July 6

Got on the road a bit after 8 today.  A little later than usual.  Partly cloudy, but no rain.  Drove along Lake Superior's north shore for about 130 miles, then, at Thunder Bay, turned inland.  It immediately warmed up from high 60s, low to mid 70s, to high 70s, low 80s.  Stopped for breakfast after traveling 150 miles.  The scrambled eggs were great, the ham pitiful.  Was looking at some homemade pie, but thought, "Stop!  Stay thy hand!  Eat not of yon pie, though it be apple, and seems not over cooked."  So I passed on the pie.

A bit farther on, I crossed from the St. Laurence drainage where everything flows into the North Atlantic, to the Arctic Ocean drainage.  I swear it got colder.  So, I started this trip in the Columbia drainage emptying into the North Pacific, crossed to the Missouri-Mississippi-Ohio drainage emptying into the gulf.  In Ohio, crossed to the St. Laurence drainage, and now every stream I pass empties into the Arctic.  Very cool, really.  The early history of exploration in North America was largely trying to figure out just where the drainages were, and whether it was possible to jump from one to the other easily.  This continued right up to Lewis and Clark, so the questions were open for centuries.

For days now, I have been passing signs warning of moose.  They show a moose at a fast trot, with "Night Danger" below the moose.  Today, I even started seeing electronic reader boards warning of moose.  I think what goes on is that masses of mooses congregate around dusk.  When it is dark, they make raids on isolated cars and mug the occupants.  There are just way to many warnings for it to be something more benign.  Anyway, here is a photo of artist's conception of a thug moose.  I'm sure you can find similar pictures in all the Canadian Post Offices. 

Actually, this is Max the Dryden Moose.  The Dryden Moose is Dryden's response to the Wawa Goose.

As I moved west, the Blue Sky god's power waned and the Cloud Demon's power waxed.  I finally felt a few drops, stopped and put on my rain gear.  A cloud of mosquitoes found me within seconds, just like this morning when I was loading the bike.  Got into my cute little yellow suit, but did not put on the rain boots because it is hard to do and it didn't seem to be raining hard.  Mistake.  It was raining hard in about five minutes and the leather soaked right through.  So I stopped after 350 miles today instead of the 420 or so I intended.  The boots are drying now.  By morning they will only be drier, not dry.

Been thinking about why I motorcycle.  When doing the speed limit, it is usually mere transportation; when going faster, transportation turns into dance.  Not slow and stately, but fast and stately, coupled with a sense of fine control.  Sometimes it seems the bike's trajectory can be altered just by thinking about it.  I think this is the same reason I ski, and when do, I ski fast.  Not the same fine control in skiing, though, and it requires a lot more effort.  Of course, ask 10 people why they ride and you get more than 10 answers.  "Freedom" is probably the most common response.  And I agree there is a sense of that, but it is odd to say 'freedom' when you stop to think that you may as well be glued to the seat for all the moving you can do.

Below are a series of pictures celebrating Terry Fox.  He lost a leg to cancer and then decided to promote cancer awareness and raise money for research by running across Canada on one leg and a prosthesis.  He averaged almost a marathon a day for over 140 days before his cancer returned.  He was forced to stop just east of Thunder Bay and died soon after.  A very nice monument overlooking Lake Superior and Thunder Bay commemorates him.  There are signs along the Trans-Canada, Highway 17 noting it is the Terry Fox Courage Highway.  While he was running, he couldn't understand why everyone was making a fuss about him.