Day 32-Quetico Provincial Park
Taylor’s Cove, to Quetico, Ontario
Distance: 154 km
40 degrees measured on the road

We have all, since starting this tour, become quite adept at ‘cyclist tracking’; how far ahead the others are, how long ago they passed a certain point, and the like.
Naturally one needs clues in order to be able to ascertain this information, and in this case the telltale signs are fruit skins, specifically spent bananas.
Often riders will eat the fruit while still on the bike, and throw the peels onto the road; judging by the shade of the brown on the skin, and the general hydration of the skin, we can judge their position, and adjust our speed accordingly-I am starting to feel like a Great Cyclist Hunter.
I am not sure where these skills will take me once the tour is over, but for now, it has been of some use.

The ride today was a toughie, as the terrain was very hilly; as soon as we climbed one hill, there lay another one in wait, taunting us.
According to someone’s altimeter we climbed 850 meters today, and apparently this is just the warm up, as everyone we meet along the way keeps telling us with a gleeful glint in their eye that these hills are nothing compared to what we are about to come across near Wawa in a few days.
I can hardly wait.

The heat as well today was intense, and we only had two water/rest stops along the way, the first one at 28km, so that when we reached the tiny information stop at 110km, the poor woman running the place didn’t know what hit her, as all of us clambered into her store at some point during the ride, emptying her of all of her water stock (the tap water being undrinkable.)
She also had a map of Canada mounted on the wall, and we figured that we are now approximately half way!
Hard to believe that we have rode half way across the country, and that we still have half way to go.

In other drama news, Megan was lamenting last night about having to deal with adults who are behaving like children; she has been swathed in the naïve cocoon of her recent adolescence thinking that adults simply do not act this way; that once adulthood has been reached, pettiness, childish outbursts, name calling, insolence, petulance, and general silliness ceases to be a part of one’s personality.
How misled and wrong she is, as we are all, all of these things on the trip, and she is having to deal with 27 overgrown whiny, moaning children who all want their mommies, and unfortunately go looking for her in a 22 year old university student.
I don’t think this was in the job description, and had it been she would have run the other way screaming.
I am not sure what this trip is doing to all of us to reduce us to this immature state of emotional being, but we all feel like we are at summer camp to some degree.
It’s not bad though, as I mentioned before, as some of the drama breaks up the monotony of camp routine, and adds some excitement to the evenings.
I quite enjoy it as I have obviously had the television IV removed from my arm and don’t have my regular dose of late night drama to keep me going.

Who needs Survivor when we have the TDC group to watch and interact with?

We are back on galley duty tomorrow night; tomorrow’s ride is 174 km, plus we lose another hour once we reach Thunder Bay.
Since the galley crew is staying in the townhouse which has an oven, we have asked Meagan to buy pre-made lasagnas.
I can’t wait to hear the moaning from the group that we will not actually be cooking, and that we will be serving pasta once again-more drama!