Sandi and Lewis' ride across Canada

Day 56 Quebec City (Rest Day) Pointe-Du-Lac to Quebec City Distance: 145 km August 18, 2006 After closer inspection of the questionable bunks in the dorms, we decided to sleep in our wee tent on the beach; it was a beautiful night, with a sky jammed with twinkly-stars. At approximately 4:00 a.m, which must be the witching hour for skunks, Lewis and I woke up to the overwhelming stench of the wretched creature once again-this time we had left our ‘fly’ cover off the tent, leaving us more exposed to the elements, skunks included. We both lay there dead-still hoping not to anger the stinky bugger in any way, so that we would not have to suffer the same fate that the Aussies did. After what seemed like an eternity, the fetid bouquet dissipated, and we could breathe once again-my heart was racing though, as I was terrified it had given our bare tent a wee squirt of the dreadful goo just for good measure. Today’s ride was one of my favorite so far; the scenery in Quebec keeps getting better,...

Day 55 Pointe-Du-Lac, Quebec Mont St-Hillaire to Pointe-Du-Lac Distance: 130 km August 17, 2006 In more Aussie news they not only had to chuck out their beloved tent, but their pillows and then their air mattresses as well, making last night’s sleep very uncomfortable for them, on the cold hard inhospitable ground. Luckily tonight we’re staying at a camp where we are sleeping in dorms so they are spared having to sleep on the hard floor again, until we reach Quebec City tomorrow where they can purchase new, skunk-scent-free bedding. Our ride today was very pretty, the Quebec countryside is quite beautiful with its rolling terrain and little farms. We rode with ‘the fun people’ today, who ride at a more relaxed and enjoyable pace, and actually do take the time to smell the proverbial roses along the way. Mercury must be in retrograde again as four people got flat tires today, slowing the ride down even more which was fine, as we no longer feel the urge to race into camp; it seems that t...

Day 54 Mont St-Hillaire, Quebec Hudson to Mont St-Hillaire Distance: 120 km August 16, 2006 Breaking news-a skunk felled the mighty Aussie Taj! This morning at approximately 4:00am the little, furry, black and white creature was nosing around their tent, when Peter, thinking whatever it was that was scratching and poking around could be discouraged by a solid ‘whack’, was unpleasantly surprised when the beast retaliated by spilling the nasty, oily contents of it’s smelly little stink-sack all over the Kookaburra Lodge. Following the nasty spillage from the wicked creature, the contents of the Kookaburra Lodge came tumbling out of the tent, coughing, splattering, and gasping for air. Poor Carol-Anne was retching and vomiting from the foul stench. Since their tent had been sprayed, all the contents of the tent were tainted by the fetid stench; they could not return to sleep, so got up for a cup of tea to ponder their stinky predicament. In the meantime, the brazen skunk returned for more...

Day 53 Hudson Ottawa to Hudson, Quebec Distance: 164 km August 15, 2006 This morning we all met at the Parliament buildings at 8:15 to have our pictures taken; as usual Lewis and I were the last to leave Carlton, and scrambled to catch up with everyone else so we could also be immortalized with the rest of the TDC in front of our nation’s government HQ. One of the riders works for National Capital Commission, and organized for us to visit his work around the corner from the Parliament Buildings and have coffee and donuts with the NCC team; they had very kindly put a package together for us, which included maps of Ottawa as well as information about what was happening around town-this was very useful as usually we have no clue what is happening and end up wandering around whatever town, aimlessly hoping to figure out what is going on-and usually don’t, so end up doing laundry and hanging about in internet cafes on our rest days. The NCC presented us with pins in the shape of the maple l...