|
| |
Day 6
October 6th, 2001
Campblleford, Canada
We slept in this morning, and it felt good. I follow the scent of
breakfast cooking downstairs. A nice fire is going, the great room is a
beehive of activity.
I am not much of a breakfast eater, but this is awesome. Sausage, eggs,
pancakes with REAL maple syrup and fresh juice. I see Phil and Jerry
breaking out the anti cholesterol and blood pressure pills. They are tossing
caution to the wind, noway do you pass on a breakfast like this.
It is cold, and cloudy this morning, but at least its not raining. I load
my bike and check the odometer. I have covered about 2000 miles so
far. Not a whole lot of miles for 6 days, but that is the nature of
touring in the Eastern U.S. When I planned this trip, I knew 400+ mile days
would not be possible on Eastern back roads. Low speed limits, frequent
cities, small villages strewn out every 15 miles, would prevent long mileage
days. The villages grow bigger as you ride up the highway, till you arrive
in a big city. When we reach the city, we either have to detour around it, or
ride into it. Either way takes time. No, touring in the east requires a
different mindset. Just accept things and enjoy it. Do not be a slave to
700 mile days. The villages and towns of New England are to be
savored.
The time will come when I will return to the wide open spaces of Kansas,
Wyoming, or Montana, but for now I am content with 250 miles days on these
friendly roads.
Today we are following Jerry to his hometown of Ottawa. Mark and Carrie
will ride to the halfway point with us.
I empty the cold weather arsenal from the get go. Long wool socks,
sweatshirt followed by a thinsulate vest under the Roadcrafter. Heavy
winter gloves. The temp hovers in the high 30s. I know from my atlas
Ottawa lies a little north and east from Toronto. I hope it does NOT get
any colder.
Jerry calls home and makes arrangements for us to stay at his place instead of
the planned motel. What a guy.
"dang brother your wife is gonna be pissed when you show up with us in
tow"
"no, got it all worked out"
"you sure??"
"yes, now follow me"
Reluctantly, we leave the cottage in the woods and make our way to Highway 7 for
the ride to Ottawa. We had a great stay, in Toronto and Campblleford,
nights I will always remember.
The scenery in this part of Canada, and then New England is the kind you must
relish in. I plan to return next year, and the year after, and the year
after that. It is so beautiful it must be measured in a series of
trips. The colors so overwhelming a guy must make the fall odyssey each
year to put things in perspective. Fall in this region of the country is a
celebration.
Highway 7 is the main connector between Ottawa and Toronto, and as a result
traffic is on the medium side.
Passing through Kaladar and man stops what he is doing and watches the 4 STs
ride by. Phil throws up his hand in a friendly wave, and gets one in
return.
I watch the bikes in front of me. Highway 7 is bumpy and home to more then a few
repaired potholes. Undoubtedly the roads up here are under constant stress
from the traffic and weather. The asphalt a different texture then the
smooth soft black top of back home, where engineers do not have to use hard
materials to combat freezing temps and months of snow and ice. When I see
a bike in front of me change lines I follow suit, knowing he is dodging a bump.
We stop for a butt break at a roadside cafe in a village I can't recall. I
go in the cafe to use the rest room, and the heat feels good. A white
haired lady, stands behind the counter. When I come out I stand in the
window waving at my brother riders out in the cold stretching their legs.
The lady asks-
"can I help you?"
"no, I was just tryin to warm up"
"you are southern?"
"well, yeah"
"oh my, you must be COLD"
Jerry tells us he knows of a Horton's in Perth and to make our next stop
there. Mark and Carrie decide to continue on.
The ride to Perth is more of the same. Nice road taking us through
colorful landscape, and over streams and small lakes.
We find the Horton's and park the bikes. Before I can even get my helmet
off, I am accosted by a gray haired lady that notices my Alabama plates.
"you rode all the way from Alabama??"
"yesssss"
"what fun!! See anything good?? How long USE been on the road??
Where USE going next?""
She fires off questions before I have time to answer.
Phil comes over and tries to rescue me. Next, her hubby comes out, and
says "she will talk USE ears off if you let her".
Another couple going in approaches us, we chat with them on the way in.
The place is crowded, and the line is long but moving. We send Carrie out
to stake a table out while we place the order. We might be southern, but
we ain't dumb. The patrons in line gather around us, and quiz us about the
border crossing. A young girl asks us to hang around and talk. She
says this is the first time she has heard a southern accent that wasn't on TV.
The Canadian people are so nice, and friendly.
I guess we stuck out pretty bad. Carrie tells me while waiting in the
dining room, a lady asks her, "Do YOU know those 2 Americans??"
Eating in the dining room we watch more people gather around the bikes. Most
notably Phil's.
Sadly, it is time to say bye and move on to Ottawa. I will miss Mark and
Carrie. It is a emotional goodbye. I guess because I KNOW how far it is to
Toronto from Alabama. I don't like long goodbyes, but this one can't be
avoided. It reminded me of the day when I said goodbye to Dennis, Don, Norma and
Joyce at Nepenthe's. I can truly say I now have close friends, on both
coasts. I am very lucky.
We follow Jerry to Ottawa. It was hard to keep up with him. As we
all know the cranberry red STs are the fastest ones, lucky mine is said color or
I might have been left behind.
Ottawa. The capital city. Jerry takes us past the government
buildings and into downtown. Such a beautiful city. I love the
city's architecture.
It suddenly begins to rain down pea sized hail as we move through
downtown. The granules pile up on my dash. I think about Phil in
that open face helmet! Geezus what is next? Before this trip is
over, all my riding skills and experience will be called upon.
The hail lets up as we head into the suburbs for Jerry's house.
I watch Jerry make a left turn in front of approaching traffic. He bolts
across as and leaves us stranded on the other side. Later, he says
"that car was coming a little faster then I thought".
We pull into Jerry's garage and the lovely and gracious Miss Pat shows us where
to go. She offers her washing machine to us. I find a nice comfortable
spot in the basement. I have a neat TV, fold out bed, and I will be far
away from Phil and his "nocturnal serenade". I have a great set
up.
Jerry has a great place. He lets me go to his computer and check e mail.
I call home, then my son's apartment. He answers the phone. It is late
afternoon in Alabama.
"so what's goin on?"
"not much, took two from Southern Union today, I had a pretty good day,
went 3-4"
"what was the temp there today?"
"88 degrees, sunny. Why?"
"nothin, just curious"
Jerry ordered some great pizza for supper and it hit the spot.
After supper we jumped in Jerry's cage and he showed us around the city. Pat
loans me a coat going out the door. She laughs when I tell her the thickest coat
I own is a Nautica windbreaker. I tell her-
"I dunno bout goin off with Jerry and Phil, those boys are subject not to
do right and get me in trouble"
She just laughs.
Jerry shows us around the city. It is very pretty at night. We stop
and walk around the Capital complex and go across the river into Quebec.
We stop downtown at the Hard Rock for desert. A pleasant waitress named
Rachel suggests I get the strawberry shortcake. It was humongous. I can
only eat have of it.
Rachel tells me she has been on her feet 10 hours and she shows it. She
leaves me a note on my ticket with a smiley face, thanking me for being nice to
her. I leave her a 5 dollar tip American, and she thanks me from across
the room as we walk out.
A guy can get use to Canada pretty quick. Heck they had me saying USE
instead of y'all in just 2 days.
We get back to Jerry's and tell more riding stories before going to bed.
It was a great day, and a fun night. We ride back south tomorrow, and
start the trip to the Maine Coast.
I flip channels on Jerry's awesome home theatre system. After catching up
on the news I went to bed about 11:30pm.
 
|
