This year marks Canada's sesquicentennial, and fifty years since I was a sixth grader pining to go to Montreal to join in the Centennial celebrations. For the whole year our curriculum was Expo-obsessed and everyone was going except me. No one seemed to care that I was celebrating on my own. I lapped up the coverage and information from fellow students who had travelled to Montreal with their families which left me with a desire to see this exhibit with my own eyes. I wanted to see the world beyond London, Ont., but in sixth grade it was a clearly an insurmountable task. The germ was planted. I was bitten by a travel bug and the antidote was to see the rest of my country. By the time high school hit, all the seniors were making the great pilgrimage to B.C. and hitchhiking across the county, but, again that seemed like an insurmountable task. Shit happened... again. In 2014 Olympian Clara Hughes cycled across Canada to raise awareness for mental health. I watched her ...
Day 72 - 1 Sep - St. John's - 83kms Today started out rainy and overcast again! Our mood had not changed. We ate whatever was left on the truck as this would be our last breakfast together. Whoa! The hills were very challenging and relentless! The rain was steady and colder than yesterday. We did have a tailwind though. That was a relief. It should have been a day of reflection and slowly making our way to the finish but the weather made the day all about getting there and getting it over with. I was so cold, my hand and feet were frozen. We were to meet at the Tim Horton's at 70k, eat, and wait for everyone to arrive. We were then to ride as a group to Signal Hill. I was too cold for that. I stopped, had a coffee, and kept going. I knew what was coming. The road up to Signal Hill is about 2 kms long, a 12% grade, and incredibly windy! I arrived at the hill and did my best to climb it. It was not pre...
Day 44 - 4 Aug - Owen Sound - 133kms We seem to have lots of rain these days. The forecast called for some scary weather! It had us spooked. We had thunderstorms overnight but nothing at 5am when we got up. I started out at 6am to get some kilometres in before it rained. I got 20k before it came down in sheets! It's a good thing we turned off highway 6 to a quieter road. The headwind didn't help either. The storm didn't last long and we had overcast skies for most of the day. We stopped in Wiarton to see Willie! Another of my bucket list item checked off. I've been wanting to see him for years! He seems pretty comfy in his little house. He has his own park and statue, and everything! I bet the park is hopping every February! It's Dougie Day tomorrow! He's coming up to visit with me. There will be more people visiting on our rest day Aug 6th! It will be so good to see everyone!
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