Week Eight

We just finished a wonderful breakfast at Redeemer University in Ancaster ON, croissants, pastries, bacon, eggs, home fries, cereal and porridge and a selection of juices coffee and milk.  Now to Meadowlands Fellowship church who are going to feed us dinner.  Eat, Sleep, Bike, would be the name of the book written about my summer.

We had a celebration service at Redeemer, it's wonderful to have everyone cheering, clapping and feeling good about what we are doing.

After the  celebration service we met Dr. And Mrs Postma, former Winnipeggers and Mr and Mrs Templeman - Mr Templeman's family immigrated from Holland The same as time Harv's dad's family.

On Monday we cycled from Ancaster ON to Ajax ON, I worried about the traffic but it wasn't bad. We had some nice trails along the Lake Ontario shore.  We had coffee, dainties and fruit at  church, there were bananas from the churches of Toronto at the bridge crossing the River and drumstick ice cream cones in the Park by Lake Ontario. Monday night we stayed at the Ajax Community Sports arena. We had warm showers and free swimming but no hose to connect to the kitchen trailer so the sweep team had to haul warm water by the bucket full to wash dishes and cold water for drinking, cooking and coffee.  The Blue Team had the misfortune of being on sweep duty - both Harv and I are on the blue sweep team, so it felt like doing the chores - carrying. 5 gallon pails of water.

Tuesday we biked from Ajax to Trenton, 83 miles.  The CRC churches of the area are feeding us well 13 miles in we stopped at Church for coffee, Tim Bits, fruit,and every kind of cake and cookies you could think of.  Then at the halfway mark there just happened to be another CRC church.  They also had sloppy Joe's and fruit, and lots of cake and cookies.    Then near the end, about another 30 miles or so, another CRC church treated us to some Dutch oly bolen, and ice cream, and lots of fruit, and cake and cookies, and candies.  This was a day when it turned out good to be a bit slow.   Many riders were soaked by a torrential thunderstorm.    We felt a few drops, and the road was freshly washed and clean, and still wet, but we did not get wet at all.  

On Wednesday we went from Trenton to Kingston Ontario we visited the Hope Fellowship CRC church.  They had refreshments, Tim Bits Fruit and a candy table.  The second church we stopped at was Grace CRC in Cobourg they had sloppy Joes, Deserts of all sorts and fresh fruit.  At night we arrived at Trenton Christian School and were treated to wonderful deserts after supper.  In addition to all this good food we get to see the Loyalist area of Canada, beautiful towns with flowers in gardens, the old fashioned store fronts and hanging baskets, and always a little,Britain shop of some sort.  

We took the Glenora ferry across a bay to complete our journey to Lake Ontario Park in Kingston

On Thursday we cycled from Kingston to Brockville, which is only 50 miles so we took the Thousand Island boat tour of the islands by Gananoque, islands with beautiful cottages and each one is fully serviced with electricity and phone.  The largest "cottage" was built by the owner of the Waldorf Astoria  Hotels.  It's a replica of a European Castle which he built for his wife but it was never lived in because she died before it was finished, now New York has finished and refurbished it for tourism. Our suppr was boerenkool stompot with homemade applesauce, made by Bethel CRC from Brockville, delicious!

When we got back from the boat ride someone had tied all our helmets together.

On Friday we cycled from Brockville to Cornwall ON we are staying at the NAV Center  and I am doing laundry - hopefully for the last time on this trip.  I felt strong today the ride was mostly a slight downhill and the wind is at our back,  we followed along the Long Sault Parkway for a time, a road that goes from island to island in the St Lawrence.  we were fed well again by the area CRCs, Hard boiled eggs and cinnamon buns for our first stop, cookies and candies at the second.  Our own SAG people did the third stop with watermelon and chips.  I'm sure I'm eating the 5000 calories a day they said we would, when I get home I'm sure I'll be able to stop biking cold turkey but I don't know about stopping eating every half hour.

Week Seven. Almost there

We had a nice stay at Calvin College.  The Dorms were very nice, roomy, and we only had to share a bathroom with one other couple.  If you don't have to stand in line for everything, that is a big star.

  

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.  

A very eventful week six

Week six, from Coralville Iowa to Grand Rapids Michigan turned out to be a very eventful week. Some of the events, I cannot remember and Joyce would like to forget.  

We started the week off very nicely.  The weather was ver nice and cool, and the wind was not a factor.   We did have four days ahead of us though with 85 plus or minus a few miles each.  I think this will be the longest week for miles travelled.

The first day was nice, from Iowa City to Fulton Illinois.  It was very close to 100 miles.   We both made it as the roads were not as hilly and the wind was not a factor.l.  We spent a lot of time in corn fields, actually between them, but on country roads, so all you could see is corn.   The corn is very good, tall and thick.   The ears were about 6 feet high and then the rest of the plant.   Well over  12 feet tall.   

We had some nice old original highways that were narrow and almost like a bike path.  We also had some busy highways, with quite a few trucks.

This is a picture of a hybrid seed corn field.   Later in Illinois there was a lot of this.  

We crossed the Mississippi into Illinois .  Just before this there was a factory of some kind that was over a miles long.   I never did see a name of the place, so I never did get a picture.  I think it was an ADM plant, but not sure what it made.   We had to cross using the sidewalk, which was very narrow.

The Mississippi is a very wide river.  Did not see any barges though.  

 

The second day was not so nice.  We spent the night at Unity Christian High  school in Fulton Illinois, just east of the Mississippi. Just after we got going it started to rain, and it rained all day long.   We were all soaked.   I did stop to take a picture of a covered bridge. It was dry in there.   We passed by many beautiful homes and lots of corn fields, and bean fields.   This is very very nice farming country.   The best we have seen so far.  It was a very long and wet 85 miles, but we made it to Shabbone Lake State Park.  The rain had stopped and the park did have warm showers, so things were looking up.  

Wednesday was the day that we would like to do over again.   It was going to be a very long day.   Started out to be a 91 mile day but after the fourth turn we already had 5 extra miles, and we were still on course.  At first it was all corn fields agin but that changed to a lot of bike paths.   These were kind of neat, as they were old railway lines and even an old horse path along a canal that was used to pull barges way back in history.   

We were having a nice day.   We did not get lost as a few people did.  We had no flats and the sun was shinning but not to hot.  I remember thinking that maybe we could actually finish this trip without getting hurt or anything stupid like that.  I was wrong.

At about mile 88 of a possible 96, I made a mistake.   We were going down 187th street, looking for Chicago Heights Glenwood Rd.  Joyce was ahead of me leading the way, about 50 to 100 feet ahead.  I don't remember what happened but when I started to remember things, I was in the back of an ambulance.  I must have hit a pot-hole, and lost control of my bike.   By the looks of the damage, bent handle bar, bent arrow bar, and the damage to my body, me and the bike went over end over end, at least once.   Joyce heard the crash and ran back to help me.  A very nice lady stopped and helped and called 911.  Some people living on the street brought out a chair for me and some ice, and by then some more bikers also arrived.  Another biker actually hit the same pothole and fell, causing a third biker to driver over her.   I guess I was bleeding and was quite a mess.   The ambulance arrived and took me to a hospital.   Apparently they asked me a bunch of questions that I failed to answer correctly.  I still have no recollection of any of this.   The best part is I do not remember any pain even.  Here are some pictures

Road rash on my right shoulder.

A small problem on my forehead, which gave me a beautiful black eye, and a cut on my chin, which they glued back together.   I also shook loose part of a tooth, as it broke off the next morning while eating.  My Jaw is very sore.   

Joyce and I both sat out the next day which may have been the nicest day of the tour, as they saw some of the shore line of Lake Michigan.  I wanted to ride but my bike was not fixed yet.   My brains may have been a bit scrambled yet too.  

We did ride on Friday though.   Here I am with my black eye on Lake Michigan.  It was a very wet day.   The wettest so far.  It just poured.  I almost quit, because I could not see much through my one good eye.   But the other eye slowly started to open up as the swelling went down maybe due to the cold rain.   We both finished the short  60 mile day to Hope college.  We even had a ride on a chain ferry.  

Dorm at Hope college, Holland Michigan 

Meeting room were we would have our nightly Peleton meeting.  Very nice.

Hope college

On Saturday we had a short day to Calvin college in Grand Rapids.   It was only 39 miles.   It was a lot of bike aths so it was a nice ride.   The weather was perfect.   

Lunch at Calvin Christian Reformed church.  We all gathered here for a mass ride into Calvin College.   I was a bit concerned about a crash in a large group lie that but it went well.   

Calvin College

PS.  If that nice lady that helped us in our time of need reads this cloud you please add a comment or two of what you remember.  thanks for your help and concern and for looking us up at at the hospital.   Some day we will have to meet.   Harvey

well it is 5:00 am on Sunday morning, and I am going back to bed.