenery! Some hills. At times it seems you can reach the clouds. It's just breathtaking to see the clouds covering part of a hill with trees rising above them. Lots of driving. We're not going as fast as we thought we would. Have to really chug up some high mountains. Spent the night a Rainbow Falls Provincial Park near Shriber, Ont.

Thursday--packed up again and headed north. Cold. Cloudy and rain. Ugh. Shades of last year. Have to go slow cause the roads are slippery. Finally arrive at MacLeod Provincial Park around 7 pm. Stopped raining long enough for us to set up camp. Everyone tired of riding. Thank goodness for the tent heater--everyone is cozy.

Friday-Wally took off for town of Geraldton for supplies while the kids and I lolled around in the sack to keep warm. Cloudy and cool again. After breakfast we hopped into a rented boat to try the lake and our luck. Good Old Mom Got The First Fish!! A small Northern, but big enough to keep. Good old Mom got the next one too!!! Another Northern. Deby lost a big Northern right at the boat and really was disappointed. Dad got in a few casts in between guiding and had a few nips, but no catch. David was ed. Then Good Old Mom got the third and Final Northern of the day. How about that?

After supper, Mr. Nelson stopped to chat. He's the park supervisor and very Norwegian . Love to hear him talk (he doesn't need any urging!) Just as he was leaving, David complained of an earache. We thought it was a bug in his ear (Editor's Note: David was notorius for having odd things in his ear.) so decided to do up the dishes and take him to the hospital and have it washed out. It got worse and Wally took him while I cleaned up camp. Turned out to be an infection instead and they gave him a shot of penicillan. Oh-boy-what a night! Poor Davey sick to his stomach and ear hurting. Wasn't long before we were down to 3 sleeping bags. Luckily it was one of the small bags and Dave and I snugggled into one large one. Sleep at last.

David is much better this morning, but has to rest, so Wally and Deby went fishing and Dave and I fooled around camp for a while, went for a ride into town, (shopped, got his prescription, etc) and rode around the campgrounds. Got back and rested. Nice easy day.

Deby bagged the walleyes (or pickeral--as they call them up here) and lots of Northern they let go. She sure had a good time! So did we eating those yummy, yummy fish.

Sunday--David much better, so Wally took him fishing awhile. Deby and I took a ride over to the nature trail and decided to hike. Slow trot was more like it--the mosquitos were so FIERCE. We must have looked like idiots jogging thru the wood flailing our arms around, shooing bugs. Fun tho. Saw a beaver house on the distant shore of the lake (no beaver tho, or birds or anything but mosquitoes). Also identified some trees and bushes. Glad to get back to the car and camp.

Wally and David back soon and David is so excited he almost wet his pants. Hooked a big Northern with his ultra-light rod and really had a battle. Some fun! Got some walleyes to and we had fish and spaghetti for supper tonite.

Monday--Cloudy and cold again this AM. so we decided to pack up and leave today instead of tomorrow. Can stop and fish or look much more along the way. Got going about 4 pm (some packing job!) Stopped at Jellico at the Rock Shop. Saw all sorts of rocks. The dog there bit David on the hand--Oh boy. Broke the first layer of skin only and didn't draw blood, so we decided against the tetanus shot. On to Black Sand Provincial Park for the night. Should have stayed here. Just beautiful--way off the highway on a pretty lake. Sun setting and so to bed. When the sun sets up here it really cools off fast.

Tuesday- Cold, cold this AM. but as soon as the sun got up over the trees it warmed up nicely. Kids played on the beach after breakfast, while Wally and I broke camp. Got it down to 25 minutes now. Started out again at noon. Got as far as Orient Bay and had a flat tire on the car. At least it was scenic and we took some pictures while holding a red flag so Wally could change the tire. Off again. Stopped in Nipigon to shop and see about the tire. Can't fix it (defective) too expensive to buy another tire. We'll hope we won't need one till we get home. Off again.

Saw a sign for a private campground on the Wolf River. Wally itching to trout fish and it looks good so we turned in. 75 cents to park and have a picnic, so we did. The kids and I had lunch after Wally took off for the trout. Nice park with playground and shallow water for the kids to wade. Good chance for me to catch up on this log and let the urchins run awhile.

6:00PM Wally back. Caught one small trout, but had lots of fun and private relaxation. Decided to drive on to Kakabeka Falls. Super Navigator Mom decided the highway around Port Arthur and Fort William would be quicker---we ended up with MILES of construction and way out in the boon docks.Took us at least 2 hours to go about 25 miles. Finally arrived at the park. Had our choice of 2 spots. One on an uncharted hill or one in the parking lot. We chose neither and Wally decided a motel was in order. Well---there was a convention in town and all hotels, motels, rooms, etc. were filled. Nothing to do, but keep going. If the Pigeon River Campsite was filled, there was nothing (but NOTHING) until Grand Marais, Michigan. We didn't relish setting up at 10:30 at night, but that's how it goes. Our first big boner of the trip--hopefully our last. Thank the Lord, there is lots of room here. Like real experts (about time) got our trailer set up while deby baby sat with Sleeping David in the car. Were all pooped, but hungry (didn't have dinner) so we woke David and had sandwiches. The park looks nice (what we can see in the dark) and we can hear the falls. Deby calls this place Luxury Camping because the rest rooms have flush toilets, sinks with running water! To sleep at last!!!

Wednesday--It's really pretty here. Nice and quiet. All but 3 campers have left, practically have the park to ourselves. Wally and the kids stopped to talk to a Japanese boy who has been traveling on his motor bike for 6 months. Didn't speak much English, but did say he'd been touring Canada for about 3 weeks. They have the most beautiful red single dahlias all around. Will have to remember to get some bulbs when we get home.

Thought we might spend another night here, but Wally thinks we ought to go on seeing as we have about 600 more miles to go. (I also think he doesn't want us to get used to this luxury!)

Good thing we did. Lots of construction again and it's quite a distance from the border to Duluth. Pretty scenery, but I think the drive along the upper part of Lake Superior was more impressive.

Arrived at the Brule River about 6:30 PM and set up camp at the State Park here. Had lunch about 4 in Duluth, so Wally decided to climb into his waders awhile and test the Brule. Will have a campfire and weiner roast when he returns.

8/24/1967 -- Left for home. Decded to stop at Starrett Lake for one more night to break the trip.

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