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September 20 Tuesday Bicycle touring from Cook's Bay Ontario to somewhere past Lindsay Ontario Before we were up, a caterpillar was working in the park. The ground shook as the huge machine lumbered over beside our tiny bicycle touring tent. We packed up and hit the road. Nothing like a long bike ride before stopping to eat a huge breakfast at Sibbald Provincial park. No one was there when we got there at 10 AM. Later, people arrived around noon. Another good thing about unstructured bike tours: plenty of time for two-hour breakfasts (or lunches, or suppers). A couple of employees in dry suits were scanning the swimming area with metal detectors. There are at least a hundred picnic tables here. It must be a popular place in the summer. The campground has 906 sites. Every one of them is empty at the moment. There are some nice cottages along Beach Road -- they're the size of mansions. There is not much traffic until we hit Hwy 36 and then it is busy both ways. A semi trailer didn't slow down and didn't get over. It missed me by six inches. Sharon said I looked pretty small as it scraped by my elbow. Then it went off the road and onto the gravel shoulder for about a quarter of a mile, throwing up dust in my face. What a caring bunch of folk. Too bad more people don't bicycle tour -- then they'd have a bit more appreciation for life and limb. We got off the main thoroughfare and discovered Hwy 12 to be a quiet road for cycle touring. We followed it east through Pefferlaw. We stopped in Cannington to mail film home and hats for our nephew Cal that Ann and Martin had given us. No use carrying them any farther in our panniers than we have to. We bought two litres of ice cream and ate all of it. Now I don't feel so good. It's not a bright idea to be cycle touring on a full stomach. Hwy 2 was quiet. Then, we hit Hwy 121 to Lindsay and almost got hit again. The road is busy in places, but when a guy driving (I use the term loosely) a van and dragging a trailer, went by there was nothing coming towards him and he virtually skimmed us. Sharon gasped it was so very close. He missed us by a hair. We hadn't even heard him coming with the wind blowing in our ears and we hadn't seen him in our rearview mirrors. One wobble, and it all would have been over. I'm beginning to think Ontario drivers are assholes. We've cycled in every province in Canada and we have never seen this many ignoramus drivers elsewhere. We pedalled into a conservation area and set up the tent in a picnic shelter. The moon looks full. There are mosquitoes again. And crickets. We met a guy in Cannington who told us we were out pretty late in the year to be bicycle touring. "Where are you going eventually?" he asks. "Vancouver," I reply. "The long way." "It'll be snow before you get there," he says. "Why in Thunder Bay they had frost August 10th." "Cool," I say. "No cool about it," he says. "That's damn cold. Where are you from anyway?" "Edmonton." "Oh. So you know about cold then. Where are you headed now?" "Gaspé." This really confuses him, since it is pretty much in the exact opposite direction of Vancouver. "Then what are you going to do?" "Fly," Sharon says. "To Vancouver?" "No. Spain." Now he really looks bewildered. "Well," he manages to stutter. "Good luck." He reaches out and shakes our hands earnestly. As he leaves, Sharon says, "Don't you think it would be easier to just tell people we are cycling around the world ... instead of saying 'Vancouver -- the long way'?" Sometimes Superman can be a prick. I just want to see how smart they are. |
