Sept 25

Sept. 25
Day 13
Woke up to a cold cloudy day, slept to the grand old hour of 6:30 hardly and then started the morning routine of washing up and packing the hotel did not have coffee early so I started out low of caffeine and therefore slow on packing. When Dave was finally ready we walked to the local Perkins for breakfast and coffee, after the coffee I was feeling much more lively.
The Bike shop in Hastenings is closed and the replacement repair place is in a fishing store and works only part time. Today was not part of his part time working so David and I decided to bike to Red Wing to repair his bike. A change of plan but that was the closest spot. It was raining when we left Hastenings and Dave made fun of the fact that old shell absorbed water while his coat beaded the water.

At the bike repair place I found a new shell designed specifically for biking as it fitted well I bought it for 30 dollars. Dave bought a new wheel and should stop the spokes breaking. After the repair we had pizza at an “all you can eat buffet” and started off for a Frontenac State park. It had a huge hill to climb that I again proved I could walk up.

Filling the Camel Back with water this morning I blew it. Putting more water into the carrier than into the water holding bag. This resulted in water leaking down my back all morning until I figured out that the rain had stopped and I was still getting wet. I explained to Dave I was just demonstrating a new water based cooling system. He noticed that the outside temperature was only 45F and asked if I was really that warm. I just hope that the new bike coat will keep me dry when I make this mistake again.

The ride was great today with limestone bluffs on both sides of the river clearly visable. This provided some great views. But the climb up to some of the rigdes were so steep I gave up and walked. The roads were generally good but there was one streach where they provide a wide shoulder with rumbble strips places so we had only 8-10 inches of space. This was impossible to keep straight in and a couple of times I shook the bike up pretty hard. Once when I was trying to read the map I drifted over to them and the bike shaking really woke me up and made me give up reading for a while. We had a couple of WAHOO down hills reaching 30 miles per hour.

Weird stuff on the road.
Our second tooth bush
A spoon
A broken builder's level

Thankful for Today
The rain stopped early and that was something to celbrate and say thanks to the powers that be. But the veiws that the careful routing of the roads so we can enjoy them is really something to be thankful for, all this beauty around and people speed down the so fast that the never seem to notice how beautiful everything is.

Love and Kisses to all and to all a good night.
I am sleeping outside let us hope it will slightly warmer than the last couple of days has been.