This morning we woke to a delicious smelling breakfast. Feeling well rested, we ate probably the best pancakes I've ever had: banana pancakes with chocolate chips and strawberries! After breakfast, I finally figured out a solution to sharing our photos on our website. I was able to download a Picasa App to the tablet which allowed me to upload the photos pretty easily. I am still really behind with uploading photos, since I only have up to day 2 on the site, but now that I have figured out a solution that should work, I should be able to get caught up soon. When we left Elkhart, we had a pretty short ride to South Bend, where we stopped at a local bike shop to get new tires, and a new chain for my bike. After the bikes were ready to go for another 2500 miles, we stopped at the post office to mail a few things we weren't using home to lighten our load a little. We decided to go out to eat at a little diner in town. It was 50s themed with the black and white checkered floor and sparkly vinal booths. We each had a burger and fries, and I had a mint shake too. We decided that we will try to go out to eat once in every state on the tour. After a very tasty lunch, we continued on our way. It rained for a little bit, just enough to get everything wet. There was some thunder and lightning, but we missed most of that. We went down a hill for a while, and then everything was flat, and remained flat for the rest of the day After riding in the sunshine for a while, another storm came through, except we were caught right in the middle of this one. It was pouring and began to hail, which hurt. The wind was so bad I couldn't even hold my bike to the shoulder of the road. It was a pretty busy road, so we decided to turn onto a side road and let the storm pass. While we were standing there in the pouring rain, a nice lady, named Phyllis, yelled out of her back door to come inside. She ended up feeding us cheese bread, crackers, Coke, and homemade chocolate cake. We ended up staying there for about an hour chit chatting. When the storm had passed and it was sunny again, we continued on our way. Shortly after, we passed into a new time zone! There was no sign for it like I was hoping, but our phones automatically set to the new time which was kind of neat. This is the first time I have ever been in a new timezone, so I was pretty excited. Since the storm, we had ridden on very fat ground, nothing but fields all around us. We rode under the "giant" electric poles, as i call them, and could hear the electricity from the wires, which was a little scary. We decided to head a little further south to miss some of the traffic. We made it to Knox, where we stopped at McDonalds to use the restrooms and internet again then set up camp under a shelter in the city park. We decided we didn't even need dinner since Phyllis fed us so well, so we just snacked on some Oreos. We ended up doing70.22 miles today, even with all of our stopping (the wind was with us for a good portion of the day!).
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We made some oatmeal this morning on our picnic table then packed up our camp. We were riding by 9:30 this morning and were pretty excited since we knew we would have a warm showers tonight. Our ride today wasn't as hilly as it was the last couple days. At one point, a 3 legged dog ran after me. There were cars all over the place and I was afraid he would run right out into the road, since that's probably how he lost the one leg, so I stopped and he ran back to his house. After riding for about 45 miles we made it to the Indiana/ Michigan border. We took pictures by both state signs, since there was no Michigan sign when we crossed over on the ferry from ON. We enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather, and even saw a guy water skiing on the river we rode by. When we made it to Elkhart, we called our Warm showers host to get more specific directions to his house. Not 2 tenths of a mile before reaching his house, Joe got a flat, the first one of the trip. Guess it worked out ok since we didn't have to stand on the side of the road to change it! After taking nice hot showers, we enjoyed some of the yummiest chocolate milk ever that our host, Neil, made and had some pleasant conversation with Neil and his friend. While Joe planned our next days route, I worked on trying to figure out a way to upload pictures to the website, since our tablet doesn't let me upload them directly to the site. Dinner was very awesome. We had pieces of steak that were smothered in a secret sauce, shrimp, peppers and onions, cooked over a fire pit. We all ate with chopsticks, it was so neat! I'm not sure if this has a specific name, but this was something that Neil got to experience while he was in China. For dessert we had ice cream and moose cups! After dinner, Neil and his friend took us to the Jubilee House in town, where we spent some time with some of their friends. Neil explained that the Jubilee House was a place where individuals could live for free through doing volunteering and community service; there is a certain food and gas allowance given to the house so the individuals work together to decide what to purchase each week. While at the house, we enjoyed some homemade wine and music performed by a couple of the housemates. They sang and played the guitar, mostly song that they had written or adapted themselves. It was a very enjoyable evening. We rode 60.40 miles today.
We had a late start to our day this morning since we made camp so late last night. Once we had everything packed, we decided to go to the little grocery store to get some cereal and milk for breakfast. We ate right on the benches outside of the store around 10am. Before we left town, we filled up on water at the local diner. Another beautiful day, even warmer than yesterday! I did't feel as strong today as I felt yesterday, and today was a little more breezy, so it felt like it took longer than normal to ride our miles. We rode along Route 12 for most of the day. The traffic was heavier than the country roads we had been riding on for the last couple days, but there was a nice big shoulder which made the ride enjoyable. For a little while we rode through an area that was called "The Irish Hills' or at least that is what all the business signs had said. What a funny coincidence that we rode through "The Irish Hills" on St. Patty's Day! We stopped for lunch around 2pm at some picnic tables outside of a little ice cream stand. We heated up a can of Spaghettio's on our stove and had a couple Oreo's for a snack. We continued on down this road for the rest of the day. When we finally made it to Coldwater, we stopped at a store that is a lot like Walmart for some groceries, and for a quick break at McDonald's to grab a drink and use the internet. We were able to set up a Warm Showers set up for tomorrow evening in Elkhart, IN. We ended up setting up camp in a little public park near the elementary school that was right behind McDonalds. While we were eating dinner, we had a cute furry visitor... a kitty! Since we were still pretty close to McDonalds, we took turns walking over there to use the restroom before bed which was nice. For our other tours, we usually camped somewhere in the woods, but on this tour, we've spent a lot of time camping in Parks, which we can easily do now because we have our cooking stove. We've grown to love camping in parks; no one bothers us, and we usually have a bathroom somewhere close and sometimes a picnic table. We rode 60.22 miles today, not one of our stronger days, but we will be in Indiana tomorrow!
Wow, it sure was nice to sleep in a comfy bed last night! We woke up feeling very well rested and then enjoyed a nice breakfast with our Warm Showers host. Once we were all packed and ready, we headed off down the bike trail that Al told us about. It sure worked out great being on the trail this morning because it was really foggy out. We had an early lunch at a Tim Horton's restaurant. We each got a large hot cocoa, had a few donuts and a chicken snack wrap, almost completely for free because of the gift card that Diane gave us back in ON. We rode down Pontiac Trail for quite a while today since it took us all the way to Ann Arbor. Riding into Ann Arbor was kind of funny because we were riding through the country almost all day and then BOOM, out of no where this big little city in the middle of know where appeared. We visited Ann Arbor for an hour or so, looked to see if we could find a Warm Showers for the night, and then continued on our way. It was a pretty hopping little city. Before strolling out of town, we rode past the Michigan University Stadium. As we rode further from the city, we were quickly back in the country. We rode for what seemed like forever. Eventually we met a woman who was in a church parking lot who gave us a pointer on where the nearest town was. So we continued on until we made it to the small town of Manchester. We found a park/ towns athletic fields where we set up camp. I decided to ride to find a bathroom before bed and ended up stopping at the little grocery store for a half gallon of moose tracks ice cream (I figured it was well worth it since we got a pretty good number of miles today). When I returned to camp, we made some Mac and cheese on ur stove and then enjoyed our ice cream before bed. Overall, it was another beautiful day where we got to be in shorts and our jerseys again and be comfortable. Still can't believe this weather we are having in March! We rode 81.83 miles today.
Well, we went from one extreme to the other today: from a little town in the fields of ON to a busy suburban area in MI. We woke up at our camp spot in Bothwell, ON quite early since we heard thunder and Joe saw lightning. We packed up our and rode down the road a little to find a covered place with a picnic table to make breakfast in case it rained. After riding for only about a half a mile, we found a picnic table under an overhang at the school, which worked out well since the students were on spring recess. We made some oatmeal and prayed that the storm didn't come our way. Turns out that we lucked out again today with weather. We somehow missed all of the storms that were around us. However, there was one time that the wind would carry scattered rain drops across the fields to where we were. We rode for about 30 miles through nothing but fields and ity bity little towns that only had one or two buildings in them. When we finally reached Sombre we boarded the ferry to go back into the US. Once we got off in Marine City we went through customs, which we again didn't have any problem getting through. We decided to go out for lunch since we hadn't seen many restaurants or more populated areas in a while. We went to a local diner and the food was delicious! Before we rode out of town, we stopped at the library real quick. Joey ended up finding a Warm Showers host that was available to host us. Being very excited, we hit the road again. We saw a sign at the bank in Marine City that said 71degrees... what an amazing winter! Joe even mentioned earlier today "what are the odds that Dad suggested we go on the trip earlier and we get a winter as wonderful as this?" We cannot be more thankful for this beautiful sunny weather! As we were ridng, we noticed that there are a lot of dirt roads in the area of Michigan that we were riding through. We ended up riding for about 20 miles on these roads. We were confused at first because there are a lot of really nice houses along all the roads we went down; back in NY most of the dirt roads we had seen didn't have much on them. After riding for about 72 miles, we made it to our warm showers host in Shelby. We enjoyed nice hot showers, a chance to wash our clothes, a very tasty meal, and a bowl of ice cream to top it off. It is always so fun to have conversation with our hosts about tours they have done. Before bed, we watched the news and learned that there have been a few little tornados in a couple places in Michigan today. Good thing we were able to be in a warm showers tonight since there are supposed to be thunderstorms in the area tonight. The good news is that the weather looks great for the next few days!
We woke up to a very pleasant "Knock Knock." It was the Pastor and his wife, they came to tell us they were going to make us breakfast! We also woke up to find that it had gotten cold enough that it frosted, at least we know our sleeping bags and tent are tough enough to handle the cold! Being excited about the yummy breakfast we were going to have soon, we began to pack up or camp. What a tasty breakfast they made for us; scrambled eggs, bacon, toast with jelly, and hot chocolate!! We enjoyed our breakfast and conversation with the Diane and Bob (the Pastor and his wife). After we filled up or water bottles and used the washroom again we hit the road. What another beautiful sunny day. It was warm enough the last two days that we could wear our shorts and be comfortable. Of course I got sunburn on my legs yesterday ( except I look like a zebra tho because its only burned on the left side of my legs and my thighs). I am surprised that my leg muscles aren't as sore as I thought they would be, instead my toosh and my knees are the only thing bothering me. The wind was a lot lighter today than yesterday. We stopped after about 25 miles of riding at a little gas station that was in the middle of no where. The gas station was called a gas bar which i thought was kind of neat. There, they let us use the washroom and their microwave to heat up some Spaghetti O's for lunch. After lunch we continued down the road where we rode through a lot of tiny little towns. We decided to ride to the town of Bothwell since it looked a little larger on the map than some of the towns we rode through during the day. We arrived in town around 4:30pm. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up a 1.5 liter of ice cream to split (SOOO GOOD!) and went to a little park that was next to the town hall. Again, we had use of bathrooms to change in before it closed and we might get to use them in the morning too. We enjoyed use of a picnic table in the park and a hose with water too. We ate our ice cream and then made some mac and cheese on the stove. The funny thing is that we picked up internet from the town hall too. I feel like we are spoiling ourselves with these camp spots we keep getting. We may even be able to watch a video on netflix in our tent! We rode 51.94 miles today.
We woke up around 8:00 and made some oatmeal in the microwave at our motel then got packed up and ready to go. We knew almost instantly that it was going to be a long day because of the wind. It was SOOOO WINDY!!! We rode fighting the wind for a few hours before coming to the town of Simcoe, which was pretty populated compared to what we had seen the last few towns we went through. There was a really tiny Walmart and quite a bit of other stores. We decided to stop for an early lunch at Subway to use up one of the gift cards Grammy got us, it sure was yummy! After lunch we hit the road again, still following route 3. The traffic on Route 3 was beginning to get worse, so we pulled over to look to see if there was a different way to go. As we were pulled over looking at our map, a man pulled over and showed us his handy dandy Ontario map book that had all of the back roads on it. He gave us some pointers and then proceeded to give us his map book! This book sure came in handy and we ended up following the back roads the rest of the day. It got to be about 4pm and we only had ridden about 45 miles. The head wind all day long was so strong and exhausting. We planned on making it to St. Thomas but were pretty sure that wasn't going to happen because of the wind and us being so tired. As we rode along looking for camp spots, we weren't' finding anything. All we saw was fields and fields and a few houses here and there, and everything was pretty flooded from the rain yesterday. As we kept riding it got to be later and later, and soon became pretty cold. Somehow, we ended up making it to St. Thomas just as the sun was going down. We rode right into the city and ended up seeing a Salvation Army church with the lights on. I went inside to ask if we could camp in the back yard of the church. There were a few ladies of the church having a meeting and they were all for the idea. The Pastors wife, who was leading the meeting, even dropped her marker after she heard we were riding all the way to Alaska. The ladies were a lot of fun. We were allowed to use the washrooms in the church to change and get ready for bed before the ladies left. It was definitely nice not to have to try to change in our ity bity little tent! When the ladies were leaving, the even gave us a $10 gift card to Tim Hortons, which I can't wait to use! Shortly after we changed out of our cycling clothes, we made some mac and cheese for dinner and went straight to bed since we were exhausted and it was so cold. We ended up riding 69.26 miles and it took us almost 9 hours because of the wind (well it took me that long, Joey spends a lot of time waiting for me to catch up =D )
After a very cold night where neither of us slept very well, we woke up and packed up or camp. While we were packing an older lady who was riding her bike stopped by to see where we were going and gave us some pointers on roads to take. We rode across the bridge we camped next to and stopped at Subway to fill up on water and use the "washroom." We decided to ride for a little bit before stopping for breakfast. When we saw a McDonald's, we stopped and set up to make breakfast on the picnic tables outside. It is so nice to have a stove to be able to cook with... THANKS JIMMY!!! IT WORKS GREAT!. Joe cooked up some oatmeal while I jumped on McDonald's Internet to check the weather and try to update the website. It worked out well to stop at McDonald's because we could wash our bowls and spoons and replenish on more water right away. Once we hit the road again, we enjoyed the sunshine for a couple more hours. I have enjoyed riding in ON since it seems like almost every car tries to give us as much room as possible, where in the states, drivers are often not as courteous. When it got to be about 12:30 we were hungry again and decided to stop at a grocery store to get some things to make pb and jelly sandwiches and Oreos for a snack. Around 2pm it started to rain and get really cold, no more sunshine. The rain eventually let up around 4:00, but it was still really cold and cloudy. We were both pretty cold and tired from not sleeping well last night and from riding into a headwind all day. We decided to take a motel so we didn't have to camp in the cold/rain. The rest of the week looks like it will be pretty clear from rain so we should be able to camp no problem. It was nice to have a hot shower, internet, and a comfortable bed. I think getting caught up on sleep from last night will help us feel a lot more energized tomorrow (we both felt exhausted all day today). While at the motel, we realized that the water, at least in this area has sulfer in it, so we will continue to have to go to McDonalds or Tim Hortons, which are all over the place, to get our water. We cooked up some dinner in the microwave here at the Motel and hit the sack. We rode 50 miles today and made it to Jarvis, ON. Hopefully the weather is nice and we are feeling good tomorrow so that we can catch up on some of the miles we've lost.
Wow! what a crazy first day of the tour it has been! We woke up around 8, and began to get ready. I made some cinnamon rolls while joey went and made sure everyone was awake. We packed all of the last minute things that needed to go to the attic and visited with family. Joey's Mom, Christina, Morgan (Turby), my grandmother, mom & chris, and jessie were all there to share the big take off with us. We double checked everything that we were to bring on the trip and I took one last shower at home before putting on my cycling clothes. Chris and joe carried our obnoxiously heavy bikes downstairs. We took some pictures with everyone before saying our goodbyes. Once we were ready we mounted our bikes for the first time this trip and began peddling. We were both pretty wobbly at first since we weren't yet used to all the weight of the gear, me a little more than joey i think. We road right down main street heading for the peace bridge, taking some pictures along the way. When we arrived at the gate to get onto the peace bridge we had to go through a turn style, which we almost didn't fit through. Immediately after, we met an older man who looked like he was out for a Sunday stroll. He told us about a bike trail that would take us in the direction we were planning on going for about 150 miles. He also mentioned that route 3, which we were planning on taking, had quite a bit of traffic on it. We ended up walking almost the entire way across the Peace bridge because it was so windy that we were afraid we would blow off the elevated sidewalk into oncoming traffic. When we made it across, we had to go through a tunnel under the road to get to the sidewalk that would take us to customs. We did not have any trouble getting through like we anticipated. We assumed we would have to unload all of our bags, which would have been a pain. But the lady just asked us the general questions: what is your destination in Canada, how long do you plan to stay in Canada, are you bringing anything besides personal belongings with you, etc. We showed her the Halt (dog spray) that we had when she asked about weapons, but she said as long as we are only using it on animals, it was acceptable to bring into the country. After we made it through customs we called our families to let them know. We continued on our way along the Niagara River heading towards Lake Erie. We found the trail that the old man mentioned and took it for about 2 miles. By this time we realized that one of joey's rear panniers was rubbing on his wheel. At first we though that that we just had more weight in one side that the other, but then we realized that the metal bars that attached to the seat tube were bent a little. Upon further investigation we realized that one of the vertical bars on Joe's rack had snapped in half. We were at a loss. It was the very first day of the trip and we've never had that kind of thing happen so early. However, it would have been worse if it happened while we were in the middle of no where. We discussed what we should do and debated whether we should just turn around and return to Buffalo (as we were only 10 miles into the trip). We really didn't want to do that, especially since we just started. When we got a hold of family and discussed the situation, we decided to have them try to find a new rack at either Bert's bikes and fitness or eastern mountain sports (since all of the local bike shops in Buffalo and Canada were all closed because it was Sunday). We turned around on the path and went back about a tenth of a mile to the little park we had just passed. While we waited we enjoyed some lunch and had fun experimenting with our new stove. I cooked up some egg noodles with cream of mushroom and chicken soup while joey spent time on the phone talking to family about how to fix our situation. I enjoyed eating in the park since there were a lot of people out and about riding their bikes, walking their dogs, etc. We met one lady who was walking her two little scottie dogs. She inquired about our trip and ended up volunteering to drive by some of the bike shops around town and see if they were open. When she returned, she said there were not any bike shops open, but there was a place called Canadian Tire, which I guess is a lot like Lowes, but with a car and a bike section. She offered to take us there to see if we could find anything that worked. While joey went with her, i stayed to watch the bikes and clean up from lunch. They returned quite quickly as they were unsuccessful. But in the end, Andy and Mommy O were able to find a suitable rack, one that was supposed to hold 55 lbs worth of gear, at Eastern Mountain Sports. Grandma and Andy came and brought it over the border. The got a little lost, but they were eventually able to find us at the little park, which was called Waverly Park. It was nice to get to see Gram and Andy again, since we thought we had already said our goodbyes. After Joe put the new rack on his bike, we were all ready to go. This mechanical problem set us back quite a bit; we lost a lot of riding time because of it. The problem started around 12:30 and we didn't get on the road again until about 5pm. The rest of the day was very uneventful. We rode for a while before finding the trail we had started on again (Friendship Trail). We continued on that until we made it to Port Colborne. We took camp in a little park in the center of town right next to a bridge. There were quite a few huge boats in the water near us which was kind of neat. After getting in the tent, we quickly got what we needed and got some warm clothes on. It sure was cold (a little colder that joey had thought it would be I think). It reached a high of around 54 degrees today, but once the sun started to set it cooled right down. After having some leftovers from lunch and a couple chocolate bars we got snuggled in our sleeping bags around 9pm and tried to stay warm and get a good nights rest for our next days adventure. (We only rode 28.59 miles today)
Well, tomorrow morning is almost here! Over the past couple weeks, we enjoyed spending time with family and friends and packing all the last minute things. Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast with the family and then hit the road. I can't believe the time has come so quickly! I can't wait to begin this adventure!
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