London, Ontario
It is nice to be in Canada. It is much like I remember it being -- the beer is expensive, the people are nice, the money is in coin form, and ketchup potato chips are readily available.
Today was a nice day if you were not on a bicycle. I was thinking to myself through out the entire ride how nice it would be to be sitting on a patio, drinking a beer, doing nothing. But alas, there is still riding to be done.
Port Huron, Michigan is right on lake Huron which as it turns out is right next to Canada. We crossed into Canada almost immediately after exiting the hotel. Our group was escorted/paraded across the bridge in such a way that made us feel really important. Customs police closed down our side of the bridge to allow us to cross -- a step that was necessary considering the hazards that were intellegently build into the bridge to thwart all attempts at trans-national bicycle crossings. The customs process that we went through to get into Canada was a total joke -- they didn't even check ids. I guess they figure that we can only smuggle so much drugs/WMDs on a bicycle.
Ontario is flat. There was really nothing to do but talk and pedal. But fate was on my side this morning, I managed to find a girl to chat up while bicycling. I am not sure how it happened, but while we were passing through Sarnia a young lady on a blue bike simply started biking next to me. She said that she was very excited to see other bicyclist, and I told her how excited I was to see another cute girl. Apparently she is a high school math teacher who runs and bikes in biathalons. Unfortunately I forget her name -- I was told to look her up if I am ever passing through Sarnia again -- but I do remember that she probably teaches at St. Marys High School. We biked and talked for about 15 miles before she turned off to head to her final destination. It was a shame that she didn't want to bike to London, but we were told that there is a party going on in Sarnia if we can manage to get back there tonight.
The rest of the ride was pretty boring. I was super tired for most of the ride until I drank a Mountain Dew around the 60 mile mark. Dad biked with the mother-daughter duo that are doing this strech of the ride, Susan and Sierra. Apparently he is also quite popular with the ladies. He said that he rode with them for the enitre ride except for the last few miles at which point he took a short cut. I did not know there was a short cut, but Dad put it all together quite well and found out how to cut 8 miles off the ride. Though he did make it to London I think that he owes the people that donated to PIH a little bit of a refund, because as he said weeks ago, "people are paying me by the mile."
Now we are in London, a city that by my accounts is totally without charm. I am looking forward to the short ride that we have tomorrow -- I will find somthing new to moon.
Footnotes for July 29th:
Today was a nice day if you were not on a bicycle. I was thinking to myself through out the entire ride how nice it would be to be sitting on a patio, drinking a beer, doing nothing. But alas, there is still riding to be done.
Port Huron, Michigan is right on lake Huron which as it turns out is right next to Canada. We crossed into Canada almost immediately after exiting the hotel. Our group was escorted/paraded across the bridge in such a way that made us feel really important. Customs police closed down our side of the bridge to allow us to cross -- a step that was necessary considering the hazards that were intellegently build into the bridge to thwart all attempts at trans-national bicycle crossings. The customs process that we went through to get into Canada was a total joke -- they didn't even check ids. I guess they figure that we can only smuggle so much drugs/WMDs on a bicycle.
Ontario is flat. There was really nothing to do but talk and pedal. But fate was on my side this morning, I managed to find a girl to chat up while bicycling. I am not sure how it happened, but while we were passing through Sarnia a young lady on a blue bike simply started biking next to me. She said that she was very excited to see other bicyclist, and I told her how excited I was to see another cute girl. Apparently she is a high school math teacher who runs and bikes in biathalons. Unfortunately I forget her name -- I was told to look her up if I am ever passing through Sarnia again -- but I do remember that she probably teaches at St. Marys High School. We biked and talked for about 15 miles before she turned off to head to her final destination. It was a shame that she didn't want to bike to London, but we were told that there is a party going on in Sarnia if we can manage to get back there tonight.
The rest of the ride was pretty boring. I was super tired for most of the ride until I drank a Mountain Dew around the 60 mile mark. Dad biked with the mother-daughter duo that are doing this strech of the ride, Susan and Sierra. Apparently he is also quite popular with the ladies. He said that he rode with them for the enitre ride except for the last few miles at which point he took a short cut. I did not know there was a short cut, but Dad put it all together quite well and found out how to cut 8 miles off the ride. Though he did make it to London I think that he owes the people that donated to PIH a little bit of a refund, because as he said weeks ago, "people are paying me by the mile."
Now we are in London, a city that by my accounts is totally without charm. I am looking forward to the short ride that we have tomorrow -- I will find somthing new to moon.
Footnotes for July 29th:
- Opie grudginly tipped our dinner waitress $0.45 (Canadian). He said the service was sub-par and it goes against his principles to tip under those circumstances.
- I took a nap this afternoon and upon waking up I convinced dad and Brian to go to the Beerstore with me for a six pack of Keith's. I love that beer and you cannot get it in the states.
- 10 days to go. 9 days of biking left.
posted by Len Burman at 5:01 PM
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