Mattawa Ontario

The fall colours were just staring to emerge in much of Northern Ontario.

After our days travel, we obtained a room at the a small motel  in South River Ontario a short drive south of North Bay Ontario. This was not the wisest choice of lodging we ever made. Our only excuse was that we were tired of driving and wanted to stop and this was the only inn in South River. This Inn gave a new meaning to the expression “modest Inn.”  If I was not a firm believer that suffering is a prerequisite for spiritual enlightenment, I might have complained. Instead I chose to suffer in silence.

The owner/concierge was a pleasant individual who was eager to secure our business. Nothing wrong with that. The office had a strongly unpleasant odor of curry. At least it was unpleasant to us. He probably liked it. The room was Spartan. No that was giving it too much credit. It had one lonely chair, as many hotel rooms do. The refrigerator had a tray of ice but no one had put water in it. And we needed a debriefing drink badly. The owners assured us that his ice-maker could make us ice cubes in 30 minutes. That proved to be a falsehood. In fact we never got ice from him. When I came to pick up the ice the owner sent his teenage boy to deliver the bad news. As a result we had to savour our drinks without ice.

The owner recommended we dine at Antonio’s Grille. Again the only restaurant in town. The ambience of this restaurant consisted in us watching trucks fill up with gasoline, as the restaurant was attached to a gas bar. We dined next to 2 elderly gentlemen who did not exchange one word during their entire meal. Chris and I both ordered Ground sirloin steak. The name was definitely misleading. It was merely hamburger steak. The vegetables looked like they had been defeated in a battle with some wet noodles.

I was deflated by the meal, but In fairness, let me point out that Chris dissents from the opinions given here. She liked the motel and the meal. Go figure.

My conclusion was that not all travel days are stellar. Now where was the enlightenment?