We left on our voyage to Vernon late Tuesday as we intended to go only as far as Blind River.

It was a reasonably mild day, -2C. Enjoy it while it lasts!

_D7A1956 We spent two nights with our long-time friends, Claudette and Bob Gallagher.

Good friends, good company, good food, good wines, and a great card game (guess who won).

So we left early this morning knowing that this would be a long day's drive.

It was overcast until just north of Sault Ste. Marie, where the sunshine broke out, helping to alleviate the minus 18C temperature, which remained consistent throughout the day.

_D7A1967 From here on it is a very scenic drive, often with views over Lake Superior, which had little ice.

_D7A1969 But it was no picnic

_D7A1974 These ice-coated rocks are at Katherine Cove.

Next we carried on past Wawa, gassed up at White River ($1.60.9 per litre), by Marathon, and then a short stretch at Terrace Bay.

_D7A1978

We had many views of a nice sunset over Lake Superior, like this at Rossport.

_D7A1985

I wish I could have stopped more often, but it was still a long way to Thunder Bay.

We passed through Schreiber and Nipigon, when darkness descended.

We arrived at the hotel at 7:00. At this time of year we have to unload a lot of our luggage and food. It is much too cold to leave many of these items, especially food and wine, in the car for the night. So this becomes a daily routine: unload at night and repack in the morning.

So after our dinner of veal marsala (cooked in the car as we drove) and a bottle of wine, it is time to say good night.