Timmies To The Rescue

We are in a small motel, just outside a small town called Wawa in Ontario. Most Canadians know about this town; it's the only real stop between the lakehead and the soo on the Transcanada Highway. The motel is one of those classic summer joints, low roofed, quaint, nice sized rooms with a big bed and a tiny bathroom. It's got a small eating area with a little round table and a couple of chairs. It really looks like something out of a movie set.

The room itself is good, meticulously clean and tidy, with all the expected motel appointments. There is no restaurant or bar nearby, so last night was the perfect night for pizza and beer, the only problem being that Ontario is the only province in the country where you can't buy beer when you want it; the liquor laws here continue to be archaic. So it was rum and coke instead of beer.

The motel itself is set high upon a hill beside the highway, the only highway, overlooking Lake Superior. It is a rural setting; one expects to see a moose in the parking lot in the morning. The view over the lake is limited thanks to the trees yet the sunset is more than beautiful, making up for the missing sight of Gitchegumee. It'ss till winter here, mostly, with chill mornings and a thick sheet of ice on almost every body of water, including the mighty Great Lakes of northern Ontario.

Perhaps the only fly in this ointment is the tiny little bathroom in the motel room. This place was not advertised as wheelchair accessible. In fact, nothing in Wawa is wheelchair accessible. This place, in spite of being the only place on the road, is decidedly rough and ready. The road came through in 1960; before that this was a hunting and fishing outpost, accessible by bush plane and railroad. It would appear that 55 years is not yet enough to bring Wawa into the modern era.

The 5 X 7 foot bathroom itself is actually quite pretty; clean, cute curtains, a lovely sink stand. The tub is deep and there is plenty of hot water. Of course I could enjoy neither, nor can I manage the toilet without substantial assistance. I managed to use the facilities last night; this morning I have decided to wait for a better opportunity. I don't blame the motel for this; they are what they are. Were I not in a wheelchair, I would call this a lovely little stop.

Perhaps this is why so many people do the lakehead to the soo in one day. It can happen; they are only about 8 or 9 hours apart on the Trans-Canada. It is remote here, a land that time has not forgotten, but certainly left behind a ways. Still, Wawa is, in an odd way, one of the more interesting stops on the road, an old time Canadian northern town with a Tim Horton's. And that is where I can find a wheelchair bathroom!