We have to head back to Canada, Ontario in particular, for a few reasons.
If we spend more than 183 days in the USA the IRS wants us to file US income tax (thank you, no). We have only spent about 140 days in the US, but we may want to drop down into the states to see a few places as we travel in Canada parallel to the Canada/US border. Also, we are flying to the UK in August, leaving from Jersey, so we need to save some days for that event.
We also have to spend at least one day in Ontario, so that our vehicle insurance does not expire. Too strange I know, but those are the rules. We tried to find another insurer, but no luck, they all seem to have the same rule.
We also need to take care of some administrative tasks which require our personal presence at branch of our bank and to spend some quality time with representatives of the Ontario government (we can’t wait, not).
The two towns that are closest to us in Ontario, are Kenora and Fort Frances. We need a place to stay in town for a few dogs, and one that will accept our furry kids. A quick check on Airbnb finds prices of CAD$197 per nite for a hotel and CAD$231 per nite for a “bunkie” on a farm. For real?! We are talking Kenora, Ontario. Population 15,000. Not downtown Toronto. Kenora priced itself out of the running, so Fort Frances here we come.
We found a motel in Fort Frances for about $100 per nite. Much more reasonable.
It’s a 7-1/2 hour drive from Bismark, North Dakota to Fort Frances, so we need a place to stop for one night somewhere in the middle. Buffalo River immediately sprang to mind (by “immediately”, we mean after a few hours of pouring over maps and googling – we are back to the same problem of nothing being open yet).
Buffalo River State Park had all the features we needed, namely that it was sort of open.
Vault toilets, a working water faucet in the campground, and electricity at the campsite. We are good-to-go!
Not too many neighbours, so another bonus!
Parking Rosita (our trailer) was a bit snug (there is another building right across from the one we are parked in front of), but is was nice to have the trailer right outside our room as we could grab stuff easily.
Not a lot to say about Fort Frances as there is not a whole lot to Fort Frances. A small border town, across from International Falls, Minnesota USA.
With a population of just over 7000, the town has one main street that is home to most of the retail business. Bank, post office, print shop and grocery store all located on one stretch of the main street. Handy for us.
The hotel is located on the Rainy River a couple of blocks away from the main street. Nice walkway for the dogs along the river.
There is still ice floating on the river, so we didn’t encourage the dogs to take a swim. It is still cool, so they wouldn’t dry out quickly, and sleeping with wet dogs in a hotel room was less than appealing.
There is not a whole lot of choices for dining, and some of the establishments, like the restaurant next door, featured dishes like Chicken-a-la-king and other plates that seemed to have chunky things swimming in a gravy-like substance. So it was either Subway, Pizza Hut, or take a chance on some local restaurants (hard pass on the place with things swimming in viscous liquids).
We had dinner at a couple of Chinese food restaurants and both were surprisingly good. Even day-after left-overs were tastey. The local grocery stored supplied the rest of our meals. The hotel room had a coffee maker and a microwave oven, so we were all set.
Trip Summary:
Depart: KOA Journey (Bismark), ND 10:45 am Apr 29; Odometer: 138666 miles
Arrive: Buffalo River State Park, MN 3:30 pm Apr 29; Odometer: 138880 miles
Depart: Buffalo River State Park, MN 10:30 am Apr 30; Odometer: 138880 miles
Arrive: Bayview Motel (Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada) 4:00 pm Apr 29; Odometer: 139114 miles
Gas Summary:
Jamestown, ND (Apr 29): 19.1 g @ $3.20/g ($61.05) – ODO 138776 miles
Laporte, MN (Apr 30): 19.1 g @ $3.50/g ($66.97) – ODO 138980 miles
Big Falls, MN (Apr 30): 9.5 g @ $3.60/g ($41.35) – ODO 139073 miles