The Canadian -- Segment 1

Hi everybody! and sorry for the lack of posts of late. We've basically been travelling since last Saturday...rode more than 5000kms, hadn't showered from Saturday morn to Tuesday night, changed time zones, slept in sleeper class, swam in Hudson Bay... more on that later though. We are back in civilization on non-moving ground in Winnipeg for the night, and so I shall try to post a bit tonight and tomorrow morn before we take off again to Edmonton. I can't believe we're already 11 days into this trip! Now it's going by too fast! We are doing the Canadian in 3 separate segments, Toronto-Winnipeg, Winnipeg-Edmonton, and Edmonton-Vancouver. Here is the first of these segments:

Sat, Aug 5-- Bright and early in ghetto res we rose and made our way to Union Station, Toronto via the subway. We made it more than an hour early and were able to grab a cinnabon for breakfast at the station. We got on the Canadian, which has older cars on it than the Ocean, and I dozed on and off from Toronto to Sudbury. The scenery all around is rocky outcrops of the Canadian Shield. At Sudbury Matt got all excited and pointed out the giant smokestack that was at one point the tallest in the world. No sign of the big nickel though. After Sudbury Junction we stopped at Capreol where we could get out and stretch for a bit. At this point our train was running ahead of schedule! This is me looking very happy to be getting boarding. Back on the train was more rocky areas and lots of nice looking lakes, apparently popular for fishing, and a few little places to stop at. One place was basically someone's house with a man and a dog outside, a couple people got off the train with packages, and as we were leaving there was a sign with the "town" name, then pop: 13, dog catcher: Morley. Most of the other places we stopped were similar small campy areas. We kept our eyes peeled the whole time for moose, but saw none. I was already a bit tired by 8:30, and thus attempted to fall asleep. It was a bit better than the ocean, but not amazingly comfortable. I think the ear plugs are crucial.

Sun, Aug 6 -- We woke up around 7ish and had coffee and ok on the train. The same scenery repeats itself, in lots of pristine secluded lakes, some with a lone camp. Throughout a lot of this area there are no roads, so planes or trains are the only way in. We rolled into Sioux Lookout, more than an hour behind, for a little stop. I detrained to see about getting a coffee, but what looked like the main street there was all closed and deserted, so i went back to the train. Apparently others were more successful at finding things, cause the people sitting next to us came back with cinnabons! what? Onwards we went to Minaki and Malachi and the Manitoba border. After Elma, MB the views start to change into more prairies with flat fields stretching forever. We past many with hay bales and some filled with sunflowers. We rolled into Winnipeg 2 hours behind at 5:45. We had survived the longest distance segment of our trip on VIA!!! yay!