A not-so-grand finale

Day 24 -- Kingston, ON

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 3540 km
Distance from Kingston: 0 km

Distance Driven Today: about 350 km
Total Distance Driven: about 6236 km

Today, after driving over 6000 km, our car decided to give up only 30 km outside of Kingston!! So frustrating to make it over 99.5% of the way only to be towed across the finish line! When our car is fixed, we will drive back out and finish the trip properly!

The battery light came on and then things like our radio and air conditioning started to fail so we turned them off. Right after, we had to go up a big hill and I noticed the gas pedal seemed to have no effect so I turned on the hazard lights and pulled over to the shoulder. Luckily, the car did have enough momentum to go up to the top of the hill safely. We turned off the car and checked under the hood -- there was a slight burning smell. After waiting a few minutes, I tried to start the car (didn't expect it to work) and nothing happened. So, I called CAA and asked for a tow. The tow truck took us into our hotel in Kingston, let us unload the stuff we needed, and then took our car to the dealership down the street. The car got there just before they closed so they will have to look at it tomorrow. Hopefully, it is just the battery and the alternator that needs to be replaced. These two components are also two of the oldest parts of the car and would probably need replacing in the near future anyways.

In hindsight, we should have pulled over when the battery light first came on, it probably would have saved the battery since now it seems to be completely drained. But full power lost happened really soon after the light came on so maybe it would not have made a difference. We are hoping that the car can be fixed before the long weekend (i.e. before the end of the day on Friday) so that we can use the car this weekend to shop for essentials such as a bed and for our move-in day on Sunday. If not, we would have to rent a car.

The car broke down about 30km west of Kingston and at around 4pm. When we drove past the sign saying 160km to Kingston, I joked that it would be okay for the car to break down now since CAA tows distances up to 160km!! We ended up at our hotel just before 6pm so we walked over to the bus loop, bought some prepaid bus fares and took the bus to the shopping centre to have dinner and to price out some mattresses. We found a good deal on a nice mattress that was half firm (for me) and half plush (for Laura) because it was the floor model that they were trying to get rid of. We put a hold on it but we will look around more tomorrow to make sure we aren't rushing a big purchase. Hopefully we can get the bed delivered by middle of next week so we only have to sleep on the floor for a couple of nights. Ordering a bed is our first priority tomorrow!

Also, please look at yesterday's entry (scroll down) to see the pictures we've now added for Niagara Falls!

The "Flying Saucer Restaurant" in Niagara Falls; we had to take a picture of it before we left.

I think the Queen's initials in the lamposts on the Queen Elizabeth Way are a nice touch!

Canada's largest city!

We think this is a good new law for Ontario.

An interesting design -- Pegasus-Deer?

Niagara!

Day 21 -- Niagara Falls, ON

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 3410 km
Distance from Kingston: 245 km

Today, we drove to Niagara Falls from Mississauga. We started with visits to four wineries and buying 5 bottles of wine. We now have a good collection for our apartment! One of the wineries made wine from fruits other than grapes. We really liked an apple wine that tasted like drinking an apple pie!

We also looked around the Niagara-on-the-Lake region because it's really beautiful there. The whole area seems to be small little towns and vineyards, just like the Okanagan. Afterwards, we played some mini golf and had dinner at Red Lobster. It was our first time at Red Lobster and it was really good.

After dinner, we drove down to see the downtown and falls area at night. It was really crowded and filled with bright lights. We could see part of the falls from the road but we will have a day dedicated to that later this week. We just wanted to see the area at night and the town and falls lit up. We were unable to go and look at the fall because it was too hard to park.

Niagara Falls!

We're not sure, but it was parked at a gas station. 

(Dukes of Hazards car?)

Niagara on The Lake

Even the Shoppers are built nicely!

Wine Country!

A car from the Yukon!

RIP Windshield Wiper Blade (Passenger Side)

Day 19 -- Mississauga, ON

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 3350 km
Distance from Kingston: 263 km

Distance Driven Today: 716 km
Total Distance Driven: 5581 km

Crash ... boom ... bang! Oh no, there goes our windshield wiper! That was our introduction to the 400 series freeways in southern Ontario! It was my first time driving on a confusing system of very large highways, it was raining hard, and to top it all off, the passenger-side wiper blade decided to disconnect from its socket, hit our windshield and fly over the back of our car. We suffered no damage and the car behind us was far enough away that the wiper blade hit the ground. We were also fortunate that it was the passenger side wiper blade so I could still see enough to drive the rest of the way to our hotel. We will be getting replacement blade(s) tomorrow!

Earlier today, we left Sault Ste Marie on Highway 17 and had a quick lunch in Sudbury. After that, we left Highway 17 after about 1500 km on it and took Highway 69 which turned into Highway 400, our first 400-series freeway. It started out as a 2 lane highway each way and then grew to 3 lanes and then six (including exit lanes). We had to get in the correct 2 out of 6 lanes to exit onto the 401, which we managed to do successfully! Yay! Then it started raining hard and we lost our wiper blade! After the 401, we got onto the 427 and then the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and finally found our hotel. It was my first time driving on a highway that large and that complicated! I guess I will get used to it eventually if I drive around this area long enough.

Watch out!

We didn't see any!

It's like Metrotown! (Parry Sound, ON)

The aftermath

It's not very effective!

Entering Ontario and Eastern Daylight Time!

Day 15 -- Thunder Bay, ON

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 2458 km
Distance from Kingston: 1085 km

Distance Driven Today: 714 km
Total Distance Driven: 4018 km

Today was originally our longest drive because we had planned to drive to Thunder Bay via Fort Frances along Lake Superior (about 775 km). However, we decided to stick to the slightly shorter northern route since we will be driving along the lakes later in the trip. So, the Calgary-Regina leg (758 km) remains our current longest leg. This is all in terms of distance. Since the Trans-Canada's speed limit is 110 km/hr in the Prairies and only 90 km/hour in Ontario, today's drive still took the most time!

We left at around 9AM CDT from Winnipeg and arrived at the Ontario/Manitoba border a couple of hours later. We picked up several brochures and booklets about Ontario events and also some literature specific to the cities we're visiting. Crossing the provincial border also meant the end of Highway 1. With the exception of our detour to Penticton, we had faithfully followed Highway 1 from Vancouver all the way to Ontario. Provincial governments are in charge of naming highways and in all 4 westernmost provinces, they chose to use "Highway 1" to designate the Trans-Canada. However, after entering Ontario, the Trans-Canada is actually made up of several segments of various Ontario highways joined together. We were on Highway 17 from the border to Thunder Bay.

Driving through northern Ontario is kind of like some parts of BC -- lots of lakes and trees, but few mountains (more like hills, really). We drove through Kenora, which was very nice and then Dryden, which was a smoggy industrial town that smelled bad. Also, Laura drove through a really heavy rainstorm, it felt like we were in a car wash! Several hours after crossing the Ontario border, we came across the Eastern Time Zone border. We stopped to take pictures of us being in two time zones at once!

We finally arrived at our hotel (which is a few kilometres south of Thunder Bay). Thunder Bay's population is over 120,000 -- which is around the size of Kingston! We got there pretty late so we had dinner and swam in the pool. We don't really have much planned in Thunder Bay -- tomorrow we will sleep in, rest, go see the Terry Fox Monument and the city! We also finally finished booking all hotels for the rest of our trip. Juggling which credit cards to use in each city (and when to pay them off) was tough but it looks like we will make it without having to touch our backup cards at all!

Our last provincial border!

The city of Kenora is quite pretty.

We stopped for lunch at the last spike of a railroad which
would eventually become part of the CPR.

Interesting road signs!

It says "NIGHT DANGER"

"I'm in two time zones!"

"Me too!"

(Right after we did this, a guy on a bike came by and did the same thing!)

We had just missed a thunderstorm apparently.

Friendly Manitoba; More than Half-way!!

Day 13-- Winnipeg, MB

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 1867 km
Distance from Kingston: 1678 km

Distance Driven Today: 579 km
Total Distance Driven: 3237 km

Today we made it into Winnipeg and also finally reached the halfway point (both in terms of distance and time) of our trip! Yay! We arrived around 5pm, had dinner, did laundry, and finally swam in the pool. We haven't actually seen the city of Winnipeg yet since we are staying south of downtown Winnipeg. Apparently the population of Winnipeg proper is slightly larger than the population of Vancouver proper though!

The drive was pretty easy -- just stayed on Highway 1 the whole time. The speed limit in Manitoba was slightly lower and their highway road signs are much larger than the other provinces.

We are only spending one full day in Winnipeg (tomorrow). We're planning to see the Royal Canadian Mint, Louis Riel's tomb, and a statue of Winnie the Bear. The Fringe Theatre festival is currently on in Winnipeg, but we just missed the Warner Bros. exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Apparently, Bugs Bunny was created by a Canadian!

 

 "Friendly Manitoba" welcomes us.

The more you know!

Giant traffic signs!

 Yay!

Our path so far. Click on the image to see a larger view!

Vacation mode

Day 1 -- Penticton, BC

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 255 km
Distance from Kingston: 3285 km

Eigensaur gets ready for the drive!

A wind tunnel on Highway 5 (Coquihalla). Bears are on the highway!

Clouds in the distance driving down Highway 97C from Merritt to Westbank.

We are in Penticton, BC today after a relatively short drive. We meant to take a vacation to Penticton one more time before moving but once we decided to drive across Canada, we figured it was best to make the vacation part of the trip. After arriving, we took a dip in the cold but very refreshing lake, got groceries, and cooked dinner (the place we are staying at has a kitchen).

Time to enjoy the wineries and beaches of Penticton!