Day two of the long-haul stretch: another 493 km, this time from Gibbs Camping and RV Resort in Northern Ontario to Camping Malartic in Quebec. More endless roads, more endless trees. Our games of I‑Spy have become so predictable that “T for Trees” is basically a standing answer at this point.
To prove the monotony, the three photos I took today were snapped hundreds of kilometres apart… and you’d never know.
We did manage to break the spell with a detour into Kapuskasing for a morning coffee, followed by a second diversion to the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat. And honestly, that stop saved the day. The habitat has four sections for the bears, including a massive 21‑acre area with a 10‑acre lake. By sheer luck, both bears were playing together in the plunge pool right in front of the viewing windows. Watching them swim and wrestle underwater was mesmerizing. We stayed for the keeper’s talk and learned just how rare it is to see both bears active at the same time. The heritage village on-site was a fun bonus, rounding out what turned into a genuinely uplifting break in the middle of a long drive.
As we approached Malartic, we pulled into a gas station and found ourselves surrounded by dozens of people in bright yellow “Tour de l’Abitibi” shirts — a junior cycling stage race that’s been running since 1969 and is now part of the Junior Nations’ Cup. While we waited, more than twenty police cars and motorcycles rolled in, leading the riders, followed by support vehicles, ambulances, TV crews, and the whole circus. With a whoosh, the racers flew past us and headed down the same highway we needed to take. Once we got back on the road, we ended up behind the police backmarkers and had to follow the race convoy for about 20 km into Malartic. It made the last leg of an already long day… just a little longer.
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