Biggs Cross Country 2017: Day 43 - Int'l Falls, Voyageurs, NP

Short mileage today. We drove from Thunder Bay to Fort Frances/International Falls along CAN 11 for about 220 miles. (After picking up apple fritters from Tim Horton's) Its real wilderness out there! Literally hundreds of small lakes, ponds, marshes & creeks. Great Moose habitat, but, alas, didn't see any. Weather is mostly cloudy in the 60s until mid afternoon when the sun came out and it warmed up to 70s. We learned that Boise set a record yesterday at 104!

We crossed the border in the USA from Fort Frances into International Falls, MN. Really odd crossing - the checkpoint was right in the middle of the paper mill! There was no exit from Canada- unlike Thunder Bay where we got quized in both directions.

Voyageurs National Park (#46) is about 12 miles east from I.F. We found the Rainey Lake Visitor Center and ate our lunch on their back deck. This park is mostly water. There are over 500 islands around four major lakes to be explored by any kind of water craft, with over 240 primitive camping sites. The park celebrates the Voyageurs, the rugged Canadians who packed beaver pelts across these lakes on their way to Montreal in the 1800s. Next time, I'll bring my canoe!

These cities are dominated by the wood pulp & papers industries. Huge piles of logs. A by-product of paper manufacturing is sawdust which is then used to make fiber board. Nothing is wasted. Don;t really understand the process - we'll have to Google it!

Days Inn tonight. Nice dinner across the parking lot at the Chocolate Moose.

(Note: may favorite math exercise: if gas costs $1.14CAN per litre, how much would that be in US$ per gallon?) Answer tomorrow, after I figure it out!