Travel
along the Great Lakes
Bulk
mail, bulk mail, bulk mail...
Hello again every body,
I understand that there has a disproportionate amount of interest in the callouses on my butt from the fellows at the construction site in Edmonton. All I can say is, if that's the hottest conversation topic you can come up with you all need new girl friends.
Well, we're away from Lake Superior finally. It was a really good ride and I recommend it to anybody who would like to do a week's ride in relative wilderness. The services are few and far between so you have to pack food (and water if you choose) for a full day at a time. There are lots of old motels and camp sites along the lake but it looks like about 3/4's of them have closed in the last little while. Doug and I have been speculating on why this should be so when the land we're travelling through is so beautiful and relatively pristine. I thought that it might have something to do with the 9/11 crash and Americans being more reluctant to travel. There are signs every 50 miles or so promoting the Circle Superior Driving Vacation but if only Canadians are doing it there wouldn't be enough business to keep all of the places going. Doug was thinking that it might be because cars are so much more comfortable and reliable than they were when we were kids. You don't have to stop every hour to add oil or water and entertain the kids. Now you can plug in a couple of DVD's and drive for 4 hours without a break so all of the little tourist traps are losing their clientele. My second thought was that it's just a cultural shift. The idea of the pipe-chomping-fly-fishing dad who takes the family for a week of sleeping in a canvass tent on the shores of a remote lake just isn't the ideal of a modern vacation. People want to be constantly entertained now. Vacations are Disneyland and waterslides and Nintendo and getting to your destination on a 4 hour flight. I admit to enjoying those things myself. Still it's a shame to see all of this infrastructure that was built in the 50's and 60's falling into disrepair.
If you know anybody who would like to live in this area they would have their pick of motels, campsites or gift stores to purchase. The few folks who can hold on here will still be able to make a living but are unlikely to get rich.
I figure that there are still about 8 more days to go to get across Ontario. The population density will increase steadily along the way and things will get a little more urban. I confess that I'm fairly keen to get to Quebec. I've never spent any length of time there and I'm prepared for the culture to be quite different.
Cool.
Once again, the road beckons. Peace and love to all (if that doesn't sound too hokey) Brent
Hello again every body,
I understand that there has a disproportionate amount of interest in the callouses on my butt from the fellows at the construction site in Edmonton. All I can say is, if that's the hottest conversation topic you can come up with you all need new girl friends.
Well, we're away from Lake Superior finally. It was a really good ride and I recommend it to anybody who would like to do a week's ride in relative wilderness. The services are few and far between so you have to pack food (and water if you choose) for a full day at a time. There are lots of old motels and camp sites along the lake but it looks like about 3/4's of them have closed in the last little while. Doug and I have been speculating on why this should be so when the land we're travelling through is so beautiful and relatively pristine. I thought that it might have something to do with the 9/11 crash and Americans being more reluctant to travel. There are signs every 50 miles or so promoting the Circle Superior Driving Vacation but if only Canadians are doing it there wouldn't be enough business to keep all of the places going. Doug was thinking that it might be because cars are so much more comfortable and reliable than they were when we were kids. You don't have to stop every hour to add oil or water and entertain the kids. Now you can plug in a couple of DVD's and drive for 4 hours without a break so all of the little tourist traps are losing their clientele. My second thought was that it's just a cultural shift. The idea of the pipe-chomping-fly-fishing dad who takes the family for a week of sleeping in a canvass tent on the shores of a remote lake just isn't the ideal of a modern vacation. People want to be constantly entertained now. Vacations are Disneyland and waterslides and Nintendo and getting to your destination on a 4 hour flight. I admit to enjoying those things myself. Still it's a shame to see all of this infrastructure that was built in the 50's and 60's falling into disrepair.
If you know anybody who would like to live in this area they would have their pick of motels, campsites or gift stores to purchase. The few folks who can hold on here will still be able to make a living but are unlikely to get rich.
I figure that there are still about 8 more days to go to get across Ontario. The population density will increase steadily along the way and things will get a little more urban. I confess that I'm fairly keen to get to Quebec. I've never spent any length of time there and I'm prepared for the culture to be quite different.
Cool.
Once again, the road beckons. Peace and love to all (if that doesn't sound too hokey) Brent
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