Thank You Murray

Webbwood was only the start of what turned out to be a really superb ride. Highway 17, is the Trans Canadian Highway, reasonably busy, but the pavement is in pretty good shape. (Note to my South African friends - here in North America the word ‘pavement’ refers to the road, assuming it is paved, and not the ‘sidewalk’, as it is used in South Africa. So the joke, keep death off the roads and drive on the pavement does not work very well here.) The route takes you through some farmland, but mainly forests, mostly conifer type species - spruce, pines and probably cedar - here and there are broad leafed species, but I am no tree expert and I don’t get to look closely enough. Though I don’t see much of Lake Huron, there is plenty of water, including the Spanish River – which apparently gets its name (also the lovely town of Espanola) from French exploders encountering Spanish speaking Ojibwa in the area that had learned Spanish from a Spanish woman they had captured on a raid to the south. I took a short detour at Deans Lake Road, over a single lane bridge and explored the area for a half hour or so, stunning, with some of the most picturesque farming scenes.

Bridge on Deans Lake Road 

From Highway 17

My next door neighbour, he rides a Goldwing, suggested that at Bruce Mines I should take the 638. Well, all I can say is “Thank you Murray”, I think that short ride may have been the best stretch of the whole trip. The pavement is in good condition albeit grainy and a bit too much gravel on some of the corners for my likening – I came off last year thanks to gravel on the road, fortunately I was doing about 10 K.P.H and no harm done, but now I am super aware of gravel on corners. But other than that, really great road, with lots of bends. But take care, some of these you would not want to take at 100 or even 40, also passed a horse drawn carriage, this is Amish country. Had one great moment when I rode behind a raptor (I don’t know what it was, it had a wingspan of at least 2½ foot and was brown with black markings on the wings) that was flying about 20 foot up, following the road. I accompanied it for at least 300 metres, when it decided that was enough and flew off over the forest.

Rest Stop on Trans Canadian 

All good things must come to an end, the 638 crossed the Trans Canadian a short distance from Sault Ste. Marie, where it had become double lane highway. I don’t know why, but somehow I had it in my mind that Sault Ste. Marie or ‘Soo’ as the locals refer to it, is a charming city, with roots in a French past – in my mind I’d conjured up images of Trois-Rivières in Quebec - that sat on the junction of Lake Superior and Lake Huron. No Dice, it reminded me of Vaughan (for the South Africans, read Germiston).  It was a bit earlier than expected, so I rode around the city a bit in search of the charm I was sure (still am a bit) was there, just hiding from me. Eventually I gave up and lunched on a chicken wrap and a diet Pepsi at a soulless chicken wing franchise and headed for the US border and the State of Michigan.

Over a great bridge (I love bridges), a few questions at the border post to establish that I actually was who a pretended to be and off onto the Interstate 75. Initially you don’t notice any difference between Canada and the US, even the road signs look the same. “Maximium 70” identical, mind you that does seem awfully slow for a two lane highway. Of course they mean MILES per hour and all the angry eyes you have been getting from motorists is explained. I travel for a few more miles at about 120 KPH, but still the traffic speed is way past that. I decided that there must be a more pleasant route, exist the motorway and find the H63 that runs parallel to interstate, nice road, lovely forest nearly all the way and fairly empty of traffic. I settle into the ride.

I must confess that I like Americans (or as George W. calls them, Merikuns) and I like to visit their country. I have found them to be friendly (of course I haven’t been to New York, so this opinion may change) and self-confident in a nice inclusive way. They will strike up a conversation with you while you are pumping gas and seem genuinely interested in what you say to them. They may be pig ignorant about the rest of the world, but they know what’s happening in their neck of the woods and they are willing to tell you about it. There are some things that they really do extremely well, like the roads and rest stops. The roads are really well maintained and well built, the same class of highway in Canada has soft shoulders, in the US will have paved shoulders and seems to be repaved at shorter intervals. Of course this is just an observation and may not stand up to scrutiny. Rest stops are immaculate. There seems to be a prosperity there, at least in the parts that I have visited, that is palpable. Things are definitely cheaper so your $ does go further. I could go on for several pages on the good stuff, but that is not what this blog is about.

That said, I don’t want to live there. There are some things that all the prosperity in the world doesn’t compensate for. Their politics are driven by three things that cause them, as a nation, to follow some very destructive courses of action. These are, worship of might, worship of wealth and worship of God.

Sometimes these three all act together and results in the US version of gun boat diplomacy that has been foreign policy since World War II, to mention a few examples, Korean War, Vietnam, Bay of Pigs, Afghanistan, Panama and Iraq and use of drones to hit targets in countries they are not at war with. The list is not exhaustive and the catalogue of human suffering that is the result is just unbearable to contemplate. Sometimes the worship of ‘might’ is enough. The gun control laws are a case in point. The availability of really lethal weapons to any old Joe or Jo, is mind numbingly stupid and the resulting catalogue of human suffering is also unbearable to contemplate. Mass killings at schools is only the tiniest tip of the iceberg, family murders, gun accidents, gang shootings and so on. Take the guns away and 95% of this becomes history. When the right to bear arms was put into the constitution they were thinking of single shot front loaders that were lethal up to 150 metres and pretty darn inaccurate at that. Now we have 9mm machine pistols and assault rifles in the hands of some very immature people and the politicians are unable to pass sensible laws because the people worship the might of guns. The worship of God has become a problem because they are blurring the separation of church and state. So they throw millions (yes millions) of people into prison for marijuana related offences, not because marijuana is actually bad, alcohol is worse on many levels, but because the godly think smoking pot is a sin. Anyway enough Chautauqua.     

My plan was to stop at St. Ignace for gas, cross the bridge and pick up the 23 and look for somewhere to stay for the night, but riding through the town changed my mind. A real seaside town, just on a lake, but as I am discovering Lake Huron is more like a sea than a lake anyway.  The Village Inn had a very pleasant room for me at a mere $65 that included muffins and coffee for breakfast.

   The Village Inn