We gotta roll again

We have to hit the road again. Breakfast can only keep a person in one place for only so long. Especially when they run out of toast. Michelle was happy with the Japanese style breakfast but I was enjoying my toast. Maybe we should get up earlier.
Anyway it has come time to say goodbye to Kawayu Onsen and the Misono Hotel and drive through the snow covered Hokkaido wilderness to Sounkyo Gorge. Sounkyo is about 3 or 4 hours north west-ish of Kawayu I guess. Who knows. I let the GPS be my guide.
Our first stop is about 3 km from Kawayu in the opposite direction to the way the GPS recommends. Gee, doesn't a GPS complain when you go off course. Confuses the shit out them. When we first drove to Kawayu we'd seen steam billowing off a mountain from a hot spring and we wanted to get a picture. I could only stand taking one or two pictures because it was freezing out there on the road. God knows why the couple in the picture were out for a stroll this fine sunny blowy snowy morning?
Our next stop is back in Kawayu at a petrol station. I want to clean the windscreen and we already have a full tank of gas. The dude from the station refuses outright to let me clean the windscreen. "Not for free", he says. Shithead.
We stop again approximately 12km, I know it is 12 kay because of the sign in the picture, from Kawayu and up a hill we stop to get a view of Lake Kussharo. Can't see Kusshi from here.
We stop a fourth time for supplies and lunch at a Lawson Station. Initially we think it is in the middle of nowhere but in actuality it on the edge of quite a large town. It takes us more than half an hour to drive through this town - Kitami I think. Before we drive through the never-ending town though we get junk food from the Lawson. I'm tempted by the manga porn but I do allow the temptation to get the better of me with the pudding stick. Pudding Stick. That sounds like a porn name don't you think?
After Kitami we start winding our way into the mountains again and the snow starts dumping down. Every few kilometres there are signs that give the current temperature and wind speed. It is around -10 degrees celsius out side. We're toasty in the car but sometimes you have to get out for a pee or something and it is cold. How lovely and understated. Cold. Shit. It is also blowing a gale so we can only imagine what the wind chill factor would be. Cold I suppose. If the windscreen gets splashed with water by a passing car the droplets freeze instantly. It is quite amazing. I love this drive.