I’m in Kenora having breakfast and charging my phone. Neither Timmy’s nor McDonalds had plugins, but Subway came through in the end. I prefer Subway anyway because I can get a good dose of vegetables with my food. I bought a second sub for a meal later.
Kenora is on the Lake of the Woods, which I think is just about the coolest name ever. With word association, I think of the Lady of the Lake, the ruler of Avalon in the King Arthur story. I keep looking around the town, hoping to see Excalibur sticking out of a stone. Someone should create a statue – The Lady of the Lake of the Woods.
I just chatted with a couple of guys at a gas station. The employee is a recent immigrant and loves Canada, not just Kenora. He is so enthusiastic about Canada, he practically jumps for joy just talking about it.
The other fellow, an older guy, said his father was captured early in WWII and was in a POW camp near the Lake of the Woods. After the war, he didn’t like the political situation in Germany, so he told his mother he was leaving and may never return, took his young bride by the hand, and brought her to Canada, to the very place he spent his time as a POW during the war. Crazy amazing stories people have.
It’s late in the day, but I made it to the Manitoba border, and still have 45 minutes before sunset. 142 kms in two days. I’m pretty happy with that, although it’ll be closer to 144 kms before I find a place to camp. It was fun watching the highway distance markers count down the kilometres – 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. And then in Manitoba, a new set of markers started at 490 km. Maybe I can make it across Manitoba in eight days. As soon as I crossed the line, the road turned into a four-lane divided highway with a 100-km/hour speed limit. The wide shoulders make pushing the stroller easier.
It didn’t seem all that long ago that I saw a 1500-km marker in Ontario. But the distance across Ontario is even longer than that. I’ve been walking through Ontario for 2,000 kms. Fully a third of the trip across Canada is through Ontario. I’m celebrating with some licorice. And then I’ll be off to find a camping spot.
