We said our goodbyes and headed to Canada, "ay"!  First in Jersey and then in Vermont, we said bye to everyone.  The night before our departure to Canada, we had to stop and take pictures at Mark & Andrea's pond.  The sunset combined with calm weather created a reflection pool.  And, Andrea taught Allison to knit - a way to pass the time on the road.  

We crossed the border on 9/7 and got caught in tons of traffic through Montreal.  We rolled into La Mauricie National Park, half way between Montreal and Quebec, at 9:00pm. The Park has over 150 lakes and is a paradise for hiking, cycling and canoeing.  The exchange rate is in our favor here so we get a bit of a break, however gas is still very expensive, at over $2/gallon.  

On Saturday we found Meg@zone, an Internet cafe, in Quebec, to check email and search for topographical maps to Labrador and James Bay.  We found Walter Muma's detailed site on both routes which convinced us to forego Labrador and focus on the James Bay route.  Since our chances of driving from Labrador to James Bay seemed extremely low without any roads, visiting both destinations would mean back tracking about 1200 kilometers twice.  The bartender and administrator at Meg@zone gave us directions to Cage aux Sports, a local sports bar, where we hoped to watch the NASCAR race, Saturday night.  Although we learned that only 10% of the population in Quebec speaks English, we got lucky.  Everyone at the Cage aux Sports was very friendly and they told us how to find St. Nicolas, where we could camp within a few clicks from Quebec city.  St. Nicolas KOA Kampground  (N 46° 41.993 W 071° 18.023) seemed like a foreign place in itself, as it was full of RVs and only one other tent besides ours.  Camping off highways has ruined our assumptions that RV travel was a thing of the past, as it seems as popular as Florida for Senior Citizens.  There was one bus from Germany that hosts tours for 24 people.  The bus serves as both the transportation as well as their sleeping quarters as the back section is divided into 25 small cabins, like coffins, that stack 4 high. 

On 9/9, we headed to Northern Quebec on Rte. 175.  Along the way, we picked up Mike who was hitch hiking to Chicoutimi.  We  assumed the area must be pretty safe as the number of young hitch hikers was surprising.  We dropped Mike of at L'Etape just before the next junction where we headed NW on 169 toward St. Felicien.  We filled up with gas at St. Felicien, bought a fishing pole and a 12 pack of Marty's favorite beer for the buck, Black Label - in bottles (Oh Canada!).  We met Allen and Marlene from Mistissini, which means "Big Rock" in their Indian language.   

We headed North into the Ashuapmushuan Indian Reservation to find a place to camp for the night.  The Welcome Center was closed so we were nervous about camping at sites without permission.   Before it got too dark, we drove down a few dirt roads that led us to incredibly beautiful, "sauvage" territory.  Ashuapmushuan was the perfect welcome to Northern Quebec - millions of untouched acres of forest filled to the brim with lakes, big and small, in every direction.  Just past the reservation, we found a logging truck road and an old gravel pit to camp.  It was desolate and very dark.  Nervous of bear and getting  busted if we weren't allowed there, we slept inside the truck for the first time.  

We fueled up in Chibougamau (20 gallons in the tank plus 25 in Jerry cans), bought a detailed map of Northern Quebec and one topo map, obtained two fishing licenses and one more pole.  Our next stretch consisted of over 400 km of gravel road used primarily by logging trucks.  We were in the middle of nowhere.    Marty tackled the grueling drive battling deep gravel and high winds.  You have to seriously pay attention to avoid oncoming trucks, as the best part of the road is right in the middle.  You have to pull over as far as you can to the right and slow down without fishtailing and continue driving in a white-out of dust.  The truck was covered, bonnet to boot,  inside every nook and cranny, with gray dust. Out of boredom, Allison started counting the number of vehicles versus the number of lakes we passed.  The lakes outnumbered the number of trucks by 65%. 

When we reached the Route de la Baie-James, we headed south to Riviere Rupert (N 51° 21.154 W 077° 25.339) to camp for the night.   While the river was incredible, Marty said the latest hurricane must have been passing us.  We camped right on the water where the winds were fiercely cold.   Since our fishing licenses were also good in Ontario, we headed south toward warmer weather, the next morning.    On our way, Marty spotted a big black bear just off the side of the road, which made our trip.  He seemed to be looking for food and at one point Marty saw him trying to eat an old Coke bottle.  

When we stopped for gas in Rouyn, we heard about the unbelievable news of the World Trade Center.  Eugene & Moe, who were staying up the street, invited us to watch the TV at their friend's place.  We told them we were passing through Rouyn in search of good fishing and they insisted the area where they lived, just on the boarder of Quebec and Ontario, was a fishing Mecca. So we followed them to their place on Lake Dallas, 15 km from Virginiatown.  Not only was the fishing great, so were Eugene, Moe and all their friends (Karin, Dennis, Mimi and Major the dog).  

Marty even got to surf on Lake Dallas, when Eug pulled him behind the Skidoo.  Our best day of fishing was spent on beautiful Labrynth Lake (N 48° 13.168 W 079° 31.757) which gets it's name from many islands and coves which makes it a challenge to navigate.  The local beavers have made Labrynth their home though, as they've built forts that reach up to 5 feet tall and 7 feet across. 

Anxious to get on the road again, we said bye to Eug and Moe, and headed to Minnesota on Saturday morning.  We avoided the Toronto/Detroit border as we heard the wait was 30 hours due to the heightened security.  We crossed the Thunder Bay border around midnight and set up camp a few yards from Lake Superior at Grand Marais (N 47° 44.960 W 090° 20.651).  

We drove all the next day and night to reach the South Dakota Bad Lands National Park by 10:30 pm.  We felt like we were driving on Mars as our headlights lit up gigantic sand castle-like formations.  The Bad Lands were the bottom of the sea millions of years ago.  Upon plates shifting, the water dried and they were full of tropical forest which prehistoric animals fed upon.  The next morning we met Kevin and Loriann Wunder who were camping with their 2 year old Brianne and 13 week old Kyllan - and people think we're crazy :-).  We spent the morning exploring the Bad Lands.  On our way to the Sheep Table off-road trail we saw a family of Bison up-close.  

On our way to Colorado, we drove to  Mount Rushmore, where Marty met a mountain goat.  Just a couple of miles from Rushmore, we also toured the Crazy Horse monument (N 43° 49.697 W 103° 38.009), which dwarfs Rushmore in comparison.