Wawa..wawawawawa Goose!

After a rough start for the day, things cleared up and voila! 91 km in 3.5 hrs. Whoohoo. It sure gives me a lift when I get a tailwind and smooth rolling tires. Oh, and my ass is fixed and good to go. Nice.

My day started at the backyard of the marathon Esso. At about 0500 my eyes snapped open to a lightning show mimicking the Israeli pounding of Lebanon. I hesitated for a few minutes as I tried to figure out what to do...stay in bed and call it a rain-day delay or pack up in a hurry. I put the last item in the panier when the first drops started to fall. So I spent the next hour huddled under the awning of the Esso while the rain pounded and the golfball sized hail fell. Phew.

So about 7 I headed out and the sun looked liked it was trying to burn thru the heavy wet overcast skies...to no avail. The rain started in earnest (the first in 27 days on the road!) and I had to fight another 5 km before a restaurant emerged out of the gloom and I took refuge. Soaked, I spent the next hour and a half talking to a trucker (vis-a-vis safety and bikers!!!) while I ate my eggs and tried to dry off. There was no way I was going to make Wawa after such a delay.

Then I blew a tire (pinch puncture after hitting a particularly large boulder on the shoulder) in White Lake. Another hour gone as I tried to replace the innertube with one I fixed yesterday... no good. Had to patch and reinstall innertube. Fuck encore! I will never make Wawa now...so keep an eye open for a fine ditch.

Then the wind came up and I was flying. Loving life again, and prepared to retract the consideration of stepping in front of the next truck. Made Wawa, just in time to see Cdn Tire close. Dammit, I need a new innertube and a patch kit.

So I left you in Maimi, Manitoba having showered and laundered; what heaven. I was moving toward Vita:

July 11 Miami-Vita, MB
Leaving Morris after email and pizza I continued eastward fighting headwinds again. I broke a peddle and then had it jury-rigged by a local mechanic at a small shop. Fought my way to St Malo and had to stop for an ice cream, where I talked to a mom and her two kids about overseas travel. Hmmm, too many large diamonds to truly believe she is ready to cut loose. From St Malo had to move due south, straight into the wind, to make my next leg. Decided to hitch-hike and found my way in the back of Glenn and Sylvia's Pickup. At Vita, Dianne at the local Coop gave me some bread and I perched some veggies and that gave me supper. Thanks Dianne. Went to the school yard and found shelter against impending T-storm warning.

July 12 Vita-Rainy River, Ont.
Only 163 km on this hot, hot day. Skipped thru the northeast corner of Minnesota, without hassle from the border guys. Shared bfst with Lori in Piney, MB...she opened the kitchen of the broken down hotel for me while she yakked about her kids and her impending studies. You go girl! Knowing that food portions are huge in America, decided to splurge on a SECOND meal and found a burger joint in Baudette, Minn., where Elmer sat and ate his ice cream sundae and yakked at me and then paid for my meal. Nice guy, Elmer. Less bald prairie down here and more timber and so easier biking as the routes are sheltered from the blasting wind.

July 13 Rainy River - Seine River, Ont (176 km)
Freeking hot day. Bfst with the regular 'boys' at Stratton, yakked about forestry (and the decline of forestry) with the ex-chief forester of Kimberly-Clarke (now turned Cdn border guard) George. Did all-you-can-eat in Pizza Hut for lunch at Fort Francis, found a lake in Mine Center for a dip and a cool-off. Camped in the ditch (for the first ditch of the trip) at Seine River. Lonely lonely lonely. Had some rain and lots of lightning. Dry by morning, but that did not put off the mosquitos. There was some dancing while I was packing the next morning.

July 14 Seine River- Shabaqua Corner, Ont.
Met highway 17 at Shabaqua corner after 207 km. It was cooler and there was a gentle tailwind to help progress. Crossed the watershed boundary where all water runs into Lake Superior and eastward. That is progress! That, and the change in timezones, too. Stopped in the mid-morning at Sapawe and bought the last meal served in the restaurant...she put the closed sign up for good after I entered. What an honour? Spent the night at the backyard of the Shabaqua Corner Can-of after a bowl of chili in the restaurant.

July 15 Shabaqua Corner- Nipigon (+25)
Made 194 km but not with out some pain. The HILLS start in Nipigon. The road is shit shit shit leaving Thunder Bay. The first 25 km after TB there are no shoulders and the road is severely broken; then the construction starts. I had to "find" a flag from the construction crew, a fluorescent orange flag on a stick, and attack it to the side of the bike to make the trucks give me room. Still, that did not guarantee my safety - no I got sideswiped once by a very near miss and I had one trucker attack me and force me into the gravel. Very very dangerous section, indeed. Had a great night on a high bluff over the Lake Superior - after a very very long, very very steep uphill climb/walk.

July 16 Nipigon (+25) - Marithon (157 km)
Hills and headwinds sufficient to kill the hearty. I counted ten, no twenty, no a hundred hills all over 7 percent climb, lasting one, no two, no fifty kilometers in ascent. I do not exaggerate! Found a great pullout picnics area at Rossport where I decided to take a bath and do my laundry. While naked (the clothes were drying) I decided to rotate tires (the rear tire is looking pretty bald and iffy), wouldn't you know it the park becomes Grand Central Station! Dogs, kids and whole families watching my bare, white, butt doing my mechanic stuff. Made it to Schreiber and found an all-you-can-eat buffet and loaded up on protein. Then off towards marathon where I whined and cried my way over the hills (all of em UP) where I blew my front tire just 3 km before town on the last climb. Argh! Turns out the valve-stem is a weak connection to the innertube and all the pumping action caused some friction and cutting. @##$$$%%^% to say the least. Put the new innertube in and made it to town. Found the marathon Esso (could not stomach the 4 km jaunt into town center) and shaved my head, shaved my face, ate a bag of chips and a pop. Then talked to Sonny (Sikh kid runs the joint) who gave me a coke, met three bikers all on BMW 1200 GS and fell into dreamscapes of motorcycling...

July 17 marathon- Wawa. (185 km)
Met a fellow at the diner in White Lake who is bicycling east with his dog in a kennel-trailer. Nutbar.
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So the plan has me moving south and eastward over the next three days. I will be turning south at Espanola where I will visit Manitoulin island. I will make my way towards Collingwood to look up Chris Shannon and further east to Wasaga Beach for a pause. Then it will be southward to Toronto where I will hook-up with a friend for a while.

I think maybe my trip will come to an end in Toronto. While my ass is better, why am I doing this again??