Day 17: Kenora to Wawa
I had to be home by Monday, mainly because it showed thunderstorms on that day and a few days after, as-well as needing to be at work, so I had to cover some ground. It would have been nice to take inside roads, though I just stuck to the Trans Canada all the way to Wawa. In hindsight, this day turned out to be a little crazy...
I woke up to a couple of Bambi's right outside the tent, which was nice for me, not so much for all the dogs around the RVs in the area. After packing up an leaving, just before hitting town a few more deer darted out onto the road, now I was definitely awake.
At vermillion bay for a quick fuel stop.
On the way to BC I had passed this sheepskin shop, however it was closed. This time it was open and I decided to have a look. Throughout this whole trip I met bikers who kept telling me sheepskin was the answer to comfortable long days in the saddle. I'm a not a fan of animal products, though this place was as humane as I'd like to believe, the store rep explained how the sheep live in vast open fields and prance around the New Zealand mountains living better lives than most people.
The T7 doesn't have any comfort seat options on the market atm, seat concepts is working on something, so I figured let me try this out for now. They had a sheepskin that fit the T7 like a glove and was made for motorcycles, it was black too, so inconspicuous. tbh, I don't really mind the stock seat, I've done 1,200km days on the bikes and its bearable to some degree, i just thought this would be like sitting on a cloud, I was wrong.
I had some lunch at a local restaurant, nothing great, just some fries. I got a little ambitious and booked a place in Wawa, i was still 6.5hrs away, and it was already around 2.30pm, which meant reaching at 10pm, and that was without breaks. So I didn't stop to take any pictures, however, things got interesting...
I really regret not recording or taking pictures of this incident. Things got dark really quick, and very cold, close to 6-8c, and I was beating myself for riding out here at night and not just booking a closer place. The road was pitch dark, I was about 30min away from Wawa and frozen, all I kept seeing is Night danger signs for Moose, hitting those things is pretty common out here. At one point I pulled over to wait for a car to pass so I wasn't riding solo, its dead quiet, pitch black, a few mins later a car passes me. I get on the throttle and catch up 1min later, all I see is smoke and the car quickly pulls over.
Keep in mind the roads were all under construction, so some areas weren't perfect. I pull over in-front of the vehicle, and ask what happened, she points at the rear wheel and its completely blown to bits. She either hit a rut or something, and it could have been me if I didn't pull over and wait before hand. Anyway, I get off the bike and decide to help, its close to 11pm now in the middle of nowhere northern Ontario. They were 3 teenagers in the car on their way to Wawa. The tire cannot be plugged, it's shredded. So we get the spare wheel out, it was useless, full of rust, and the tire wasn't even sitting on the bead let alone have any air. I did try with my motopumps compressor to air it up, obviously that didn't work.
So, now stranded. I realized I had CAA and figure a tow can help them, I call CAA and turns out my membership expired a month ago and wasn't on auto-renew, oh no. Now i'm clueless, one of the boys said he has a friend he can call who can get a tow, after he calls I make sure its coming and they are okay, then decide to leave as its almost midnight, close to freezing, and the tow could be hours away. I get on the bike, and a few km's down a Dodge pickup passes me doing well over 150kp/h, in pitch darkness out here, in wildlife area, I'm like dude is crazy! I don't know what the odds are, though moments later I see lights flashing and he/she got pulled over...
I reached Wawa, stop by a timmies before getting to the motel, and this is the only picture I took sadly. It was midnight at this point.
I stayed at the Outdoorsman Motel, and really reccommend this place. Its newly renovated and the owners were very nice. The place closes at 10pm, however they left the room key outside the main office for me knowing I'd reach late, I got in, had a hot shower and then passed out.
