Frank Wulfers

Warning: There is excessive use of pictures of my Saab 9-5 in this road trip report. This is not a tourist report with detailed information about the places I passed on the way. It's merely a snapshot of life which you may or may not encounter on a road trip.

I have to make at least one decent road trip once a year. I had never seen all of the north shore of Lake Superior and read good stories about northern Minnesota, especially for its lakes and nature. It was a combination of staying at campgrounds and motels which worked out great. Camping is nice when the weather is good and you have time to enjoy it. Motels are nice with inclement weather and it is always convenient having internet access and catch up with the rest of the world.

I racked up a total of about 2,500 miles / 4.000 kilometers which is a pretty good road trip. I usually plan not to drive too far on a trip because it seems the more you drive, the less you see. However, I usually end up driving more than planned because, well, driving is fun. Especially in a comfortable tourer like a Saab 9-5.

Trip reports can get pretty boring so I'll mostly use pictures with a few captions to let the reader know what's going on.



Lake Superior is one of the 5 Great Lakes. Its size is difficult to comprehend by just looking at the statistics. But driving for a couple of days just along the north shore make you see it just never seems to end. This is a big lake. More like an inland sea as the Great Lakes are often called.

Trips to the north always start out with the Mackinaw Bridge. It's 5 miles long and always a treat with an awesome view of the Mackinaw Straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.



This is Saturday morning at the start of the 4th of July holiday weekend. As you can see, traffic in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was crazy as usual.



Sault Sainte Marie in Ontario, just across the US/Canada border is reasonably large town. If you ever have a few hours to spend here, I can recommend visiting the Bushplane Museum and explore the history of these type of planes and fighting forest fires.



I wanted to make it past Wawa this day and Thunder Bay the next. The 17 is the only highway in this area so it is impossible to get lost.



The east side of Lake Superior immediately turns into a beautiful landscape of hills and mountains with well maintained routes which are usually pretty quiet. No traffic jams here.



The weather wasn't as nice as I hoped for but you never know what to expect in this area. The big lake creates its own climate and fog can roll in any time of the year. While not good for enjoying the expansive views along this part of the route, the fog is actually pretty neat.



The view through the windshield.



A rest area with some rocky rapids. Not much water coming down this time of year and can get pretty spectacular after the snow starts to melt in spring.



I spotted this camper/RV (or whatever you want to call it) in a rest area. It has British plates so it must be on quite a trip. I researched it a bit more after i returned home and these are quite the vehicles for exploring the world. I want one!





These vehicles are made by Overland Vehicles Ltd in the UK. Just dreaming about selling everything, buy one of these and set out on a journey around the world.

http://www.overlandvehicles.co/
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...77441422279837

The road continued through Lake Superior Provincial Park with many great views and scenery.





When you're close to Lake Superior, it can get pretty chilly. Remember, this is summer in July but I think 12 degrees Celsius is unusually low, even for this area.



I always have to make a stop in Wawa and drive through town. It's like most northern Ontario towns. It's pretty nice in summer but just looks depressing at other times. The town has difficulties to survive after the major employer Weyerhauser (producer of oriented strand board) closed its doors in 2007.

The main street in Wawa with the historic Lakeview Hotel on the right. Notice the many power lines which makes downtown look very ugly. You wonder why they don't put these in the ground. But it's pretty common in the Americas.



The Northern Stores chain is operated by the North West Company are often the only stores for remote Canadian towns. This one in Wawa closed it's doors after 4 decades.



Watson's Skyways is always a nice stop for a good photo opportunity. The first picture of the Saab 9-5 and definitely not the last.





I don't know the historic significance of Wawa and geese but these birds are everywhere!









Wawa was cold and foggy on this day in July. But all of the weather was caused by Lake Superior as mentioned before. Continuing north/northwest along 17, the weather quickly improved and suddenly it was 28C again. Quite a change from the 12C just a few hours ago. (12C = 54F and 28C = 82F).



I passed Obatanga Provincial Park which is north of Wawa and decided to spend the night here. Camping in provincial parks is expensive compared to state campgrounds in Michigan but much has to do with higher taxes and the unfavorable exchange rate between the US and Canadian dollar.

The good thing is most provincial parks are very nicely situated and often include lake front sites. I was surprised the campground was very quiet, especially with the 4th of July holiday weekend in the US. Perhaps it is too far north for most or traveling to Canada has become expensive lately.



The trip continued the next day and Marathon is the first town on Lake Superior after you drive inland from Wawa. This is where the north shore begins and new territory for me.





I mentioned there were going to be many pictures of the Saab.. I have been hanging out on motorcycle forums for quite some time and those trip reports always feature many shots of the bikes.





Even though this is the main road in this area, it's usually pretty quiet. The road surface is excellent and the wide road makes for easy cruising.



Continue to part 2:
http://saabworld.net/blogs/wulf/saab...ba-part-2-328/