Having travelled from Weyburn to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and back again, I can tell you most of the highways we travelled were in good shape, and that the Highways crews in Ontario don't work on Sundays.
This latter point is good for travellers, as I am sure going through Northern Ontario would have taken considerably longer had we had to deal with construction crews.
As it was, we travelled home on a long weekend, under a blazing hot sun, and while we were able to eventually make good time, the sheer volume of traffic was astoundingly bad. I had thought in the middle of a long weekend, especially with actual hot summer weather, people would want to spend it doing summery things, like being at the lake or the beach, waterskiing or hiking or swimming or well, whatever people want to do. It would seem I was wrong on that score, because I'm quite sure they were all out there on the highway.
We had no animal-related incidents, nor even any near-misses animal-wise, other than a turtle that was crossing the highway, and I made sure to drive with it between my wheels so I didn't hit it. I couldn't say that any traffic following me would have done the same, but I hoped they did.
While visiting at my wife's parents' place, one day a turtle appeared at the house. Aside from its head moving slightly, there was no actual sign this turtle could move but when we got home later that day after being out, the turtle was gone. There weren't any rivers or creeks nearby that I knew of, so it was puzzling where the little guy came from.
There was one incident that shook us up, caused by a left-turner. Now, I usually dislike left-turners at the best of times, although clearly it's a necessary evil on occasion.
But, to be turning left on a busy, busy, busy (I'm trying to show how busy the Trans-Canada was) highway with holiday traffic is just asking for trouble. For the most part, most places that need it have a left-turn lane built in so you don't take your life in your hands trying to turn left. This particular place on this hot, hot, hot Sunday afternoon, had no left-turn lane, so when this unnamed person who should be slapped came to a complete stop on the Trans-Canada to turn left, the traffic had to stop as well except for a blue semi, which came up behind us, and smacked us hard in the back of our wagon.
Our son had a sore neck after, and the day after, my wife had soreness in both her arms. The car seems to have survived this smack, but it's hard to tell. As for me I still don't like left-turners.
