The drive from Dryden, Ontario back to the GTA was about 23 hours including stops to use the washroom, grab a bite to eat, get out and stretch our legs, gas up, etc. My god, I still can't get over how long of a drive it is!
We left Dryden, I think around 9 ~ 10 am, gassed up and grabbed a coffee. our first stop was at the plaque for the timezone change. We're finally back in Eastern Time!
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After driving for a couple of more hours, we found ourselves in the Thunderbay area, I decided to detour out of the way to show Roland a couple of great tourist spots. The first on the list was Kekabeka falls, I've been here a couple of times before, and I'm making it a habit of stopping by with each visit to the area.
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After Kekabeka falls, we drove into Thunderbay, again to fuel up both the truck and myself (so much coffee!). On the way out of Thunderbay, we made one more stop at the Terry Fox memorial. It's a powerful spot, it symbolizes what one man is willing to do, it makes me fell small.
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From here, we still had just shy of 1400 Km to go, even being optimistic, I knew the drive was going to take about 18 hours or so and the size of Ontario didn't disappoint. Roland and I continued down the highway, making brief stops along the way for food, fuel and mission critical supplies. For the most part the drive wasn't too bad, the only part that had me concerned was getting through Lake Superior National Park. Driving through there during days can be a bit of a challenge at night, even more so, it's pitch black, lots of rock cliffs, tons of winding roads and endless amount of animals that think today would be a good night to walk out on to the road.
We made it through the park without any issues, and the same for the rest of the drive down the highway. There was a couple of points during the drive, I was thinking F it, lets just pull over and get a hotel room for the night, but then my stubbornness would kick in, only a few 100 more Km to go, and I would push on. The last great hurtle to our drive home was GTA area traffic, getting down into southern Ontario via Sudbury to Barrie wasn't bad, the roads were moving, even with a bit of construction, but at hwy 400, I had enough. I took hwy 407 back to Oakville for the last leg of the trip, sure the bill is going to suck, but it probably saved us more then an hour on the road.
I dropped Roland off at home with all of the "gear and supplies", it's amazing how much stuff we brought with us and we picked up along the way. Then I headed home, so that I can finally pass out.
Finally tally on the drive 11852.4 km. Home safe n sound. A was a great experience! I plan on giving my little pickup a break, I worked her hard these last 2 1/2 weeks
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Here are the photos' from the last leg of the trip.
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