BikerAl Across America 2018

We got up at 5:30 and were out the door and on our bikes by 6:01 this morning to try to beat the heat.  Was still hot by the time we got home at 8:30.  My clothes were totally soaked as if I had been hosed down.  Couldn’t believe it.

Later this afternoon we got a thunderstorm.  Very little rain but some streaky lightning and thunder.  So glad not to be out on the road.

We all cleaned our bikes when we got home.  I spent the rest of the day hibernating inside and reading a book.  It was a couple degrees cooler than yesterday but that’s not saying much.

We plan to do the same tomorrow.

27.5 miles today.   2302.5 Total

Wow, what a warm day.  Canada is experiencing record high temps.  At 5:00, it was 103.2 degrees.  Unreal.  The heat almost takes your breath away.

Today is Canada Day, similar to our 4th of July celebrations.  Ed and Willma wanted me to experience it so we braved the heat and went downtown for four hours.  We walked across the Alexander bridge which is close to a km long to check out a museum shortly after 9 and it was already so hot, I tho’t I’d croak.  We stayed in the museum for over an hour where it was air conditioned and all the while, all I could think about was how hot it was going to be walking back over that bridge.  But by the time we did, a breeze had come up and there was a light cloud cover.  So much cooler ( and that is relative – it was not cool).

While in the museum, a small group of kids, probably ages 8 – 13, played their violins with what looked like their teacher.  No music and, boy, were they good.  I was impressed.  Hope you can see them in this picture.

Willma was going to wear this outfit but the t-shirt would have been too hot so I had her model it when we got home so I could show how the Canadians get into their celebration.

Grass on neighboring lawns is all turning brown.  It is amazing how fast it has turned in the last few days.  The lawns look like fall.

I told Ed that if we ride tomorrow, we need to be on the road at sun up which is 5 am and home by 8.  He just glared at me.  By 9, it is getting unbearable.  We’ll see.

Woke up to cloudy skies and a forecast of thunderstorms today.  They didn’t predict that last nite.  So we changed our plans for today.  I was really nervous about riding out in the open with possible thunderstorms so we decided to ride the bike path along the river.  It was a good ride.

Rode on the Ottawa side then crossed the Ottawa River over to Quebec side.  A nice bike path all the way.

At one point, we came across these awesome rock sculptures that a guy has been doing for over 20 years.  He takes them down every fall and builds new and different ones each summer.  Hope you can see them in the pictures.

 

They were pretty cool.

It was very warm today.  Afternoon temps were in the high 90’s with horrendous humidity.  When we finished riding, we sat in the park in the shade and read.  However, Ed and Willma slept in their lawn chairs almost the entire time.  Kinda funny cause that’s what I usually do.

Came home to a nice air conditioned house.  It was miserable out in the sun.  I think this is worse than the Ill-Ind weather I rode in.  They have all kinds of heat advisories out for people.  Ed said this is really unusual to have this much heat and humidity for this long.  Predicted for all next week.

31.1 miles today .  2275. Total

We had a great ride today.  Beautiful back country roads through an interesting agricultural area.

One of the first things that impressed me was a 10+ acre field of broccoli.  Holy cow, that was a lot of broccoli.  Can’t even imagine how many people it will take to harvest all that.  I tho’t it was planted a little close.  Only 15-18 inches apart and rows as close as they plant Corn.

Then down the road aways was a huge field, I’m guessing 50 acres or more, of rows upon rows of solar panels.   No way to really get a picture to show anything.

Later we passed fields of strawberries.  These were small fields, only a couple acres each, but still an awful lot of berries.  Signs said ‘pick your own’, and there were several people doing that but they didn’t begin to cover the field.  I love to harvest produce but picking strawberries is back breaking work.

We passed a couple roadside stands that sold only strawberries and we passed a farmer’sarket stand that operates on Sat.  Would have been nice to see that in operation.

We got home way before noon before the heat really hit.  Today was in the 90’s and it’s only supposed to get hotter the next couple days.  Ed turned on the air conditioning today because by mid afternoon, it was becoming unbearable.  Can’t wait for Sunday when they predict the temp and humidity should feel like 115 degrees.  Wow, that is hot.

33.7 miles today . 2243.9 total

Temps are on the rise as is the humidity.  Next seven days are going to be a massive heat wave with high humidity.  Not looking forward to that.

Ed and Willma swam this morn and I played Sudoku.  Too wet to ride.  Then we drove over to Quebec to get some Montreal bike route maps.  On the way we stopped at Hogback Falls.  Pretty little falls with a park next to it.

Made another stop on the way home, then spent the afternoon playing with maps and paying bills.  Not a very exciting day but we accomplished a lot.

Watched a funny movie tonite (One Fine Day) and got our laughs.  Ready to ride again tomorrow.  Hope we don’t melt.

This was a flower bed yesterday where we ate lunch.  All the beds were similar to this one.  Nice.

Today was a catch up day.  I did a lot of computer work while Ed and Willma went to the gym to swim.

They both said they were out of shape because we have biked so much.  Their routine is to bike every other day and swim the other days.  But we are all trying to get or keep in shape for the three day ride to Montreal.

I spent three hours today weeding for Ed and I have to say it looks pretty darn good.  I also cooked dinner tonite which I think went over well.

Supposed to have been a rainy day but so far we’ve only had a few sprinkles.  Dumb weathermen.  Can’t believe amything they say.

In my spare time I have been reading.  Nice to sit and relax a bit.

Ed and Willma live at the end of a cul de sac.  It is amazing to me how many cars come down here and do the circle back out.  Lost or nosy?  But for the most part it is really quiet and sitting out on the front porch is pleasant.  They really have a nice neighborhood.

 

Just found out today I have been spelling Iroquois wrong.  This is the correct spelling.

Great ride today on more of the waterfront trail.  Really nice road conditions and nice scenery.  Ed is a fount of info, too.  He knows the history of this area and can answer any question.  I am totally amazed daily.

We camped last nite and rode out of Iroquois early.  Got back about 1:00 and broke camp.  Really nice campground but we must have had five trains go by early this morning.  Never heard so much racket.

Stopped at a museum type place and saw another wine sign.  I am a sucker for those.   It read “Wine.  No good story ever started with a salad.”  I loved it.

Rode through a historic section of Morrisburg and saw some really old brick houses.  Some were quite large and most were really beautiful.  Willma said she has always dreamed of getting one of those and fixing it up.  That would be a lot of work.

47.2 miles today.   2210.2 total

 

Yes, we are still riding all around Ontario.  So impressed that Ed knows so much about trails and roads around here.  A great ride except for the short city leg.  I avoid traffic when possible so I voiced my opinion that I really didn’t mind riding the bike trail back.

We rode the waterfront trail that I had been riding on since Burlington.  This eastern end of Ontario is so much nicer.  No going off into overgrown fields on gravel.  A delight to ride and so glad I got to do this part.

My little friends along the trail.  These were what I’d call teenage goslings.  Much bigger but still so cute.

Well,I guess the third pictire doesn’t want to be seen.  Can’t seem to upload it.  But these are pictures of buildings in a town that was to be inundated by water when they built the Seaway dam  near Cornwall.  This was to allow ocean going ships to go to the Great Lakes.  This all happened back in the 50’s.  Six towns were relocated and eight islands were formed.  To me this is disgusting.  All in the name of progress, yeah.  So if buildings weren’t relocated, they were buried under water.  Even the railroad was affected.

This town of Moulinette is now a historical museum of the buildings with the stuff inside from that time.  The church was particularly cool with the pews and organ just as it was.  And the schoolhouse with the desks, book shelves and piano.  Makes me mad that ‘progress’ displaced so many people.

We are camping tonite in Iroquois.  So fun to camp with Ed and Willma.  Brings back memories from the Odyssey days.  The wind is a little obnoxious but we have perfect temps and clear blue skies with a really nice grassy spot to pitch our tents.

40.2 miles today.   2163.0 total

I have seen many churches with this, what looks like, an aluminum steeple.  Locals say it is aluminum.  To me, it looks really strange but it is very common here.

No rain today so I spent another two hours weeding flower beds for the neighbor.  After lunch we took a tour of the Greeley (Ontario) subdivisions near Ed and Willma.  A nice ride through some high class neighborhoods.

Tomorrow we plan to drive a ways, camp and ride out and back.  We have, according to the weatherman, two really nice days forecasted.  Although, their forecast for today was totally off.  No rain.  That’s ok.

So we spent the latter afternoon preparing for our camping trip.  Should be fun.

16.8 miles today.  2122.8 total

This as a photo from yesterday.  It is a semi circle of headstones in someone’s side yard.  So Wierd.  Never saw anything like that before.

Today was supposed to rain so last nite we decided that we’d do something else today, which we did, but it never did rain.  Willma and I took in the huge, neighborhood garage sale.  Of course, I didn’t t buy anything but it’s always fun to look.

Then I volunteered to weed one of their neighbor’s patios.  They have been gone for a month and it really was in bad shape.  Took me three hours to do the job but it looks really good.  Willma did house chores while I did that.

Spent the afternoon grocery shopping and doing other errands.  Stopped at a nursery so Ed could find a replacement for a tree he took out.  Couldn’t resist checking out the garden shop.  Found a cool placemat that says, “Friends are welcome anytime, especially friends who bring wine.”  My Sunday nite ladies will appreciate that.  Yes, of course, I bought it.

Also, saw a plaque on the wall that said, “your mind is a garden,  your tho’ts are the seeds, you can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.”  Couldn’t carry that on my bike so didn’t buy it.  Maybe I can make one when I get home.

A good day.  Somewhat relaxing even though I keep yawning.