Ann Arbor Michigan to Wawa Ontario
Left Ann Arbor Michigan 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday August 19, 2014. 23 North to 75 North to cross the Mackinac Bridge. Continuing north to cross the U.S.-Canada border in Sault Ste. Marie. Stop at the Ontario Welcome Center to exchange U.S. for Canadian dollars. The last time I was in Canada, I didn't get Canadian cash and I regretted it. Made my way slowly through Sault Ste. Marie to the Canada Highway 17 heading North/West toward Thunder Bay. I had planned to stop at several provincial parks on my way, but it was raining and I had left A2 late, so I ended up just stopping for potty breaks and gas, arriving at my Wawa motel, the Mystic Isle, around 7:00 p.m.
The woman who welcomed me to the hotel had a delicious accent. French? Russian? She knew my name, and informed me that I was the last person to make a reservation, and the last to arrive. She was getting ready to call me, in fact, to see if I was actually coming. And she had a surprise for me, she said. Although I had requested a single bed, she had failed to check her email the day I made my internet registration. By the time she discovered my reservation, the only room she had left was two queens, so I would be the lucky recipient of an extra bed for the night. Yay? At the low-low price of a single bed. Yay! I felt bad that she was probably losing money on me--I tried to offer up my room to her for someone else, in case another guest needed the extra bed that I had no use for. No, no, she said. It was her own fault for trying to run her motel by herself, with just one employee to clean the rooms. She was too busy to check her email as frequently as she needed to. There were lots of beautiful Harleys in the parking lot, including several in the spot right in front of my door. The proprietess commented on this later in the evening when she encountered me schlepping bags from the minivan to my room, *all the way* across the (tiny) parking lot. Tsk, tsk, she said, so many motorcycles parked in front of your door--no room for you! In the morning I saw her again, and she was impressed that I had thought to move my car closer to my room after the motorcycles left. I am a smart one, what can I say?
In the morning I enjoyed a brief parking lot conversation with a middle-aged, bearded, solid man getting his bike ready for the day. I asked which direction they were driving around the lake--the opposite as me. I asked where they had stayed prior to Wawa. Nipigon. I wasn't sure if I would make it that far. He said they loved camping, but not in the rain. He said it had been raining their whole trip, and they were soaking wet--one downside to a Lake Superior Circle Tour on motorcycles. As I saw several different groups of bikers coming back from breakfast, or heading to breakfast, talking, planning their days...I wondered what it would be like to have a group of people (adult people) that I traveled with. It was hard for me to imagine wanting or being able to enjoy traveling that way--how would you make decisions? Could you feel truly free as part of a group? On the other hand, it looked warm and cozy to have companions. Imagine the memories you would make together! And, I thought on my 6th trip to the motel room, I wouldn't mind a hand loading the van...
