Your planned 2016 Roadtrips

[US 41]

I just went on my Canadian road trip this past week (Sunday-Thursday).

Day 1 (Sunday Oct 9): I left my hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana, Sunday afternoon and headed for Sarnia, Ontario. I got to Indy and realized that I forgot my camera. So I bought a really cheap digital camera ($18) at Walmart. It sucked. The pictures I took were horrible and it wasn't me, because with my normal camera I can take some pretty awesome pictures. Anyways I drove on I-69 up to Ft. Wayne before cutting over to Toledo on US 24. On US 24 I saw a semi truck on fire with ambulances and fire trucks arriving at the scene. I'm not sure if any other vehicles were involved or not. Later I drove through Detroit for the first time. I was surprised at how dark I-75 is until you almost get to the center of Detroit. Entering at Sarnia that night was a pain. The lines weren't long, but I had to pull off to the side while they searched my car, then I had to go into some office and answer additional questions. The whole process probably took about 20 minutes. For some reason they didn't seem to think that going on a road trip with $600 was enough money and they kept asking me where I worked at and if I had been to Canada before. When I said that I planned on sleeping in my car on this road trip they accused me of living in my car (really?). I had a paper in my folder with details of the Ojinaga POE and they were questioning why I didn't have one for Sarnia. They even went through my Tracfone that doesn't do anything but allow me talk and text. The whole thing was ridiculous, but they let me in after probably searching through my criminal past (I've never been arrested or even ticketed for anything ever).

Day 2 (Oct 10th): This was my very first Canadian Thanksgiving. Looks like I'll be celebrating it twice this year! I went back to the Sarnia POE currency exchange and I exchanged $250 USD and got back $322 CAD. Then I almost clinched 402 except that the last 2 miles was blocked off for some reason. I had to take a detour south to 401 and I took that all the way to 400. I took 400 north to Barrie and then continued north on Highway 11 to North Bay. I stopped at the lake there, took some photos, and continued on. I took ON 63 / QC 101 to Rouyn Noranda where I eventually stayed the night. QC Ontario's ONRoute rest areas are pretty awesome, but th101 was a nice drive. The rest areas in Quebec were very nice. e rest are just outhouses and in all honestly I'd rather go take a leak in the woods than in an old stinky outhouse. I filled up that night in Rouyn Noranda and that was the first time I've ever actually ran into French speakers. Almost everyone I ran into did speak at least some English. I kind of felt bad for not knowing the language. At least in Mexico I can order stuff in Spanish and at least attempt the language, but I've never had any French lessons ever. I can't even count to five in French. That's literally how much I know.

Day 3 (Oct 11th): So my second day in Quebec I decided to continue on to Val D Or. From there I drove to various towns like Amos and La Sarre. At the gas station in La Sarre I was a little confused. I pulled up to a pump that didn't have the #87 on it, but the price on the pump matched the "Ordinaire" price on the sign. There was a conservation officer also filling up, so I asked him if I had pulled off to the correct pump. He looked and assured me that it was the "ordinaire". We had a little conversation and when I told me where I was from, he was like "Wow, you're a long way from home." It was a very friendly exchange. I noticed that about Quebec, everyone did seem very friendly even though there was a language gap. I had a very pleasant time in Quebec, but I decided to continue on back into Ontario. I drove up Rte 11 through Cochrane, Kapuskasing, and Hearst. I crossed the 49th parallel and took a picture of the sign. I always thought the border out west was on the 48th parallel, but I guess it's actually on the 49th parallel. The French language is also still very common along Rte 11. I eventually cut down and stayed the night in White River, ON where it was warmer. Rte 631 was very remote, but an enjoyable drive.

Day 4 (Oct 12th): That morning I had decided that I had had enough of eating junk food like McDonalds, potato chips, pretzels, etc, and decided to eat a good breakfast at A&W. They actually have real food which was nice. After that I continued south on ON 17. There was a sign for an Ontario 519 that went to some town called Debruilville, so I decided to clinch it. I'm very happy I did because I saw a moose along the route. This was the first (and only) time that I have ever seen a moose. I took a couple of pictures of it and of course they turned out terrible. I was only about 60 feet away from the thing and it was pretty calm and stayed there a couple of minutes before walking off into the woods. I took ON 17 south along Lake Superior all the way to Sault Ste Marie. I decided I wasn't ready to leave just yet and I clinched Rte 548 before leaving. I stopped at an Esso station and they still pumped the gas for you. That was also a first for me. When I crossed back into the US I answered a few basic questions and I was let back in. It was a lot simpler and easier than going through Canadian customs. About an hour later, I crossed the Mackinac Bridge. I hate driving on the grading. What an annoying noise that makes. You always have to though, because the trucks are limited to 20 mph on the bridge. I continued south on I-75 until I got to the town of Gaylord. Then I took the Alba Highway over to US 131 and took that south to a rest area a half hour north of Grand Rapids where I stayed the night.

Day 5 (Oct 13th): An easy day of driving. I made it back home at around 12 noon.

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Notes: For now on I'm making a list of things I need to bring rather than trying to just remember everything in my head. Forgetting my camera was awful.

I drove a little over 2500 miles and I only spent $202 on the whole trip and Canadian customs didn't think $600 was enough. They underestimate my skill of being a skinflint.

My new Garmin GPS that covers all of North America (US, Canada, and Mexico) worked great.