Sault Ste Marie to Eagle Lake

After reviewing the previous pages I realize that I forgot to share a bit of trivia about White River, which is east of Thunder Bay.  As we were approaching this tiny little berg there were signs along the highway with giant pictures of Winnie the Pooh and the wording "Where it all began".  As we came into this rather drab looking town, there in the middle was a brightly coloured Winnie the Pooh park and what appeared to be the remnants of a festival of some sort.  Of course my curiosity got the best of me and as soon as I had Internet connection I searched on Google.  The Readers Digest version is that a Veterinarian who was also a Capt in the army purchased an orphaned bear cub from a trapper in White River.  This Captain was from Winnipeg, so he named the bear cub "Winnie".  The Captain's troop was sent to England and Winnie went along as their mascot.  Before shipping off to France, Winnie was donated to the London Zoo where a little boy named Christopher saw him and fell in love with him. This inspired Christopher's father, A.A. Milne to write the Winnie the Pooh stories.  Every year the little town of White River has a Winnie the Pooh festival to celebrate this adorable little bear!

Moving on, we spent a night in Sault Ste Marie which is the 3rd largest city in northern Ontario is a  border town bordering Sault Ste Marie Michigan.  Sault in French is pronounced "so" (sou) in French or "soo" (su) in English.  The campsite we stayed in was about 10 minutes out of town.  As has become our norm in this part of our journey we are not spending much time poking around the towns as we are on a mission to get down to Guelph for Alisha's 4th birthday party.

We left the "Soo" early in the morning to head to Eagle Lake which is just outside of Haliburton in the beautiful Muskoka.  For those of you not from Ontario, the Muskoka region is home to some of the most beautiful lakes and cottages in Ontario.  My sister Joann and her family have lived in the Muskoka's and Parry Sound on the beautiful Georgian Bay (my personal favourite area) for over 27 years.  We drove "through" Sudbury looking for the giant Nickle, only to discover that you actually do have to get off the highway and drive through the town.  Needless to say, we missed the big Nickle which Sudbury is famous for.  We continued east through North Bay and then finally headed south towards Bracebridge.

Not to disappoint anyone who has been following Ray and his love of running the truck on empty, he does it again!  Unlike some places in the U.S., that will have a sign that indicates "last service staion for 150 miles" etc,,, Ontario does not do this, or certainly not the roads we have been travelling.  We had fuelled the truck in Coniston, just outside of Sudbury as we approached Bracebridge the fuel gauge is indicating between quarter of a tank and empty, but leaning more to the empty side.  As we were taking the Bracebridge exit to head towards Eagle Lake we noticed some service staion signs which would have directed us right into Bracebridge which is heading in the opposite direction.  Ray said there would be more stations on the way to Eagle Lake.  About 15 minutes later we passed a station where the price was $1.38 which of course my loving husband said he could get it cheaper down the road.  Well would he not know by now that when you see a service station in this part of the country you really should fill up.  So on we go with the needle now on empty.  My ulcer that I am sure that I have is slowly growing.  Every corner we go around I am hoping to spot a gas station, but none are to be seen.  We do have cell coverage which is good as I would be able to call my sister if we do get stuck.  After another 15 minutes we finally see a very large (four pumps is large in this neck of the woods) service station.  There is yellow tape (like police tape) surrounding all of the pumps.  But as we are on empty I am sure this must be a mistake!  We stop, I almost run into the store to ask if they have gas.  The somewhat older laid back fellow behind the counter says "nope, no gas here, we are allll out".  Seriously????  He tells me there is a station just down the road (which can mean 1 km to 50 kms) in Eagle Lake.  I am almost in tears!!  I head out and tell Ray, who is not looking very well!  The gas tank is "dinging",,,,,,,arg! We head off.  About 5 kms down the road we spot the sign for the Eagle Lake turn off.  As we round the corner we "almost" cheer when we see the tiny service station!  The price was $1.29 and I was secretly hoping that it was $1.46 because that would have taught him a lesson!  The young station attendant comes sauntering out and Ray is talking and joking with him like he is the easy going tourist!!!  As he went in to pay for the gas, I holler out my window "Ray Riggins, you are a jerk"! 

We made it to Joann and Tom's and spent three nights with them.  We were entertained by the beautiful Olivia

and Maya here with Gramma Jo

We had to say good bye to Jo and Tom and continue down to Guelph where we will spend a week to 10 days visiting more family. 

Stay tuned for more travels,,,,,

Lori and Ray