Sunday, runday, back to the USA day

We had planned to make Sunday our long run day.  Our half Marathon is only two weeks away so this was to be our last day of any significant mileage.  We headed back to Kakabaka Falls Park and ran some of the trails we had hiked the day before.  We also ran a few new ones.  Cross country skiing is really big here so the trails that they use in the winter make for good running trails in the summer.  The ground is soft, the trails are wide and the scenery is a wonderful distraction.

We finished our run and stopped at a small diner in the town of Kakabeka.  We were both ready for breakfast, coffee and a big glass of water.  The food was good but what the locals call bacon is what we would call ham.  Their hambacon is smoked and for me, it was too smoked and it was not salted.  I am not a big salt eater but unsalted, smoked ham tasted like it came from a pig that was a chain smoker.  The eggs and pancakes were awesome so we just pushed the hambacon to the side.

We had originally planned to leave the area on Monday but we decided to leave on Sunday.  We did not have any other plans for the area and the weather promised to keep us inside.

We had another motive for leaving a day earlier.  One of our camping neighbors had two small dogs that barked incessantly.  They had created a doggy door for their dogs but left the poor things alone all day.  As soon as they would leave, the little dogs would run outside their doggy door, enter their fenced area and start barking.  I knew they were just scared but I also knew that they were annoying.

So, we loaded up, hooked up and went to check out.  The folks at the office asked us is there was anything wrong and Rob said not really but he did relay our barking dog experience.  The host said that others had already complained and that they should have asked the campers to leave.  Long story short, we got a refund for the night that we were not staying.  Rob assured her that we were leaving for multiple reasons but she was a great host and refunded our money.

We started down the TransCanadian Highway until we came to Highway 11.  Highway 11 would take us to Fort Frances and the International Bridge.  That would lead us to International Falls, Minnesota.

Highway 11 is beautiful but quite desolate.  Do not start on this highway without ample gasoline.  We saw very few people and only one gas station on our 150 mile stint.  That does not sound like much but this highway is REALLY DESOLATE.  It adds to the beauty but not if you are out of gas.

The highway is inundated with lakes, rock formations, wildlife warning signs and dense forest.

SO MANY BEAUTIFUL LAKES

The highway finally led us to Fort Frances and after navigating a detour, we came to the border.

THE BROWN SIGN MAKES IT LOOK LIKE THEY ARE NOT SURE THAT THIS IS THE WAY TO THE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE

THIS IS MUCH CLEARER

We went through customs and the question of the day was "do you have any citrus or tomatoes?"  I am not sure what that was all about but we said no and we were on our way.  We did confess to buying two local craft beers that we planned to drink that night.  We are such rebels.

We also received a very sincere "welcome home." from the border crossing guard.

We had planned to stop in International Falls so Rob called an RV park he had scouted on the Internet and got us a spot for the night.  It was only five minutes away so we quickly made our way there and got set up.  We do not go through all the motions when we are only staying for one night so our setup was quick.  The girls got settled and Rob and I went out to get a bite to eat.

We had dinner at the Chocolate Mousse Restaurant.  While we were eating, the skies got very dark and we witnessed quite a thunderstorm.  Dinner was awesome but we did not have any chocolate mousse.  We had apple tart with ice cream.  Rob cannot pass up apple anything.

We got back to the RV and watched college football.  

We went to bed with the rain pattering on the roof.

Another great day in this thing we call life.