Across Canada in 10 Day, Day 6 – Natural Disasters
If there’s one thing that you cannot anticipate, plan ahead for or build contingencies in for, Mother Nature has cornered the market.
Despite our personal rationale that June is the perfect month to travel anywhere in Canada – no snow, not too hot, rainy season drying up, on and on – the lack of control over what the Mother lays down on the roadway in front of us leaves panties in a serious knot when she’s in full gear.
Yesterday – after 5 days of absolutely exquisite weather and driving – she reminded us who’s in charge out there.
Our new found realization that this trip should be less grind, more fun, meant everyone but me got an extra sweet sleep-in, with us not getting out of the hotel until around 9 a.m. and then heading to the beach to admire the lake, stick our feet in it and run around before what we thought would be a relatively short day in the car.
So very needed, the fresh air and leg stretch gave us all a much happier start – as did the more quality coffee at Starbucks. Ken and I made a mental note that it may be possible that Tim Horton’s coffee is not the best choice (gasp) every time. Alternate caffeine options are gooooood.
It wasn’t long before we’d set off across the causeway, island hopping our way east from Fort Frances, Ontario toward our planned final stop for the day – Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Along the slow and steady Highway 11 route, we stopped off in Atikokan, Ontario for a pee break and had our first run in with Mother Nature.
If we’d been plugged into the world around us at all for the last week, we would have already known that the day we started on our journey way back in B.C., Thunder Bay, Ontario got the storm of a generation in which the banks of rivers and streams overflowed, sewer plants backed up and the town was declared a disaster area.
Guess we’d been rolling on, we thought.
But, not before spending hours and hours in back-ups as crews repaired washed out bridges, repaved roads and continued pumping water out of this lovely town on Lake Superior.
With nowhere to pull off, traffic unending and everyone in the line up feeling hot, foul and on edge, natural disaster #2 occurred.
Right before her morning nap, Quinn likes to leave us a present, and yesterday she did just that. Problem was we were caught in unholy traffic. She announced her deposit with a “Poop” and then gave up, falling asleep for the next two hours.
When we finally emerged from the flooding chaos and her eyes fluttered open, the smell in the car nearly knocked us all out.
I pull her from her car chair. Her clothes would have to be burned. We’d be needing towels, an entire box of wipes, and quite possibly a hose.
Thankfully, we’d pulled into the Safeway parking lot and could bath her in the restroom sink.
Ah, Mother Nature.
The rest of the day went off pretty much without a hitch. We got an excellent glimpse of the Sleeping Giant on Lake Superior.
Mhari scored herself some serious amethyst at a roadside crystal and rock shop, and we spent the day in awe of lake country, that surprisingly looks incredibly like the West Coast without the mountains and ocean. We felt comfortable and at ease with its charm.
Today, a visit in Winnie The Pooh country and an attempt to make it to Sudbury, Ontario so we can score a morning tomorrow at Dynamic Earth.
And…hopefully…Mother Nature will be at ease with us once again.
Category: KIDS, NATURE & OUR HERITAGE
About the Author (Author Profile)
Robin Rivers is Our Big Earth’s Publisher and Sr. Partner. Able to survive on coffee alone. Often can be found leaping tall buildings with the help of great friends. Predisposed to odd hats and the color orange. In love with imagination, her kids and that crazy guy who married her.Subscribe
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