First Step in Soo

On our way to Sault Ste. Marie we passed by a few interesting looking towns -Espanola, Blind River, Iron Bridge, Bruce Mines etc. Most of these towns were small and primarily mining towns. They had this slightly old, rustic look submerged into endless greenery, a combination that would instantly attract an adventurous mind. However, we weren't looking for adventure. The only thing that went on my mind was to get to Sault Ste. Marie, drop Mili and Zakeem in the apartment and get to work. That was the most important part – GET TO WORK. We tried not to even stop unless absolutely necessary, which was obviously nature related. The drive was painfully slow as the small towns each had there own speed limit ranging from 40 kilometers to 80 kilometers per hour. From my experiences living in USA I knew small town sheriffs and deputies were more likely to lay a speed trap than their counterparts in the city zone. The last thing I wanted was a speeding ticket something that could cost me in access of 100 dollars. Nevertheless, the often slow drive through the curvy, mostly lonely but spectacular road was something that we fell in love in later days.

Our apartment complex was right at the mouth of the town, just past the large signboard that welcomed visitors into the decaying town proudly declaring it as the home town of Dr. Roberta Bander, the first female Canadian astronaut and world's first neurologist in space who spent 8 days in the orbit on the space shuttle Discovery in 1992. The city also had another unique distinction. It was the only city that had parts both in USA and Canada. The part in the Canadian side was much larger and more populated with about 80000 people in comparison to 18000 across St. Marys River - a tributary of Lake Superior, world's largest freshwater lake by surface area and third largest in water volume. Once a bustling city with Algoma steel Inc. (currently Esser Steel Algoma), Canada's biggest steel company, as the largest employer with more than 5000 employees, the city has gone through tough times in recent years. The steel company was still the largest employer but struggled to survive against tough competition. Call centers, Sault hospitals and Ontario lottery was the next three largest employers.

Another distinction of the city was the Soo locks that allowed the shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system to bypass Saint Mary's Rapids, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it. Watching the large ships slowly and steadily slipping through the canal, we later found, was a very interesting view. The Soo locks were located below the almost 3 mile long truss arch bridge with suspended deck that connected Sault Ontario with Sault Michigan (Canada-USA), something that presented another spectacular view against the blue sky and the ever rushing rapids dotted with large, dark boulders and plenty of fishing activities.

On the way to Soo

The morning we started for Sault Ste Marie turned out to be an eventful one. Mili had barely slept the night before. Part because she was packing and part because finally this moving thing was getting into her nerves. That wasn't the case with me. I slept uninterrupted. However, in the morning as I started to move stuff from apartment to the car – 1996 Toyota corolla - my composure started to wane off. The car filled up much quicker than I had expected with ‘absolutely necessary stuff’. Frustrated and angry I cursed just about everything around and unduly blamed Mili for packing more than the essentials. At the end we had the car packed to the point where the only spaces that were left were the places for our buttocks to rest. Zakeem - sitting in his car seat- surrounded by things that practically allowed little room for him to even move his little feet, howled in total objection. Our heart broke but there was very little we could do. A great portion of the stuff we were carrying was his. We left behind his little mattress that we carried to Toronto from USA tying it on the car roof. It gave us immense pain as the plastic covers torn apart in heavy wind flapped against the windows like giant birds. But the toys were coming in this trip, for obvious reason. The cloths, pillows, comforters, kitchen stuff...you think you have nothing, wait until you move.

As I drove on freeway 400 toward Sudbury Mili tried to rest. Soon she started to complain about a mild headache. Zakeem's intermittent howling wasn't helping either. A dose of painkiller didn't do any magic. She continued to feel worse. Nothing seemed going right. I was depressed, dejected, tortured with wavering thoughts. Perhaps I should have just accepted the low paid full time position. We could have just stayed in Toronto. All these could be avoided.

We stopped near Parry Sound, a town located near Georgian Bay (30 thousand islands) for a break about three hours into our trip. Hot drinks were purchased. The coffee helped my doomed spirit but the tea did nothing to alleviate Mili's headache. We continued after a short while. Zakeem loved the freedom out of his car cage. Putting him back caused another depressing burst.

Sudbury - the town where world's largest Nickel mines are located in addition to copper and a slew of other oars - was about one and half hour away from Port Perry. The spacious freeway 400 ended near Parry Sound and we were directed into two lane highway 69. The winding road went through beautiful natural enclaves, often passing through sections that were built through rocky hills. The panoramic view that the drive offered was breathtaking. However, we were barely in the mode to enjoy that. The only thing that went through my mind was to get to Sudbury, stop somewhere, have lunch, get our blood moving. Hopefully all the dismay would go away. Mili had been very quiet for the last hour. I wasn't sure if she was sleeping or just decided to keep mute. My attempts to break a conversation went in vein. She was definitely mad at me.

As we approached Sudbury we left 69 and jumped into highway 17 (Trans-Canada highway), world's longest national highway with a length of 7821 km (4860 mile). It went across Canada starting from St. Johns in Newfoundland and ending in Victoria, British Columbia. Due to some mix up with the exits I ended up going past Sudbury and stopped in a Tim Horton in Lively - a small town near Sudbury. It was a neat town with several food stores and a few gas stations. The vast farmland around the town offered a really nice and pleasing environment. I ordered some lunch and started to indulge the idea that the hard phase of our journey was about to be over when Mili announced she was feeling really sick and quickly disappeared inside the ladies room not to be returned in next half an hour. She had thrown up several times and felt so weak that she could hardly stay on her feet. I knew we couldn't continue. Unfortunately it was a Sunday. I was supposed to get to work next morning. The first thing came to my mind was informing Carlo. I had only his office number. I called up the number, got his voice mail and quickly explained the situation. I promised to show up in the afternoon next day instead of morning. I hoped he would be okay with it.

Next I stepped out to look for a motel or something of that kind. I didn't have to look too far. There was a large motel right next door - Motor inn. This was an old looking establishment located on a small hill backed into open fields - owned by a Korean family who were very friendly. We rented a room there for the night. It was a clean, specious room. Mili wasted no time and went to bed directly. She slept deeply for hours. Zakeem and I went to the balcony to enjoy the view that the vast fields presented. Slowly the day rolled into evening and darkness surrounded the little town. Not having much to do as Mili slept we went to bed early as well. If things looked good we could start very early. Sault Ste Marie was only about three hundred kilometers away. With some luck I could actually get to work next morning - a little late possibly.

Next morning, we started at five. Mili was feeling better as her headache was gone. Zakeem was still asleep but we carried him into the car and with a little patting helped him going back to sleep. We left the dusty looking motel behind us for a amazingly beautiful trip that meandered through small towns, lakes, fields and woods, offering just about everything that a road trip possibly can.

During our stay in Sault Ste Marie for the next fifteen months we had gone through this path several times and almost every time stayed in that motel.