Catch up time... this was written Sunday 26th April

Timmy's for breakfast and it's not yet 7.30 on Sunday morning. Yes, it is a bit early, but I've just realized how easy it is to drive around the centre of a city without masses of cars following. I've window-shopped all the sights in Sudbury, even the rising sun.

At 10 am the Dynamic Earth exhibit opens up on the hill next to the Nickel. There are three hospitals and three universities here for some reason, and almost every road leads to Hwy 17 and my journey west.

Yesterday had its memorable bits. I drove north across country passing farm after farm along the shores of Lake Huron. Bayfield, mentioned by Margaret who I met the day before in Eden Mills, is quite a pretty touristy spot, but it has no obvious public washroom so I didn't like it. I have realised that if my needs are met in a place, no matter what those needs may be, then I like the place, and if not, then I don't.

The weather was hot and hazy. And then it changed. For a couple of days the forecasters have been warning of storms, and finally one hit. The clouds were incredible, winds ferocious, rain could peal the paint off a car (it's all right Amy and Ted, no damage as the mud plastered on it has protected it - kind of like one of those pour cleansing face masks) and lightning a mixture of sheet and fork. It was very dramatic and I got very lost in the middle of it.

Finding the 400 proved to be difficult when unable to see much through the windshield. And, using a map with the entirety of Ontario on two sides (I have now realised the province is a little larger than I first thought...) means losing local detail. The road I headed up wasn't on the map, even the rather affluent residential area didn't exist. And the road led me to transmission wires high on a hill - not a particularly smart place to be in a major lightning storm.

Anyway, I did finally manage to get to Hwy 400 and the storm relented. The post-storm scenery was intense. Colours were vibrant and there was sweet light in the middle of the afternoon.

I stopped a few times between Barrie and Sudbury, and at one point found Port Severn locks (and flies). The visitor centre was closed - no surprise there. But, my favourite spot was actually travelling the 400 because of the geological landscape I was driving through.

For this land, the painter's palette would contain rose, grey, black and some rust, green and white thrown in for good measure. One sign described the area as Rainbow Land. Photos don't do it justice, and the high water table creates muskegs and inlets everywhere. This is the Georgian Bay area.

I pulled off a side road to Sturgeon Provincial Park (closed) and tootled along to the marina area some 10 km later. On route, the frogs were deafening, a pileated woodpecker made short work of rotten bark, deer ran across the road with their white fluffy tails high in the air, and just like up on Mt Tremblant area I found a male grouse showing off to a female. A deer watched me watching it as I ate my dinner.

It seemed to take a long time to get to Sudbury (not surprising given how many stops I made) and as the light was fading I was thinking of where to stay - should I go to the expense of another motel, or would camping be ok? And then a moose sauntered across the road right in front of me.

An emergency stop (from 90 km/hr) sent maps and books flying off the passenger seat and onto the floor. She, the moose, was HUGE and mottled. In the seconds during which I watched her pass by, I noticed how strange a gait moose have - she reminded me of an extra tall person shyly trying to fit into a 5'5" world. I didn't catch my breath for another 30 minutes.

So my head wasn't quite on straight when I arrived in Sudbury in the dark and booked into the first motel I saw. That was a mistake, an example of why sometimes it is not good to travel alone, and led to me leaving before 6 am and arriving here at Timmy's. There are three Timmys at least in the downtown area - I think Sudbury has a thing for threes.

As a final note, it is just above freezing and a lady with way too high short shorts has just come in. There's an awkward whisper and giggles from the staff. Perhaps its the likely difference between hourly pay.