Day 60 Amqui, Quebec
Trois Pistole to Amqui
Distance: 158 km
August 22, 2006

Yay, finally we were blessed with the presence of Tailwig!
The almighty winds shifted direction at some point during the night and blew in an easterly direction.
It was so nice for a change to sail by other cyclists going in the other direction, this time with big grins on our faces!

Whereas a few days ago it took us over 30 minutes to do 10 km, today we did over 20km in half an hour, we were just flying along-what a glorious feeling to be able to travel at such speeds (up to 50km/hour on a flat,) it’s this kind of riding that makes all the bad days worth it.

The scenery in this part of Quebec is just amazing; the little villages that we go through seem to come from the impressionist era, with their little cozy houses and vibrant gardens bursting with flowers and greenery.
At one point we were following the ‘coast line’ and had spectacular views of the St. Lawrence river and the surrounding farm lands; Quebec seems to smell like blue cheese-I think it’s all the dairies and dairy farms, but there is a definite blue cheese aroma in the air.

Before we knew it we had done 60km in two hours, and to accompany this happy situation we happened across our favorite stop, Timmy H’s, where we found some others from our crew, happily sipping hot beverages and other sweet treats.
We left with our riding partners, the Aussies and had a fun rest of the day sailing across the Quebec landscape.

Unfortunately we missed some good restaurants earlier on, in hope that we’d find some later in the ride; we didn’t, but found a roadside stop where Lewis and I could not resist the poutine; the Aussies showed more restraint.
I was quite pleased with myself as I was able to sort of order ‘en Francais’ as the person was able to understand me; I am inspired to learn French upon my return!

In other news, we were hoping to get our driver Megan back at the last rest stop, where the 72 and 73 day groups overlap, but it was not to be.
The group is still really angry about it, as even though we like the new driver (driverMike) we can’t understand why they weren’t traded back, as each group wants their original driver back-we were told she was going to be given a rest, but it does not make any sense, as she is now working the same job, just driving another truck with the other group.
It seems senseless and mean spirited to us that each group is unhappy with the situation, as are the drivers, when the situation could be rectified very easily by just switching them back.