Here I am writing this post in Winnipeg :)

It has been very hard to find a computer, as the first leg of my trip has been through northern Ontario primarily and most of the towns I have been through range from 600-5500 people or so. I have taken lots of really cool pictures I'll post later, however this computer is a library machine and there is no access to the USB ports. I also only have half an hour to write this post before the library closes :P (its a friday). Winnipeg is a beautiful city, but finding its libraries is very difficult even with a GPS and local listings.

After a camping weekend south of Montreal, Monday night I drove up into the city to see a friend's band playing before heading west. Along the way (only 40 km), I was DRENCHED. Boots squishing, heavy leather, cold and shivering, drenched. Because of this, I got a room at Mcgill for the night so I could be dry and warm, and the next morning departed for North Bay. The drive south of ottawa and into the north was beautiful. Ontario's landscape is comprised of hills, and lots and lots of coniferous trees, and lots and lots of cool rock formations. Many small pretty lakes too :) It was a beautiful drive... and I got soaked again. The weather was scattered showers with sunny breaks, so I could see when I was going to get soaked as well as when I was to receive warm glowing sunlight :) Again, still nice pictures from that, which I will post whenever I can. I was fairly dry by the time I got to North Bay, and it was looking like I was going to pitch tent for the night. SPLASH. I am obviously unfamiliar with the city, and thus was unaware that the streets flood at the sides after a heavy rain storm. I was drennnched yet again. I checked into a motel which was stricken (like everything) with shad flies and had a beer with my neighbour tim, the caulker. Nippissing Bay has nice sandy beaches, and its warrrrm. I didn't get a chance to swim because of the rain the next morning, though... and thus avoided "the itch" I was told.

After North bay I headed out that morning to the Thunder bay area. Weateher: Cold, miserable, foggy. I was soaked yet again. Great trip weather so far eh? Eventually the weather patched up and I was stuck on the other side of a huge thunderstorm, and it was preventing me from reaching Thunder Bay. I pulled into a little town called Kapuskasing, and checked (soaked) into the cheapest motel in town... which turned out to be by far the best. The room was excellent, they fed me, did my laundry for me (which was soaked), and my Ipod has been on the fritz ever since Montreal (water damage... I am trying my hardest to dry it out) so they helped me try and fix it. All that kindness really made the weather something of a nonissue, and I was pretty pleased :)

The next morning was thunder Bay. Alll the way north and west up highway 11... I was trying to avoid a weather system using data from my trusty weather watcher (thanks Robyn ;) ) and took the northern route instead of the lake superior route. The temperature did not climb above 10, and the whole landscape was draped in fog. Absolutly draped. In thick, wet, chilling fog. I not only was soaked, but I frr-r-r-r-ozzzzze. It was here I also discovered two things: 1) The relentless force which is northern Ontario mosquitos. They are up there in the hundreds of millions. Even in the middle of no where, you can not stop for more then 10 seconds without being completely swarmed in a blanket of them. They are not dumb, like our southern ontario mosquitos. They bite hard, suck a lot, make you puff up and itch like you wouldn't believe, and know exactly where to go, even if you're body is completely covered with leather and a helmet. This leg of the journey lasted about 7 freezing hours, before getting to the point where I could head south to thunder bay. The more south I got, the better things got :) Suddenly, at one point, what seemed to be all coniverous trees exploded into a mix of deciduous and pines and birch and all sorts of different plants... just suddenly. The landscape before thunder bay is beautiful rock faces and lakes... I have great pictures i'll be sharing.

Im running out of time here.

After deciding Thunder Bay wasn't my cup of tea to pitch tent in, I moved further west to Fort Frances, which had a beautiful waterfront as well as a free camping ground. The locals were friendly too, and lots of motorcyclists :) I arose to sunny weather, and now, after taking a detour here I am :)

Next stop... regina :)

Paul