I stop and spend some time in Sault-Ste-Marie for some banking, groceries, and walking around. As I’m gearing up, I strike up a conversation with an elderly gentleman. He seems to be knowledgeable of the local roads and I mention that I’m going towards Duluth, Minn. I ask what he thinks of taking a straight shot from Sault-Ste-Marie (the Soo) or going by Wawa and Thunder Bay.

He favors the Canadian side through Thunder Bay arguing that it may be longer in miles but shorter in time. I’m not sure that his reasoning is correct, but I figure that I’ll go along with it if only to see the northern side of Lake Superior again.

I finally leave the Soo behind at 7:30pm. The road towards Wawa is very smooth and has a rhythmical undulation to it, like a relaxed roller coaster. You gradually go up for a ways, peak and then gradually go down. This goes on for the whole segment right up to Wawa. As the sun goes down, I’m treated to a spectacular sunset on Lake Superior. But sundown also brings a significant and quick drop in temperature.

As I entered the Soo-Wawa segment, there was a huge flashing sign on the side of the road warning about wildlife at night. I certainly kept this in mind as I cranked it on towards Wawa. Fog is frequent along this stretch due to its proximity to water and often collects in the troughs. But this is not a problem tonight and I only need to deal with the cold and be vigilant for wildlife.

Traffic is very light, mostly tractor-trailers, and we all move at a decent clip always keeping in mind a reserve for wildlife. At one point, I see that an oncoming vehicle is overtaking a tractor-trailer. They seem to be side by side for a while and I have trouble distinguishing because of the combined glare.

They are both on the downhill side. Suddenly I snap out of it and stomp on my brakes. This is not enough so I swerve to my right as the other vehicle swerves in front of the truck. We miss each other by what seems like 10-20 feet. This was an SUV towing a trailer. At first I wonder what took him so long to pass the truck on a downhill – and – what was he thinking. Later on I realize that trucks typically accelerate hard on the down sections in order to gain momentum for the upcoming rise. Poor guy was probably in a cold sweat as he found himself racing the truck downhill.

Bruno
Montreal, Canada