Zebulon Montgomery Pike Trail to the sources of the Mississippi 1805 — 1806

Day 34: September 13th, 2002 Wawa — Sudbury

Today I wake up earlier. Around nine I walk over for breakfast. It’s almost unusual for me to not check out before I will have breakfast. My server guides me to a table and then I wait for my ordered coffee and to place my breakfast order. But my server does not show up again! After a quarter of an hour the server from the other table has mercy with me. She gets my coffee and takes my order. The other server has me completely forgotten! This never ever happened to me…

But the other server is smart and also gives me some extra jelly as compensation. Well filled up I pay and walk back to my room. I pack my stuff together and put them in my car. Then I check out. It’s almost ten when I leave the Wawa Motor Inn.

First I need a gas station. But the one close by has already a long waiting line. Also it is not a self service station. So I drive into the village to see if there is another one. Unfortunately I have no luck. So I drive back to Highway 17. After a short distance I find a gas station there, where no one is waiting. When I reach the pump I realize that this is also a gas station with service. So I am forced to wait for the attendant.

After a short wait he arrives. First he didn’t wanted to clean my windshield because it looks pretty clean. But I can convince him that even these three dead flies in front of my camera are an issue and I would need him to remove them. So he cleans my windshield. It’s fascinating to watch him while doing his job. I think to myself that I have never ever had such a clean windshield. I finally pay and am on my way to Sudbury around a quarter past ten.

Highway 17, ON

Highway 17, Lake Superior, ON

Highway 17, Lake Superior, ON

Agawa Bay Lookout, Lake Superior, ON

Highway 17, Agawa Bay Lookout, Lake Superior, ON

First Highway 17 goes south. There I see in Agawa Bay a road to a nice lookout. This one is really worth to mount my camera on my tripod. Then I drive on to Sault Ste. Marie.

Highway 17, ON

When I arrive there I am really happy that I stopped in Wawa yesterday. When looking at the distance I would have most likely arrived here in the middle of the night. The traffic increased dramatically around here. Even after passing the city, there is still way more traffic on Highway 17 than before.

Highway 17, Lake Superior, ON

Highway 17, Lake Superior, ON

Also the landscape starts to change. The rough rocks and thick forested hills are getting less and less. But the road is still charming. I am still following the lake shores of the great lakes. In the meantime I am on the same level as the north channel to Lake Huron.

Highway 17, ON

Highway 17, ON

Highway 17, ON

Highway 17, ON

Highway 17 takes me all the way to Sudbury. There the highway almost changes to a real interstate. Unfortunately there are no motel signs from the highway to see. I have to rely on the descriptions in my motel guide, which are very confusing. But somehow I take the right branches by intuition and reach the motel by chance. I almost missed the last turnoff and would be going in the wrong direction. But I see the Super 8 logo in the last moment.

I see another guest exiting the motel and drive away. Hopefully they are not out of rooms yet. But it seemed that the price was just too high for them. There are still rooms available. I check in around a quarter past five. They recommend the Buzzy Brown’s for dinner. Then I put my stuff in my room. This time the room is on first floor, which saves me from dragging my suitcase up the stairs. The room itself is really classy for this price. This is the advantage of the currently good exchange rate for me.

I check the video taping of today. Then I drive over to the restaurant. I find it immediately, but somehow I didn’t liked it from the outside. So I drive on to look for another one, but I am not able to find a decent place. Therefore I drive back to Buzzy Brown’s. It looks more like a place to have a beer instead of going out for dinner. But there are a bunch of tables, where one is still empty.

I grab that one and my server gives me the menu. As usual I order my steak. But with the salad I put my server in trouble. Usually I order Thousand Island dressing. But they don’t have it. Anyways she promises to find something similar for me. After a while she returns with my salad — and my dressing! Wow, that’s a surprise!

The salad tastes really good and also the steak is great. But you can tell the prices are now higher here because I am entering the east or maybe because I am close to the US. But thanks to the good exchange rate everything is still affordable for me. I pay around a quarter past eight and walk back to my car. When leaving the restaurant I realize, that there is also a second area, which is equipped as dinner restaurant. Great, I should have opened my eyes before. I enter my car and drive back to the motel. I am also going to bed early today, because I don’t want to wake up late tomorrow…