We stopped in Mattawa for gas and heard about the Ottawa shootings. Very sad! I feel we need to "budget for breakage" in our policies, but sometimes the cost is very high. I guess this explains the traffic slowdown we experienced on our way.

We are now on the final leg to North Bay. Since I'm back at the blog you can correctly infer that it's Fran's turn at the wheel. We have happily adopted her parent's discovery of the hour-on, hour-off approach to long distance driving. One never has a chance to get fatigued.

I guess there was enough blue sky for a Dutchman's pants since we are now traveling with sunglasses as the sun hovers just above the western horizon. Fran says "Thanks Janice!"

We have already had a taste of the spruce and pine forest, bogs and lakes of "North" Ontario (not actually very far north). We seem like the ones out of place since the beavers have obviously been at work nesting for winter, like any self-respecting woodland creature, while we are still in travelling mode. The remnants of fall colours remain but mostly in the yellows of the birch trees clustering among the evergreens. They seem the most tenacious of the deciduous trees around.

I love the many gravel roads that slip off of the highway along the way - with small green signs like "McCauley's Trail", "Yates Trail", or "Burritt's Route" suggesting that each of them points to a dream, escape, or family adventure.

We arrived in North Bay about 6:30 and decided it was a motel night. The $80 price helped us make the decision - and finding a nice Thai restaurant with excellent food confirmed the wisdom of our choice.