Driving from southern ontario to northern manitoba

[goleafsgo]

Just wondering if anyone has done the drive before? Or a similar one? It looks like the best way is through the good ole' u s of a. Wondering if i can expect to get hassled at the border since my car will most likely be filled with boxes of stuff and bags of clothes. Any tips will be appreciated.

[North Shore]

I think that it's pretty much 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other.
If you don't already have one, a CAA membership can come in very useful if your car is the typical starting-out-pilot beater. If you're staying in hotels on the way, keep a good eye out for bedbugs - strip the bed and conduct a good examination before you put either you or your bag on it.

Good luck!

[grimey]

remember to get gas, food, and use the can at Grand Rapids on 6, because you've got 2 hours of nothing but highway and power lines and trees ahead of you.

[TopperHarley]

I took the USofA route when I did it. Options were to go "south" through chicago up to Minneapolis then to Winnipeg, or go north up Michigan, cross over through Wisconsin, Minnessotta and North Dakota then to winnipeg, which is what I did. It's a nice easy drive, lots of speed traps though. Dont do this drive in the winter though! I had no hassle at the border.

The Canadian route is probably easier to follow, but gas is more expensive here and so are hotels/motels. Plus it's a longer distance.

[Liquid Charlie]

First it depends on where in "Southern Ontario" you are - Golden Horse Shoe and east the Canadian route is shorter and faster (having drove this many times and about to do it again next week) If you are in South Western Ontario it's faster to cut over at Sarnia and then up through the Sault and from extreme eastern Ontario cut off at North Bay and do hwy 11 --

But having said that I drove down the North Shore last week and while I made good time the cost of fuel in Marathon was $1.70/l for premium you can cruise the highways in northern ontario around 107 and won't get stopped

Superior is spectacular and I suggest that you need to drive it at least once - it's 7 hours from the Sault to T Bay - plan it for a daylight portion - times -- 18 hours from YYZ to YHD and the 3.5 hours to YWG - that's driving times -

Going through the states is certainly longer and slower but gas is cheaper but the roads are lined with hundreds of deer - I know I smacked one -- lucky a glancing blow and we both survived -- gas would be cheaper but hotels about the same price -

I am going back Monday - leaving from Ottawa area and for a change plus some shopping am cutting across at the Sault and going through Duluth - but I'm not in a hurry and have friends in Virginia Mn -- it's longer and 55 speed limit most of the way -- but then again I could turn north -- haha --

I'll leave north Manitoba for someone else ----

[Krimson]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I might also be doing this mid/late November, and heading even farther west to Alberta.

If Winnipeg isn't your end point, would it make more sense to use the USA route? Also really curious about crossing the border. I will have pretty much my whole life in my car, plus I'll be towing a cargo trailer with even more...furniture, clothes, random stuff, etc

Brings up another point though, I'm driving a honda civic, fairly new, already been through my beaters. Has anyone ever attempting towing with one of these or something similar? I still have a long life to go on my car and do not want to shorten that because of this trip. I was looking at renting a 4'x8' trailer from uhaul and strapping it to the back.

Basically $700 to get on the road with hitch and all. If I wanted to rent a cargo truck and tow my car so I can save any potential problems, I'm looking at about $3000. (plus probably worse on gas than the civic). What do you suggest? Keeping in mind +$2000 would be nice to save for first/last rent when I get there..

[Go Juice]

Fully loaded and hauling a trailer, your civic will have the same fuel burn as a f150

[Confliction]

Go to Tobermory and take the ferry! Either that or to upper Michigan then through Duluth..

[goleafsgo]

a CAA membership can come in very useful if your car is the typical starting-out-pilot beater.

I have a 2007 chevy aveo in pretty good shape, i'm taking it in to the mechanic before i leave to get a good check done on it.

I took the USofA route when I did it. Options were to go "south" through chicago up to Minneapolis then to Winnipeg, or go north up Michigan, cross over through Wisconsin, Minnessotta and North Dakota then to winnipeg, which is what I did. It's a nice easy drive, lots of speed traps though. Dont do this drive in the winter though! I had no hassle at the border.

I was going to take the route through chicago, north to wisconsin to overnight in madison and then on to winnipeg for another overnight and then up to the north the next day.

First it depends on where in "Southern Ontario" you are

YHM area

['CauseTheCaravanCan]

Done the drive twice a year for the last 7 years.
almost always in the winter, and all but once remained in Canada.
The states was something new, but not nearly as scenic, and I didn't save any time
because they pulled apart my entire Chevy Blazer to take away my dogs bag of Pedigree. They called it
"Animal Feed"
That's the year I decided to start travelling light.

An AVEO eh, yah we did it a couple times in a Pontiac Wave (same car as you). Very little fuel burn!!!

My drive was Oshawa-Pine Dock.
I agree, If you're coming from southwestern Ontario, the Tobermory Ferry is nice, but isn't it seasonal?

Takes 26 hours straight through, did that one for Christmas.
Chew lots of Spitz.

If I broke it up into 2 days it looked more like this.

Day One: North through Whitby, Orillia, Parry Sound (FUEL), Sudbury to (watch for Cops on this leg) Sault.(FUEL TOP UP). 8-9 hours driving. That was the easy part.

Day Two: Get an EARLY start (like 3 or 4 a.m.) Sault to Wawa (Tim Hortons), all the little towns along the way, and maybe
you'll make Thunder Bay from the Sault on one tank. It's about 700km. I should mention the Montreal River Pass. (It's right in between Sault. and Wawa) Serious elevations, most often fog at that early hour, or whiteout with blowing snow. Take your time.

Roll into Thunder Bay at around 11 a.m. (FUEL) Grab a "Persian" (a.k.a.the worlds best donut.) Take the By-Pass highway. That means, turn Northwest off the TransCanada at Red River Rd. You'll miss Kakebeka Falls etc. but if you're in a hurry this saves about 45 mins. and a possible ticket. Again, watch for cops this next leg. West of T-bay, through Shabaqua, (Don't miss the TIME CHANGE PLAQUE) woohoo, you gain an hour!! Ignace, Upsala, Wabigoon (really bad for cops) to Dryden. Like someone else said, you wanna do 104km/hr (that's what I do, cops don't bug you), it's not that speed you'll get pulled over for, it's all those spots where you're entering and exiting small towns, and it slows to 50 or 60 but you missed the sign.
That's where they'll be waitin'.
Dryden 7-eleven for (FUEL, last fuel stop, and Coffee) and go. Bet your ass is getting sore by now. Vermillion Bay (cops, again)
Boring drive the rest of the way, don't count on Kenora for a food or fuel stop, it's a long way off the highway, you
lose a fair bit of time diverting into there.
After Kenora, the wildlife get stupid thick. Deer especially. Once you cross the Ont/Mb border it's brutal. You're sleepy
and there's glowing eyes everywhere in the bush. At least it becomes divided highway. Keep vigilant, you're almost there.
Take any exit into Winnipeg if you're just getting a hotel.
Count on getting there around 10ish.
17-18 hours driving. And your tongue will feel like coarse sandpaper after all those seeds.
If your taking a job in Pine Dock, you can continue on if you feel up to it, but it's another 2.5 hours. that last hour being by
Gravel Road. And there won't be a welcoming committee there when you pull in at midnight.

Towing with a Civic around Lake Superior is asking for trouble.
Unless you WANT to leave your tranny at Old Woman Bay. These are A LOT of hills
even Semi's have trouble with. The U.S. route IS flatter, so there's that.

I suggest, downsizing.
Bring your suitcase, your pet, your computer/guitar (entertainment, whatever that is to you) and the rest you can
buy for $30 when you get there. Dishes, blow up... furniture etc.

Whatever you choose, good luck.

[DanWEC]

You're already a leafs fan, so why not believe that an Aveo an tow a trailer on the 17? Same logic.

[goleafsgo]

You're already a leafs fan, so why not believe that an Aveo an tow a trailer on the 17? Same logic.

I'm not the one towing the trailer, that was Krimson that asked that about a civic. I'm just loading my car with my tv and clothes and my ps3 with games and movies

[lownslow]

If you do the Ontario Highway 17 route I suggest keeping it below 20 over on the empty stretches and less than 10 over within about 15km of any town. That was LESS than 10 over near towns. For whatever reason they have very eager Police officers in all those small towns. Be especially wary of any town with the word 'River' in its name. I have absolutely no idea why this is but they tend to be the hot spots for radar. Go figure.

LnS.

[Instructor_Mike]

I did the US around Chicago run when I moved out to southern MB back in Feb. I have family in Windsor so I spent the night there and then spent the night in Minnesota.

My suggestion is make sure to have your pilot's licence handy at the border and also print off an e-mail or the front page of your employer's website. At the border they were suspicious that I was only saying I was going to Manitoba but might stay be stealing a job in the US . They asked for a lease agreement but I didn't have one but luckily I had printed out the front web page and they were somewhat satisfied with that.

[ahramin]

I have driven from BC to Ontario and back several times. Only went through Canada once, the rest of the trips were through the US. Never had a problem at the border, but I'll admit that I'm prepared for a nightmare every time. Actually the only time getting through the border took more than 2 minutes was when I wasn't pulling a trailer. They've never even asked me to open up the back of the trailer to have a look.

Border guards think they are really smart and for most of them learning to read was a big accomplishment, so if you have any kind of paperwork to back up your story it will help a lot.

I would highly recommend going through the US to save on fuel costs.

Going through Chicago be mindful of the time of day and the traffic situation and avoid toll roads at all cost, as the wait to pay the toll will be far longer than what the shortcut will save you.

[ahramin]

Brings up another point though, I'm driving a honda civic, fairly new, already been through my beaters. Has anyone ever attempting towing with one of these or something similar? I still have a long life to go on my car and do not want to shorten that because of this trip. I was looking at renting a 4'x8' trailer from uhaul and strapping it to the back.

Krimson the problem with towing with a small vehicle is the transmission temperature. Your Honda likely doesn't have a transmission cooler, but Uhaul may be able to install one for you. Going in November helps too, but the biggest thing is keep the weight down as much as possible. Drive fast enough to get it in overdrive but no faster. Usually about 80-90 km/h.

Try to take it as easy as possible on your car, and keep the weight and speed reasonable.

[howard40]

Dont forget to get medical insurance in case you need medical care or hospital in states...

[JMACK]

Not sure if this was mentioned already but US Customs was not to happy about me bringing my whole life with me across the boarder. They were some what relieved when I produced a letter from my new employer and I assured them I would be crossing back into Canada.

Best of luck enjoy the ride!

Jim

[Liquid Charlie]

U-Haul will not let you rent an over sized trailer for type of vehicle - go to your owner's manual and it should give you a max weight that can be towed -- stick with that cuz if you fry a tranny -- haha -- no not that kind of tranny -- they will be very reluctant to cover it but happy to take your 6 or 7 grand --

[Krimson]

I checked the owners manual for the civic, it says "Your vehicle is not designed to tow a trailer; attempting to do so can void your warranties."

I have done some research though, and the European manuals state you can tow up to 1500 lbs. I am guessing its a legal thing that they put in the manual to avoid any lawsuits since it's North America.

According to uhaul, I can either tow a 4x8' or 5x8' trailer with up to 1150 lbs cargo. I will have to start getting an estimate for all the weight, but I am bringing everything. Large couch, queen size bed, dresser, tables, chairs, tv, misc furniture, guitars&equipment, boxes, clothes, etc. I think I will be fairly close to the max. Would you consider this a reasonable weight for a civic?

About how much would a transmission cooler cost? (It is manual)

Looks like putting out the $3000 might be a better bet for the truck and just tow my car. To risk being stuck in middle of nowhere, or to get there and have to buy a new car.

[shimmydampner]

The north shore of Superior is a spectacular drive. Do it on a nice day and it will be well worth any extra little bit of time and expense in my opinion. Southern Manitoba is pretty boring but the north has its own charm I suppose.

[Dash-Ate]

Towing with a 4cyl car? No way. Best you can use is a large hard shell roof top carrier.

Maybe with a VW turbo diesel 4cyl you can haul a small trailer. Otheriwise you'll fry your tranny or clutch.

[skydivepilot]

Do not attempt to haul all that stuff with your Civic.

[x15]

I did the drive from Toronto to Thompson. I hope you have cruise control and someone to help you do the driving. I would make sure that your headlights are in great working order (not oxidized) I would also encourage you NOT to drive at night in Manitoba. There is very little traffic on 6. The long stretches of straight away make it hard to keep vigilant for moose and caribou. Also if your car does break down on 6 in the winter it is now a real life survival event. With temps in the -30 range you wont last long in your car on the side of the road and not many people come along to help (bring a survival kit)

I went through Canada. A buddy of mine came with and then got a job at the same company. When he moved up he came through the US. The roads were bigger and there were more service stations along the way in the US. I preferred not to deal with Customs; but that being said my buddy did not have any issues crossing the border either.

Good luck.

[freezerburn31]

One thing you could try is a cargo carrier. One of those metal baskets that hangs from the tow hitch. They are relatively cheap, I just ordered one myself, still waiting for it so I don't know how well it will work yet.
I'm guessing you will probably have a class II hitch like mine which means you are limited to 350 lbs tongue weight.
However it gives you extra space to carry more things and shouldn't hurt your transmission. But might be a little harder on the rear suspension depending on how much weight you have in the rest of the car.