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I followed the Hiawatha Tour bike route shown on my maps.  It took me down highways that had low traffic and good shoulders.  There was only one hill; otherwise flat farmland and pine forests with a ferny understory.

I stopped for lunch in Rudyard and talked with the diner's owner.  He gave me a bumper sticker that says I ate there.

I was able to ride back roads more than half the way today.  Sunday morning traffic was so light it wasn't really necessary, but it was nice to sample the quiet and countryside.  I saw a lot of fields, but none appeared to be cultivated.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on June 12, 2005]

Some reflections on my ride through "the north": The region I rode through is referred to as "Northern Ontario" even though it's south of most of Ontario -- it's just north of most of the inhabited part. Sometimes it's just called "the north" or even "northern Canada" even though it's actually south of most of the Canada-US border and the majority of the provinces!

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on June 12, 2005]

I made it to Michigan! I've got a lot to tell -- it's been almost two weeks, after all -- so I'll put the travelogue in this message and some more general observations in the following message.

After yesterday's marathon ride, I was glad to take it easy today.  I had brunch in Iron Bridge and planned to turn north at Bruce Mines and camp at Rydal Bank, but when I got to Bruce Mines around 4:00, an ominous thunderstorm was moving in.

I had another long, hot day as I tried to get as far as possible.

I met several other bicyclists along the way.  There was a young couple from Niagara Falls on their way to the west coast, pulling a heavy trailer.  I suggested they travel through the US instead for better roads, but they said they'd never get through customs... turned out they were selling hemp jewelry to pay for their trip!  They were sitting out the heat of the day... what a concept!  I should try that sometime.

This morning I went to Dynamic Planet, a museum of mining funded largely by INCO, hoping it would mention the environmental damage done by mining and the industry's efforts to lessen it.  On the way into Sudbury I had passed a sign demonstrating the success that's been made since 1979 in foresting some of INCO's slag piles.  The museum and mine tour didn't mention either the problems or the solutions, but it did teach me quite a lot about mining.

There was a brief rainshower this morning, and I expected it to return all day, but it never did.  I stopped at a restaurant for a second breakfast and was glad I did, since there were no more restaurants when I was ready for lunch.

The geology as far west as North Bay is beautifully folded gneiss, as in the Appalachians.  But just west of there, the hills disappear and you're on the Great Plains!  I saw a field of live soybeans today for the first time since October... I expect I'll see them all the rest of the way to the Twin Cities.

Turns out that storm last night was more severe than I thought, and I might have been wise to take more precautions.  Oh, well!

Today was cooler but so windy that I made very slow progress into Mattawa, where I parted ways with the Ottawa River and ran some errands.  I decided I couldn't make it all the way into North Bay as I had planned and stopped near Talon Lake.  The campground has no showers, but I scrubbed myself off in the lake.