At HOME in Tabernash, CO: 0 miles (hee hee!)
Well, we made it home safely! Nissa and Bill picked us up at the airport and we had a lovely first night back home. How fun to sleep in our own bed! How great to be able to wear some different clothes! We may have a ceremonial burning of some of the clothes from our trip--they have been worn and washed so many times, and quite a few will never be the same...
Here are some trip stats for those who need data:
# Dollars Raised to date for Bikes not Bombs: $2,561 (you can still donate if you want to)
# of Miles Ridden: 3,612
# of Hours on the Bikes: About 300
# of Pedal Revolutions: Almost 1.3 Million!
# of days on the road: 66
# of day off (while on the trip): 6
# of days our butts hurt: 60 (you do the math)
# of pounds lost (Traci): About 11 (don't know how much muscle I built but that's how it shook out on the scale)
# of pounds gained (David): About 3 (and in spite of the daily ice cream, it was all muscle!)
# of sag support days (when we rode without our gear): 1 (Day 1--thanks, Maggie and Jim!)
# of Host Families: 9 (Maggie & Jim; Larry and Dawn; James & Patrice; Dirk & Jan; John Beltman & Terry O'Brien (and Jenny B. and Amy); Cathy & Glen Snider; Delaine from the Poplar Hotel; Cindy & Randy Elcan; Cliff and Jane Ives & Bonnie Marden (and Mindy & Russell))
# of Hills: Innumerable
# of Good Downhills: About 10
# of Headwind/Crosswind days: About 18
# of Tailwind Days: About 10
# of Days with negligable wind: About 38
# Rainy Days: About 12
# Days Camping: About 15
# Flats: About 16
# Cushy Nights in Great hotels: 5
# Life Threatening Storms missed: 1
# of Bike Paths Available and Used: 5
My main take-away from this trip was something I saw on a sign outside a church along the way: "GOD'S GIFTS COME WRAPPED IN PEOPLE."
Wow! How true! I think I saw this about 2 weeks before our trip ended, but it really summed up my feelings about people that came out during this trip. We met so many wonderful people, and were supported by so many wonderful people, and it was just a fantastic gift all the way around! Here are some of God's Gifts that I'm thankful for today:
* Raising money for a good cause while having fun (and please remember to donate if you wanted to and didn't yet: the link is http://www.active.com/donate/BNB_Membership/tomsride
* Having a safe journey
* So many friendly questions and interest from others at almost every place we stopped
* So many wishes for "safe travel" from everyone we came in contact with--whether it was in a store or restaurant or one of our good friends or family
* Trying to make a small difference, and receiving gifts a thousand-fold in return
* Getting a different perspective
* Experiencing the world slowly for a change
* Spending about 70 days one-on-one with your spouse--and learning things about each other even after 17 3/4 years of marriage!
* Still liking and loving (and even admiring) your spouse after spending about 70 days together!
* Having my own personal bike mechanic along for the trip
* Having Jeremy Meador as our fantastic house-sitter and knowing that we didn't have to worry one moment about the home front
* Having Karen Conger as our business sitter and knowing things were in capable hands
* Having Judy Free and Jen Maddox taking care of the work front with almost no help from me (makes you think twice about whether you're indispensable)
* Being able to make it even after the broken leg and lack of training! Maybe that's due in part to my stubborn-ness!
* Journaling--something I haven't done very much of before, and something I want to keep up because it's helpful both in validating what's going on and reflecting and learning. Try it!
* The prospect of a massage and haircut this week!
* Being able to make a difference in people's lives--and letting them make a difference in ours
* Challenging peoples' thinking about who can do this kind of thing--and what they might want to do that's a stretch
Although this was quite an adventure for us, please consider what kind of adventure you want to have. It could be something like cycling across America, or it could be something like learning a new language or making a career change. You get to define it--but it's important to take some steps toward achieving it! What is the adventure for you? Tell someone today and get started!
And finally, some thoughts about making a difference. Bikes Not Bombs is about promoting peace and social justice through a slightly unusual avenue--alternative transportation. This really hits home for me and David at a time when the USA is not perceived as doing well in either of these areas. Having worked for the defense of our nation for years, we totally support being strong. But we do not support being bullies--and believe that being a "superpower" and a "superbully" are two very different things. We hope our efforts may in some small way help support healthy dialogue and bolstering those in need, and especially working out our differences peacefully rather than aggressively.
Please consider how you might make a difference that is important to YOU. Whether that is in your grocery store parking lot, at the soccer field, at work, or on the world stage--you have power to change the world for the better.
So get on your figurative bikes and ride--and much success to you in reaching your goals! Thanks for being part of our journey!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
WE DID IT!!!!!
Day 66: Portland, ME to East End Beach (in Portland)--5 miles
We MADE IT!!!!! And Here's to Tom Maddox, our inspiration and brother!
We spent a little time in the morning at the Ives home, saying good-bye to Mindy, Russell, and Bonnie, and getting organized. David even managed to help Cliff put up a gutter at the house! But I was getting pretty anxious to be on the road, so we left at about 8:30 in the morning.
We got on those bikes, and I felt like I could have ridden up a cliff to get to the Atlantic. Fortunately, the ride was mostly downhill or flat, and was very easy! I had a hard time wiping the smile off my face during our ride, and probably swallowed a few bugs while I was whooping and hollering in celebration every few minutes on the way. We were both a bit in shock that this would actually be the end of our ride--and really excited that we were really getting it done!
We got to the bridge where we caught the bike path and there it was--the Atlantic! It just had that unmistakeable smell of salt water, and I was really happy to recognize it because we hadn't smelled the ocean since May 23rd. We went along the trail, basking in our ride and of course, sweating like pigs because the humidity and heat were already on the rise! We stopped a couple of times to take some pictures on the Eastern Promenade--just beautiful! And then we came upon the East End Beach. There was a group of kayaking students there practicing paddle strokes on land, and some trucks bringing in more sand (evidently they had a bad storm in April that washed away some of the beach and the bike path). Of course, I didn't immediately see the path to the beach, so David had to direct me! He focused right in on that and I had to hurry to catch up with him!
We dragged our bikes through the sand--luckily, not more than about 50 yards to the water. David stopped short of dipping his tire, and tried to get his camera set up or to find someone to take the picture. I waited a few minutes while he looked around, and then suggested that MAYBE we could dip our tires and then re-enact the picture when the people wandering the beach got up to us??? Thankfully, he agreed (I was nearly bursting to dip that tire) and we simultaneously dipped our front tires in the Atlantic and then had a cheer for ourselves (and a high five and a smooch). The two men walking up the beach finally reached us and took our picture, and we just stood there for a few minutes. It was hard to believe we had run out of easterly road--and that we were really DONE!
In a bit of shock, we pushed the bikes back up to the picnic area, and just sat there for a few minutes feeling a bit emotional. The feelings were coming from all over--pride, excitement, sadness that it was over and Tom wasn't physically there with us, thankfulness for all the blessings we received on this trip, and some confusion of what to do next. So we did the best thing we could think of--started calling people to tell them where we were! We kept the cell phones hot for about 30 minutes calling folks.
After we called our family members, we decided it was time to make a move--after all, David hadn't eaten for almost 2 hours! We rode up into the Old Port area and had a coffee/chai break with some granola, and then did all the errands associated with coming home. We took a very expensive trip to the UPS store to ship the bikes and much of our gear. Then we took just the gear we would need for the night and started walking around Portland. We found a great place for a lobster (yes again--how often are we in Maine?) lunch and spent some time just looking through the journal and talking about the trip.
On the way to lunch, we saw a group of demonstrators from the Congo who were protesting the genocide that is happening there. They were all refugees from the Congo who had escaped maiming or murder. As we were talking about this, we both were feeling pretty emotional about the whole situation--injustice and treating other humans without respect. And we were once again reminded of Tom Maddox, who traveled the entire world from Mongolia to Europe, and managed to make friends everywhere without confrontation. He looked for the best in others, and that is part of his great legacy. And he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and demonstrate when he didn't agree with what was happening in the world or in our country. In my opinion, that's what made him a great American--he took advantage of his right to listen and his right to speak out. Both are important. And he didn't let one day pass without learning something and trying to gain new perspectives on life.
Although we will have a follow-up blog with thoughts, I think it's important to capture part of Tom's legacy here. It's not the 3,600 miles of cycling that we have just completed--it's the adventure we have been on every day for the last 66 days (and more). The value of the adventure is to give ourselves new perspective, and that's a big part of Tom Maddox's legacy to us all--to remind us to explore, learn, and make our own informed opinions based on what we see and experience in this wonderful world.
Thanks to every one of you reading this--you have been so supportive. So many of you have prayed for our safety and success that we felt blessed every single day. And every comment on the blog and on my email has bolstered us and made us feel like we could really accomplish our goal. Never underestimate the power of good thoughts and well wishes. They made a difference for us! Finally, each of you who made a donation to Bikes Not Bombs for Tom's Ride has made a personal difference in the life of an underprivileged person who will get a bicycle to ride and will learn to maintain it.
Our love to you all, and check back for trip stats and final thoughts!
We MADE IT!!!!! And Here's to Tom Maddox, our inspiration and brother!
We spent a little time in the morning at the Ives home, saying good-bye to Mindy, Russell, and Bonnie, and getting organized. David even managed to help Cliff put up a gutter at the house! But I was getting pretty anxious to be on the road, so we left at about 8:30 in the morning.
We got on those bikes, and I felt like I could have ridden up a cliff to get to the Atlantic. Fortunately, the ride was mostly downhill or flat, and was very easy! I had a hard time wiping the smile off my face during our ride, and probably swallowed a few bugs while I was whooping and hollering in celebration every few minutes on the way. We were both a bit in shock that this would actually be the end of our ride--and really excited that we were really getting it done!
We got to the bridge where we caught the bike path and there it was--the Atlantic! It just had that unmistakeable smell of salt water, and I was really happy to recognize it because we hadn't smelled the ocean since May 23rd. We went along the trail, basking in our ride and of course, sweating like pigs because the humidity and heat were already on the rise! We stopped a couple of times to take some pictures on the Eastern Promenade--just beautiful! And then we came upon the East End Beach. There was a group of kayaking students there practicing paddle strokes on land, and some trucks bringing in more sand (evidently they had a bad storm in April that washed away some of the beach and the bike path). Of course, I didn't immediately see the path to the beach, so David had to direct me! He focused right in on that and I had to hurry to catch up with him!
We dragged our bikes through the sand--luckily, not more than about 50 yards to the water. David stopped short of dipping his tire, and tried to get his camera set up or to find someone to take the picture. I waited a few minutes while he looked around, and then suggested that MAYBE we could dip our tires and then re-enact the picture when the people wandering the beach got up to us??? Thankfully, he agreed (I was nearly bursting to dip that tire) and we simultaneously dipped our front tires in the Atlantic and then had a cheer for ourselves (and a high five and a smooch). The two men walking up the beach finally reached us and took our picture, and we just stood there for a few minutes. It was hard to believe we had run out of easterly road--and that we were really DONE!
In a bit of shock, we pushed the bikes back up to the picnic area, and just sat there for a few minutes feeling a bit emotional. The feelings were coming from all over--pride, excitement, sadness that it was over and Tom wasn't physically there with us, thankfulness for all the blessings we received on this trip, and some confusion of what to do next. So we did the best thing we could think of--started calling people to tell them where we were! We kept the cell phones hot for about 30 minutes calling folks.
After we called our family members, we decided it was time to make a move--after all, David hadn't eaten for almost 2 hours! We rode up into the Old Port area and had a coffee/chai break with some granola, and then did all the errands associated with coming home. We took a very expensive trip to the UPS store to ship the bikes and much of our gear. Then we took just the gear we would need for the night and started walking around Portland. We found a great place for a lobster (yes again--how often are we in Maine?) lunch and spent some time just looking through the journal and talking about the trip.
On the way to lunch, we saw a group of demonstrators from the Congo who were protesting the genocide that is happening there. They were all refugees from the Congo who had escaped maiming or murder. As we were talking about this, we both were feeling pretty emotional about the whole situation--injustice and treating other humans without respect. And we were once again reminded of Tom Maddox, who traveled the entire world from Mongolia to Europe, and managed to make friends everywhere without confrontation. He looked for the best in others, and that is part of his great legacy. And he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and demonstrate when he didn't agree with what was happening in the world or in our country. In my opinion, that's what made him a great American--he took advantage of his right to listen and his right to speak out. Both are important. And he didn't let one day pass without learning something and trying to gain new perspectives on life.
Although we will have a follow-up blog with thoughts, I think it's important to capture part of Tom's legacy here. It's not the 3,600 miles of cycling that we have just completed--it's the adventure we have been on every day for the last 66 days (and more). The value of the adventure is to give ourselves new perspective, and that's a big part of Tom Maddox's legacy to us all--to remind us to explore, learn, and make our own informed opinions based on what we see and experience in this wonderful world.
Thanks to every one of you reading this--you have been so supportive. So many of you have prayed for our safety and success that we felt blessed every single day. And every comment on the blog and on my email has bolstered us and made us feel like we could really accomplish our goal. Never underestimate the power of good thoughts and well wishes. They made a difference for us! Finally, each of you who made a donation to Bikes Not Bombs for Tom's Ride has made a personal difference in the life of an underprivileged person who will get a bicycle to ride and will learn to maintain it.
Our love to you all, and check back for trip stats and final thoughts!
Will These Hills Ever Stop???
Day 65: N. Conway, NH to Portland, ME--63 miles
Not yet! We stopped just a few miles short of our goal.
We were planning to meet our friend Mindy, her little boy Russell, and her friend Bonnie this afternoon, so we tried to get an early start from N. Conway, NH. We also knew it was going to be another HOT day, so we wanted to get as far as possible in the morning.
So we left our hotel and started through the town. As we rode, a cyclist came up behind me--apparently someone out for an early morning ride. He asked me about our trip, and I said we were just getting ready for the last leg into Portland. He then asked about how we might get home when we were done with the ride. I told him we were thinking of taking the train since we live in Colorado and it comes within 4 miles of our house. He said "Oh, where in Colorado do you live?" and I told him. He asked if Winter Park is near Granby and I said "yes." Then, unbelievably, he asked "Do you know Tim and Tina?" I immediately knew that he was talking about our good friends Tim Carter and Tina Wilson! How funny and amazing! His name is Paul Degliangelo and he knew Tim & Tina when they lived in NH! They used to ride and ski together. Paul was a great guy and is also the road engineer for N. Conway. So he gave us some great directions to avoid traffic on the way into Maine. How random to meet him--and if we had left even 5 minutes later, I'm sure our paths would never have crossed!
So we took those backroads and climbed our way out of New Hampshire. It was not as extreme as the day before, but we sure did a lot of climbing! We celebrated at the state line of Maine by taking a few pictures and having a high-five and a smooch! That's why it's so fun to travel with your sweetie...
Anyway, Paul had told us we would know when we hit the state line because we would be able to tell an immediate difference in the road conditions. Boy, was he right! He obviously does a fantastic job in NH because the roads and shoulders there were very good. As soon as we crossed into Maine, however, the situation changed. There were times when the only place to ride was the middle of the road! They evidently have a big problem with frost heaves in Maine, and the roads really reflect that.
Somehow, we naively expected that once we did all that climbing into Maine, our path would become slightly downhill. After all, weren't we heading toward the Atlantic Ocean? Well, once again, we were wrong about that. David figured we may have gotten as much vertical today as we did yesterday on the BIG hills. But today, we went up about 200 or 300 feet at a time, and then back down. The downhills were a bit more than the uphills, but David said that if you do 100 hills at 300 feet, you're still gaining 3,000 feet of vertical! True. So the massive sweating continued (I probably have the cleanest pores on earth) and we climbed and descended our way toward the ocean.
We made it to Gorham by lunch time, and since it's getting pretty close to the water, decided to search out some lobster for lunch! At first all we saw were pizza and Italian places. We love those, but had our hearts set on lobstah! Finally, outside Gorham, we found a little restaurant called the Ocean's Garden Restaurant, which had big lobsters displayed all over the outside, This gave us a clue as to their menu! In we went, and as soon as the waitress saw us, she just put a pitcher of water on our table because we looked so miserable! This particular waitress was just wonderful, and gave us great directions for the rest of our day's trip. In addition, we had great lobster rolls for lunch! If you're ever in this part of Maine, go to this restaurant because you could get THREE lobsters for $24.95! That's the best price we saw--and usually the price you pay for ONE lobster. So find this place and eat up!
After we left the restaurant, we followed the directions to Bonnie's parents' house in Portland--on the north end of town, but still in the right city. You can only imagine our excitement when we hit the Portland city limits! The road flattened out a little bit (about time) and we were relatively fast in getting to the Ives' house in the early afternoon. And with perfect timing, Mindy and Bonnie drove into the driveway as we were riding down the street.
At the Ives' house, we were treated like royalty! Mindy was quite concerned for our sweatiness and tried to rehydrate us with lots of water. David met Russell for the first time, and they immediately had a great male bonding session--perfect for David to get a little toddler time because we have been missing our grandsons! And Bonnie and her parents were just fantastic. We couldn't have asked for better hosts!
Cliff and Jane Ives have lived in Portland for awhile and you can tell how much they like their home city. Cliff was very knowledgeable about the history and how to get around, and advised us about the best route to the bike path that would take us to the Atlantic Ocean the next morning. We took showers and tried to stop sweating in the humidity, and then I made the mistake of trying to handle the logistics of our trip home. After about 45 minutes (seemed like hours) on the phone with Amtrak, I determined that it was almost impossible to get home--the best they could do was for us to leave on Saturday evening and arrive home on TUESDAY! The person from Amtrak informed me that the trains are not REALLY designed for long distance travel! That could be a whole different blog, in my opinion. So, although in our imagination the train trip sounded fun, we decided that we didn't want to sleep sitting up for three nights! So I called our trusty friend Anna at Winter Park Travel and as usual, she found us the best available airline tickets to get us home on Saturday. Yeah for Anna--she's a real gem!
We headed into the Old Port area to have dinner and check out our options for things like shipping our bikes and to ensure we understood the route Cliff had suggested for our final ride the next day. If you haven't been to Portland, it is also a must-see! We just loved walking around the city--lots of fun shops and places to eat, and it's just gorgeous sitting right there on the water. We had lobster for dinner (what else?) and really had a fun time just hanging out with Mindy and Bonnie and Russell. It was just great to have Mindy there to celebrate our trip's ending! She really worked hard to get there at the right time, and we loved having our friends there to cheer us on! Her timing was much better than when I tried to be in MD for Russell's birth (was too early by 3 days)! Ha!
Mindy's final present was a bottle of champagne which we shared when we returned home to the Ives house. What a fun night, and a great way to spend our last evening on the route!
Not yet! We stopped just a few miles short of our goal.
We were planning to meet our friend Mindy, her little boy Russell, and her friend Bonnie this afternoon, so we tried to get an early start from N. Conway, NH. We also knew it was going to be another HOT day, so we wanted to get as far as possible in the morning.
So we left our hotel and started through the town. As we rode, a cyclist came up behind me--apparently someone out for an early morning ride. He asked me about our trip, and I said we were just getting ready for the last leg into Portland. He then asked about how we might get home when we were done with the ride. I told him we were thinking of taking the train since we live in Colorado and it comes within 4 miles of our house. He said "Oh, where in Colorado do you live?" and I told him. He asked if Winter Park is near Granby and I said "yes." Then, unbelievably, he asked "Do you know Tim and Tina?" I immediately knew that he was talking about our good friends Tim Carter and Tina Wilson! How funny and amazing! His name is Paul Degliangelo and he knew Tim & Tina when they lived in NH! They used to ride and ski together. Paul was a great guy and is also the road engineer for N. Conway. So he gave us some great directions to avoid traffic on the way into Maine. How random to meet him--and if we had left even 5 minutes later, I'm sure our paths would never have crossed!
So we took those backroads and climbed our way out of New Hampshire. It was not as extreme as the day before, but we sure did a lot of climbing! We celebrated at the state line of Maine by taking a few pictures and having a high-five and a smooch! That's why it's so fun to travel with your sweetie...
Anyway, Paul had told us we would know when we hit the state line because we would be able to tell an immediate difference in the road conditions. Boy, was he right! He obviously does a fantastic job in NH because the roads and shoulders there were very good. As soon as we crossed into Maine, however, the situation changed. There were times when the only place to ride was the middle of the road! They evidently have a big problem with frost heaves in Maine, and the roads really reflect that.
Somehow, we naively expected that once we did all that climbing into Maine, our path would become slightly downhill. After all, weren't we heading toward the Atlantic Ocean? Well, once again, we were wrong about that. David figured we may have gotten as much vertical today as we did yesterday on the BIG hills. But today, we went up about 200 or 300 feet at a time, and then back down. The downhills were a bit more than the uphills, but David said that if you do 100 hills at 300 feet, you're still gaining 3,000 feet of vertical! True. So the massive sweating continued (I probably have the cleanest pores on earth) and we climbed and descended our way toward the ocean.
We made it to Gorham by lunch time, and since it's getting pretty close to the water, decided to search out some lobster for lunch! At first all we saw were pizza and Italian places. We love those, but had our hearts set on lobstah! Finally, outside Gorham, we found a little restaurant called the Ocean's Garden Restaurant, which had big lobsters displayed all over the outside, This gave us a clue as to their menu! In we went, and as soon as the waitress saw us, she just put a pitcher of water on our table because we looked so miserable! This particular waitress was just wonderful, and gave us great directions for the rest of our day's trip. In addition, we had great lobster rolls for lunch! If you're ever in this part of Maine, go to this restaurant because you could get THREE lobsters for $24.95! That's the best price we saw--and usually the price you pay for ONE lobster. So find this place and eat up!
After we left the restaurant, we followed the directions to Bonnie's parents' house in Portland--on the north end of town, but still in the right city. You can only imagine our excitement when we hit the Portland city limits! The road flattened out a little bit (about time) and we were relatively fast in getting to the Ives' house in the early afternoon. And with perfect timing, Mindy and Bonnie drove into the driveway as we were riding down the street.
At the Ives' house, we were treated like royalty! Mindy was quite concerned for our sweatiness and tried to rehydrate us with lots of water. David met Russell for the first time, and they immediately had a great male bonding session--perfect for David to get a little toddler time because we have been missing our grandsons! And Bonnie and her parents were just fantastic. We couldn't have asked for better hosts!
Cliff and Jane Ives have lived in Portland for awhile and you can tell how much they like their home city. Cliff was very knowledgeable about the history and how to get around, and advised us about the best route to the bike path that would take us to the Atlantic Ocean the next morning. We took showers and tried to stop sweating in the humidity, and then I made the mistake of trying to handle the logistics of our trip home. After about 45 minutes (seemed like hours) on the phone with Amtrak, I determined that it was almost impossible to get home--the best they could do was for us to leave on Saturday evening and arrive home on TUESDAY! The person from Amtrak informed me that the trains are not REALLY designed for long distance travel! That could be a whole different blog, in my opinion. So, although in our imagination the train trip sounded fun, we decided that we didn't want to sleep sitting up for three nights! So I called our trusty friend Anna at Winter Park Travel and as usual, she found us the best available airline tickets to get us home on Saturday. Yeah for Anna--she's a real gem!
We headed into the Old Port area to have dinner and check out our options for things like shipping our bikes and to ensure we understood the route Cliff had suggested for our final ride the next day. If you haven't been to Portland, it is also a must-see! We just loved walking around the city--lots of fun shops and places to eat, and it's just gorgeous sitting right there on the water. We had lobster for dinner (what else?) and really had a fun time just hanging out with Mindy and Bonnie and Russell. It was just great to have Mindy there to celebrate our trip's ending! She really worked hard to get there at the right time, and we loved having our friends there to cheer us on! Her timing was much better than when I tried to be in MD for Russell's birth (was too early by 3 days)! Ha!
Mindy's final present was a bottle of champagne which we shared when we returned home to the Ives house. What a fun night, and a great way to spend our last evening on the route!
Through the Notch
Day 64: St. Johnsbury, VT to N. Conway, NH--71 miles
Today, we found one more word that means "REALLY big hill" and that is NOTCH. It's a term I've only heard in the Northeast. This term was demonstrated ALL MORNING from 9:00 until 2:00 when we actually went through the Crawford Notch on our way through the White Mountains.
The day started with a good breakfast at the Surf & Sirloin in St. J (as the locals call it). As soon as we hit the road, though, the granny gears were going strong because we climbed right up and out of town--and then just kept on climbing! I got to spend a lot of time thinking on these climbs because I was going VERY slowly--the slowest I have been since Montana. Here are some of those thoughts: Will my heart explode out of my chest soon? Don't I have another gear? Will my kneecaps pop off? Where is that other gear? Why is David so far ahead of me? WHY DON'T I HAVE ANOTHER GEAR??? And so on...
We did an early lunch stop in Littleton, NH. We had done a very steep climb coming into town and had sweat BUCKETS! Since we were expecting a lot more of the same until we reached the notch, we fueled up.
Once we climbed to the town of Twin Mountain, the scenery became truly spectacular! If you haven't ever been to New Hampshire, it is a MUST SEE. We rode along the base of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast. We passed the Bretton Woods ski area and the spectacular Mt. Washington Hotel. We knew the notch was coming, so we were expecting another huge hill. Imagine our surprise when it didn't happen! The last push was almost anti-climactic, and we spent a little time at the top looking at the Appalachian Mountain Club's quarters and talking with some hikers (thinking about our next vacation???).
Then came the awesome 13% downhill! That scoundrel David told me to be really careful on such a steep downhill with all our gear on the bikes--and then he blew past me like I was standing still! I had to chase him the rest of the way down, and it was such a nice change from the hot uphills of the day.
The last 20 miles were much faster because we got back much of the altitude we gained in the morning. We rolled into N. Conway at about 5:15 and found a room near a good restaurant called Delaneys. We had sushi (of all things in the mountains) and it was our first of the trip. Tomorrow--Portland!
Today, we found one more word that means "REALLY big hill" and that is NOTCH. It's a term I've only heard in the Northeast. This term was demonstrated ALL MORNING from 9:00 until 2:00 when we actually went through the Crawford Notch on our way through the White Mountains.
The day started with a good breakfast at the Surf & Sirloin in St. J (as the locals call it). As soon as we hit the road, though, the granny gears were going strong because we climbed right up and out of town--and then just kept on climbing! I got to spend a lot of time thinking on these climbs because I was going VERY slowly--the slowest I have been since Montana. Here are some of those thoughts: Will my heart explode out of my chest soon? Don't I have another gear? Will my kneecaps pop off? Where is that other gear? Why is David so far ahead of me? WHY DON'T I HAVE ANOTHER GEAR??? And so on...
We did an early lunch stop in Littleton, NH. We had done a very steep climb coming into town and had sweat BUCKETS! Since we were expecting a lot more of the same until we reached the notch, we fueled up.
Once we climbed to the town of Twin Mountain, the scenery became truly spectacular! If you haven't ever been to New Hampshire, it is a MUST SEE. We rode along the base of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast. We passed the Bretton Woods ski area and the spectacular Mt. Washington Hotel. We knew the notch was coming, so we were expecting another huge hill. Imagine our surprise when it didn't happen! The last push was almost anti-climactic, and we spent a little time at the top looking at the Appalachian Mountain Club's quarters and talking with some hikers (thinking about our next vacation???).
Then came the awesome 13% downhill! That scoundrel David told me to be really careful on such a steep downhill with all our gear on the bikes--and then he blew past me like I was standing still! I had to chase him the rest of the way down, and it was such a nice change from the hot uphills of the day.
The last 20 miles were much faster because we got back much of the altitude we gained in the morning. We rolled into N. Conway at about 5:15 and found a room near a good restaurant called Delaneys. We had sushi (of all things in the mountains) and it was our first of the trip. Tomorrow--Portland!
Granny Gear
Day 63: So. Burlington, VT to St. Johnsbury, VT--78 miles
The good news is that we reached 3,400 miles today--our estimate for how far we would travel during this trip. The bad news is that we were NOT at the Atlantic Ocean yet!
This was one of the most difficult days of riding so far. And you would think it would be easy after so many days... The Green Mountains are green, gorgeous, and they ARE mountains! When they built a lot of the towns in the 1700's in New England, they weren't thinking much about road grading for cars and especially for bicycles! So the hills are relatively short and steep--and we had a lot of them!
We started this morning from the Elcan home after a great visit and headed uphill to Rt. 2. It was sunny and humid, and we were sweating like mojos after only a few minutes! Wait! Is that alcohol we're sweating out of our pores? Why, yes it is! We drank almost like we were in college last night with my college buddies, and after 2 beers and 1/2 bottle of wine, I felt a bit sluggish this morning!
We climbed out of Burlington and then had a great 10% downhill that dumped us into the middle of the Green Mountains. There was farmland all around, and beautiful gardens everywhere. The views all around us were stunning! We had decent shoulders for most of the day, and a few places where the road was bad. The new roads in VT have beautiful 6-foot shoulders! (And P.S. Carmel, you would LOVE riding on a Bike Vermont tour--we have done it.)
Today, we saw a new kind of wildlife--a camel! It was a very odd sight right here in the middle of Vermont, and unfortunately it ran into its barn before David could get his camera out. I guess IT thought WE were unusual, not the other way around!
Our slow morning with the hills got us to Waterbury for lunch. A neat town I would like to visit again when I'm not so focused on finishing the bike ride. I had a light lunch and some iced tea, which perked me up considerably. The next 12 miles into Montpelier (VT's Capitol) were FAST--we flew! We stopped for the obligatory coffee/chai break and wished we could stay longer to explore. This would be a great area to spend a week just wandering through all the beautiful towns (and shopping).
We rode pretty fast for about 10 miles out of Monpelier, fueled by caffeine. And then the hills started. It wasn't too serious until Marshfield, which I climbed into at about 4 mph. Then we had long, steep hills all the way into Danville. Each time we thought we were at the top, yet another steep hill would appear! It was a nightmare in the heat.
But we got some of that altitude back in the last 5 miles into St. Johnsbury. Of course, once we got into town, we had to climb back up a ways, but we were able to make it to the Holiday Motel, where the manager let me use her laptop to blog! How nice of Ginny to help us out like that!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Serendipity
Day 62: Rouse's Point, NY to So. Burlington, VT--53 miles
We woke up a little tired from our long ride the day before, but were anxious to get on the road. We're getting so close to the end of the ride! After a nice breakfast at the Old Tyme Cafe, we headed across the bridge into Vermont.
Our ride in Vermont was really fabulous. We crossed over Lake Champlain onto the islands that are in the middle of the lake. It's a lovely trip south over North Hero Island, the Grand Isle, and South Hero Island. What fun! We saw some fantastic houses and the little towns were so charming. Yet another place we need to return to...
We had a little trouble finding lunch in South Hero, but managed to find a grilled chicken sandwich and then headed over the causeway into the main part of Vermont. We hadn't totally planned our route in this part of Vermont because I was trying to reach my friend Cindy Elcan to see if she lived close enough to visit. The problem was--I didn't have her phone number!
We stopped at Chimney Corner and found a phone book, and it turned out that the Elcans live only about 10 miles away! And they were available, so we decided to stop there for the night. We headed toward So. Burlington, and as we were climbing a big hill, we saw a cyclist coming the other way. We waved as we usually do and kept grinding up that hill. The next thing I knew, this guy was behind me. He said "I met you in Montana. I'm Garth, and we were riding west." It was they guys from Wheels for Change! Garth had finished his ride about 3 weeks ago, and was already back home. How fun that he saw us on the road! We stopped and chatted for awhile, and he offered us a place to stay for the night. But we already had plans...
We found Cindy and Amanda Elcan as planned and they led us to their house. Amanda is getting ready to go to college at WVU, so I was excited to hear about her plans for Freshman year. Their place is just gorgeous--right on the river with a beautiful lot and a nice garden that Randy is growing. The Elcans, with about 2 hours notice, were the hosts with the most! Cindy set us up with showers and laundry, and when Randy got home from work, he brought GOOD BEER! Ha! So we had some beers and then David and Randy went to get some fresh corn on the cob from the local market. They came back with much more beer and some wine for dinner! Oh, my. We put quite a dent in that while Randy cooked up some awesome steaks.
We had a fantastic meal and some fun conversation, and I even got to play the piano while Amanda sang! It was almost like being at home again. Randy then put a fun bonfire together and we chatted out there until almost midnight. Then reality set in and we all decided we should go to bed because they both had to work the next morning!
So off we went to bed in the downstairs--a lot of room to ourselves and a great night with friends! Thanks so much to the Elcans for their wonderful hospitality! I'm glad we were able to connect with such luck!
We woke up a little tired from our long ride the day before, but were anxious to get on the road. We're getting so close to the end of the ride! After a nice breakfast at the Old Tyme Cafe, we headed across the bridge into Vermont.
Our ride in Vermont was really fabulous. We crossed over Lake Champlain onto the islands that are in the middle of the lake. It's a lovely trip south over North Hero Island, the Grand Isle, and South Hero Island. What fun! We saw some fantastic houses and the little towns were so charming. Yet another place we need to return to...
We had a little trouble finding lunch in South Hero, but managed to find a grilled chicken sandwich and then headed over the causeway into the main part of Vermont. We hadn't totally planned our route in this part of Vermont because I was trying to reach my friend Cindy Elcan to see if she lived close enough to visit. The problem was--I didn't have her phone number!
We stopped at Chimney Corner and found a phone book, and it turned out that the Elcans live only about 10 miles away! And they were available, so we decided to stop there for the night. We headed toward So. Burlington, and as we were climbing a big hill, we saw a cyclist coming the other way. We waved as we usually do and kept grinding up that hill. The next thing I knew, this guy was behind me. He said "I met you in Montana. I'm Garth, and we were riding west." It was they guys from Wheels for Change! Garth had finished his ride about 3 weeks ago, and was already back home. How fun that he saw us on the road! We stopped and chatted for awhile, and he offered us a place to stay for the night. But we already had plans...
We found Cindy and Amanda Elcan as planned and they led us to their house. Amanda is getting ready to go to college at WVU, so I was excited to hear about her plans for Freshman year. Their place is just gorgeous--right on the river with a beautiful lot and a nice garden that Randy is growing. The Elcans, with about 2 hours notice, were the hosts with the most! Cindy set us up with showers and laundry, and when Randy got home from work, he brought GOOD BEER! Ha! So we had some beers and then David and Randy went to get some fresh corn on the cob from the local market. They came back with much more beer and some wine for dinner! Oh, my. We put quite a dent in that while Randy cooked up some awesome steaks.
We had a fantastic meal and some fun conversation, and I even got to play the piano while Amanda sang! It was almost like being at home again. Randy then put a fun bonfire together and we chatted out there until almost midnight. Then reality set in and we all decided we should go to bed because they both had to work the next morning!
So off we went to bed in the downstairs--a lot of room to ourselves and a great night with friends! Thanks so much to the Elcans for their wonderful hospitality! I'm glad we were able to connect with such luck!
We're Back in NY...But not in Civilization
Day 61: Robert Moses State Park to Rouse's Point, NY--95 miles
So far, NY wins the road competition hands down! The roads are great and we had great shoulders all the way through. There were lots of "share the road" and "bicycle trail" signs. We felt very safe and the drivers seemed to be conscious of us. Heath Maddox would be proud!
The second thing we noticed is that the people up here are a bit different than those we left behind in Canada. Some are very nice. You have no idea how the others are because they won't acknowledge your existence! It seemed we were nearly invisible in NY in our blaze-colored clothing and huge bicycles! A very weird feeling after all the friendliness we have experienced. Maybe they suspected our pictures of the border...
After about 10 miles of flat riding, we started seeing a lot of rolling hills--not really steep yet, but a taste of things to come in Vermont and New Hampshire. And then we climbed mostly to Chateaugay which was about 50 miles into the day's ride.
A unique thing we noticed about this area is that there were lots of houses and people, but no real evidence of industry other than the small farms. There were very few restaurants or other services, and all the farm equipment sales places were showing off equipment that looked miniature compared to the things we saw in Montana.
We rode across the Mohawk reservation, which was a little desolate and depressing. It seems they are in some kind of fight with NY State, but we didn't get the gist of it. We had lunch right after leaving the reservation at a deli--we were famished and stopped at the first available place. It ended up being a good stop and the sandwich was great.
In Chateaugay, we stopped for David's daily ice cream and I decided to have one too. I ordered a small, and it was HUGE! David's medium was much larger, so we were pretty full when we left there. It was Sunday afternoon, and the place was packed--but nobody acknowledged our presence. Very different from the usual questions we get about our trip...
After leaving Chateaugay, the "fun" began. We were going to try and stop in Ellenburg at about 65 miles. But the only motel was closed until 6:30 p.m. We didn't want to risk not getting a room after waiting for 2 hours, so we moved east. But every town we came to didn't have any hotel or restaurant services! So it was 10 more miles to Ellenburg Depot, 10 more miles to Mooers, 8 more miles to Champlain, etc. Finally, at 95 miles into the trip, we found the first available hotel in Rouse's Point--just on the eastern border of NY State.
We stayed at the Anchorage Inn and ate a great dinner there too. It was a really nice little hotel and Rouse's Point was a charming town. The people were friendly too! What a nice end to our stay in NY!
So far, NY wins the road competition hands down! The roads are great and we had great shoulders all the way through. There were lots of "share the road" and "bicycle trail" signs. We felt very safe and the drivers seemed to be conscious of us. Heath Maddox would be proud!
The second thing we noticed is that the people up here are a bit different than those we left behind in Canada. Some are very nice. You have no idea how the others are because they won't acknowledge your existence! It seemed we were nearly invisible in NY in our blaze-colored clothing and huge bicycles! A very weird feeling after all the friendliness we have experienced. Maybe they suspected our pictures of the border...
After about 10 miles of flat riding, we started seeing a lot of rolling hills--not really steep yet, but a taste of things to come in Vermont and New Hampshire. And then we climbed mostly to Chateaugay which was about 50 miles into the day's ride.
A unique thing we noticed about this area is that there were lots of houses and people, but no real evidence of industry other than the small farms. There were very few restaurants or other services, and all the farm equipment sales places were showing off equipment that looked miniature compared to the things we saw in Montana.
We rode across the Mohawk reservation, which was a little desolate and depressing. It seems they are in some kind of fight with NY State, but we didn't get the gist of it. We had lunch right after leaving the reservation at a deli--we were famished and stopped at the first available place. It ended up being a good stop and the sandwich was great.
In Chateaugay, we stopped for David's daily ice cream and I decided to have one too. I ordered a small, and it was HUGE! David's medium was much larger, so we were pretty full when we left there. It was Sunday afternoon, and the place was packed--but nobody acknowledged our presence. Very different from the usual questions we get about our trip...
After leaving Chateaugay, the "fun" began. We were going to try and stop in Ellenburg at about 65 miles. But the only motel was closed until 6:30 p.m. We didn't want to risk not getting a room after waiting for 2 hours, so we moved east. But every town we came to didn't have any hotel or restaurant services! So it was 10 more miles to Ellenburg Depot, 10 more miles to Mooers, 8 more miles to Champlain, etc. Finally, at 95 miles into the trip, we found the first available hotel in Rouse's Point--just on the eastern border of NY State.
We stayed at the Anchorage Inn and ate a great dinner there too. It was a really nice little hotel and Rouse's Point was a charming town. The people were friendly too! What a nice end to our stay in NY!
They Let Us Back In...
Day 60: Brockville, ON to Robert Moses State Park, NY--64 miles
After a great night's sleep at The Green Door, Peter and Lynne pampered us a bit more by serving us a fantastic breakfast--mushroom omelettes, homemade biscuits, and fresh fruit--YUM! They also served up some great conversation and we were so glad we stopped one last night in Canada. But the day had dawned beautifully bright and sunny, so we were determined to reach the USA--so with a couple of pictures, we left Peter and Lynne behind. But we hope to visit them again soon!
The ride was flat and we didn't have much of a headwind. Our first 20 miles in Canada were definitely in the high-rent district--huge old mansions and new McMansions right on the St. Lawrence River. The river is just gorgeous, so we had lots of picture stops, especially once we were within sight of the bridge to the USA. We stopped for one last chai and latte in Prescott and they gave us a great send-off at the Cup After Cup coffee shop. We took a few last pictures before checking out the Ontario Visitor's Center to get the scoop on going across the bridge. We were greeted by three friendly and helpful folks at the visitor's center, and they gave us the advice that we should just go across that bridge like we belong there--because bicycles aren't officially allowed on the bridge.
So off we went toward the Ogdensburg bridge. It is a couple of miles long and is made entirely of metal grating. Therefore, if you look down, you can see right down to the water below--no matter how high you are! Every time we took a peek, it made our stomaches do flips! If a car was on the bridge in our section, we could really feel the vibration. But the craziest part of all was going down the other side of the bridge into the USA. The bikes kind of floated and skittered on that metal grating--very scary! I was imagining having a wreck on that grating, and that wouldn't be good at all for keeping skin on your body. I was SO glad we didn't go over the bridge yesterday, because in the rain it would have been very slippery...
Once on the USA side, we stopped and took the obligatory pictures of "Welcome to the USA" and "Welcome to New York." We then dug our passports out and headed to the customs station. Note--there is no line at this USA entry--almost ever! All the other entries were jam packed and the wait would have been at least an hour. Here, we rode right up to the gate. And then it got interesting. The border patrol guy asked us what we had been doing before we came to the gate. We said we had taken pictures like at every state crossing on the trip, etc. He said "Did you take a picture of our building?" I wasn't sure because I wasn't focusing on the building--I was focusing on the NY sign! They asked us to see the pictures inside the building. So we went over and showed them our pictures. They were very friendly and helpful, but the one guard did say that it would be possible for them to take our camera if they want. But since they didn't see anything suspicious in our pictures, they let us and the camera enter the USA. Whew! We left Canada's great folks and good beer sadly, but we weren't unhappy to leave the roads behind.
Once in NY, we headed straight for food. We stopped for lunch at Vinn's BBQ. It was fantastic BBQ! Note: the premium beer at this establishment was Mich Ultra. Bummer for David, but I got my first unsweetened iced tea in two weeks! Yay!
After lunch and a lots of help regarding directions from the guy at Vinn's, we headed east toward Massena and the State Park where we wanted to camp. On the USA side of the St. Lawrence River, there are a lot of small farms and reasonably sized homes--and it was just lovely! The shoulder was fabulous--big enough for the Amish buggies that frequent the area.
We made it to the Robert Moses State Park without incident, seeing lots of beautiful water country along the way. The check-in was about 2 miles from the campground, and they asked us to pick our site before checking in. So we rode to the site, and there was one of the steepest hills we have seen so far on the way! David volunteered to take the trip back to the check-in while I got things ready for dinner. We had a pretty good night's sleep there and this time, nothing got stolen!
After a great night's sleep at The Green Door, Peter and Lynne pampered us a bit more by serving us a fantastic breakfast--mushroom omelettes, homemade biscuits, and fresh fruit--YUM! They also served up some great conversation and we were so glad we stopped one last night in Canada. But the day had dawned beautifully bright and sunny, so we were determined to reach the USA--so with a couple of pictures, we left Peter and Lynne behind. But we hope to visit them again soon!
The ride was flat and we didn't have much of a headwind. Our first 20 miles in Canada were definitely in the high-rent district--huge old mansions and new McMansions right on the St. Lawrence River. The river is just gorgeous, so we had lots of picture stops, especially once we were within sight of the bridge to the USA. We stopped for one last chai and latte in Prescott and they gave us a great send-off at the Cup After Cup coffee shop. We took a few last pictures before checking out the Ontario Visitor's Center to get the scoop on going across the bridge. We were greeted by three friendly and helpful folks at the visitor's center, and they gave us the advice that we should just go across that bridge like we belong there--because bicycles aren't officially allowed on the bridge.
So off we went toward the Ogdensburg bridge. It is a couple of miles long and is made entirely of metal grating. Therefore, if you look down, you can see right down to the water below--no matter how high you are! Every time we took a peek, it made our stomaches do flips! If a car was on the bridge in our section, we could really feel the vibration. But the craziest part of all was going down the other side of the bridge into the USA. The bikes kind of floated and skittered on that metal grating--very scary! I was imagining having a wreck on that grating, and that wouldn't be good at all for keeping skin on your body. I was SO glad we didn't go over the bridge yesterday, because in the rain it would have been very slippery...
Once on the USA side, we stopped and took the obligatory pictures of "Welcome to the USA" and "Welcome to New York." We then dug our passports out and headed to the customs station. Note--there is no line at this USA entry--almost ever! All the other entries were jam packed and the wait would have been at least an hour. Here, we rode right up to the gate. And then it got interesting. The border patrol guy asked us what we had been doing before we came to the gate. We said we had taken pictures like at every state crossing on the trip, etc. He said "Did you take a picture of our building?" I wasn't sure because I wasn't focusing on the building--I was focusing on the NY sign! They asked us to see the pictures inside the building. So we went over and showed them our pictures. They were very friendly and helpful, but the one guard did say that it would be possible for them to take our camera if they want. But since they didn't see anything suspicious in our pictures, they let us and the camera enter the USA. Whew! We left Canada's great folks and good beer sadly, but we weren't unhappy to leave the roads behind.
Once in NY, we headed straight for food. We stopped for lunch at Vinn's BBQ. It was fantastic BBQ! Note: the premium beer at this establishment was Mich Ultra. Bummer for David, but I got my first unsweetened iced tea in two weeks! Yay!
After lunch and a lots of help regarding directions from the guy at Vinn's, we headed east toward Massena and the State Park where we wanted to camp. On the USA side of the St. Lawrence River, there are a lot of small farms and reasonably sized homes--and it was just lovely! The shoulder was fabulous--big enough for the Amish buggies that frequent the area.
We made it to the Robert Moses State Park without incident, seeing lots of beautiful water country along the way. The check-in was about 2 miles from the campground, and they asked us to pick our site before checking in. So we rode to the site, and there was one of the steepest hills we have seen so far on the way! David volunteered to take the trip back to the check-in while I got things ready for dinner. We had a pretty good night's sleep there and this time, nothing got stolen!
Waterlogged!!!
Day 59: Gananoque to Brockville, ON--36 miles
Today was a good day for ducks and loons--but not a good day for cycling! We had a huge thunderstorm during the night and hoped the front would move through. But it didn't. It was a soggy, rainy morning.
We had a fantastic breakfast at the Athlone Inn and waited around to see if the rain would stop. No such luck--so at about 10:00 we decided to brave the storm and ride. Our plan was to enter the USA. We donned our waterproof gear once again and started pedaling. We pedaled and pedaled, but the rain didn't let up at all--in fact, it seemed to get more and more intense!
People had tole us this would be one of our most scenic days. We spent it peering through rain-spattered glasses on the bike path that paralleled the 1000 Islands Parkway. It was called the Waterfront Trail, and we were very thankful to have a bike path on such a miserable weather day. The path was pretty typical of bike paths--many are afterthoughts, as is bicycle transportation. We realize now from first-hand experience how important our nephew Heath's job as a bicycle advocate is! This particular path was about 6 feet wide, but it had a huge hump right down the middle with plants growing up out of it. Since it was raining, there were huge long puddles running down either side of the hump, and thus the whole path was taken up by obstacles! Ride in the center and you have to balance on the hump while avoiding the slippery plants. Ride in the troughs and you're IN water. But we managed--stopping to dry of our glasses about every 10 minutes.
The 1000 Islands area is definitely a must-see! We saw so many islands. They say in Canada, it takes two trees to classify as an island, and people will buy a little island for seasonal use. Many folks duck-hunt and will put a little shack on their island. Others build huge mansions as second homes, I guess. So these islands are sometimes completely covered by house! It was really neat to see! They told us that very few people would stay year-round on any of these places--they are not used in the winter.
We were SO wet, we stopped in at Brown's Bay Provincial Park and took shelter at their staff building for a bit. The staff there was so nice! They had a little canteen and we had some fresh french fries, and we chatted with them. They were getting ready for a huge reggae festival the next day, but were hampered by the rain! We could see NY across the river, and after trying to warm up with the hand dryers in the restrooms (they call them washrooms in Canada), we hit the road again.
The rain just wouldn't stop. We were wet and getting cold, and limped into Brockville. We decided at that point that 36 miles is just enough when you're riding in a deluge, so we stopped in at the first available store (a leather and antiques place) and asked the proprieter for advice on hotels. He pointed us to a new B&B that was close to the center of town. Off we went to find The Green Door.
The Green Door is a converted church! On the outside, it still looks like a church--without a true steeple. At the B&B, Peter answered the door. He took our horrendous appearance in stride and said of course they had some room available. I'm not sure I would have done it considering how wet we were! He immediately helped us take our bikes downstairs, rigged up a clothesline in the basement, and gave us towels so that we could put something dry on. We were pretty early, so the rooms were not yet ready, but Peter and Lynne took care of us anyway! They gave us great ideas for where to get a bowl of soup, and we headed out for a bit.
When we came back, we got to check out this place that Peter and Lynne have done so much work on. They have taken a cavernous sanctuary with extremely high ceilings and made it feel beautiful and very cozy! I believe they have done most of the work themselves, and it is just fantastic! I applaud them for their efforts, and think they will be quite successful in this venture!
We went to do laundry, and had a drink at the next-door pub--the Phoenix. There we met Sylvia, Ralph, and Ron as well as some of their other friends. Another gang of fun and friendly Canadians! We so enjoyed getting to know them, and they kept trying to buy us drinks! We almost forgot to eat dinner, but when you're cycling, the stomach rules and we left The Phoenix and went to the Buell St. Bistro for dinner. But we definitely want to go back and see this fun group again!
Our dinner at the Buell St. Bistro was just fantastic and a great way to end a soggy day! Brockville, although an unplanned stop, was so fun and we will try to make it back there in the future!
Today was a good day for ducks and loons--but not a good day for cycling! We had a huge thunderstorm during the night and hoped the front would move through. But it didn't. It was a soggy, rainy morning.
We had a fantastic breakfast at the Athlone Inn and waited around to see if the rain would stop. No such luck--so at about 10:00 we decided to brave the storm and ride. Our plan was to enter the USA. We donned our waterproof gear once again and started pedaling. We pedaled and pedaled, but the rain didn't let up at all--in fact, it seemed to get more and more intense!
People had tole us this would be one of our most scenic days. We spent it peering through rain-spattered glasses on the bike path that paralleled the 1000 Islands Parkway. It was called the Waterfront Trail, and we were very thankful to have a bike path on such a miserable weather day. The path was pretty typical of bike paths--many are afterthoughts, as is bicycle transportation. We realize now from first-hand experience how important our nephew Heath's job as a bicycle advocate is! This particular path was about 6 feet wide, but it had a huge hump right down the middle with plants growing up out of it. Since it was raining, there were huge long puddles running down either side of the hump, and thus the whole path was taken up by obstacles! Ride in the center and you have to balance on the hump while avoiding the slippery plants. Ride in the troughs and you're IN water. But we managed--stopping to dry of our glasses about every 10 minutes.
The 1000 Islands area is definitely a must-see! We saw so many islands. They say in Canada, it takes two trees to classify as an island, and people will buy a little island for seasonal use. Many folks duck-hunt and will put a little shack on their island. Others build huge mansions as second homes, I guess. So these islands are sometimes completely covered by house! It was really neat to see! They told us that very few people would stay year-round on any of these places--they are not used in the winter.
We were SO wet, we stopped in at Brown's Bay Provincial Park and took shelter at their staff building for a bit. The staff there was so nice! They had a little canteen and we had some fresh french fries, and we chatted with them. They were getting ready for a huge reggae festival the next day, but were hampered by the rain! We could see NY across the river, and after trying to warm up with the hand dryers in the restrooms (they call them washrooms in Canada), we hit the road again.
The rain just wouldn't stop. We were wet and getting cold, and limped into Brockville. We decided at that point that 36 miles is just enough when you're riding in a deluge, so we stopped in at the first available store (a leather and antiques place) and asked the proprieter for advice on hotels. He pointed us to a new B&B that was close to the center of town. Off we went to find The Green Door.
The Green Door is a converted church! On the outside, it still looks like a church--without a true steeple. At the B&B, Peter answered the door. He took our horrendous appearance in stride and said of course they had some room available. I'm not sure I would have done it considering how wet we were! He immediately helped us take our bikes downstairs, rigged up a clothesline in the basement, and gave us towels so that we could put something dry on. We were pretty early, so the rooms were not yet ready, but Peter and Lynne took care of us anyway! They gave us great ideas for where to get a bowl of soup, and we headed out for a bit.
When we came back, we got to check out this place that Peter and Lynne have done so much work on. They have taken a cavernous sanctuary with extremely high ceilings and made it feel beautiful and very cozy! I believe they have done most of the work themselves, and it is just fantastic! I applaud them for their efforts, and think they will be quite successful in this venture!
We went to do laundry, and had a drink at the next-door pub--the Phoenix. There we met Sylvia, Ralph, and Ron as well as some of their other friends. Another gang of fun and friendly Canadians! We so enjoyed getting to know them, and they kept trying to buy us drinks! We almost forgot to eat dinner, but when you're cycling, the stomach rules and we left The Phoenix and went to the Buell St. Bistro for dinner. But we definitely want to go back and see this fun group again!
Our dinner at the Buell St. Bistro was just fantastic and a great way to end a soggy day! Brockville, although an unplanned stop, was so fun and we will try to make it back there in the future!
1000 Islands
Day 58: Naponee to Gananoque--45 miles
The day was a resounding success! We woke up and it was overcast and dry outside, but by the time we finished breakfast, it was very rainy and wet! At breakfast, I noticed a door marked "Business Center" with a computer. So I thought I'd read my email--since it was raining and all. I'm very good at doing other things rather than cycling in the rain!
Not only did I do that, we blogged AND loaded some pictures! We were very excited to find a computer that we could use for pictures. So we spent about 3 hours getting all that done--until checkout time.
Unfortunately, the rain hadn't stopped by checkout time, so we sadly put on our full rain regalia. The only bright spot in the morning was David's orange booties! We set out on Rt. 2 toward Kingston in very soggy conditions. The good news I found out was that when I put my rainpants on today (I haven't worn them since Day 15) they were looser than before! Yahoo!
Since we started dry and waterproof, we were pretty comfortable riding. The only problem is that when you're waterproof on the outside, you become very sweaty on the inside! It took us about 2 hours to get to Kingston. This is a neat city--about 120,000 people. We spent a lot of time actually getting to the city centre because there was a lot of outskirt area. It seems to be very cosmopolitan in the downtown area (David noticed lots of double parking) and there was a lot of fun shopping (oh, for more time and room in those panniers!). There were cyclists and walkers everywhere, and we stopped at a local chain called "The Pita Pit" and had a pita sandwich for lunch. Then on to a coffee shop where I tried a vanilla tea latte--good!
By this time, the sun was out but it was about 3:30 p.m. We headed out of Kingston still trying to dry off. The ride was beautiful! We stopped to have a drink and looked over at the water. We decided to take a closer look and rode into this gorgeous neighborhood. There, working on his yard, was Gary, who chatted with us for about 10 minutes. He pointed out that we were looking at the very end of Lake Ontario, and were about to enter the 1000 Islands region. He was a typical friendly, helpful Canadian, and he told us about a bike path we could catch the next day. Thanks, Gary!
In about 10 m ore miles, we flew into Gananoque. Along the way, we checked out more islands--with huge houses covering them! They have several with castles on them and everything! We stopped as we entered town to admire some local 1800's architecture and saw that we were in between two B&B's! After a very short debate and looking at the blackening sky, we decided to stay at the Athlone Inn--mostly because it offered dinner and advertised "fine dining." What a find! Miranda and Jason are the owners and Jason is the chef, and it was just a fantastic place! We had a beautiful room on the ground floor (I think that wing was added in the 1950's to the original house). The dining was some of the best we have had--truly a 5-star experience! We also spent time with Jason & Miranda's friends who were staying for a couple of nights. What nice people, and a great way to spend our last night in Canada!
The day was a resounding success! We woke up and it was overcast and dry outside, but by the time we finished breakfast, it was very rainy and wet! At breakfast, I noticed a door marked "Business Center" with a computer. So I thought I'd read my email--since it was raining and all. I'm very good at doing other things rather than cycling in the rain!
Not only did I do that, we blogged AND loaded some pictures! We were very excited to find a computer that we could use for pictures. So we spent about 3 hours getting all that done--until checkout time.
Unfortunately, the rain hadn't stopped by checkout time, so we sadly put on our full rain regalia. The only bright spot in the morning was David's orange booties! We set out on Rt. 2 toward Kingston in very soggy conditions. The good news I found out was that when I put my rainpants on today (I haven't worn them since Day 15) they were looser than before! Yahoo!
Since we started dry and waterproof, we were pretty comfortable riding. The only problem is that when you're waterproof on the outside, you become very sweaty on the inside! It took us about 2 hours to get to Kingston. This is a neat city--about 120,000 people. We spent a lot of time actually getting to the city centre because there was a lot of outskirt area. It seems to be very cosmopolitan in the downtown area (David noticed lots of double parking) and there was a lot of fun shopping (oh, for more time and room in those panniers!). There were cyclists and walkers everywhere, and we stopped at a local chain called "The Pita Pit" and had a pita sandwich for lunch. Then on to a coffee shop where I tried a vanilla tea latte--good!
By this time, the sun was out but it was about 3:30 p.m. We headed out of Kingston still trying to dry off. The ride was beautiful! We stopped to have a drink and looked over at the water. We decided to take a closer look and rode into this gorgeous neighborhood. There, working on his yard, was Gary, who chatted with us for about 10 minutes. He pointed out that we were looking at the very end of Lake Ontario, and were about to enter the 1000 Islands region. He was a typical friendly, helpful Canadian, and he told us about a bike path we could catch the next day. Thanks, Gary!
In about 10 m ore miles, we flew into Gananoque. Along the way, we checked out more islands--with huge houses covering them! They have several with castles on them and everything! We stopped as we entered town to admire some local 1800's architecture and saw that we were in between two B&B's! After a very short debate and looking at the blackening sky, we decided to stay at the Athlone Inn--mostly because it offered dinner and advertised "fine dining." What a find! Miranda and Jason are the owners and Jason is the chef, and it was just a fantastic place! We had a beautiful room on the ground floor (I think that wing was added in the 1950's to the original house). The dining was some of the best we have had--truly a 5-star experience! We also spent time with Jason & Miranda's friends who were staying for a couple of nights. What nice people, and a great way to spend our last night in Canada!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
To the Water
Day 57: Hastings to Naponee--74 miles
Any time you travel through a place called "The Trent Hills" you know you must BEWARE! The Trent Hills are actually hillocks--it looks like they just got dropped in here from above all over the place! But the roads just go straight--up and down each and every hillock! We were sure that with proper planning, those roads could have been completely flat, but instead we did a LOT of climbing and descending in the morning.
The owners at Lockside gave us some scones to sustain us on our trip (they have an ice cream and coffee shop as well as a decor store there in Hastings). We took our leave from this nice town, and as we started the ride, we were very glad we had stayed in Hastings, because we would have had a lot of trouble with these hills at the end of a long day. We saw some beautiful scenery (a mix of little farms and towns with great architecture) and had very little traffic.
At the top of the second hill, I came upon David looking down at his bike. He was OK, but his front rack was broken! The bolt had sheared, and of course it broke off in the fork so he couldn't put another one in. So out came the zip ties and duct tape, and 15 minutes later, it was almost as good as new! Thank God for duct tape!
We were both grinding granny gears going up those steep hills, but today for every uphill, we got a downhill. That was nice (except sometimes you'd be going down and could see the next big hill looming ahead). It was fun riding--similar to what we used to do in Virginia. We took a final backroad into Trenton and were very excited to see the waters of Lake Onterio's North Bay (called the Bay of Quinte).
We looked around Trenton a bit and it seemed to be a pretty industrial place. We did find a good place for lunch called the Britannia. Good British-style food and ale! They told us about a bike shop about 10 miles away in Belleville, so we worked our way there to find out information about bike routes. We had heard there was a good one that goes all the way to Quebec! Well, they didn't know anything about it there, so we were disappointed that we will have to continue on Rt. 2 until New York. It's not too busy because there is a close-by freeway, but it's still busier than we had wished for. We wandered through Belleville and found another bike shop in the main part of town. Those folks were very nice and suggested some routes for us--and also pointed us toward the local organic coffee shop. We debated taking a slightly longer route that would have been very scenic, but decided it was too late in the day, and booked for Naponee, our evening's destination.
Along the water, we had no hills and a slight tailwind. That made for fast riding! We got into Naponee by about 5:30 and then started searching for a place to stay. This is a town that has been decimated by the freeway. The main part of town is almost non-existent, and we ended up having to go back to the freeway to find a hotel. The Hampton Inn is very nice (that's where I'm blogging from) and new, but the choices for food are slim. There's a McDonald's, a Pizza Hut, and a DQ (OK at least we like DQ). We walked over a mile to get to a local fish & chips place, and it was HOT and HUMID! I felt like I needed another shower! And we found to our dismay that these fish and chips places fry everything! You have no real other choices. So fried food it was--and it was tasty.
We walked along the busy roads and under the freeway to get back to our hotel, and were happy to have Le Tour to entertain us until we went to sleep!
We're both about ready to be done with the ride--but we have more than 500 miles to go. Onward!
P.S. We FINALLY found a computer where we could load pictures (note me with the SMART Car above) and I have put pictures into every day since Munising--just go backwards if you want to look at them! It's mostly those days in Canada...
Any time you travel through a place called "The Trent Hills" you know you must BEWARE! The Trent Hills are actually hillocks--it looks like they just got dropped in here from above all over the place! But the roads just go straight--up and down each and every hillock! We were sure that with proper planning, those roads could have been completely flat, but instead we did a LOT of climbing and descending in the morning.
The owners at Lockside gave us some scones to sustain us on our trip (they have an ice cream and coffee shop as well as a decor store there in Hastings). We took our leave from this nice town, and as we started the ride, we were very glad we had stayed in Hastings, because we would have had a lot of trouble with these hills at the end of a long day. We saw some beautiful scenery (a mix of little farms and towns with great architecture) and had very little traffic.
At the top of the second hill, I came upon David looking down at his bike. He was OK, but his front rack was broken! The bolt had sheared, and of course it broke off in the fork so he couldn't put another one in. So out came the zip ties and duct tape, and 15 minutes later, it was almost as good as new! Thank God for duct tape!
We were both grinding granny gears going up those steep hills, but today for every uphill, we got a downhill. That was nice (except sometimes you'd be going down and could see the next big hill looming ahead). It was fun riding--similar to what we used to do in Virginia. We took a final backroad into Trenton and were very excited to see the waters of Lake Onterio's North Bay (called the Bay of Quinte).
We looked around Trenton a bit and it seemed to be a pretty industrial place. We did find a good place for lunch called the Britannia. Good British-style food and ale! They told us about a bike shop about 10 miles away in Belleville, so we worked our way there to find out information about bike routes. We had heard there was a good one that goes all the way to Quebec! Well, they didn't know anything about it there, so we were disappointed that we will have to continue on Rt. 2 until New York. It's not too busy because there is a close-by freeway, but it's still busier than we had wished for. We wandered through Belleville and found another bike shop in the main part of town. Those folks were very nice and suggested some routes for us--and also pointed us toward the local organic coffee shop. We debated taking a slightly longer route that would have been very scenic, but decided it was too late in the day, and booked for Naponee, our evening's destination.
Along the water, we had no hills and a slight tailwind. That made for fast riding! We got into Naponee by about 5:30 and then started searching for a place to stay. This is a town that has been decimated by the freeway. The main part of town is almost non-existent, and we ended up having to go back to the freeway to find a hotel. The Hampton Inn is very nice (that's where I'm blogging from) and new, but the choices for food are slim. There's a McDonald's, a Pizza Hut, and a DQ (OK at least we like DQ). We walked over a mile to get to a local fish & chips place, and it was HOT and HUMID! I felt like I needed another shower! And we found to our dismay that these fish and chips places fry everything! You have no real other choices. So fried food it was--and it was tasty.
We walked along the busy roads and under the freeway to get back to our hotel, and were happy to have Le Tour to entertain us until we went to sleep!
We're both about ready to be done with the ride--but we have more than 500 miles to go. Onward!
P.S. We FINALLY found a computer where we could load pictures (note me with the SMART Car above) and I have put pictures into every day since Munising--just go backwards if you want to look at them! It's mostly those days in Canada...
We Shall Overcome
Day 56: Lindsay to Hastings, ON--55 miles
The ride this morning was very pleasurable--we followed Ian & Sandra's directions along the side roads. These roads led to another rail tril that led from Omemee right into Peterborough. Finding the path was interesting--it wasn't marked well on the side road--and once we found it, we were a little unsure because the first 100 yards or so were pretty bumpy--but then it settled out into that limestone surface and was really nice!
The path here was a little more overgrown than the other rail trails we have used, but I think they were in the process of clearing it (we squeezed past a work truck that was parked on the path). But this particular path was a real godsend because it is a railroad grade and avoided the huge hills we saw on either side of us whenever we had a view out. We saw lots of steep hills off to the left, and huge drop-offs to the right, and were happy we didn't have to follow the road!
We also saw some Canadian BikeMeisters--about 15 or so folks over 55 years old cycling along the rail trail the opposite way. They brought our CO SkiMeisters to mind (who are probably hiking or biking as I write this)! They were having a great time on that trail! And right after that, we went over a really high railroad bridge that showed just how many hills we were missing. It made me happy.
About 8 km before we entered Peterborough, another cyclist joined us and started chatting. His name was Tim and he owns the record store in Peterborough. He gave up his car several years ago and commutes by bike about 21 km each way. What a nice guy! He led us into town and right to a fantastic coffee shop (are you seeing a theme here?) called The PLanet Bakery. He even bought us a drink! We talked with Tim and the owner of the local bike shop a block behind The Planet, and got some scoop on our route down to Lake Ontario. Then, we decided we should just eat lunch at this place, and had a fantastic vegetarian lunch there! Great food and great people.
We checked out the bike shop and then headed east and south toward the water.
They mentioned that we would have some "rollers"--up and down hills between Peterborough and Brighton, but they may have understated that just a bit! David described it is grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo!-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo! It was pretty exhausting for 25 miles. It was very fun riding, and we wished that we had a sag wagon to carry our heavy panniers so the uphills would be easier. One of the highlights was the 6 osprey nests we saw that were filled with birds caring for their young! How fun to watch them.
We stopped in Hastings because we saw an open library and decided to blog for a little while--it had been four days and I was getting frantic phone calls about our safety! But it's hard to find a computer on the weekends unless you're at the right hotel. Then we decided that instead of slogging our way for 25 more miles, maybe we should just stay right there in Hastings! David went off to check out lodging opportunities and I blogged. While I was there, I found out what kind of people live in Hastings ON. First off, the librarians were so nice and helpful--and the computer use was free!
Within 30 minutes, Patricia Lehman (a library patron) had offered us a place to stay at her house in Warkworth, about 45 minutes away. She was going to let us pitch our tent, or she offered a tent that they already had up in their yard! How nice was that? And then about 15 minutes later, Skye Morrison sat down at the computer beside me. She is the proprieter of a new guesthouse in Hastings called The Doors Guesthouse (www.thedoorsguesthouse.com) and offered to let us stay there for free! Fantastic! But alas, David had already found us a place in town and we stayed there. The only bad thing about that was that we had to pay for it, but it was worth the expense. We stayed at the Lockside Guest Suite and it was a little apartment! We felt like we had lots of rooms to spread out in, and had breakfast in our own kitchen! It was very decadent, and the owners were exceptionally nice also! Hastings is on our list of the most friendly places we have been.
We had a great Chinese food dinner at Jiang's and spent some time checking out the local scenery--they have their own lock that serves the Trent-Severn Waterway. It was a neat time and we're glad we cut our ride short to stay there!
P.S. No comments allowed on this post either.
The ride this morning was very pleasurable--we followed Ian & Sandra's directions along the side roads. These roads led to another rail tril that led from Omemee right into Peterborough. Finding the path was interesting--it wasn't marked well on the side road--and once we found it, we were a little unsure because the first 100 yards or so were pretty bumpy--but then it settled out into that limestone surface and was really nice!
The path here was a little more overgrown than the other rail trails we have used, but I think they were in the process of clearing it (we squeezed past a work truck that was parked on the path). But this particular path was a real godsend because it is a railroad grade and avoided the huge hills we saw on either side of us whenever we had a view out. We saw lots of steep hills off to the left, and huge drop-offs to the right, and were happy we didn't have to follow the road!
We also saw some Canadian BikeMeisters--about 15 or so folks over 55 years old cycling along the rail trail the opposite way. They brought our CO SkiMeisters to mind (who are probably hiking or biking as I write this)! They were having a great time on that trail! And right after that, we went over a really high railroad bridge that showed just how many hills we were missing. It made me happy.
About 8 km before we entered Peterborough, another cyclist joined us and started chatting. His name was Tim and he owns the record store in Peterborough. He gave up his car several years ago and commutes by bike about 21 km each way. What a nice guy! He led us into town and right to a fantastic coffee shop (are you seeing a theme here?) called The PLanet Bakery. He even bought us a drink! We talked with Tim and the owner of the local bike shop a block behind The Planet, and got some scoop on our route down to Lake Ontario. Then, we decided we should just eat lunch at this place, and had a fantastic vegetarian lunch there! Great food and great people.
We checked out the bike shop and then headed east and south toward the water.
They mentioned that we would have some "rollers"--up and down hills between Peterborough and Brighton, but they may have understated that just a bit! David described it is grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo!-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo! It was pretty exhausting for 25 miles. It was very fun riding, and we wished that we had a sag wagon to carry our heavy panniers so the uphills would be easier. One of the highlights was the 6 osprey nests we saw that were filled with birds caring for their young! How fun to watch them.
We stopped in Hastings because we saw an open library and decided to blog for a little while--it had been four days and I was getting frantic phone calls about our safety! But it's hard to find a computer on the weekends unless you're at the right hotel. Then we decided that instead of slogging our way for 25 more miles, maybe we should just stay right there in Hastings! David went off to check out lodging opportunities and I blogged. While I was there, I found out what kind of people live in Hastings ON. First off, the librarians were so nice and helpful--and the computer use was free!
Within 30 minutes, Patricia Lehman (a library patron) had offered us a place to stay at her house in Warkworth, about 45 minutes away. She was going to let us pitch our tent, or she offered a tent that they already had up in their yard! How nice was that? And then about 15 minutes later, Skye Morrison sat down at the computer beside me. She is the proprieter of a new guesthouse in Hastings called The Doors Guesthouse (www.thedoorsguesthouse.com) and offered to let us stay there for free! Fantastic! But alas, David had already found us a place in town and we stayed there. The only bad thing about that was that we had to pay for it, but it was worth the expense. We stayed at the Lockside Guest Suite and it was a little apartment! We felt like we had lots of rooms to spread out in, and had breakfast in our own kitchen! It was very decadent, and the owners were exceptionally nice also! Hastings is on our list of the most friendly places we have been.
We had a great Chinese food dinner at Jiang's and spent some time checking out the local scenery--they have their own lock that serves the Trent-Severn Waterway. It was a neat time and we're glad we cut our ride short to stay there!
P.S. No comments allowed on this post either.
3000 Miles!
Day 55: Orillia to Lindsay, ON--52 miles
Milestone: 3,000 Miles today! (And it looks like about 600 more to go)
We are getting excited to finish the ride, and keep planning longer days--but something always comes up. We thought we'd get an early start, but as soon as we left the hotel in Orillia, David had a flat tire. I think that was number 14? I'm losing count at this point... Anyway, we stopped in a beautiful park right by the water and David fixed the flat--then we left Orillia on the local bike path.
The path was gorgeous--along the Couchiching Lake down to the Narrows which crossed between Couchiching and Simcoe Lakes. It was a pretty neat path with lots of users. The crossing left us on Rt. 12, which is a fairly busy highway--again with no shoulder. It wasn't too bad in the morning because the traffic was light. We rode into Brachin and stopped for coffee at a pretty marginal spot. But we met a nice woman there who told us there are about 12 quarries in the area, and to look out for dump trucks. Sure enough, once we got back on the road, there were more trucks than we have seen yet! They weren't those huge transports, but they were big enough to be of concern. We had a tough 15 miles before we found a side road we could take.
Once we left the highway, we were much happier! The riding was very good--ups and downs, but fun. I was a little slow from the long ride the day before, and of course, letting myself get a bit dehydrated was not a good idea. It takes a while to recover from that. We had tried to plan a backroad route in advance, but had to divert from it several times because the roads we picked were gravel. But we made it through Argyle, where we had a good lunch at the little General Store (which also had some great home and garden stuff for shopping--darn those little panniers!).
We worked our way to Lindsay, where we had planned to take a short break and check out potential paths at the local bike shop. We found the shop, called Down to Earth Outfitters. It was a real gem! Not only do they have bikes, they have great outdoor clothing and shoes. Again, I wished for LOTS more room in my panniers, but only bought a lightweight pair of shorts.
Ian and Sandra, the proprieters of the shop, were just fantastic! They were extremely helpful to us in finding our way on back roads to Peterborough. And Ian suggested that we avoid highway 7 altogether by going from Peterborough down toward Lake Ontario and taking Rt. 2 up the St. Lawrence River to our New York crossing. Great idea! We decided to adopt that re-plan and he showed us how to do it.
They were the most hospitable shop owners we have met in a long time, and that's saying something because almost every bike shop we have been in has been great. They let us park our bikes inside while we went to the local coffee shop for a drink, found a seat bolt that fit my bike to replace the alternative from Montana, and even did a quick check-out of David's gears because they weren't working exactly right. They did all this service for free, and wouldn't even let us buy them a beer! It's almost worth the trip to Ontario just to visit Down to Earth Outfitters!
We spent so much time there, we decided to just stay the night in Lindsay and head to Peterborough first thing in the morning. That turned out to be a good idea because we got a chance to see the new Harry Potter movie and to have a great meal (steak) at Hobart's Steak House--all right on the main street of Lindsay! I thought the movie was very good, and can't wait to read the next book when it comes out. But I won't be carrying that heavy thing in my panniers--I guess I'll have to wait to buy it until we get to Maine!
P.S. to my friends--I'm going to NOT allow comments on the next few blogs to see if we can't eliminate those junk comments we're getting. Sorry about that--I didn't realize junk could happen on a blog!
Milestone: 3,000 Miles today! (And it looks like about 600 more to go)
We are getting excited to finish the ride, and keep planning longer days--but something always comes up. We thought we'd get an early start, but as soon as we left the hotel in Orillia, David had a flat tire. I think that was number 14? I'm losing count at this point... Anyway, we stopped in a beautiful park right by the water and David fixed the flat--then we left Orillia on the local bike path.
The path was gorgeous--along the Couchiching Lake down to the Narrows which crossed between Couchiching and Simcoe Lakes. It was a pretty neat path with lots of users. The crossing left us on Rt. 12, which is a fairly busy highway--again with no shoulder. It wasn't too bad in the morning because the traffic was light. We rode into Brachin and stopped for coffee at a pretty marginal spot. But we met a nice woman there who told us there are about 12 quarries in the area, and to look out for dump trucks. Sure enough, once we got back on the road, there were more trucks than we have seen yet! They weren't those huge transports, but they were big enough to be of concern. We had a tough 15 miles before we found a side road we could take.
Once we left the highway, we were much happier! The riding was very good--ups and downs, but fun. I was a little slow from the long ride the day before, and of course, letting myself get a bit dehydrated was not a good idea. It takes a while to recover from that. We had tried to plan a backroad route in advance, but had to divert from it several times because the roads we picked were gravel. But we made it through Argyle, where we had a good lunch at the little General Store (which also had some great home and garden stuff for shopping--darn those little panniers!).
We worked our way to Lindsay, where we had planned to take a short break and check out potential paths at the local bike shop. We found the shop, called Down to Earth Outfitters. It was a real gem! Not only do they have bikes, they have great outdoor clothing and shoes. Again, I wished for LOTS more room in my panniers, but only bought a lightweight pair of shorts.
Ian and Sandra, the proprieters of the shop, were just fantastic! They were extremely helpful to us in finding our way on back roads to Peterborough. And Ian suggested that we avoid highway 7 altogether by going from Peterborough down toward Lake Ontario and taking Rt. 2 up the St. Lawrence River to our New York crossing. Great idea! We decided to adopt that re-plan and he showed us how to do it.
They were the most hospitable shop owners we have met in a long time, and that's saying something because almost every bike shop we have been in has been great. They let us park our bikes inside while we went to the local coffee shop for a drink, found a seat bolt that fit my bike to replace the alternative from Montana, and even did a quick check-out of David's gears because they weren't working exactly right. They did all this service for free, and wouldn't even let us buy them a beer! It's almost worth the trip to Ontario just to visit Down to Earth Outfitters!
We spent so much time there, we decided to just stay the night in Lindsay and head to Peterborough first thing in the morning. That turned out to be a good idea because we got a chance to see the new Harry Potter movie and to have a great meal (steak) at Hobart's Steak House--all right on the main street of Lindsay! I thought the movie was very good, and can't wait to read the next book when it comes out. But I won't be carrying that heavy thing in my panniers--I guess I'll have to wait to buy it until we get to Maine!
P.S. to my friends--I'm going to NOT allow comments on the next few blogs to see if we can't eliminate those junk comments we're getting. Sorry about that--I didn't realize junk could happen on a blog!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Traffic Avoidance
Day 54: Meaford to Orillia, ON--76 miles
We took some available rial trails today and spent the rest of the time looking for side roads to avoid traffic. It took us a bit out of the way, but we think it was worth it!
We started on the Georgian Rail Tril from Meaford. It was kind of like a fairyland tour--beautiful trees, lots of shade, and a relatively smooth limestone surface--not paved but worth the extra effort. For 21 miles, we didn't have to deal with traffic at all! And we saw lots of people using these trails for running, cycling, and walking which was nice.
Meaford is still not too developed, but farther down the Bay, the waterfront development is exploding! We saw lots of new construction and large new homes on and near the water. We also saw lots of cleared lots ready for more development, and in addition, got to see some fantastic waterfront homes! There were several I nearly walked up to just to ask if I could live there. Lots of investment opportunity, and these towns seem like great places to live too.
We joined the traffic for awhile in Collingwood, and wound our way down to Barrie. Barrie is a large town (over 100,000 people) and it's a bit out of our way, but we were going for another rail trail. On the way to Barrie, we saw lots of mountain bikers going across the road. They have some nice trails in that area for mountain biking, and it's a really popular sport in Canada.
We only had to stop and ask for directions one time in the little town of Midhurst (a really beautiful place). Luckily for David and his ice cream requirements, we stopped at a great little general store/ice cream shop! They told us the back way to get to Barrie, and we headed there, where we saw the traffic on the interstate of all the people heading back to Toronto after the weekend. It was jammed--reminiscent of our times going back and forth to Dewey Beach. Then we found the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail and rode about 20 more miles into Orillia.
On this path, we saw less people, and enjoyed the relatively flat terrain. We surprised a porcupine and had to stop and listen to the frogs who were burping at each other VERY loudly over the swamps!
We arrived in Orillia exhausted and dehydrated and spent the evening trying to remedy that situation at the Brewery Bay restaurant!
We took some available rial trails today and spent the rest of the time looking for side roads to avoid traffic. It took us a bit out of the way, but we think it was worth it!
We started on the Georgian Rail Tril from Meaford. It was kind of like a fairyland tour--beautiful trees, lots of shade, and a relatively smooth limestone surface--not paved but worth the extra effort. For 21 miles, we didn't have to deal with traffic at all! And we saw lots of people using these trails for running, cycling, and walking which was nice.
Meaford is still not too developed, but farther down the Bay, the waterfront development is exploding! We saw lots of new construction and large new homes on and near the water. We also saw lots of cleared lots ready for more development, and in addition, got to see some fantastic waterfront homes! There were several I nearly walked up to just to ask if I could live there. Lots of investment opportunity, and these towns seem like great places to live too.
We joined the traffic for awhile in Collingwood, and wound our way down to Barrie. Barrie is a large town (over 100,000 people) and it's a bit out of our way, but we were going for another rail trail. On the way to Barrie, we saw lots of mountain bikers going across the road. They have some nice trails in that area for mountain biking, and it's a really popular sport in Canada.
We only had to stop and ask for directions one time in the little town of Midhurst (a really beautiful place). Luckily for David and his ice cream requirements, we stopped at a great little general store/ice cream shop! They told us the back way to get to Barrie, and we headed there, where we saw the traffic on the interstate of all the people heading back to Toronto after the weekend. It was jammed--reminiscent of our times going back and forth to Dewey Beach. Then we found the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail and rode about 20 more miles into Orillia.
On this path, we saw less people, and enjoyed the relatively flat terrain. We surprised a porcupine and had to stop and listen to the frogs who were burping at each other VERY loudly over the swamps!
We arrived in Orillia exhausted and dehydrated and spent the evening trying to remedy that situation at the Brewery Bay restaurant!
Angels Among Us
Day 53: Owen Sound to Meaford--20 miles (yes, 20)
The day began on an upnote--no flats! We had a great continental breakfast at the Best Western--maybe the best one of the trip. Then we got on our bikes and tried to find Rt. 26 East. The town map wasn't exactly accurate, so we wasted about a mile wandering around.
I told you Owen Sound (the town) is on the water. What I didn't tell you is that in order to go East out of that town, you must CLIMB one of the hugest hills I've seen in awhile! We cycled up the steepest hill of the trip this morning--I can tell we're heading east where the hills are steeper and shorter. Once up that hill, we found our route and headed out of town. We found three more steep and long uphills right after that! It turns out we were climbing that Niagra Escarpment right to the top. It started sprinkling at the bottom of the third hill, but by the time I got to the top, it had turned into a drenching rain! At that point, David was hiding under a big tree near a church and I joined him to PUT ON my rain gear (too late, Traci). We were both pretty wet and trying to decide what to do next when another cyclist came up to us. It was our angel, Cathy Snider! She had been cycling to the store (yes, she does those hills on a regular basis) and saw us up ahead. She pulled over and asked us if we'd like to dry off and warm up at her house just up the road. Although we were a bit reluctant (aren't we always to take help when we need it?), we looked up at that sky and said "OK."
We followed Cathy to her house--about 1 km away. It was a neat old stone farmhouse that has been in her husband Glen's family for generations. They have a farm, but stopped actively farming several years ago. Once we got to the house, Cathy showed how angelic she truly is! She took our wet coats and put them in the dryer, put our wet (and I'm sure quite smelly) shoes on shoe dryers, gave us sweats to wear to warm up, and made us tea! All for two bedraggled strangers! We chatted with her and son Tom for a bit, and then Glen came home.
Glen was hungry, and the next thing we knew, Cathy had put this fantastic spread on the table (now I see why she does catering)! Muffins, cheese, juice--the works! Although we had said we weren't hungry (having just ridden 10 miles on our big breakfast), we did a pretty good job of cleaning that table off! We had a great conversation with Cathy and Glen, and met another son Mike who is on his way to college this coming year. What a fun and amazing family! They are all artists and musicians. Their other son Dave is in a professional band and they are on tour in Canada right now! We heard some of their music and it was great--a little hard rock and a little reggae. We're bringing a CD home...
Although we were tempted to just move in to the Snider residence (after all that hospitality, we knew a good thing when we saw it), we saw a break in the storm and decided to head back out. We were warm and dry and happy, and hope the Sniders will repay us with a visit to our house in Colorado one day! I'm not sure we can thank them enough for making our day much brighter and giving us a glimpse into Canadian family life!
About 10 minutes after leaving the Snider residence, the sprinkles started again. But we didn't care--we were dry! About 10 minutes after that, the skies opened and started dumping buckets on us! We started to care at that point because it was hard to see, and I'm sure the visibility for the cars was also not great. We had a nice downhill into Meaford and I was behind David. I was wondering what he would do--I really wanted to stop and at least warm up with some tea or something. To my surprise, he stopped at the first hotel and said "Do you want to stay here or at the next hotel down the road?" He was freezing!
So we stopped at that first hotel and asked if they had any rooms. They did NOT! But the lady (Marguerite) looked at David's pitiful face and said "I do have a couple of rooms over the bar. The shower doesn't have much pressure, but you could stay there." We accepted immediately and brought our bikes into the back room. Once we dried ourselves out, we were much happier! It rained cats and dogs for at least another hour, and then off and on for the rest of the day. We were happy to be inside!
We had some soup at our motel to warm up, and met some really nice people who we talked with for at least another hour. Our discussions ranged from American politics to Canadian beef--and many places in between. What interesting and fun people--we are really enjoying the Canadians!
Serendipity played a big part in this 20-mile day. We would never have stopped in Meaford for long otherwise, and if we hadn't--we wouldn't have found our other angels of the day! We found the Back Street Tap and Grill--half a block off the main drag in town. It turns out that this may have been our best meal of the trip so far! The chef, Brad Taylor, is also a ski coach and has been to Winter Park many times! What a coincidence! I had some awesome pork tenderloin and David had fantastic rack of lamb. It was pretty wonderful and a restaurant I'd definitely recommend! We also got a little Tour viewing as well.
Meaford still looks like a quaint little seaside town. The development doesn't seem to have reached here yet, but we think it will. Any place on the Georgian Bay is probably a good investment.
A short ride and great food and lots of angels--who could ask for a better day?
The day began on an upnote--no flats! We had a great continental breakfast at the Best Western--maybe the best one of the trip. Then we got on our bikes and tried to find Rt. 26 East. The town map wasn't exactly accurate, so we wasted about a mile wandering around.
I told you Owen Sound (the town) is on the water. What I didn't tell you is that in order to go East out of that town, you must CLIMB one of the hugest hills I've seen in awhile! We cycled up the steepest hill of the trip this morning--I can tell we're heading east where the hills are steeper and shorter. Once up that hill, we found our route and headed out of town. We found three more steep and long uphills right after that! It turns out we were climbing that Niagra Escarpment right to the top. It started sprinkling at the bottom of the third hill, but by the time I got to the top, it had turned into a drenching rain! At that point, David was hiding under a big tree near a church and I joined him to PUT ON my rain gear (too late, Traci). We were both pretty wet and trying to decide what to do next when another cyclist came up to us. It was our angel, Cathy Snider! She had been cycling to the store (yes, she does those hills on a regular basis) and saw us up ahead. She pulled over and asked us if we'd like to dry off and warm up at her house just up the road. Although we were a bit reluctant (aren't we always to take help when we need it?), we looked up at that sky and said "OK."
We followed Cathy to her house--about 1 km away. It was a neat old stone farmhouse that has been in her husband Glen's family for generations. They have a farm, but stopped actively farming several years ago. Once we got to the house, Cathy showed how angelic she truly is! She took our wet coats and put them in the dryer, put our wet (and I'm sure quite smelly) shoes on shoe dryers, gave us sweats to wear to warm up, and made us tea! All for two bedraggled strangers! We chatted with her and son Tom for a bit, and then Glen came home.
Glen was hungry, and the next thing we knew, Cathy had put this fantastic spread on the table (now I see why she does catering)! Muffins, cheese, juice--the works! Although we had said we weren't hungry (having just ridden 10 miles on our big breakfast), we did a pretty good job of cleaning that table off! We had a great conversation with Cathy and Glen, and met another son Mike who is on his way to college this coming year. What a fun and amazing family! They are all artists and musicians. Their other son Dave is in a professional band and they are on tour in Canada right now! We heard some of their music and it was great--a little hard rock and a little reggae. We're bringing a CD home...
Although we were tempted to just move in to the Snider residence (after all that hospitality, we knew a good thing when we saw it), we saw a break in the storm and decided to head back out. We were warm and dry and happy, and hope the Sniders will repay us with a visit to our house in Colorado one day! I'm not sure we can thank them enough for making our day much brighter and giving us a glimpse into Canadian family life!
About 10 minutes after leaving the Snider residence, the sprinkles started again. But we didn't care--we were dry! About 10 minutes after that, the skies opened and started dumping buckets on us! We started to care at that point because it was hard to see, and I'm sure the visibility for the cars was also not great. We had a nice downhill into Meaford and I was behind David. I was wondering what he would do--I really wanted to stop and at least warm up with some tea or something. To my surprise, he stopped at the first hotel and said "Do you want to stay here or at the next hotel down the road?" He was freezing!
So we stopped at that first hotel and asked if they had any rooms. They did NOT! But the lady (Marguerite) looked at David's pitiful face and said "I do have a couple of rooms over the bar. The shower doesn't have much pressure, but you could stay there." We accepted immediately and brought our bikes into the back room. Once we dried ourselves out, we were much happier! It rained cats and dogs for at least another hour, and then off and on for the rest of the day. We were happy to be inside!
We had some soup at our motel to warm up, and met some really nice people who we talked with for at least another hour. Our discussions ranged from American politics to Canadian beef--and many places in between. What interesting and fun people--we are really enjoying the Canadians!
Serendipity played a big part in this 20-mile day. We would never have stopped in Meaford for long otherwise, and if we hadn't--we wouldn't have found our other angels of the day! We found the Back Street Tap and Grill--half a block off the main drag in town. It turns out that this may have been our best meal of the trip so far! The chef, Brad Taylor, is also a ski coach and has been to Winter Park many times! What a coincidence! I had some awesome pork tenderloin and David had fantastic rack of lamb. It was pretty wonderful and a restaurant I'd definitely recommend! We also got a little Tour viewing as well.
Meaford still looks like a quaint little seaside town. The development doesn't seem to have reached here yet, but we think it will. Any place on the Georgian Bay is probably a good investment.
A short ride and great food and lots of angels--who could ask for a better day?
Will This Ever Get Easy???
Day 52: Tobermory to Owen Sound, ON--72 miles
...Not today!!!
After a gorgeous sunset last night overlooking Lake Huron, we slept in and got going at about 9:30. We headed toward the Georgian Bay.
As we headed down Rt. 6, we realized that the sad fact is with the number of people traveling, the main roads just aren't great for cycling. Mostly in Canada, the roads are few and the cars are many! Although the speeds were slower and there were less transports, there still aren't any shoulders to speak of and you have to watch constantly in your rear view mirror. This dampens the fun of the experience!
The good news is that the drivers for the most part are very good with cyclists. So they try their best to go around as widely as possible. We're on a popular cyclists route--900 km around the Georgian Bay. We saw a group of 7 cyclists today, which were a couple of days from the end of their 9-day tour. Wimps! Ha! Actually, they all looked quite fit and seemed to be having a fun time together--they were from Quebec.
I struggled today to get any speed up at all. The cycling was relatively flat and should have been easy, but for some reason (hormones? just plain tired? homesick?) it wasn't. However, we saw some beautiful country--farmland and national parkland--the beautiful yellow fields of rapeseed (canola) in bloom, and Cottage Country. They call this Cottage Country because it's the second home area for Toronto (which is to the south). It really reminded me of Winter Park! These "cottages" run from normal cottage size to absolutely huge! Many have a boat out front and their little piers seem to be made of stone. Really fun sightseeing!
It seemed like we traveled uphill to reach the water. We were traveling down the Bruce Peninsula, which was created from the Niagra Escarpment--an escarpment that must have helped create the Great Lakes. We stopped at this little gas station to get something to drink for lunch, and it turned out to also be a restaurant. We figured "What the heck?" and went in. We had some fabulous beef stew and fresh fruit with homemade bread (they have GREAT bread up here). It was in the town of Mar, and it was really fun to find this little place disguised as a gas station! By the way, they sell gas in litres here, and the equivalent would be about $4.25 per gallon. So the USA gas is still much cheaper than most of the rest of the world.
As soon as we could find an alternative route, we left Rt. 6 and traveled the back roads. Much better! Although they might be a little less smooth, it is worth it to have less traffic. A little more uphill, and FINALLY we found a nice downhill that stopped near the water of Owen Sound. What a sight! This is just gorgeous territory. We turned to go into the town of Owen Sound, and got some great house sightseeing. The houses on the water were big and beautiful, and the town on that side of the sound was really nicely kept and picturesque.
We rode through town and stopped at the local bike shop. As usual, we found friendly and very helpful people! They gave us some local bicycle maps which showed suggested bicycle routes that avoid the highly traveled roads. What a treat to have some more alternatives!
We rode for a couple more miles to the hotel on the Sound, and spent a happy night watching Le Tour!
...Not today!!!
After a gorgeous sunset last night overlooking Lake Huron, we slept in and got going at about 9:30. We headed toward the Georgian Bay.
As we headed down Rt. 6, we realized that the sad fact is with the number of people traveling, the main roads just aren't great for cycling. Mostly in Canada, the roads are few and the cars are many! Although the speeds were slower and there were less transports, there still aren't any shoulders to speak of and you have to watch constantly in your rear view mirror. This dampens the fun of the experience!
The good news is that the drivers for the most part are very good with cyclists. So they try their best to go around as widely as possible. We're on a popular cyclists route--900 km around the Georgian Bay. We saw a group of 7 cyclists today, which were a couple of days from the end of their 9-day tour. Wimps! Ha! Actually, they all looked quite fit and seemed to be having a fun time together--they were from Quebec.
I struggled today to get any speed up at all. The cycling was relatively flat and should have been easy, but for some reason (hormones? just plain tired? homesick?) it wasn't. However, we saw some beautiful country--farmland and national parkland--the beautiful yellow fields of rapeseed (canola) in bloom, and Cottage Country. They call this Cottage Country because it's the second home area for Toronto (which is to the south). It really reminded me of Winter Park! These "cottages" run from normal cottage size to absolutely huge! Many have a boat out front and their little piers seem to be made of stone. Really fun sightseeing!
It seemed like we traveled uphill to reach the water. We were traveling down the Bruce Peninsula, which was created from the Niagra Escarpment--an escarpment that must have helped create the Great Lakes. We stopped at this little gas station to get something to drink for lunch, and it turned out to also be a restaurant. We figured "What the heck?" and went in. We had some fabulous beef stew and fresh fruit with homemade bread (they have GREAT bread up here). It was in the town of Mar, and it was really fun to find this little place disguised as a gas station! By the way, they sell gas in litres here, and the equivalent would be about $4.25 per gallon. So the USA gas is still much cheaper than most of the rest of the world.
As soon as we could find an alternative route, we left Rt. 6 and traveled the back roads. Much better! Although they might be a little less smooth, it is worth it to have less traffic. A little more uphill, and FINALLY we found a nice downhill that stopped near the water of Owen Sound. What a sight! This is just gorgeous territory. We turned to go into the town of Owen Sound, and got some great house sightseeing. The houses on the water were big and beautiful, and the town on that side of the sound was really nicely kept and picturesque.
We rode through town and stopped at the local bike shop. As usual, we found friendly and very helpful people! They gave us some local bicycle maps which showed suggested bicycle routes that avoid the highly traveled roads. What a treat to have some more alternatives!
We rode for a couple more miles to the hotel on the Sound, and spent a happy night watching Le Tour!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Chi-Cheemaun
Day 51: South Baymouth to Tobermory, ON--1 mile (bicycle), and 30 miles by ferry!
Today was a bittersweet day. The bitter is because today is the one-year anniversary of the day Tom got hit by the car on his bicycle. So we've been thinking about him even more than ever--feeling a little anger at the events that ended his life, and also appreciating how long we had him here. We know he's with us on this ride, but it would have been so much more fun to have him here in person. I also have been overrun with thoughts of David's mom and dad, so they must all be up there throwing thoughts my way! I checked, and we're at almost $1500 in donations. Today would be an appropriate day to donate to Tom's charity: the link is http://www.active.com/donate/BNB_Membership/tomsride if you want to check it out. I'm still going for $10,000!
It's weird to be happy and sad at the same time, but today started out with rain and clouds and then turned into this bright, beautifully vibrant day in a village by the water!
We started our day with a nice breakfast at the guesthouse, and then went over to catch the ferry to Tobermory. It's called the M.S. Chi-Cheemaun, and it's about 365 feet long. I think it holds about 100 cars or so. It looked big enough to me! We met another cyclist on the ferry--Neskie who is riding from Vancouver to Nova Scotia to do his last year of college. He's REALLY traveling light, and was just a great guy! We hope to see him again someday.
The ferry ride lasted 2 hours, and was really cool. We were first on and first off, so we got to see the motorcycles, vehicles, trucks, transports, and motor homes all join us and leave behind us. Once in Tobermory, we thought that we'd just take the day off from cycling in Tom's honor, and enjoy this beautiful place!
Lots of shopping and a little work and some blogging later, we're ready for dinner. In one of the shops, I found a quote (no attribution) that I thought was really neat. Here it is:
"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow."
So we will.
Today was a bittersweet day. The bitter is because today is the one-year anniversary of the day Tom got hit by the car on his bicycle. So we've been thinking about him even more than ever--feeling a little anger at the events that ended his life, and also appreciating how long we had him here. We know he's with us on this ride, but it would have been so much more fun to have him here in person. I also have been overrun with thoughts of David's mom and dad, so they must all be up there throwing thoughts my way! I checked, and we're at almost $1500 in donations. Today would be an appropriate day to donate to Tom's charity: the link is http://www.active.com/donate/BNB_Membership/tomsride if you want to check it out. I'm still going for $10,000!
It's weird to be happy and sad at the same time, but today started out with rain and clouds and then turned into this bright, beautifully vibrant day in a village by the water!
We started our day with a nice breakfast at the guesthouse, and then went over to catch the ferry to Tobermory. It's called the M.S. Chi-Cheemaun, and it's about 365 feet long. I think it holds about 100 cars or so. It looked big enough to me! We met another cyclist on the ferry--Neskie who is riding from Vancouver to Nova Scotia to do his last year of college. He's REALLY traveling light, and was just a great guy! We hope to see him again someday.
The ferry ride lasted 2 hours, and was really cool. We were first on and first off, so we got to see the motorcycles, vehicles, trucks, transports, and motor homes all join us and leave behind us. Once in Tobermory, we thought that we'd just take the day off from cycling in Tom's honor, and enjoy this beautiful place!
Lots of shopping and a little work and some blogging later, we're ready for dinner. In one of the shops, I found a quote (no attribution) that I thought was really neat. Here it is:
"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow."
So we will.
This Island Ain't Flat
Day 50: Little Current to South Baymouth--42 miles
The profound thought for the day: Planning an easy day and HAVING an easy day can be two very different things!
We decided to experience a bit of this gorgeous place and do a 42-mile bicycle tour of the island--still progressing toward our goal. We cycled from the north to south ends, which was the short expanse of the island. It is probably 3 times that wide. We were looking forward to an easy day!
What we didn't count on was the 35 kmph wind screaming from the west. Oh, sure: where were those winds when we were heading EAST? It was hard to stay in your line on the road--we kept being pushed into the lane by gusts. Today, the traffic was light and the people were great about passing us with plenty of room to spare. So we considered ourselves lucky!
Our tough ride was broken into segments. First, we rode about 12 km to Shegoiandah and stopped at the museum there. They were having a pottery exhibit of present and past potters. We saw lots of nice pottery some interesting glaze techniques. It got us itching to get back to the studio to make some things of our own!
Then we cycled about 10 more km to Ten Mile Point, which was a wonderful spot to see the view--the huge South Bay and Manitoulin's peninsula that sticks out to the East. They also had a trading post for shopping--and David, as always, was a super shopper! Several people who were shopping mentioned that they had seen us on the road, and commented about trying to ride in those strong winds. It was just like small town America!
After that stop, the wind picked up (unbelievably)! We also turned and spent some time heading straight into it! Even strong-man David could only muster about 8 mph into the wind. And to throw another insult at us, Canada threw in some extra tough hills! How rude!
But we made it to Manitowaning for lunch, and the last 15 km or so we persevered into South Baymouth. This town had a lot less than Little Current, but we found an interesting Gallery/Guesthouse to stay in--the Southside Gallery and Guesthouse. By guesthouse, they mean something like a B&B, except we had to share a bathroom with two other rooms. Interesting! Somewhat like a hut trip, but with strangers. Anyway, it worked out OK, except for our door didn't lock! One of the other guests kept mistaking our room for hers--and kept walking right in! We would just say "Hi, Brenda" and she would apologize and quickly go out! But it kept us on our toes...
David had liver & onions for dinner and I had perogies, which we have seen on almost every menu in Canada so far. We were at Carol and Earl's restaurant, and it was a hearty family meal!
We slept with the breeze from the South Bay coming into our window (and Brenda occasionally coming into our door), and got ready to catch the ferry!
The profound thought for the day: Planning an easy day and HAVING an easy day can be two very different things!
We decided to experience a bit of this gorgeous place and do a 42-mile bicycle tour of the island--still progressing toward our goal. We cycled from the north to south ends, which was the short expanse of the island. It is probably 3 times that wide. We were looking forward to an easy day!
What we didn't count on was the 35 kmph wind screaming from the west. Oh, sure: where were those winds when we were heading EAST? It was hard to stay in your line on the road--we kept being pushed into the lane by gusts. Today, the traffic was light and the people were great about passing us with plenty of room to spare. So we considered ourselves lucky!
Our tough ride was broken into segments. First, we rode about 12 km to Shegoiandah and stopped at the museum there. They were having a pottery exhibit of present and past potters. We saw lots of nice pottery some interesting glaze techniques. It got us itching to get back to the studio to make some things of our own!
Then we cycled about 10 more km to Ten Mile Point, which was a wonderful spot to see the view--the huge South Bay and Manitoulin's peninsula that sticks out to the East. They also had a trading post for shopping--and David, as always, was a super shopper! Several people who were shopping mentioned that they had seen us on the road, and commented about trying to ride in those strong winds. It was just like small town America!
After that stop, the wind picked up (unbelievably)! We also turned and spent some time heading straight into it! Even strong-man David could only muster about 8 mph into the wind. And to throw another insult at us, Canada threw in some extra tough hills! How rude!
But we made it to Manitowaning for lunch, and the last 15 km or so we persevered into South Baymouth. This town had a lot less than Little Current, but we found an interesting Gallery/Guesthouse to stay in--the Southside Gallery and Guesthouse. By guesthouse, they mean something like a B&B, except we had to share a bathroom with two other rooms. Interesting! Somewhat like a hut trip, but with strangers. Anyway, it worked out OK, except for our door didn't lock! One of the other guests kept mistaking our room for hers--and kept walking right in! We would just say "Hi, Brenda" and she would apologize and quickly go out! But it kept us on our toes...
David had liver & onions for dinner and I had perogies, which we have seen on almost every menu in Canada so far. We were at Carol and Earl's restaurant, and it was a hearty family meal!
We slept with the breeze from the South Bay coming into our window (and Brenda occasionally coming into our door), and got ready to catch the ferry!
7 Weeks Later...
Day 49: Spanish to Little Current, ON--63 miles
Flat tire #12. Luckily, it happened before we left the hotel! So David bit the bullet and put a brand new tire on the back of my bike. Hopefully it helps with the problem. Of course, the new tire required a brake adjustment, etc. It delayed us almost an hour!
We did our swansong 30 miles on the Trans-Canada and hoped for much better things on Rt. 6. A strong headwind, two big transports per minute (that's what they call tractor-trailers here, except they are about twice the size of our 18-wheelers: up to 34 wheels!), and a lot of traffic on Rt 17 made us happy to turn south. Of course, when we turned, the headwind obliged by turning with us! We must be wind magnets, and not in a good way.
We stopped for lunch and blogging in Espanola and then headed toward Manitoulin Island. The first thing we found was a very bad road with no shoulder--and it was really hilly! These were not gradual hills; they were the steepest we have seen since our days in Montana! David was even having trouble--he thought someone slipped a mickey into his lunch-time coffee! For 15 miles, Rt 6 made Rt 17 look GOOD. We were worrying about our decision when the bad road ended and a nice shoulder showed up. It stayed with us for the rest of the ride.
The hills didn't go away and that darn headwind just stuck to us whichever way we turned. How weird is that? The up-side is that we saw some absolutely GORGEOUS scenery! We also saw our first BEAR--a black bear. The scenery was very changeable, with lots of lakes and water, wildflowers, and different rock formations. It reminded us of what we imagine Norway's fjords look like. We saw some loons and lots of other water birds, lots of little islands, and sailboats in the distance. We spent a lot of the day on First Nation land, so we also saw lots of tee-pees and the names of all the towns were hard to pronounce.
The bear was on the opposite side of the road. As we learned later, there is a dump nearby the spot, and he had evidently been having some lunch there! We surprised him and he moved into the shadows to have a look at us strange creatures. David tried for a few pictures, but we'll probably have to brighten them up once we get a computer to work. I just stopped and looked at that bear--forgetting all the things you hear you should do. But he wasn't interested in eating us since all that trash was on his side of the road, I guess. It was very exciting!
Finally, the wind rejected us and chased us the last 10 easy miles to our destination. We had to cross an ancient "swing" bridge to get into Little Current, the first town on Manitoulin Island. This type of bridge twists on it's middle support to let boats through instead of raising and lowering. It's pretty cool!
Once we finally got to Little Current, we stopped at the visitor's center and asked about places to stay. They sent us to the Anchor Inn, Bar, and Grill. Talk about having everything you need in one spot! It certainly was the hot spot of the town--packed with people having fun! The summer brings lots of people to Manitoulin Island--the largest freshwater island in the world. It's name means something like "Spirit Island." It is a family vacation mecca, with lots of small lakes for any water sport or fishing, mountain bike trails, and lots of little villages to visit. It's also one of the most beautiful places I've seen. We want to come back (of course). The food was fantastic at the Anchor Grill, and they had lots of good beer on tap. Yay!
We had a huge thunderstorm that night--and were happy there were no campgrounds available in Little Current. Seven weeks down--three to go!
Flat tire #12. Luckily, it happened before we left the hotel! So David bit the bullet and put a brand new tire on the back of my bike. Hopefully it helps with the problem. Of course, the new tire required a brake adjustment, etc. It delayed us almost an hour!
We did our swansong 30 miles on the Trans-Canada and hoped for much better things on Rt. 6. A strong headwind, two big transports per minute (that's what they call tractor-trailers here, except they are about twice the size of our 18-wheelers: up to 34 wheels!), and a lot of traffic on Rt 17 made us happy to turn south. Of course, when we turned, the headwind obliged by turning with us! We must be wind magnets, and not in a good way.
We stopped for lunch and blogging in Espanola and then headed toward Manitoulin Island. The first thing we found was a very bad road with no shoulder--and it was really hilly! These were not gradual hills; they were the steepest we have seen since our days in Montana! David was even having trouble--he thought someone slipped a mickey into his lunch-time coffee! For 15 miles, Rt 6 made Rt 17 look GOOD. We were worrying about our decision when the bad road ended and a nice shoulder showed up. It stayed with us for the rest of the ride.
The hills didn't go away and that darn headwind just stuck to us whichever way we turned. How weird is that? The up-side is that we saw some absolutely GORGEOUS scenery! We also saw our first BEAR--a black bear. The scenery was very changeable, with lots of lakes and water, wildflowers, and different rock formations. It reminded us of what we imagine Norway's fjords look like. We saw some loons and lots of other water birds, lots of little islands, and sailboats in the distance. We spent a lot of the day on First Nation land, so we also saw lots of tee-pees and the names of all the towns were hard to pronounce.
The bear was on the opposite side of the road. As we learned later, there is a dump nearby the spot, and he had evidently been having some lunch there! We surprised him and he moved into the shadows to have a look at us strange creatures. David tried for a few pictures, but we'll probably have to brighten them up once we get a computer to work. I just stopped and looked at that bear--forgetting all the things you hear you should do. But he wasn't interested in eating us since all that trash was on his side of the road, I guess. It was very exciting!
Finally, the wind rejected us and chased us the last 10 easy miles to our destination. We had to cross an ancient "swing" bridge to get into Little Current, the first town on Manitoulin Island. This type of bridge twists on it's middle support to let boats through instead of raising and lowering. It's pretty cool!
Once we finally got to Little Current, we stopped at the visitor's center and asked about places to stay. They sent us to the Anchor Inn, Bar, and Grill. Talk about having everything you need in one spot! It certainly was the hot spot of the town--packed with people having fun! The summer brings lots of people to Manitoulin Island--the largest freshwater island in the world. It's name means something like "Spirit Island." It is a family vacation mecca, with lots of small lakes for any water sport or fishing, mountain bike trails, and lots of little villages to visit. It's also one of the most beautiful places I've seen. We want to come back (of course). The food was fantastic at the Anchor Grill, and they had lots of good beer on tap. Yay!
We had a huge thunderstorm that night--and were happy there were no campgrounds available in Little Current. Seven weeks down--three to go!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Change of Plans
Day 48: Thessalon to Spanish, ON--68 miles
Today started with a lot more concern about our route. We realized that our first-hand experience and that of people we talked to is much better than the advice we got from non-cyclists. The motorcyclists were especially helpful because they have more of a clue what we're going through on the roads.
We had a wonderful breakfast and retrieved our bikes from the shed in order to pack--and got started a bit late. I'm happy to report that the situation on the road was much better without rain. We still had the tiny shoulder and gravel, but we felt better with less traffic and more visibility. So the first 20 miles or so was uneventful!
At Iron Bridge, we saw a couple of cyclists loaded with gear at a hotel. We stopped to ask them about their route. They were going from East to West Canada, and the one guy (Will) is riding to raise funds for MS--a great cause! It made me think of our several friends in CO who have MS! If this guy has his way, he will find the cause this summer! They gave us good scoop about the route. The thing I noticed about these two 20-something guys was the stuff they had. Both were on mountain bikes and both had little trailers with them. One of them had a guitar with him! He had metal signs all over his trailer, and who knows what heavy stuff inside! It was crazy (from a 45-year-old woman's standpoint). Oh, the passion and energy of youth! Will is from the Kingston area and invited us to stay at a hippie commune sheep farm if we make it down that way--and we certainly will if we do! That's a do-not-miss experience, and if everyone is as nice as Will, we would certainly have a wonderful time there.
We had lunch in Blind River at Olive's Pasta and Sub Shack. What nice folks! Good gyros too. Then we stopped at the Ontario Governmnet Information Service to talk with them about our route. They were wonderfully helpful and nice, and helped us plan a safer route for bicycles that hopefully goes through flatter terrain! So we're changing our course. We'll head south on Rt. 6 over to Manatoulin Island and then will take a ferry to Central Ontario. We'll go across that part of Ontario north of Toronto and hope to still cut into NY in the northern part of the state. We'll let you know. And hopefully this route will keep us alive!
We continued through some of Canada's "First Nation" territory--that's what they call their indigenous folks! And I found the town of Missasauga--which reminded me of the Fraser Valley Elementary school singers who I accompanied on a crazy song about Missasauga rattlesnakes! I was thinking about that song for the rest of the day!
The other interesting thing we saw today was a couple of German women riding from east to west! They must have been in their 20's also, because the one in front was bringing a GOLDEN RETRIEVER along in a huge kennel! It was hilarious looking (and probably about 75 pounds of dog and kennel. The dog was completely relaxed and happy with his head hanging out on a pillow. The woman looked exhausted! Her friend also had a trailer filled to bursting with stuff. Makes me happy to have to do laundry every three days...
At about 60 miles, I was looking for a place to stop--either a campground or hotel! We did stop for a quick snack a picnic area and got to know some of the local mosquitos! From then on, I was looking for a motel.
We found one in Spanish--Vance's Motor Inn. We had some fantastic walleye for dinner and will chart our new course tomorrow!
The placemat at the restaurant had interesting tidbits of info and here's something I though was interesting about the USA from the Canadian perspective: and very fitting right around the 4th of July:
America's Glory: Whether or not Americans have big heads, or perhaps big hearts, is not really the issue at hand. Americans have a deep pride...but they also have fears. Their backs are strong from working long and hard. The truth is they sometimes forget their greatest strength comes from when they bend their knee to be thankful they are free. IF ever this trust is broken; then what they believe in doesn't exist.
I'm more thankful than ever that we are free in our country! How about you???
Today started with a lot more concern about our route. We realized that our first-hand experience and that of people we talked to is much better than the advice we got from non-cyclists. The motorcyclists were especially helpful because they have more of a clue what we're going through on the roads.
We had a wonderful breakfast and retrieved our bikes from the shed in order to pack--and got started a bit late. I'm happy to report that the situation on the road was much better without rain. We still had the tiny shoulder and gravel, but we felt better with less traffic and more visibility. So the first 20 miles or so was uneventful!
At Iron Bridge, we saw a couple of cyclists loaded with gear at a hotel. We stopped to ask them about their route. They were going from East to West Canada, and the one guy (Will) is riding to raise funds for MS--a great cause! It made me think of our several friends in CO who have MS! If this guy has his way, he will find the cause this summer! They gave us good scoop about the route. The thing I noticed about these two 20-something guys was the stuff they had. Both were on mountain bikes and both had little trailers with them. One of them had a guitar with him! He had metal signs all over his trailer, and who knows what heavy stuff inside! It was crazy (from a 45-year-old woman's standpoint). Oh, the passion and energy of youth! Will is from the Kingston area and invited us to stay at a hippie commune sheep farm if we make it down that way--and we certainly will if we do! That's a do-not-miss experience, and if everyone is as nice as Will, we would certainly have a wonderful time there.
We had lunch in Blind River at Olive's Pasta and Sub Shack. What nice folks! Good gyros too. Then we stopped at the Ontario Governmnet Information Service to talk with them about our route. They were wonderfully helpful and nice, and helped us plan a safer route for bicycles that hopefully goes through flatter terrain! So we're changing our course. We'll head south on Rt. 6 over to Manatoulin Island and then will take a ferry to Central Ontario. We'll go across that part of Ontario north of Toronto and hope to still cut into NY in the northern part of the state. We'll let you know. And hopefully this route will keep us alive!
We continued through some of Canada's "First Nation" territory--that's what they call their indigenous folks! And I found the town of Missasauga--which reminded me of the Fraser Valley Elementary school singers who I accompanied on a crazy song about Missasauga rattlesnakes! I was thinking about that song for the rest of the day!
The other interesting thing we saw today was a couple of German women riding from east to west! They must have been in their 20's also, because the one in front was bringing a GOLDEN RETRIEVER along in a huge kennel! It was hilarious looking (and probably about 75 pounds of dog and kennel. The dog was completely relaxed and happy with his head hanging out on a pillow. The woman looked exhausted! Her friend also had a trailer filled to bursting with stuff. Makes me happy to have to do laundry every three days...
At about 60 miles, I was looking for a place to stop--either a campground or hotel! We did stop for a quick snack a picnic area and got to know some of the local mosquitos! From then on, I was looking for a motel.
We found one in Spanish--Vance's Motor Inn. We had some fantastic walleye for dinner and will chart our new course tomorrow!
The placemat at the restaurant had interesting tidbits of info and here's something I though was interesting about the USA from the Canadian perspective: and very fitting right around the 4th of July:
America's Glory: Whether or not Americans have big heads, or perhaps big hearts, is not really the issue at hand. Americans have a deep pride...but they also have fears. Their backs are strong from working long and hard. The truth is they sometimes forget their greatest strength comes from when they bend their knee to be thankful they are free. IF ever this trust is broken; then what they believe in doesn't exist.
I'm more thankful than ever that we are free in our country! How about you???
The Trans-Canada Highway
Day 47: Sault Ste. Marie to Thessalon, ON--53 miles
The day started ominously--spurts of rain we could see fromour windows. And scratch what I said before about humidity because I was wrong. TODAY the humidity began--and it was at 100%! It was reminiscent of our days living on the East Coast in Pax River and DC. Yuck!
The air was actually hard to get through! So the riding was a bit more difficult, but at least we stayed dry for the first 10 km or so. Then the skies opened! We were DRENCHED within a few minutes! And although we were prepared for rain, we still were soaked.
The route we have chosen through Ontario is Rt. 17--the Trans-Canada Highway. When we asked about the route at the Sault Ste Marie visitor's center, we were told it had a pretty good shoulder all the way to Ottawa. LIES! I don't know what Canada was thinking, but this road is the ONLY option for traveling east-west, and there is no paved shoulder on much of it! To make matters worse, the shoulder that exists is one of deep gravel--not a cyclist's friend. We started with a 4-lane road and less than a foot of space outside the white line. This quickly deteriorated to a narrow 2-lane road with no shoulder from all. And the final blow is that locals tell us this road will not get better. So our plan to spend 500 miles on it doesn't seem very prudent!
With the rain, it was a pretty terrifying experience. Visibility was not good; vehicles were coating us with road sludge at every passing; and people weren't slowing down a lot when they passed, although they did try to move over when they could. I spent a good part of the day thinking about death as it appeared to be imminent! No major profound thoughts on that subject came together, but I'll let you know... We'll try to find alternative routes as soon as there are some available.
Last night, we watched the prologue of Le Tour de France, which was happening in London this year! It was a time trial and was very exciting. Stage 1 was today and the cyclists were going about 125 miles from London to Canterbury. We checked it out before we left the hotel, and they were AVERAGING 26 mph over the entire route! That is SO fast! If you want to check it out, try the OLN network. It carries the entire Tour and is very interesting. These guys are SO strong!
We did NOT match the Tour riders during our morning--in fact did worse than usual. The rain makes you cold and creaky, and it's hard to get into the groove of riding. We stopped at the Bavarian Inn in Bruce Mine, which gave me a chance to change shirts and warm up. They were also having an art show, which was fun to see--lots of Canada-inspired oil and watercolor paintings as well as some fabric art. Nice! We came away without anything else to pack onto our bikes (whew!) and tried to finish the last 12 miles of our ride into Thessalon.
Once we got started, we had a big headwind! How did that happen? Canada was throwing everything at us in one day! Luckily the rain had ended, so we fought our way over short hill after short hill. We weren't sure which was worse--the rainstorm or the windstorm, but the traffic made it all nearly unbearable!
Once we made it to Thessalon, we stopped at teh Carolyn Beach Inn. Turns out they weren't completely friendly or helpful (no guest laundry, etc.). And they didn't want us to take the bikes into the room--a problem for David because it's very difficult for him to remove his panniers. We thought we might go into town and see if there was another hotel there, but guess what! Carolyn is the only game in town! So we sucked it up and decided to be happy we had a place to stay at all. It turned out to be a lovely spot on a gorgeous part of Lake Huron's North Channel. The food was fantastic (although very expensive) and the owners turned out OK after all! Our next door neighbors were a group of motorcyclists who were a wealth of information about Canada's roadways! They were such nice people, and they really helped us figure out some alternatives to the sure death we had originally planned for.
We "discussed" our alternative plans for awhile before bed and didn't come to any conclusions. I insisted on being positive--thinking that the rain and Sunday traffic had a big part to play in our impression of the highway. David was equally sure that we needed to change our plans. We called a truce until after one more day of riding--to make a more informed decision.
We had the biggest thunderstorm that night, with lightning everywhere! I was so glad we stayed at the hotel!
The day started ominously--spurts of rain we could see fromour windows. And scratch what I said before about humidity because I was wrong. TODAY the humidity began--and it was at 100%! It was reminiscent of our days living on the East Coast in Pax River and DC. Yuck!
The air was actually hard to get through! So the riding was a bit more difficult, but at least we stayed dry for the first 10 km or so. Then the skies opened! We were DRENCHED within a few minutes! And although we were prepared for rain, we still were soaked.
The route we have chosen through Ontario is Rt. 17--the Trans-Canada Highway. When we asked about the route at the Sault Ste Marie visitor's center, we were told it had a pretty good shoulder all the way to Ottawa. LIES! I don't know what Canada was thinking, but this road is the ONLY option for traveling east-west, and there is no paved shoulder on much of it! To make matters worse, the shoulder that exists is one of deep gravel--not a cyclist's friend. We started with a 4-lane road and less than a foot of space outside the white line. This quickly deteriorated to a narrow 2-lane road with no shoulder from all. And the final blow is that locals tell us this road will not get better. So our plan to spend 500 miles on it doesn't seem very prudent!
With the rain, it was a pretty terrifying experience. Visibility was not good; vehicles were coating us with road sludge at every passing; and people weren't slowing down a lot when they passed, although they did try to move over when they could. I spent a good part of the day thinking about death as it appeared to be imminent! No major profound thoughts on that subject came together, but I'll let you know... We'll try to find alternative routes as soon as there are some available.
Last night, we watched the prologue of Le Tour de France, which was happening in London this year! It was a time trial and was very exciting. Stage 1 was today and the cyclists were going about 125 miles from London to Canterbury. We checked it out before we left the hotel, and they were AVERAGING 26 mph over the entire route! That is SO fast! If you want to check it out, try the OLN network. It carries the entire Tour and is very interesting. These guys are SO strong!
We did NOT match the Tour riders during our morning--in fact did worse than usual. The rain makes you cold and creaky, and it's hard to get into the groove of riding. We stopped at the Bavarian Inn in Bruce Mine, which gave me a chance to change shirts and warm up. They were also having an art show, which was fun to see--lots of Canada-inspired oil and watercolor paintings as well as some fabric art. Nice! We came away without anything else to pack onto our bikes (whew!) and tried to finish the last 12 miles of our ride into Thessalon.
Once we got started, we had a big headwind! How did that happen? Canada was throwing everything at us in one day! Luckily the rain had ended, so we fought our way over short hill after short hill. We weren't sure which was worse--the rainstorm or the windstorm, but the traffic made it all nearly unbearable!
Once we made it to Thessalon, we stopped at teh Carolyn Beach Inn. Turns out they weren't completely friendly or helpful (no guest laundry, etc.). And they didn't want us to take the bikes into the room--a problem for David because it's very difficult for him to remove his panniers. We thought we might go into town and see if there was another hotel there, but guess what! Carolyn is the only game in town! So we sucked it up and decided to be happy we had a place to stay at all. It turned out to be a lovely spot on a gorgeous part of Lake Huron's North Channel. The food was fantastic (although very expensive) and the owners turned out OK after all! Our next door neighbors were a group of motorcyclists who were a wealth of information about Canada's roadways! They were such nice people, and they really helped us figure out some alternatives to the sure death we had originally planned for.
We "discussed" our alternative plans for awhile before bed and didn't come to any conclusions. I insisted on being positive--thinking that the rain and Sunday traffic had a big part to play in our impression of the highway. David was equally sure that we needed to change our plans. We called a truce until after one more day of riding--to make a more informed decision.
We had the biggest thunderstorm that night, with lightning everywhere! I was so glad we stayed at the hotel!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
We've Gone International!
Day 46: Newberry, MI to Sault Ste. Marie, ON--70 miles
Milestone: 2,500 miles today! Wow!
We had been worried about these last 2 days in the U.P. because it promised to be a green wilderness similar to our experience in Minnesota. But our fears were for naught--there were populated areas all along this ride and places to stop every 10-15 miles. We were very happy to see that!
Unlike most days, this one did NOT start with a hill. It was flat for the most part and we had several stretches where you could see the road ahead for about 5 miles--it was so straight and flat. There was not much wind at all, and we were thankful taht we didn't have to fight any wind tunnels down those straight roads.
We crossed a lot of creeks and rivers during the 4 hours we were on the bikes in the USA, and saw plenty of small ponds and lakes. It was a really fun day of riding--just like our other days in the U.P.!
We turned north toward Sault Ste. Marie, MI and found our first real wind of the day--a crosswind to fight for 9 miles. It wasn't too bad, and we made it almost to the international crossing. But we wanted to explore the town on the USA side, so we headed into the historic downtown area. We checked out the Soo Locks, which can accommodate HUGE ships! We actually saw a couple of ships go through, and it was really neat to see them angle themselves into the lock. We stopped at the Lock View Restaurant (lots of tourist stuff about those locks) and had a nice, fresh whitefish lunch. The Lake Superior whitefish is awesome and I wish we could get it at home (Colorado is kind of a fish desert).
Sault Ste. Marie was a neat little town on the USA side, and is a much bigger city on the Canada side, so we decided to go for it before the afternoon ended. We headed to the International Bridge, which is a toll bridge that is about 3 miles long and connects the two countries. We paid one car toll, and I got to ride over the car counter but David had to take his bike around (so we didn't mess up the count). The bridge had NO pedestrian or bike lane, so we were a little concerned about making that 3 miles with two hills in it in traffic. Luckily, the side going into Canada was not crowded! We only had to stop once to let a big RV go by--there just wasn't enough room for both of us on the bridge.
The other side of the road, however, was a mess! The bridge into the USA was backed up at least 2 1/2 miles of the 3-mile bridge (lucky for us--they broke the cross-wind we would have had to deal with otherwise). The wait was probably about 2 hours. People had their windows open and their cars turned off. We felt lucky to be going the other way! It seemed a bit ridiculous for them to be so slow on the USA side when we waited only about 30 seconds to get into Canada. After a few questions and not even a glance at our passports, we were off to the Canadian welcome center! This was a good lesson for us--we will plan our re-entry into the USA for a mid-week day to avoid some of the wait.
Once we were in Sault Ste. Marie in Canada, we checked into a Days Inn and checked out the town. Unfortunately for us, all the shops close up at about 4 p.m. and so we just got to window shop. Actually, that was a lucky 7/7/7 break, because everything here is MUCH more expensive than home. The Canadian dollar is about par with the American dollar (thanks, current administration), and so we paid $11 for a beer and a glass of wine; $18.50 for movie tickets; and a LOT for dinner. The money here is pretty cool. It is all the same size like US dollars, but they have different colors for the different money. A $20 is green; a $5 is blue, etc. And they have NO $1 or $2 bills--they use all coins for that. Interesting throw-back to our failed attempt to adopt Sacagawea dollars, eh? They have made it work here.
We had a good dinner with VEGGIES at the Quality Inn's restaurant! And then we went to see "License to Wed" which opened yesterday. It was OK--not Robin Williams' best effort, but fun and we didn't fall asleep.
Kenny, we did find some good beer, but it took two pubs to do it! The first one had only Bud on tap--and no dark beers at all. The second one (after dinner and the movie) had several darker beers on tap--so all is not lost! David has already had one Molson!
Dinner, a movie, and some blogging--a good first day in Canada! We'll see how it goes for finding computers for the next 10 days or so. We have a lot of territory to cover here in Canada, and can't wait to see it!
Milestone: 2,500 miles today! Wow!
We had been worried about these last 2 days in the U.P. because it promised to be a green wilderness similar to our experience in Minnesota. But our fears were for naught--there were populated areas all along this ride and places to stop every 10-15 miles. We were very happy to see that!
Unlike most days, this one did NOT start with a hill. It was flat for the most part and we had several stretches where you could see the road ahead for about 5 miles--it was so straight and flat. There was not much wind at all, and we were thankful taht we didn't have to fight any wind tunnels down those straight roads.
We crossed a lot of creeks and rivers during the 4 hours we were on the bikes in the USA, and saw plenty of small ponds and lakes. It was a really fun day of riding--just like our other days in the U.P.!
We turned north toward Sault Ste. Marie, MI and found our first real wind of the day--a crosswind to fight for 9 miles. It wasn't too bad, and we made it almost to the international crossing. But we wanted to explore the town on the USA side, so we headed into the historic downtown area. We checked out the Soo Locks, which can accommodate HUGE ships! We actually saw a couple of ships go through, and it was really neat to see them angle themselves into the lock. We stopped at the Lock View Restaurant (lots of tourist stuff about those locks) and had a nice, fresh whitefish lunch. The Lake Superior whitefish is awesome and I wish we could get it at home (Colorado is kind of a fish desert).
Sault Ste. Marie was a neat little town on the USA side, and is a much bigger city on the Canada side, so we decided to go for it before the afternoon ended. We headed to the International Bridge, which is a toll bridge that is about 3 miles long and connects the two countries. We paid one car toll, and I got to ride over the car counter but David had to take his bike around (so we didn't mess up the count). The bridge had NO pedestrian or bike lane, so we were a little concerned about making that 3 miles with two hills in it in traffic. Luckily, the side going into Canada was not crowded! We only had to stop once to let a big RV go by--there just wasn't enough room for both of us on the bridge.
The other side of the road, however, was a mess! The bridge into the USA was backed up at least 2 1/2 miles of the 3-mile bridge (lucky for us--they broke the cross-wind we would have had to deal with otherwise). The wait was probably about 2 hours. People had their windows open and their cars turned off. We felt lucky to be going the other way! It seemed a bit ridiculous for them to be so slow on the USA side when we waited only about 30 seconds to get into Canada. After a few questions and not even a glance at our passports, we were off to the Canadian welcome center! This was a good lesson for us--we will plan our re-entry into the USA for a mid-week day to avoid some of the wait.
Once we were in Sault Ste. Marie in Canada, we checked into a Days Inn and checked out the town. Unfortunately for us, all the shops close up at about 4 p.m. and so we just got to window shop. Actually, that was a lucky 7/7/7 break, because everything here is MUCH more expensive than home. The Canadian dollar is about par with the American dollar (thanks, current administration), and so we paid $11 for a beer and a glass of wine; $18.50 for movie tickets; and a LOT for dinner. The money here is pretty cool. It is all the same size like US dollars, but they have different colors for the different money. A $20 is green; a $5 is blue, etc. And they have NO $1 or $2 bills--they use all coins for that. Interesting throw-back to our failed attempt to adopt Sacagawea dollars, eh? They have made it work here.
We had a good dinner with VEGGIES at the Quality Inn's restaurant! And then we went to see "License to Wed" which opened yesterday. It was OK--not Robin Williams' best effort, but fun and we didn't fall asleep.
Kenny, we did find some good beer, but it took two pubs to do it! The first one had only Bud on tap--and no dark beers at all. The second one (after dinner and the movie) had several darker beers on tap--so all is not lost! David has already had one Molson!
Dinner, a movie, and some blogging--a good first day in Canada! We'll see how it goes for finding computers for the next 10 days or so. We have a lot of territory to cover here in Canada, and can't wait to see it!
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