Thanks memaquay, I know #11 well, as far as Temagami. Not much further though. My brother says "Yeah, I like #11. Flat and fast." I spoke to a family member at a party in the Soo, who told me about driving through Michigan to the Soo. I was considering taking #17 from there. Google says 15-16 hours. I was thinking of sleeping in our van at Neys PP or maybe L.Sup.PP. Maybe #11 could be our route of choice if 12 hours driving is the norm.
L'oiseau, everything you say really rings true to me. Holiday time is precious. M has a generous 4 weeks, but some of that is always set aside for family time around Christmas etc. Being self employed means I have as much time off as I can afford. I can't afford much. When we scrape our pennies together and get away, I can't think of a better way to spend time with my wife than to canoe trip. If I can add friends to the mix…well, it can't get much better than that. We've travelled a tiny bit at home and abroad, and we continue to plan, dream and hope. But tripping is relatively inexpensive, easy, and guilt free. There are plenty of places to canoe closer to home, but some of my biggest and best dreams are of North Western Ontario. Marshall loop has just drifted into this realm, and if I get the chance to get there AND spend our time there with my canoe tripping friends, well, I wanna do it while I can. I never know when an opportunity like this will come along again. Not preaching l'oiseau, this is just my own view. You know your own situation best. I'm hoping you and your darling can do this.