Sandi and Lewis' ride across Canada

Day 45 Owen Sound Tobermory to Owen Sound Distance 131 km Day 46 Toronto (rest day) Owen Sound to Alliston Distance 160km Since we’ve had seven days of riding, people are tired and have been anxiously awaiting the rest day in Alliston, ourselves included. My folks are picking us up and will transport us back to civilization-we are really looking forward to seeing our family, and our cat, who probably doesn’t care whatsoever that we have been away, and will be visiting her (making a special trip as she is staying at Lewis’ cousin’s place.) Someone got to lookin’ at a map of our destinations and figured out a way to shave about 40km off the ride yesterday; the new proposed route kept people on the highway and prevented them from seeing the gorgeous scenery leaving Tobermory. I was tempted to take the short cut, but since we are bureaucratic masochists who must follow the rules in the pursuit of pain, we decided to take the regular route, and pulled into camp hours after everyone else, wh...

Day 44-Tobermory, Ontario Manitoulin Island to Tobermory (ferry crossing day) Distance: 44 km Temp: hot Since we caught the ferry to Tobermory, our riding day was much shorter than usual. We had to have all of our stuff on the truck by 7:00am, and be at the ferry dock by 8:40am, 35 km away, which wasn’t a problem (for some getting up early and having the stuff loaded was the problem, me included.) Turns out that last night after the horse-shoers packed in their rowdy game, a bunch of teens decided to take up what sounded to be a very violent and loud game of tag. We were all glad when one of them was wounded and started to cry, thus ending the game past 11pm. Since Hedwig has declared war on us of late (over more than a week of his unwelcome and unwanted company) we struggled and battled our way over the relatively short distance to the ferry. I am even more convinced of my earlier stated theory that Environment Canada runs a racket; they report that there are prevailing winds from the...

Day 43-Manitowaning, Ontario Massey to Manitowaning, Manitoulin Island Distance: 111 km Temp: 26 degrees Thankfully our galley crew breakfast was successful, both in reviews and in our compatibility-we were all pleasantly surprised and happy to begin the day without drama. BP and I seemed to have moved on from our last spat and have managed to find a common ground-I am very impressed with our grown-up behaviour and ability to get along. We started the ride on a country road, which although gravelly, was relatively traffic-free. After stopping at Tim’s for a tea we set out onto a much hillier and busier route; the first half of the ride again being terrifying due to the complete lack of shoulder, and aggressive holiday traffic. A couple of people pulled into camp in near tears due to the traffic, as one rider was very nearly hit in a similar situation that we faced yesterday with an overtaking car coming from the other direction. At dinner we have all been sitting around and plotting pl...