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The Moose Is Loose!
Jan 8 -
There's something to be said for the anatomically correct signs in Canada. Wait a sec... hey, that's magic
marker!
Well, nevertheless, we've finally left Thunder Bay. Under cover of darkness, we packed up Mel and escaped
the city, onward and upward, so on and so forth. One might consider using the phrase "on to bigger and
better things", but only if one hadn't looked at the map to see where one was headed that day. The route
across Northern Ontario can only be described as "on to smaller and less convenient things", which sounds
rather rude, which is why we left it out.
This seems like a good spot to mention why we chose a cross-America trip over a cross-Canada trip. In a
single (yet cryptic) sentence: Canada is about passive greatness, where America is about active greatness.
What do we mean by that? Here's an example... if you've ever flown over Canada, you'll see vast untouched
areas of forest, plain, mountains and so forth, acres and acres of it (or should I say hectares and hectares).
The cities are isolated, few and far between, surrounded in all directions by wide open spaces, unfathomably
huge. If you took the entire population of Canada and spread them out equally, each person would have two
square kilometers of wide open, beautiful, picturesque space. That, my friends, is passive greatness.
Who can truly compare the beauty of the Gaspe Peninsula with that of Nash Dinosaur Tracks in Massachusetts?
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Active greatness, on the other hand, is what America does best. To be actively great, this involves a task,
an achievement, or an action on the part of the common man. It's about banding the town together, building
the largest foam mammal or ball of aluminum foil or chicken wire chicken in the world, for the sole purpose
of sticking a big sign out the front of town that says "Come see why our town is on the map!" Active
greatness is a self-made, self-serving greatness that, whether or not the effort is necessary, or even
aesthetically pleasing, it sure as hell is fun.
Not to say that America isn't passively great as well. On the contrary, many times during this trip have we
been awed by a sight or a view from the top of a hill. Both Canada and America are naturally beautiful on
their own. It's simply that while Canada is content with her natural beauty, America chooses to go above and
beyond the call of duty, to make itself even greater, bigger, wider, taller, and, in some cases, more
colourful with a healthy dose of active greatness.
So, while Canada is an extremely beautiful drive, it doesn't lend itself to the unpredictability of an American
road trip. While places like Quebec City or Grand Manan
Island were some of the most fascinating parts of our trip, they lacked the entertainment value of, say
the Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Beemerville, New Jersey or the
Largest Ball of Twine in Darwin, Minnesota. Active greatness is just so damn funny
that, frankly, the website would have been a whole lot less amusing without it.
God bless America!
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 Today's Weather:
Slushy
| Sleeping Quarters |
Steve's Sanitorium
 
Nothing like giving Steve a few minutes notice before we arrive for the evening! We got the comfiest futon in the place! |
Bkfast:
  | Robin's near Kmart
Thunder Bay |
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| K's Order: | Chocolate Glazed Donut, Coffee |
| A's Order: | Chocolate Chip Muffin, Coffee |
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| Cost: | $3.08 |
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Lunch:
 | Subway
Kenora Market Square |
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| K's Order: | Southwest Chicken |
| A's Order: | Subway Melt |
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| Cost: | $14.89 |
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Dessert:
| Baked Expectations
Winnipeg |
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| Kevin: | Schmoo Cake |
| Aimee: | Banana Cake |
| Steve: | Tia Maria Torte |
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| Cost: | Kev's Treat! |
Mom & Pop's
Road Stops
The Grand Canyon
They had such a great time at the Grand Canyon, that National Geographic did a feature spread on their experience there!
We lived life on
the edge on Day 173.
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