When we were headed back to Ontario in September, Manitoba still had a 14-day quarantine rule for people coming from southern Ontario and east. We checked with the Manitoba government COVID hotline and it was ok for us to go there because we had come from the west. Still, we were feeling conspicuous with our Ontario plates so we headed right to the border after visiting Riding Mountain National Park for a couple of nights. I’m glad we did that one stop in Manitoba and look forward to seeing more of the province in the future.
It felt weird crossing back into Ontario because we no longer had to feel nervous about our plates. During the trip we had developed a habit of quickly letting people know we had left Toronto in early June and gave them the well-worn story of our Magical Mystery Tour. I felt sad returning to Ontario as it made me more cognizant that our trip was wrapping up soon and the van would have to be winterized. We were already talking about next spring and our next chapter. There is so much more to discover in Canada and farther afield when it’s safe to go south of the border.
Just across the border, in Kenora, Ontario, we got a campsite right in town on the Lake of the Woods. It’s a great campground but was packed with families for Labour Day weekend. Lucky for us we were just using that campground as a parking spot. Our friends, Louise & Ivor, picked us up at the dock, a short walk from our campsite, and took us to their cabin in Lake of the Woods. It was a 45-minute boat ride to Doris island. There was a wonderful lack of boat traffic, beautiful skies to enjoy with no light pollution and fantastic winds
One day our host’s friends came by including 14-year-old Joey who is a budding wilderness guide. He caught pickerel from the dock, filleted them including the cheeks (a delicacy that many don’t bother with because they are so finicky to cut out and peel the skin off) and we had a delicious fish fry that could not be fresher.
Our getaway to Doris Island in Lake of the woods was a wonderful way to wind down from our adventures and start to get our heads around staying in one place for a bit. We helped out with getting the place ready to close for the season and keeping the dock from deconstruction during a wild windy day.
We couldn’t avoid heading south much longer so we reluctantly got on our way. All of a sudden it seemed we were rushing home and I wasn’t happy about the trip winding up at that pace. We had such a slow pace for most of the trip and I was not looking forward to going back to reality even though I’m very aware of how odd it is that we were able to travel this year at all, let alone as extensively as we did. It helped that the days were getting shorter and colder. There seemed to be more rainy days too. Thank goodness for the efficient little propane furnace in the van keeping us toasty, along with the alpaca socks – a great investment!
Our final night, before starting a fall residence at the cottage, was at the first park we had camped at back in June: Lake Superior Provincial Park. We scored a primo lake-front site, surrounded by pine trees, in the tent section away from the big RVs – one of the many advantages of travelling in a campervan is you can be a bit of a chameleon when booking campsites. In the provincial and national parks many of the tent sites, which often have the best locations by the water, allow one vehicle parked on site, up to a certain length. Our van often falls within that length, so we are able to book that primo spot as long as we are ok with no hook-ups to water or electricity. At the beginning of the trip we were grabbing full hook-up sites, but we came to realize we would rather have a beautiful site than hooks-ups. We can go at least a few days without access to water or power.
So, we enjoyed our super view of Lake Superior and enjoyed our last evening collecting more rocks from the beach and later, listening to rain in the van, reflecting on how wonderful this first chapter of our van life has been. The next day we picked up some beautiful chunks of pink granite at a spot we pulled into for lunch, by the French River. I’m looking forward to rebuilding our pond next spring and will have beautiful mementos from our trip to arrange around it.
Thank you so much for this awesome travelogue, Nicole! Your info-packed and amusing slice-of-life entries, coupled with Bob’s stellar photos, were such a treat to read–and inspiring too. Don’t be surprised if one day John and I copy you step-for-step…well, minus that one subpar, overpriced campsite, the mounds of mud, and the attack raptor.
Thanks Erika! that means a lot coming from a great writer the likes of you!