#4: Going the Extra (Northern) Mile

If we felt very far away from the rest of Canada as we travelled across Northern Ontario, I can only imagine what it must be like to live there.

Not that the region is well-populated.  In 2000 kilometres, travellers encounter only 3 larger centres (Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury and Thunder Bay, each several hours from one another), a few small towns and some widely scattered, tiny communities.  Road trippers grab their coffee where they can and fill the gas tank every chance they get, because they never know when there will be another opportunity. (On our second day, desperate for a lunch spot,  we finally found a place to eat in Terrace Bay. Then I discovered my wallet was missing.  Grrrrrrr!  Oh no! I had last used it in Wawa.  The horribleness of retracing 258 km and then driving the four hours back was almost more than I could bear. When we called Tim Horton's and discovered that the wallet was not there, it almost a relief.)

But isolation and long distances do not seem to bother northern residents at all.  They are used to these extremes, they learn to adapt, and are rewarded with fabulous scenery and the potential to enjoy every manner of outdoor activity throughout four distinct seasons.  More than one kid from Southern Ontario has gone to Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, and stayed on to work up North because they have learned to love the area and its outdoor lifestyle.

The economy of Northern Ontario is primarily resource based, and this was very obvious as we drove along the highway, following logging trucks, sniffing the sour smell of pulp mills, and noting all the gold mines.  Right now, gold is king in Northern Ontario. But don't imagine a workforce of unskilled labourers.  In Dryden at the end of the-day-Nancy-lost-her-wallet, we ate in a Greek/Thai/Indian restaurant (Masala) and I overheard the four young people at the table next to us. They were all discussing their university experiences (one guy seemed to have just defended his thesis), and they all clearly adored living and working north of Highway 17 in Red Lake.  If only I could have leaped up to ask a few questions.  Are you at the gold mine?  Are you engineers? Environment scientists?   But I held my tongue. One thing I knew -- whatever took them there, they didn't seem to mind driving four hours for their night out in Dryden.

And my missing wallet? The mystery was solved when we checked the messages on our home phone that evening from our Dryden motel room. It had apparently jumped from my purse while we were standing in a restaurant (not even one where we ate) in Terrace Bay, and was found by someone who gave it to the folks in the business office.  Marlene M.of  The Imperial Motel/Drifter's Restaurant was the lady who left the cheerful message for Bruce and Nancy to say that "your wallet was found, intact, and not to worry!".  She must have resorted to the internet to find my phone number back in Guelph. I never did get to talk to Marlene, but another woman in the same office knew all about the wallet, and was glad to mail it on to Edmonton where I picked it up today.

Bless those Northerners.  They seem willing to go the extra mile in all things.  

            

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