A record's been broken! Yesterday we rode 225 km - just for the sake of breaking our record. After my night in Brimley MI I got up to a beautiful sunrise and spoke with one of my fellow campers at the campsite - he worked in a body shop but had an affinity for bicycles. We had a good chat while I packed up my gear to head off to Sault St Marie about 40km down the road. I went back to the restaurant where Debbie had taken me for dinner the night before to get my regular 3000 calorie big breakfast. It's amazing how much food I can eat now. After a short rainshower I was once again bound for Canada. I rode on the county roads as far as I could and then had to go on the highway inorder to get on the bridge across to Canada. There was a $1.50 toll (half price for bikes) and an Australian guy working the booth. On the bridge now and snapping some pictures as I rode - since there was no sidewalk to stop on - I arrived at Canadian customs on the other side. There was a bit of a line up and when I arrived at the booth I got one question - Are you bringing anything back? Nope. Have a nice day! :) Now to find the bike shop - Vélorution - where Meaghan was camping with a bunch of other TCBCs. This place is awesome! A retirement project for the owner, there is free camping, bathroom/shower, and internet for cyclists. It was amazing how many cyclists showed up that night - there were 14 of us hanging out around the campfire. Really cool people from all over the place - Quebec, Switzerland, England, Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, France. Paradise! :)
By the time I arrived at Vélorution it was about 11:30 and Meaghan and the crew were still waking up. I got my tent set up and then we rode downtown to find some more food. It was Sunday and everything was closed except for a little restaurant that was packed. We ran into three other cyclists here - one of whom (Guillaume) I had riden with across the flood plain of Alberta. It's been really cool meeting all of these great people and the reconnecting to share our adventures and experiences.
Later that evening Debbie and I had arranged to meet for dinner and she came to take me to one of her favorite restaurants - Giovanni's. It was a great dinner and she shared more of her experiences as a scout leader and her experiences with her husband's Huntington's disease. After dinner we went to Walmart and the grocery store to find some food supplies for the road and to get ingredients for smores.
Debbie then dropped me off at the bike store and said she would come back in the morning to bid me farewell. When I got back to the camp several more cyclists had arrived and it was turning into a full size party. I started the fire and we all started to congregate around the fire for smores and great conversations. I laughed a lot this night. It was really fun.
The next morning I woke at about 6:30 and started getting my gear together again for the next leg of the trip toward Espanola. In the mean time, Debbie called and came over to get a picture. Then she went over to the Sault St Marie newspaper - which was just across the street - and brought the reporter over to do a story and take my picture. It was the same reporter who had done a story on her husband's Huntington's disease. Debbie is awesome - completly lovable and beaming with life. Thanks for everything Debbie!
And the pedalling continues - one by one we get on the road and the wind is roughly at our back. Meaghan, Toby, and James all started out about 30 mins before me and I caught up to them about 2hours in to the ride. We stopped for lunch at a little marina and then continued onward. We stopped again to go swimming in Lake Huron and then again in Massey at about 8:00pm shortly after we broke 200km. Here we met a couple of guys who were hitch hiking from Montreal to somewhere in British Columbia. They had just started the same day and had already made it past Sudbury. Everything in this little town was closed except for the tatoo shop and we were running low on water, so we went to the tatoo shop where they let us fill up our water bottles.
Another 15 km down the road was the town of Webbwood. It was starting to get dark now and we needed to find a place to camp. Upon entering the town we stopped at the first motel we saw and went in to ask if there were any campsites around. The owner said we could camp in the field next to his motel. That was great! We got all set up and then cooked up a big dinner of shepperd's pie and pasta. MMMM good!
Now it's the next morning again, the sun is shining and I'm sitting on the front step of the hotel by the Coke machine (since there's power for my laptop) making some updates and remembering all of the fun of the last few days.
Today will be more relaxed - it's only 125km to the ferry that will take us across to Tobermorry and Southern Ontario.
Fun, fun, fun!
By the time I arrived at Vélorution it was about 11:30 and Meaghan and the crew were still waking up. I got my tent set up and then we rode downtown to find some more food. It was Sunday and everything was closed except for a little restaurant that was packed. We ran into three other cyclists here - one of whom (Guillaume) I had riden with across the flood plain of Alberta. It's been really cool meeting all of these great people and the reconnecting to share our adventures and experiences.
Later that evening Debbie and I had arranged to meet for dinner and she came to take me to one of her favorite restaurants - Giovanni's. It was a great dinner and she shared more of her experiences as a scout leader and her experiences with her husband's Huntington's disease. After dinner we went to Walmart and the grocery store to find some food supplies for the road and to get ingredients for smores.
Debbie then dropped me off at the bike store and said she would come back in the morning to bid me farewell. When I got back to the camp several more cyclists had arrived and it was turning into a full size party. I started the fire and we all started to congregate around the fire for smores and great conversations. I laughed a lot this night. It was really fun.
The next morning I woke at about 6:30 and started getting my gear together again for the next leg of the trip toward Espanola. In the mean time, Debbie called and came over to get a picture. Then she went over to the Sault St Marie newspaper - which was just across the street - and brought the reporter over to do a story and take my picture. It was the same reporter who had done a story on her husband's Huntington's disease. Debbie is awesome - completly lovable and beaming with life. Thanks for everything Debbie!
And the pedalling continues - one by one we get on the road and the wind is roughly at our back. Meaghan, Toby, and James all started out about 30 mins before me and I caught up to them about 2hours in to the ride. We stopped for lunch at a little marina and then continued onward. We stopped again to go swimming in Lake Huron and then again in Massey at about 8:00pm shortly after we broke 200km. Here we met a couple of guys who were hitch hiking from Montreal to somewhere in British Columbia. They had just started the same day and had already made it past Sudbury. Everything in this little town was closed except for the tatoo shop and we were running low on water, so we went to the tatoo shop where they let us fill up our water bottles.
Another 15 km down the road was the town of Webbwood. It was starting to get dark now and we needed to find a place to camp. Upon entering the town we stopped at the first motel we saw and went in to ask if there were any campsites around. The owner said we could camp in the field next to his motel. That was great! We got all set up and then cooked up a big dinner of shepperd's pie and pasta. MMMM good!
Now it's the next morning again, the sun is shining and I'm sitting on the front step of the hotel by the Coke machine (since there's power for my laptop) making some updates and remembering all of the fun of the last few days.
Today will be more relaxed - it's only 125km to the ferry that will take us across to Tobermorry and Southern Ontario.
Fun, fun, fun!
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