Day 1

It's 5am on Saturday May 1st. I look at my cell phone and the number 1 on the calendar is staring at me. I try to fall back asleep for 2 hours because I don't know when I will be able to have a good sleep again, but by this point my mind is racing; Did I forget anything? Will my car make it? Is mom going to be ok? When will I get to see my family and friends again?...

So I get up. I want to have a nice breakfast with my mom, so we make coffee, pancakes and home made berry sauce, I try to keep conversation as casual and light as possible because I know she's on the verge of tears. I'm not good with goodbyes myself, I just sorta sputter out the word and smile, but I try to make it a good one for my mom.

Once breakfast is finished she has to drive me to Dad's where I left my car. I give her a big hug and then say goodbye to Danielle and I'm on my way. My first stop is North Bay, where I have to pick up Amanda. I have known Amanda since she was born, our parents were Best Friends and I used to babysit her and her brother. I literally haven't seen her in 7 years, so I'm excited to get caught up! Amanda is coming for the ride because it's her brother's 19th Birthday on the Thursday. He lives in Chilliwack, which is literally 20 mins from where my brother is, so it worked out perfectly.

I arrive in North Bay and have to wait about 3 hours for Amanda to sort out her new roomates moving in, it was a nice break because I've already been driving for 5 hours.

3pm rolls around and we are on the road again. Last time I drove out West, google maps and my GPS took me through Sault and around Lake Superior (most beautiful drive ever). This time, however, it suggested a different route (and I'm always up for suggestions). It suggested we head north of Sudbury and cut across to Wawa (hwy 101 or something). It looked as if it would shave 3-4 hours off of our drive so we went for it. This highway is about 4 hours north of Sudbury and 4 hours South of Timmins. On the corner of the highway there's a gas station and so we fill up ( we tried not to let our gas tank go below half, just in case we don't run into another stop). At the pump an old guy asks me where we're from, etc. and wonders why we decided to take this highway, i just said it'll save time (not sure what he meant). So we pull onto the "highway" and signs say "Gravel Road for 80 km". Horrified, it dawned on me what the old guy was surprised 2 girls decided to take this route. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. Our cell phones haven't had reception since Sudbury, and we have to take this route (turning back is not an option). To make matters worse, we are driving directly West now at 7pm, so the Sun is setting directly in our faces, and if we happen to see a car drive by, it kicks up so much dust, visibility is literally impossible. So we are crawling along, going no faster than 60-70km/h. I notice the gravel is constantly being kicked up and "tinging" the bottom of my car, I wince at the thought, and then I observe all of the "car parts"; mufflers, wheels, etc at the side of the road, no doubt from the rocks being constantly kicked up at your car. At this point, I'm sort of freaking out. I try to stay as calm as possible and remember to breath, but can't help but think "2 girls, in the middle of nowhere, no cell phones, no weapons, if we get a flat, we are F***ED."
Amanda is driving (thank goodness because she seemed a lot more calm, if this was a disguise, good on her because I would be visibly shaken). She can't see the road, so I have to hang out the passenger window (for 80km's) and tell her "a little to the right, ok now the left".....

And then we see them. Bears. LOTS of them. This made it all worth it, I took it as good karma and was able to relax a little better.
We managed to get some fantastic photo's of them, and the sunset.
Finally, and this finally is worthy of a victory dance, we pull onto pavement, huge sigh of relief and big smiles on our faces. We are determined to get to Wawa, even tho its another 3 hour drive.
We finally arrive and its just after 11. We decide to eat something (subway - my healthy eating habits suffered on this trip) and we agree that both of us are weary from driving (our eyes are doing funky things in the dark, a sure sign of exhaustion). We pull into a well-lit parking lot and try to get some shut eye. I thought by this time I should be able to sleep standing up, but sleeping in a car (one you have been sitting in for the past 15 hours) is no easy feat. I concentrate on my breathing, and I find myself finally drifting off, but then I hear these 2 guys talking right outside my car, I sit up, fully alert, scared they are going to tap on our window or something, I check to make sure the locks are set, but then they just keep walking. I settle my beating heart and try to sleep again. Then 3 OPP vehicles pull into the parking lot and one of them shines their spot light directly into our car. "Wawa is BULLSHIT" I say, and I get myself a coffee and pull out of there. I'm terrified of night driving, even though I have "deer whistles" who knows how well they work. But i'm confident that I am fully alert now. My mission is to find a transport truck that I can keep up with and follow behind (if they hit something, who cares). The first 4 trucks were big meanies and were driving way too fast for my comfort level, but then I found a guy and he visibly slowed down for me :) I followed him another 300km's and then we pulled off into a lookout point (around 3:30am) and Amanda and I slept until 6:30. She can sleep no problem in the car, I struggled with this, and got maybe 30 mins of shut eye.