Winnie the Pooh

Thursday - 17 June 2004 - Terrace Bay, Ontario, Canada: It didn't look to be a very good day, as it started raining about 3 o'clock in the morning and by the time we woke, it was a downpour. My Driver, Mr. Self-Discipline, went for a run anyway. Today is the 60th day of our trip and the 111th night of the year "camping"! No one can accuse us of buying a motorhome and letting it sit in storage!

We continued west, on Highway 17 - the Trans-Canadian Highway - in rain and fog. Actually, the mist was pretty over Lake Superior. As the morning passed, by the sky became lighter and the rain finally stopped. We stopped to visit beautiful Magpie Falls outside of Wawa.

Magpie Falls


DT (in yellow) above Magpie Falls

The temperature changed from 53 degrees this morning, to 71 degrees by the time we arrived in Wawa, 130 miles from Sault Ste. Marie. Wawa means "wild goose" in Ojibway. We stopped at the Wawa Visitor Centre - we didn't want to pass-up the chance to photograph the Famous Giant Goose (not to be confused with the Giant Nickel). The steel goose has a 30-foot wing span and "greets visitors" as they enter Wawa.

Steel wawa

Across the road from the Visitor Centre was a US Military plane, parked on the landing strip of Wawa International. The clerk told us it was a group of US soldiers on a fishing trip. Our tax dollars at work. (But you know what? Let 'em fish. They are working their butts off so DT and I can drive around in our RV.)
 
In White River we came across something quite familiar, yet something strange to find in the middle of nowhere - Winnie the Pooh! Would you believe that in 1914, a Canadian soldier, Captain Harry Colebourn, bought a bear in White River for $20 and took it to Europe with him as the platoon mascot? This story gets stranger. He named the bear "Winnipeg", after his hometown. When the troops were called off to fight in France, Colebourn donated the bear to the London Zoo where "Winnie" lived for twenty years, amusing all sorts of children, including one Christopher Robin, son of writer A. A. Milne. How's that for your trivial fact-o-the-day?

Pooh, in his birthplace, White River, Ontario, Canada

We also filled our tank in White River. Sit down. 323 liters, $260 Canadian. Translated: 85 gallons, $193 U.S. Ouch. Most expensive diesel of the trip, $2.27 per gallon. Wow, we thought the beer was expensive!

Just when you think things can't get any stranger - we saw a moose! All day we had passed hundreds of BEWARE of MOOSE signs, warning that the risk is elevated at night. Obviously Canadian Moose like their nightlife! We saw two big females this afternoon. Oh, My Driver was so excited! They were huge too - much larger than Yellowstone meese.

We arrived at our campsite in Terrace Bay, Ontario in time to go up to Aguasabon Falls for a hike! We also drove into Terrace Bay to see the community. We can't be sure, but since we passed a huge mine on our way to town and every house in the town has the same floor plan and facade, we are going to assume Terrace Bay is a Mining Town! The beach is lovely though, with beautiful views over Lake Superior and the many islands off-shore.

The pretty trail at Aguasabon Falls

 
Aguasabon Falls, and the Aguasabon Gorge with Lake Superior beyond

RV Park: Aguasabon Falls Campground