TDC Revisited Day 5

Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie

Today’s retracing of my 2013 Tour du Canada cycling adventure continued on to Sault Ste. Marie. The original blog posts for the various legs included in today’s drive are:

Today was a day for remembering.

The day started with a brief drive around the Lakehead University campus, to see where we had our day off in 2013.

From there it was off to the Trans Canada Highway and the Terry Fox Memorial, just a few kilometers from Thunder Bay. I am still in awe of this remarkable man who, having lost his own leg to cancer at age 18, ran a marathon a day to raise money for cancer research. His plan was to run across Canada. Starting in Newfoundland, he got as far as just outside of Thunder Bay, before reoccurrence of cancer forced him to stop and ultimately took his life. After more than 40 years, he is still a hero and this memorial will make sure he is never forgotten.

Down the road, we spent a little time in Nipigon, remembering Bob and Irene, who we lost near here. For those who were there that day, the campground is gone, the Husky Restaurant no longer exists (although I think it may be operating under a different service station name), but the community center is still there. I still vividly remember the grief from that day and the kindness of the townspeople and the OPP. Something that is new, is a big, beautiful bridge. It appears just to be called the “Nipigon River Bridge”. For my fellow TdC riders, how about we think of it as the Bob and Irene Booth Memorial Bridge? That would be a suitable memorial for a wonderful couple who I will never forget.

The day following the tragedy, a group of us stopped in Rossport for lunch. I was hoping to stop there on this trip for lunch, however, it is unfortunately closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Since the restaurant was closed, we stopped at a scenic picnic area just down the road. From the picnic table we had a nice view of Lake Superior.

Further down the road, the town of White River has an interesting story. It is the birthplace of the bear that became the inspiration for Winnie the Pooh. The third photo below has the story – click on it if you need a larger version.

We made one more stop on what was a very long day. Near Pancake Bay Provincial Park campground is a collection of shops. In 2013, we cycled over for ice cream cones. While today we didn’t have ice cream, I did verify that the “weather station” is still there.