Thunder Bay

The road between Marathon and Thunder Bay has been the most hilly of my trip thusfar.

Robin and I were planning on riding from Marathon to Rossport, but during the day she convinced me that we should get a motel in Terrace Bay, about 25km E of Rossport. We went to the 3 motels in Terrace Bay and the rates were $95, $109, and $80. I'm not sure what the two more expensive ones had to offer, but it was nice to have a shower and a bed in the $80 motel ($80 CAD = $56 USD, which was a pretty cheap motel room to split!)

After we ate dinner, as a heterosexual 29 year old man staying in a motel with a 29 year old woman, I felt I had to be true to my nature and said the following to Robin:
"I feel like I've been on five awesome dates with the coolest girl I've met in a long time"
"I'm hesitant to make our simple and productive relationship as bicycle touring partners more complex."
"But I have to tell you that I'm interested in being physically intimate with you and I'm wondering how you feel."


Apparently she felt the same way.

The next day we bicycled from Terrace Bay to Nipigon, which, at slightly over 1000 meters of climbing, was the most climbing of my trip so far. (I had thought the Evans Notch day, my 4th day, might be more, but after checking my map it was not. Although it was by far my steepest and tallest single climb.) We camped on some grass near the Marina in Nipigon, and also got some great 5 cent candy from a gas station.

The ride the next day, from Nipigon to Thunder Bay, was mostly easy and flat. After about 600km of riding on its shoulder, we finally departed Hwy 17 and followed Lakeshore Dr. into the city. We stayed at the Sleeping Giant Guesthouse, which was a hostel that charged only $35 CAD for a private double room.

We stayed 2 days in Thunder Bay. We ate some delicious noodles at at Thai food place, got a bunch of beers, chilled out in a park, and had pancakes and sausages at a Finnish Breakfast Cafeteria. It was a nice rest.