Yukon Bound! Day 1--Burlington, Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie

White Lightning all packed up and ready for the road.

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself."~Amelia Earhart 

So the journey has begun! Operation Yukon is in full swing. Day One is complete. I drove from Burlington to Sault Ste Marie. About 9 hours in the seat of my Subaru all told. My cat Sasha is my co-pilot for the entire journey. We are making our way to Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. I have written about my love of the North before I so I shall get right to observations about the drive today.

For fun I entered my address in Whitehorse in my Garmin first thing this morning. This was the notification I received. Awesome, and ironic from one of the world's top GPS companies. To appease the device I changed my goal to my end of the day stop, Sault Ste Marie. About 700km or 450 miles give or take. 

I built a little shelf in Sasha's crate. This way his litter is below, along with his food and water. He slept most of the day. What a trooper!

The day started off slowly with lots of stop and go traffic until I was north of Toronto. Still, glad I was on the road at a reasonable hour. The traffic and haze dissipated slowly and before I knew it the rocky humps of The Canadian Shield were everywhere...the highway cutting through large sections of seemingly impenetrable rock. Mixed forests sitting atop grey rock, crimson sumacs starting to bleed into the landscape. Although my destination was on my mind I tried to enjoy the beautiful scenery as much as possible. 

Fog set in around Kilarney area and stayed off and on until beyond Sudbury. A deluge hit while I was driving into Sault Ste Marie. Incredible rainfall. Glad I made it to the hotel just in time. 

Lots of fog everywhere today. A nice opportunity to deploy the fog lights on my Subie.

Approaching The French River. I remember this drive so well from childhood. Summer vacations up on Manitoulin Island...this was part of the long drive around rather than taking the ferry from Tobermory to South Baymouth.

Another shot of the bridge over The French River. It's funny how you can not drive a stretch of road for over 20 years and yet remember hills and valleys and places like they were yesterday...from some far off place in your heart that comes right back up to the surface when you see the landscape again.

 

Further on up Highway 69 I came to a place where my family vacationed one summer..Point Au Baril. I remembered where to turn and that there would be a rail bridge...sure enough there it was. Quite nostalgic. 

The Sign leading to Espanola, and on south to Manitoulin Island. I had never been west of this intersection before up here...but I was today. I drove along the North Channel of Lake Huron, and it was gorgeous. 

 Finally in my room in Sault Ste Marie. This is what I eat when I have options on the road...that vegan jerky is actually awesome if you can find it...tomorrow...Thunder Bay!