Tuesday, June 17

We have begun a wide northern arc over the Great Lakes, following route 11 . We stopped in Cochrane for breakfast at a very friendly bakery and had a delicious lunch at a little French restaurant in Kapukasing, the site of a big paper mill that has supplied newsprint to the New York Times for fity years. Hearst, a French-speaking town, proclaims itself to be the moose capital of the world; the descendants of the voyajeurs now take tourists on moose hunts along the canoe routes that their ancestors explored. We had in fact seen a moose yesterday as we were entering Esker Lakes. As you leave Hearst there is a sign saying "Longlac 210 kilometers," and we would see nothing but trees -- millions of birches and pines -- for that entire distance, reminding us of the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was cold and drizzly most of the day, and by the time we got to Longlac we were longing for a little cabin with a fireplace. One friendly proprietor in Geraldton had a cabin but no fireplace, so he sent us on to the next town, Jellicoe, to the Colimar Lodge, which had a cozy cabin for us with the next best thing, an electric stove with a simulated flame.