Day 43 Sault Ste. Marie to Spragge, Ontario

108 miles, 3,670 ft ascent, 7 hrs, 29 minutes riding time, average speed 14.5 mph

Temperature this morning was 55F, and we had a low velocity tail wind to assist us in pedaling toward Spragge.  It looked like a happy day ahead.  Along with our two British cyclists, Simon and Julie, I was assigned to galley crew for dinner, so the three of us planned to arrive at the campsite by 16:00 in order to serve dinner by 18.00.

Initially we followed the St. Mary's River  along our route.  The river flows from lake Superior through Sault Ste. Marie and into Lake Huron.  All day we remained northeast of the river.  Our campground for the last two nights was on the St. Mary's.  Below you see the St. Mary's River from our campsite.  The "Soo," Canada is on the right, and the "Soo," USA is on the left in the picture below.

A large volume of water flows from Lake Superior through the St. Mary's River all the way to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Atlantic Ocean.  Our itinerary for the remainder of the tour will take us along that water flow.  

Canadians set up this RV for the season at our last campsite on the St. Mary's.  There were many RV rigs established in this manner.  I wasn't sure whether this was camping or homesteading.

 

 

Another view of the St. Mary's 5 miles into today's century ride.

This is a shot of Echo Bay on Lake Huron.

We pedaled past this First Nations Ojibway enterprise.

After seeing no farming north of Lake Superior, now, having ridden further south, we once again observed Canadian farms along today's route.

 

Here we once again noted deciduous vegetation.  North of Lake Superior we had seen only pine, spruce, and birch trees.

This sign appeared along our route indicating that we were in the vicinity of a Mennonite community.  My Canadian colleagues told me that the members of the community are no longer limited to carriages, but are allowed to drive cars, as long as the cars are black, and may now listen to the radio, as long as they are tuned to a station with no language taking the Lord's name in vain.  

 

As we rode further to the east,The Mississagi River paralleled the Trans Canada Highway for tens of miles before emptying into Lake Huron.

For my fishermen friends following this tour: Yes, there are large mouth bass in Canada hiding under these lily pads!

After my summation of today's adventure, I switched hats and donned my chef's hat and apron to prepare dinner.  After preparing breakfast tomorrow morning I will be off on the second of our five day ride before our next rest day. Check in with us to see our progress!