BikerAl Across America 2018

I don’t know who named South Mountain but the area is flatter than a pancake.  Not a hill or even a rise in site for hundreds of miles.

These are two pictures from Machal Gardens yesterday.  Didn’t want you to think all the beds were like the rose bed.  He had a water feature, awesome, but my picture didn’t do it justice.  Also a bridge over a man made stream.  So many things.

The ride today was another awesome ride through the farmland of Ontario.  Basically flat roads with so many interesting things to see.

We stopped at Dundela which is the origin of the McIntosh apple 220 years ago. They had the McIntosh Park with a great billboard.

This apple was discovered by John McIntosh in this area and then he grew it and marketed it because it was so good.

As requested, a pictured of a stone house and stone church.  This one is for sale and so pretty.

We rode through more interesting rural areas today.  Stopped at a local farm that made and sold all their own cheese and yogurt.  I bought some parsley-garlic cheese. So good.

We rode down to the St. Lawrence River and had lunch.  I am amazed how clean this river is.  We plan to go down for a couple days and camp near the river and then ride out from there.  Ed and Willma really have a multitude of options for riding from their place, all on good county roads.  I am almost jealous.

Supposed to rain tomorrow so will take a day off from riding and do something else.

36.2 miles today     2106.0 miles total

 

 

Had a great ride today with Ed and Willma.  We drove a ways and then did a loop.  They have lived in this area for so long that they know every back road and highway and have ridden all of them.  We probably won’t duplicate a single ride while I’m here.

We stopped at two gardens that are on a garden tour list and, wow, were they neat.

The first one was done by Doug and called Machal Garden.  He planted it and takes care of it all by himself.  It is huge and has different ‘rooms’.  Not a weed in site and absolutely gorgeous.  I was impressed, as a gardener and landscaper.  And Doug is in his 80’s.  He bought the place in 1996 and planted trees that are now quite big.  The property was wild so he cleared it bit by bit and kept adding different beds.  So impressive.

This picture is one of his rose beds.

The second garden was called ‘Labor of Love’ and was just as impressive.  The couple bought this old house and grounds with no gardens 20 years ago and now it is a paradise.  It is just amazing the vision some people have and the energy to do all the work by themselves. Kaye gave us a tour and I was just in awe.

As we rode, we saw house after house built out of huge rocks.  Absolutely beautiful.  Ed and Willma used to live out in this area 40+ years ago so I got a history lesson as we rode along. And they knew everybody that lived in a lot of these old rock houses.  In fact, back in 1970, they bought an old rock house that had been burned out, and the farm, and refurbished it and lived in it for 15+ years.

I have dreams of my own of what I’d still like to do on my property but it takes so much time and I just never seem to find it.  I will not give up but I might need to have some help.

42.9 miles today.   2069.8 total

Ed and I got up early and did a short loop on our bikes while Willma and Gudron did a long walk.  It was good to get on the bike again.  Tomorrow’s ride is to be longer.

The book I told you about is called Untamed Spirit, around the world on a motorcycle by Doris Maron.  I have started her second book entitled Untamed Spirit II, living a dream.  I recommend both.

There are a couple quotes from her book that really hit home.  The first, “Thoughts are seeds that, if fed and watered, grow into realities”.  So true.

The second, “The moment one is committed, providence moves too.  Doors open where there were no doors before.  All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred.”  Also very true.

In her books, she experienced many of the same things I have experienced.  People are basically good wherever you go and there always seems to be an angel looking out for us solo adventurers.

And finally, in book two. She says,” We have the ability to accomplish whatever we set out to do if we can believe and trust that all things will come to us at the right time and in the right place.”  I couldn’t have said it better.

So at least I got on the bike today and it felt really good.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

23 miles today.  2026.9. Total

Another rest day.  Ed and Willma had some commitments today so we didn’t have time to ride.  Plus a cold front moved in last nite and it was pretty windy today, so an ok day to not ride.

We did take a good walk and I read a book so I was busy.

Tomorrow we plan to ride.

I found out from Willma the reason they picked me up yesterday instead of today was because they were worried about the weather forecast for today and didn’t want me to be out in the thunderstorms.  So tho’tful and today it did storm and rain.

So we did errands like the post office, pharmacy, train station to verify my ticket and worked on getting reservations for the nite before the train ride.  All stuff I needed to do and this was a good day for it.

Later this afternoon, we did take a walk but, boy, was it ever hot and muggy.  Got a storm soon after we got home.  Was glad I didn’t have to ride today.

Been eating nice healthy meals here instead of convenience store breakfasts and fast food dinners.  I have managed to lose 10 pounds even though my diet hasn’t been the best.

We’ve been playing dominoes and farkle so we haven’t been bored.  It’s nice to be able to do something besides just read.

Although, I am reading a book Ed’s cousin wrote about her solo adventure 17 years ago when she rode her motorcycle around the world by herself.  I could definitely relate to her feelings and experiences.  She was a lot gutsier than me.  First of all, I’d never go on a machine that needed gas.   And never go some of the places she went.  It’s a good read and I’ll post the name of the book and author tomorrow.

 

Another great day.  Left early as usual and got to the designated meeting point to meet Ed and Willma at 8 am.  Didn’t know it was such a short distance.  Called them and asked if I could ride further while it was cool so met them in Cardinal.  So good to see them.  They are now 80 and don’t look a day over 60.  Don’t know how they do it except that they are super active.

Ed rode the next 15 miles with me north towards Ottawa while Willma drove.  We ate lunch in Heckston. Then Willma rode with me to S Gower and Ed drove.  By that time it was getting really hot, so we bagged it and drove to Ottawa.  I just wanted to hit the 2000 mile mark today and I did.

Just before Prescott, I entered a ‘town’ called Blue Church.  I was hopong there would be a blue church there and there was.  Hope you can read the sign.  Pretty cool.

The ride today was very enjoyable and now I hope to spend a few days with my very favorite Odyssey friends, Ed and Willma.  We rode together a lot that year and shared many, many experiences together.

We are catching up, doing laundry, and waiting for the arrival of another Odyssey person, Gudrun.

42.8 miles today.   2003.9 miles total.  Yeehah!!!!

Another great day.  Started getting warmer about noon.  It has been so pleasant temp wise.  I’ve been wearing a jacket in the mornings the last few days.  Perfect for me.

Am camping in a city park on the St Lawrence River.  Really a nice park and close enough to town that I could walk for food.

When I got back from town, seven other cyclists were camped near me.  They are the same group I saw back in Darlington.  In talking to one of them, they echoed my same sentiments about lack of signage on the trail and the difficulty of finding campgrounds.  So it’s not just me.

Kingston and Brockville both have some neat old churches and other buildings.

Saw a family of raccoons cross the road in front of me today.  Kinda cute but they are an obnoxious animal.  Always getting into stuff they shouldn’t.

That’s it for today.

54.7 miles today.  1961.1 total

What a glorious day for the most part.  Left at 6 am and rode the highway until I got on the roads suggested by the bike shop yesterday.  No traffic, very rural and pretty.  Cruised at a nice speed with very little to worry about.  Good roads.  I was in heaven.

It wasn’t until near the end when I came upon construction that things got dicey.  There was a flagman and pilot car.  No biggy except they were both jerks.  The flag lady was so engrossed in her conversation with another employee by walkie talkie and I feel she really wasn’t in tune with her job.  I told her to make sure the flag person on the other end knew I’d be way behind the cars.  The pilot driver drove like a maniac, so of course, the cars followed and I was left in the dust.  I was riding as fast as I could but to no avail.

So when I am almost to the end, the pilot car is coming at me.  The construction people were tearing up the pavement so there was only one lane available.  As the pilot car was just about in front of me, there was a large hole of loose gravel right in front of me that I had to avoid so I put my hand up and pulled right in front of him.  He stopped to let me by, but boy was I mad.  I was only a minute from the end and when I got there, I let the flag person know I wasn’t happy. One more minute would have made a big difference.  I was on the edge of tears.  Stupid people.

Soon after that, I came across a family of Canada geese.  Mom, dad, and four fair sized goslings.  So cute, but they were trying to cross the road.  They managed to get across, but then decided to cross back.  Four lane traffic and a stop light.  That saved them.  We also had a train crossing to wait for so I ran back to get a picture and while traffic was stopped, I tried to herd them across safely.  The goose in the back, I’m gonna say the dad, was very upset with me.  He hissed and I tho’t he might come after me.  To no avail but I think they made it.  Silly geese.  Don’t know what they were thinking.  Hope you can see the little guys in my photo.

They are just to the right of the pole.  So cute.  For those of you who don’t know, I used to have a pet goose so am really partial to the little guys.

I am really tired tonite.  A long but great day.  However, my knee complained today for the first time in a couple weeks.  Nothing is ever perfect.

67.2 miles today .  1906.4 total

 

I am so sorry some of you worried about me but often times campgrounds are out in the boonies which was the case the last three nites.  There is nothing I can do without internet.  Please don’t worry about me.  Consider no news, good news.  Once I get into northern Quebec, you may not hear from me for days.

Last nite was the noisiest yet of campgrounds.  Between 7 and 9, there was a constant stream of airplanes.  I’m assuming they were taking off from Toronto.  On top of that, trains every 10 minutes and I could still hear cars on the highway.  Had a hard time falling asleep.

My tent was fairly dry this morning except for the ground cloth.  It was a muddy mess.  The rain fly had a few drops on top but the rest was dry.  I was glad because there is nothing worse than rolling up a wet tent and having to carry the extra weight.

So today is the beginning of riding in more of a straight line from point A to point B.  No more riding 50 miles to go 30.  If that means I ride the highway, then the highway it is.  I always check with locals about the amount of traffic and shoulder conditions.  I want to make progress, not ride in circles.

I could have gone further today if I had not stopped for a couple hours to catch up on blogs. I knew some of you were concerned.

Bummer today was my cyclometer died.  Poor thing has been drenched so many times, it just gave up.  It was squirting water out this morn so guess I’ll have to take it off every night or at least cover it.  As I was cruising through town on the way to a motel, ( yeah, the nearest campground is another half days ride.  I’m not riding that far out of my way just to camp), I spotted a bike shop.  I was going to ask if one was in this town.  So I stopped and got a new cyclometer.  Yeah!

Need to take a nap.  Later

42.0 miles today. 1839.2 total

Not a planned rest day but woke up at 5:30 to sprinkles.  Quick ran to the bathroom and soon after I returned, the skies opened up.  I went back to sleep twice during the 4 hour rain storm.  Oh, my gosh, it rained hard.  When I finally crawled out about 10, puddles were everywhere.  Of course, everything was soaked.

I checked with the campground office and more rain was expected with severe storms possible in the afternoon.  Fine, we stayed another day.

I did laundry and read a book in their office area all day.  They had a real nice seating area with tons of books from which to choose.  No need to battle the weather.  The original forecast was for the rain and storm to arrive late afternoon.  Guess it couldn’t wait.

I went to my tent around 4 and about 5, it got so dark, so fast, I couldn’t see to read.  I heard thunder and tho’t I’d better go back to the office.  The severe warning was for 60 mile an HR winds with possible quarter size hail.  I just couldn’t see myself in a tent in those conditions.  Call me woosy. Turned out all we got was more heavy rain.