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!
1 comment:
Bears are cool to see -- sometime when you're in C-ville come for a ride up on Skyline Drive -- they're a pretty common sight!
Ken
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