Another long day, full of prairies. There's not really much to take pictures of, unless you like a lot of flat wheat fields. Wheat, wheat and canola and wheat... woooo... this country is darn big. Darn big, and full of wheat.
I have to say, thank heavens for Tim Horton's... Tim Horton's, with their reliable coffee and consistently clean bathrooms. We've run across many a sketchy bathroom thus far, but the pinacle of sketchy was at a KFC in Moosomin, Saskatchewan. We stopped for lunch and my dad ordered us some salads while mum and I went to the washroom. It was a recently renovated KFC, but the bathroom.... TERRIFYING! The first thing you notice is the massive hole in the floor right in front of the toilet... then, the disgusting toilet... then, while standing and washing your hands, you notice that your feet are slipping on the grease-coated floor... and then the door that sticks and refuses to open. Yikes. We got through that fiasco, and drove to a park to eat lunch, only to discover that our salads were, in fact, totally rancid... *sigh* Needless to say, we didn't eat them, but there must have been something extraordinarily bad about that KFC, since my mum and I were both edgy, twitchy and shaking afterwards. Dunno if it was bad vibes or some toxic fumes, but it was no good.
The lesson I've learned? Stick with Tim's.
I hope Ontario is better :)
Love,
Gillian
8 comments:
I've always thought KFC was dodgy at the best of times!
So how are you all fairing? Are the pets surviving okay?
I can't believe you'll be in Ontario tomorrow. It seems so far away, and you've only been gone 2 days!
Tell Mom Lisa phoned to wish her well.
Give the pets pats for me.
After two days of endless fields of wheat on the prairies you will find two days of trees and rocks, with the occasional body of water In Northern Ontario.
Not sure what path you are taking but a small word of warning. If your plan is to take the #17 through to Ottawa keep a sharp eye out in North Bay. You have to turn off highway 17 in North Bay in order to stay on highway 17...
Yes, I know, not very sensible. The exit can be very easy to miss if you are not paying attention (or a large semi is blocking the one sign). If you miss it, your options are:
-try and find some place to turn around,
-drive down to Toronto and then head back up to Ottawa or
-cut through Algonquin park (would be quite scenic, but the speed limit is lower and the roads are twisty so you would add a few hours of travel).
Oh, and if you can try to avoid Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec city during rush hour. Travel can be very slow and not much fun if you get caught in traffic in any of those cities.
You have to go through the first three, and even though the highway passes by QC you can still hit traffic jams thansk to the bridges.
Safe Travels.
Thank you, that sounds very helpful! Our stops from here are (I think) Thunder Bay, Sous St. Marie, Ottawa, Quebec City, Fredericton. I can't wait to see the scenery to come :)
Oh yes, and the pets are okay. Turtle woke mum up at 2am last night and didn't let her fall back asleep because he wouldn't stop yowling. Right now Winnie is taking advantage of the extra bed in my room to stretch out. Pretty cute :) Belal is being really good and is enjoying the many interesting country aromas! Love and hugs to you and Sheila :)
Once you pass Northern Ontario, the rest of the drive is more interesting. Of course, the back roads are much more fun than the TCH, but they take more time, too. Ottawa & Quebec City are BEAUTIFUL! :) You have a hotel reservation in QC, right? It's notoriously hard to find a hotel room there at the last minute.
Looking forward to seeing you!!
Oh, P.S., in Atlantic Canada, the bathrooms at Irving gas stations are generally pretty clean too (Irving is all over the place here). We always stop there instead of Ultramar or Esso.
Sounds like an interesting trip... I agree though. I've always found Tim Hortons' bathrooms to be the most reliable. A&W isn't bad either. It really is hard to believe that you'll be in Ontario soon. Crazy! Miss you lots.
You'll have to tell me what Thunder Bay is like. I've always wanted to go their just cause it has such a descriptive name. There's a place in the states called Cannon Falls that I'd like to visit for the same reason.
Glad to help. Did the algonquin detour a few years back unintentionally (thanks to the afore mentioned semi). It was rather frustrating trying to figure out options in transit once I realized the road was not going in the right direction.
If you need suggestions for Ottawa, feel free to post them.
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