We also had the opportunity to visit Joyce's sister Joanne , and her husband Paul. They took us out for dinner on Sunday afternoon, and then we went to our niece Becky, who volunteered to drive us around. We meet her husband Scott, and one of her daughters. We then went to see my nephew, Ryan Steendam and his wife Liza, who also live in the area.
We then all headed to the Calvin College Arena for a celebration service were we got to parade our bikes for the crowd. It was kinda fun. Made us feel almost like Olympic athletes. 
Sunday night we had one more good sleep in civilized fashion, and then this morning we were up at 05:00 am as we had kitchen duties this morning, and breakfast was at 6:00. Today we all started out almost together, because they had another photo session and a prayer send off at 7:00.
The ride to Sleepy Hollow state park was fairly uneventful. Lots of trees, and some more corn fields, along with a few lakes. The road was narrow, but the traffic was fairly light.
We both completed the ride and John had our tent all set up for us in a very nice spot. The last ten miles or so were a bit uncomfortable, as the highway had very bad expansion cracks. Every bounce over them seemed to scramble my already scrambled brains. I was able to take a nap, as it is pretty cool here, and starting to rain again right now as we lay in our tents waiting for supper at 5:00. I think I will be ready for another day tomorrow. Hopefully the highway gets smoother.
Tuesday was a fairly uneventful day. I think it started out with a light , but it did not last long. It was a long day, 85 miles, but we both made it to Imlay Christian school without incident. Oh yeah. I did have two flats. I started the day with a slow leak, very slow as thee tires are very small. I pumped it up again about half ways, and then about 1.5 miles later it was flat. We found a small wire and a piece of glass I'm the tire, replaced the tube and away we went. We went about 15 miles and again I pumped it up to the right pressure. I went a couple of miles and it was flat again. We picked a bunch of stuff out of e tire, but could not find the cause. But it is still holding air now so I guess we did find the problem.
Today we left Imlay, and within about 5 miles we found a place to hid from the passing thunderstorm. We then left in the rain but it stopped pretty quick. We did get wet, but not too bad. We all crossed the st Claire river together by ferry. It was pretty cool, the customs was pretty easy on us. 
The kitchen truck looks bigger then the ferry.
We had a nice greeting at the border by many people lining the streets and cheering us on. Then they provided us with lots of fresh cookies and watermelon and Tim hortons coffee. We then had another 25 miles to go to the Sarnia Christian high school where the three CRC's put on a great supper for us.
Then we went to bed in our tent, even though we could stay in the school, as it was threatening to be a severe thunder storm . It is raining now, but not bad.
Hopefully it iIts dry tomorrow. Good night.
We did get some rain, but it was actually a very gentle rain and then the wind picked up a bit and by morning our tent was already dry. To bad for all those who packed up there tent and slept inside. I think I had my best sleep so far on the ride.
The next day was from Sarnia to London. It was a fairly long ride. 69 miles give or take a few. We saw a lot of picture perfect farms, Neat as a pin, and no mud anywhere. The crops were also very good. Te corn is a bit shorter then in the Midwest, but still very nice. We were on a bike trail through a park for about 25 miles, along the Thames River. At the start ofmthentrail we stopped to use the washroom, and when we came out a nice couple stopped there car to ask us where we were from. Mr. And Mrs. Postma then asked if we knew the Douma's. We did of course as they are my uncles, and they went on to tell us that they were friends of Uncle Bill and Aunt Elsie. We took there picture because we knew we would forget there names. They also told us that they had met another couple from Winnipeg, and the young lady had fallen and scraped her arm. That is how we found out that Bonita had fallen and hurt herself. She is tougher then me though, because she just got back on her bike and rode to the next campsite.
It was a nice ride to the London District Christian High School. We had a quick cold shower and then we met up with a former partner of mine, Larry Bailey. We worked together in District Three of the Winnipeg Police Service. He took us out for dinner and then we had a glass or two of wine at his place with his wife, catching up on the last ten years or so that he has been out here. It was a nice change to get away from the community living just for a couple of hours. It was also nice to ride around the country in that modern invention called a car. It is amazing how far you can go in 30 minutes. Larry then brought us back so he would not have to get up at 0430 in the morning. We had another very good Sleep in our tent.
The next day was from London to Woodland Christian High school in Breslau, Ont. We did not have any bike trails, but a lot of nice two lane roads through some very beautiful farm country. Some of the roads were very busy, and I prefer the American drivers over the Canadians. Theynseem to have more respect for cyclist and share the road much better. Some of the roads were quite narrow, busy, and no paved shoulder at all. After a total of around 75 miles, you tend to be a bit exhausted. Joyce was anyway, and had a nap even before her shower.
We had a good sleep in the tent and then ready for a n easy day of only 43 miles to Redemmer University in Ancaster. Ont. We did backtrack about 9 miles, so that's is a bit disappointing for us who would not mind taking the shortest way someday.
After the first 10 miles the Maranatha, CRC put out some great baking and coffee, and fruit for us to snack on. It is pretty hard to go hungry around here.
Here is a field of cabbage, being picked and beside it was a field of pumpkins. This was on Field road, on the way to Ancaster.
Here we crossed a major freeway again. I think it was the 403.
This is our room at Redemmer University. It is very nice. And a nice break to have a hot shower, and almost your own bathroom.
Have followed you two from LA. Sitting here in Florida and reading your great blog each morning. What a trip you are having !!! My hat is off to your effort. On to Montreal....
ReplyDelete