Between Here and the North Pole.....

In the last couple of posts we rambled a bit, spending some time talking about some of the art we have seen along the way - then - moving into a discussion of our friends, the Inukshuks.  I know some of you folks out there live in lands that could, themselves, be considered "vast" or "remote."  Well, as we move along to our next stop - Terrace bay - I'll try to put our travels in the context of where we live and the types of climate and topography to which we are accustomed.  For starters - back in the U. S. we are pretty "spoiled" when it comes to highways.  Although small (about 25th in the size rankings), the presence of a lot of natural paving materials in South Carolina and our neighbors to the North and West has always given the state an advantage in road paving.  Consequently, for many of my childhood years our state had the slogan ..."See the best state on the best roads!!!"  Then as U.S. highways grew and eventually incorporated the "Interstate Highways" the large number of military bases in S. C. seemed to ensure that we received favorable consideration in highway funds.  The result of all of this is a state criss-crossed with excellent roads with almost every tiny town, lake or mountain accessible by automobile.  As we traveled East across the upper shore of Lake Superior we were aware that we were riding on Canada-17, one segment of the "Trans-Canada Highway."  It was an excellent but rugged highway and the literature we read indicated that maintaining the road throughout the year is a major challenge.  Then - we started looking around for other roads nearby ..... !!! ....  About eighty miles North (that's right, 80!!) lies Canada-11 which also bears the distinctive "white-on-green" maple leaf designation of the Trans-Canada Highway.  Well, without getting too much into detail, this is a REAL highway folks!!!!  Stretching for nearly five thousand miles and often consisting of at least two parallel routes, the TCH is one of the most awesome engineering feats around.  Eclipsed only by the Trans-Siberia and Trans-Australia, the TCH reaches from Atlantic to Pacific and we can attest to the fact that it covers

some of the most beautiful and challenging landscape on the planet.  Although we have not driven the entire highway, we have driven on very long stretches in British Columbia, the Yukon, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and New Brunswick and it is a fantastic experience.  But - please don't lull yourself into complacency.  Many stretches of the highway are extremely romote and you can often be more than a hundred miles from a gas station.   And, remember a minute ago when we talked about Canada-11 eighty miles to the North?  Well ... that's it folks, the last one!!!  That's right, there is no other maintained roadway between there and the North Pole!!    But the thing we have found along our roadways - and - those in Canada is that people enjoy having things to show travelers in their communities.  We saw some of the most delightful and creative artwork you could imagine.  This big fellow guards the entrance to the town of "Wawa" which is the Ojibway Indian word for "wild goose."  As we always seem to do, we met a really fascinating young man running the trading post and we talked at length with him about the challenges that the community has had with the downturn in the economy, the closure of a local paper mill and continued limitations in ore production and shipping on Lake Superior.  We did learn one very interesting thing about ore, however.  And it allows me to introduce you to a fellow we met back down the road a way and who has become one of our 'buds.'  He is "Rocky Taconite!."  Once, when ore was plentiful around the lake, miners and those who processed the ore would only settle for ore with very high iron content.  At that time, Taconite, a flinty, low grade ore, was not considered to be worthy of consideration.  In time, however, advances in mining and metallurgy made production of iron from Taconite viable and, in turn, saved thousands of jobs around Lake Superior - in both Canada and the U.S.   And - while we were at the store Sherwood and Linda spent some time tormenting one of the store residents.  Now this old guy had a really fascinating story!!  A good while back the owner of the trading post found a young, orphan moose wandering along the road near his home and he decided to adopt him.  For a number of years he lived in a large enclosure at the trading post and was a real favorite of local residents and tourists.  One day, however, the Canadian Fish and Game representatives showed up and told the owner they thought he was probably violating a whole batch of statues so they were going to confiscate the moose.  They took him down to their headquarters where he remained for a long time while his owner fought to secure his release through the courts.  Finally, one day the owner got a call from the Mounties who told him they had good news and bad news.  The good news was - he could have his moose back.  The bad news was - he had recently died.  Soooo.... as only a true friend would do the owner had his old friend stuffed and returned to the trading post - where he resides to this day!!  While we were there Sherwood also spent a good bit of time trying to get directions from one of the locals.  They seemed to hit it off pretty well but I don't think she was able to get much information from him!!!!  The artwork we saw was sometimes serious, sometimes lighthearted; often whimsical and frequently awesome in the thought and sentiments that it represented. The one collection of work that we did not get to see and which we deeply regret was the large number of petroglyphs found on the rocks that line the North shore of Lake Superior and which are also found in the numerous caves in the vicinity of Terrace Bay.  Although many of them required a boat to see we had fully intended to take an excursion but at the time we were there the weather had turned very bad and all the local folks warned us against any boat trips on the lake.  We'll soon be back to continue this Eastward journey and we hope you'll be there with us.  Thanks!!!!  See ya.