Stay Off My Mansfield Bar

 

Well, I guess I lucked out finding a provincial park back at Winnipeg Lake, because around this north shore of the greatest lake on the planet, Lake Superior there doesn’t seem to be much public spaces, or private spaces either. It looks mostly  like woods, with a occasionally glance where the lake should be, if you could see it  through the fog.

Like most places the fog usually burns off, but not here, and not today. It wasn’t always thick, but in some places, it was, so it made motoring on a mostly two-lane highway very tiring, and made me think this would be an excellent day to motor bike ride through hypothermic conditions, and then I used the vans massive windscreen wipers, set the climate control to a comfortable  15c, put another record on the phonograph…and the darn thing skipped…

I pulled into Wawa for some fuel, and checked to see if there were any parks around. Once again there were no Provincial  parks, but a quite RV  park was just up the road.

The last time I was in Wawa there was a giant goose guarding the entrance to town. He is still there, along with a couple of others in town.

The Almost Famous Wawa Goose

The best part of the Wawa goose is you didn’t have to be careful where you stepped as you walked around it.

The Wawa RV resort was nice enough, and a bargain  for private parks for $33.00 us, including hydro (electric) ,water,  showers, and you could drain your tanks at a central clean out all included.

They also had some nice paths. The one I took lead down to the slow-moving river. There was even a dock, a couple of canoes, and a high wire that you could use at your own risk.

It Would Be Risky If I Tried It

If it was a little bit lower, I might have tried it, having left  my Tutu in Temecula. I didn’t take a chance.

It was only foggy for a little ways in the morning, as the road  wound its way around the lake.

Surprise, surprise a place to pull out along the shore.

A Unusual Item To Find At A Pull Out

There was only one car in the lot when I arrived, and I found its owner down by the lake meditating and casting spells or feelings or some crap  maybe onto the lake or out of the lake. Either way  the lake didn’t care and I gave her a wide berth.

The lake was calm and serene Peaceful  waves came upon the shore. They hardly made a sound. I thought about going for a swim, I wondered how cold this water was, and then decided on an espresso. So back to the van I went.

There are starting to be some splendid fall colors, but they are difficult to photograph through the fog.

These two shots are what I am looking for.

The Hills Are Looking Colorful

It's Nice Here Without The Fog

I motor along slowly, well at about 90 kph, which as you know is around 60mph. I do this for two reasons. The first one is I get way better fuel economy at 55-60 mph, and this trip when the road is flat, I have gotten 17mpg, and that is excellent in a vehicle as big as the van with a name.

The other reason I go slow is  safety. I don’t hold anyone up. I will pull over , or on this highway 17 there are ample passing lanes and straight stretches’ to pass, and most pickups will regardless of a single double or broken line.

This morning going along at 90 KPH on a hilly almost curvy road, I came up on a semi. I figured as soon as we were on the down hill the truck would take off and I would never see it again.

Behind me a pickup and another car caught up to me, and assumed the position most drivers take, which is very close to my bumper.

Now the speed limit is 90 KPH  The truck ahead of me that I have left 30 car length between his Mansfield and me is doing 90 KPH. The cars behind me that are itching to pass are also doing 90 KPH but if I had a Mansfield bar, they would be able to read the serial number on it.

We are east bound when all of a sudden, a west bound semi clears the east bound  truck ahead of me, and then instantly does a nosedive into my lane. This is serious shit. Game over lights up on the vans infotainment center. I have no where to go. To my right is a solid rock wall, and my only option is to try to move the impact from my lap to the vans washroom, and I think I got that happening when just as fast the driver realizes that he is in my lane, swerves back to his lane, and we all go on our merry way.

First pull out I stop.  the two vehicles behind me go on, and all I could think about was that if those two vehicles were as close to that semi’s rear, as they were to mine, the west bound truck would have nailed them both, and I might have got another chip in my windscreen. 

Moral of this story is LEAVE YOURSELF AMPLE SPACE BETWEEN THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU   AND THEN LEAVE YOU SOME MORE SPACE! CUZ IF YOU DON’T EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, THE UNEXPECTED WILL HAPPEN.