Kenora wasn't actually a gig - Cheryl at Shooter's (the bar at Lake of the Woods Hotel) told me that it was karaoke night and that the local karaoke-ers would get surly if I played during their night. But she nicely offered me a place to crash for free.

Getting to Kenora was long - the first day that I felt cooped up in the car. A long drive with the sun strobing through pine trees from the left straight into my eyes. I turn off the heat because the car is so warm and I remember that packed sunscreen... somewhere...

I've been looking forward to seeing deer along the side of the road, and have been scared of seeing moose (the moose signs started out every once in while with a moose image and a "night danger" sign... now they're every twenty feet and just have the moose image, as if the horde of mooses (meese? moose-i?) are slowly surrounding me. I keep imaging seeing phantom mooses in the boulders and trees along the road.

Unfortunately the first deer I see is dead. Without a Fort William around to re-use the roadkill as historical furs, animals are left for the birds. Fortunately, within an hour I see two pretty young deer at the side of the road eating. I'm happy to see them, but keep remembering the first one and wish I could warn them to stay clear.

Snow has shown up in the shadows of the trees, lying in the ditches where the sun can't reach it. I still haven't seen any falling from the skies, but it's clearly moving in, like the moose.

I wish I could say that Kenora was nice, but it was the sketchiest town I've been in so far. Auto shops and strip motels line what could be a pretty town... but I arrive while it's getting dark, so it's hard to tell. I've given up on google maps and navigate by following other cars, signs, and a bit of zen. Which works surprisingly well - especially for someone who's usually a bit of a control freak.

If Kenora is sketchy, then The Lake of the Woods hotel is its sketchy centre. I park across the street where a ton of young indian kids are hanging out. As a straight, white male it's unusual for me to be in a racial minority and I kind of savour the feeling - just like Harlem in NYC. I worry a bit about my fancy rent-a-wreck, then worry that I'm being racist, then realize I'm just being age-ist and optimistially head into the hotel. Inside, I find out from Betty's restaurant that the Lake of the Woods hotel is closed... ummm.... what? Then I find out that Shooter's is open - I head over there. Shooters is a loose collection of pool tables, hunting video games, a bar and a stage, but somehow avoids looking cohesive. The crowd does look like they could get surly - not that I was thinking of challenging them at karaoke - mostly I just want to go to sleep.

But the bartender doesn't know anything about me and "Tim" won't be in for a while - maybe an hour... maybe more. I go out to eat dinner at Subway (my one concession to trying not to eat fast food on the tour). After an hour I head back, but Tim still isn't there - the bartender thinks he'll be there at 10. I start to get a bit worried - what if Tim doesn't give me a bed? And who is Tim? Where's Cheryl?

Back to Shooter's at 10 and Tim STILL isn't there - what is going on!?

I head to a video game cafe to get on the internet. They close at 11 so I've only got about half an hour - but then realize that I've completely missed the time zone switch and it's only 9:30. The bartender at Shooter's must think I'm a complete moron...

I blog and email until after 11 - they let me stay late - then head back and the mythical Tim is finally there. And I have a room. Hallelujah. Karaoke has started and Tim invites me to join, but I am exhausted, so he leads me up to a scary scary hallway of rooms, one of which is mine. But it's got a sink and a rusty shower and a bed and that's all I need right now. I bring in all of my valuables and guitar and stuff just in case. Tim nicely sets up a TV and vcr for me and I stupidly watch Happy Gilmore until realizing that it's 2 in the morning and I should go to sleep...

The next morning, I wake up early and get the heck out of Kenora - stopping to take a picture of a bizarre sculpture of what my rent-a-wreck would look like with giant spider legs and a top hat... If the date hadn't changed, I'd chalk the whole thing up to a bad bizarre dream...

Next up is Winnipeg... and a day off!