First tour on the 660

[gsimmons]

This past weekend was my first real touring weekend... 3 days, 2,126kms.   This is all in Ontario Canada, from Kitchener to Sault Ste Marie, Wawa and back to Kitchener.  Roads covered everything from divided highway to loose gravel.. TS660 was perfect throughout, no issues at all. 

I'm trying to see all the 'Big things in Ontario' this summer... over this weekend, I got the first four. 

Big Loonie in Echo Bay


Big Baseball in Sault Ste Marie


Big Canada Goose in Wawa


Big Nickel in Sudbury

[Shandy]

 

Very nice, can see what you mean by seeing all the BIG sites, literally! 

Great pictures and love the Blue TS660, best colour! 

[BillyHey]

Nice photos, still a bit confused as to how these things came about.  Are they visitor attractions to get you to stop by a particular business or small town you'd otherwise pass on a long road?

I suppose in the UK we've started down a similar path with various roadside art installations but they tend to be huge statues rather than oversized everyday objects.

My favourite (and not just because it's nearby) right next to the M9 motorway:

[gsimmons]

I think there is some 'tourist trap' in all of these sorts of things... I do know a bit about why on these though:

Wawa in the place with the big goose, and the word means "Wild Goose or Land of the Big Goose" in Ojibwe
The Big Loonie is in Echo Bay, where the artist who drew the Loon on it was from.
The Big Nickel is in Sudbury, where one of the worlds largest nickel mines was (it still is a mine, but is no longer the scale it once was).  Our nickels (5 cents) used to be made out of nickel.
The big baseball is.. well I have no explanation for that one.   

There are lots of other big things around, and this list that I'm chasing this summer is very arbitrary.  I just want a reason to ride, and these force me to pick places that I might not otherwise go to.

I've been leaving out things that are common (like big muskoka chairs and the like).  Needs to be unique and kind of odd.  More to come!

PS: LOVE the horses... I'd definitely go see that!

[domoincan]

Nice Ride!   

So did you get to ride Ontario's tail of the dragon? 
It's supposed to be there by Wawa.  :-)

If all goes as planned a friend and I are riding out to Wawa / Sault Ste Marie from the West side (Manitoba)
 

[gsimmons]

The 'Ontario Tail of the Dragon' is hwy 129, south of Chapleau to Thessalon.  From Wawa, you'd take hwy 101 east to Chapleau (which is also a good road).

I didn't get to do that this trip... just didn't have the time and I probably should have taken an extra day to do it. 

We did do the Deer Loop route, which is Hwy 108 from Serpent River, through Elliot Lake onto hwy 639 through Mississagi Prov park and then down hwy 546, before we jumped over on hwy 554 to do the bottom bit of the 129.  Great route too... hwy 639 was a beautiful riding road.  hwy 546 was paved but only in the loosest meaning of the word.  VERY remote.   Saw a moose! 

This is on the shoulder of the 546...