Today was a not too much sightseeing, we mainly just did distance to get to Manitoba. We continued on Hwy 11 and took Hwy 71 to join the Trans-Canada Hwy again. There was also nothing really outstanding on the road, except of course the endless waterlogged preserve. You would want to constantly stop and take a picture as the next lookout is always a bit nicer. There was a pulp (certain type of tree log) depot in Fort Frances which convinced me to pull over for a picture. What you see in the picture, they had at least 10 more of these.
Hwy 71 was taking us through the Lake of the Woods area and through Nestor Falls and Sioux Narrows. The later two are serene resort towns with cottages and houseboats. They are surrounded by lakes from all sides and a series of bridges are leading through them. The car plates tell that the area is a popular spot for Minnesota residents. I have even found some signs of bear activity in the area. One of the picknick spots had its heavy iron garbage bin thrown over and a huge bear dropping was nearby...you could easily tell from the size.
There was one excitement on the road. I managed to test the capacity of the tank. The car ran out of fuel after 45 km after the low fuel light came up. On the middle of the road the car stopped accelerating. I pulled over next to a drive-in and started to diagnose the problem. At that point I didn't guess the problem was an empty tank. After ruling out all other mechanical problems I could think of I started to realize...Oh my god, don't tell me you can do only 45 km with the warning light on. The last car I used to drive in Europe (same category, smaller engine) has a 60 liters tank and has 15 liters of gas in it once the light comes up. You could go with that even 150-200 km before running out. So this is what I was used to. I go check the tank capacity in the manual and then it hits me...46 liters. Nice, usually only the cars the size of a Swift have 45 liter tanks. Probably the standard for officially measuring fuel consumption dictates a full tank, so if you have a smaller tank, you will have less weight, better consumption data. Anyway, I started calculating...the last time I was filling up the car after the light came up it swallowed 40 liters. So there is 6 liters of reserve in it. Plus as I know this modern cars don't let the last 3 liters or so out of the tank. Funny thing happened though...our savior, John from Minnesota was just coming by from his cottage on the drive-in I stopped at. And as unbelievable it sounds, he was on his way to go fill up his gas canister. So he quickly took me to a marine gas station where I bought 20 liter of gas, he brought me back, I poured it into the car tank and bumm, the Ford engine was on and sounded cockier then ever. Thanks again, John!
Eventually we entered Manitoba and arrived at Falcon Lake, Whiteshell Provincial Park. The campsite was only a short walk from the beach, but it wasn't the good standard I already got used to in Ontario. Tomorrow we will arrive in Winnipeg.
Distance travelled: 470 km
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