Shuniah to Thunder Bay, ON
Traditional territory of the Algonquin, Anishinabek, Haudenosaunee, Ojibway, Odawa and Cree
55 km
Cloud, sun, lil' bit of wind, 22 ºC
The airport code for Thunder Bay is YQT which I find to be lovely. It’s like the question, “Why cutie?”
Jonathon had a series of flats in the morning, he suspected it was tires which were weather-worn, I suspected with near-certainty that there some micro-shrapnel. Tires just don’t depreciate so easy. We stopped at a Flying J gas station convenience store to refill water bottles.
The cashier had a beautiful tattoo, one hand with a support cast on which she quickly removed.
Jonathon decided to try to hitch a ride into town and I kept pedaling in because of an interview which needed to take place. Surprisingly, cyclists can no longer bike to the Terry Fox Memorial which I find tremendously ironic and sad. The road into town Lakeshore Drive was a really nice one with little traffic and quite a few interesting cyclists. It was windy though and felt like forever before I got into town.
Mary-Catherine was cycling across the country because her usual place of employment burned down and was having renos going on.
Ali had been pedaling since Whitehorse. What an incredible person! I’m sending some of these cyclists to our hosts, haha.
Precious is a friend of mine through an event that the Inspirit Foundation, led by my dear Aunt Jay, organized this past fall. She’s got a really unique role in Thunder Bay (well … lots of different community-oriented roles) as one of two First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Graduation Coaches. The high school drop-out rate for those groups is 70%, so the Lakehead District School Board is piloting a program over five years with two coaches/counselors whose hours extend way beyond school hours to see if being supported will improve the high school completion rates. Incredible work and such an intelligent, insightful and terrific person to have in your tribe. One of the points she mentioned was how things have gotten worse since she was growing up in town.
Shortly after interviewing Precious I, finally, started making my way to Community Spokes, when I was accosted by a pair of ballers. Brothers aged 10 and 8, they were incredibly inquisitive and adorable and finally asked me if I had time to go meet their dad. How could I refuse?
We recorded some soundbites for a future podcast, stay tuned!
Our incredible host made us some delicious pizza with Jonathon’s help while I coordinated scheduling some interviews in town. Farah Ahmad who produces the Racialized Young Professionals Podcast swung by and we had an incredible conversation which was all over the place deep into the night.
Thunder Bay is winning over my heart. I just haven’t quite realized it yet.