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We had to drive back to Ottawa last night from Montreal and it was definitely a late one. We woke up Joanne at 2am to let us in to her apartment. I thought for a moment that we might be sleeping in the van. But she let us in... so nice and even came to help us carry in some of our stuff. After a very brief sleep last night Brett and I got up before everyone else and headed for a day on the town. We went straight for the parliament buildings and had some breakfast at the Tim Horton's (its becoming a trip tradition.) We did some tourist tours and such and then I got us lost when we were trying to find the Beaver Tail booth thingy. I thought I knew which way to go... oh well. We ran out of time to go to the mall probably a good thing) and we headed to the Alumni cocktail hour that Joanne organized for us.
We ended up finding the place just fine, but we really should have taken a cab. As Brett's leg was really starting to bother him. But we made it and had a great evening with some really great people!
Today was great! I totally didn't get a chance to do everything I wanted but that always happens. I totally want to come back here...very soon! The weather was a little disappointing but it could have been much MUCH worse. Kelly mentioned that he might be itching to ride today as it has been so long since our last rest day... not me. When we finally have a rest day I like to completely forget about my bike, however I do like to joke about the bike rental places that we walk by :o) Or the people that ride around leisurely at the campgrounds we stay at. The last thing I want to do when we finally get to where we are going is ride around some more.
I am so excited to be in Montreal tonight, I wish we had two days here . But we have one and then one in Ottawa tomorrow. These rest days are going to involve a lot of walking, thats for sure. We started late today and the ride was slow because some tired legs and then I went the wrong way...and there was a bit of a head wind. Oh well, we made it to the first sign that suggested we might be in Joliette and then it was off to trendy Montreal.
We headed straight downtown and there was all kinds of fun happening, and we drove by a super cool roller coaster that would be amazing if we had time to ride. But we were on a mission to find a place to stay tonight so we tried out a hostel and then a couple hotels until we decided to head outside of downtown and we found a moderately priced motel and we even had a non-smoking room!
We all had a laundry marathon so that we will have clean clothes for the next couple rest days.
The day started out really nice but then it ended up raining, the only plus was that we had a bike path for like 120 km's. It was incredible and we were on a less busy highway so the ride was far more enjoyable. It was still fairly warm out but both Kelly and I were soaking. When we finally made it to Lachute there was a fork in the road with a Tim Hortons in the middle of it. Very convenient, so instead of making a decision on right or left, Kelly and I went straight for coffee. This means that we start our ride tomorrow here and TH"s as well :o) woo donuts for breakfast!
However there wasn't a campground anywhere close to here, so we opted to stay in a hotel for the first time since Surrey, B.C. Our stuff was really wet from the rain too so this gave us a chance to dry everything out. Apparently there was some kind of festival going on and the only room left in the hotel was a smoking room....I think we're all going to have stuffy noses tomorrow morning :o( but at least we're not all in wet tents with wet sleeping bags.
Another kinda rainy cloudy day, and I was totally disappointed that we did not have any welcome to Quebec signs to stop at for photos. But we made it and we crossed a pretty cool Hydro-electric dam thingy. The roads were in really REALLY rough shape, like Manitoba rough. There was absolutely no shoulder at all. At some times the pot-holes were so large that they took over half the lane. We were not on a very major highway, which was actually nice. I am so tired of the noisy busy highways, I hope that we can stay on the quieter ones for awhile, I just hope that we find some with a shoulder.
The farm houses are incredible, they are all made of Brick and look to be about two hundred years old. The other thing that might be really old are the septic systems, quite often you can smell sewage... pretty disgusting. I just hope that we find a Quebec sign for some sweet photo opportunities.
Stonecliff to Haley Station - 125 km
So this is the coolest campground ever! Complete with water slides, mini golf, petting zoo, golf course and a restaurant shaped as an Ark, or well the Ark. Its pretty cool, and I am pretty sure we are all going to have breakfast here again tomorrow morning. If you are ever on highway 17 in Ontario between Pembroke and Haley Station I highly recommend eating at the Ark (aka Genesis Restaurant.)
We all decided the water slides were too expensive but we did play some killer mini golf. I scored three hole-in-ones but still managed to lose by one stroke to Brett.. the ultimate mini golf champion. Allan would have also been a serious competitor but he had a stroke bad luck at one hole... ten strokes of bad luck actually.
It was pretty hilarious and Brett has a video hopefully they show up on his blog...stay tuned for some serious entertainment.
North Bay to Stonecliff - 130 km
Today was cloudy and rainy, but it was not too rainy. Just enough to keep it cool and we were not totally soaked so that it became uncomfortable. Our destination for the day was a little unclear so we ended up at the first campground with WI-FI that we came across after 120km. Then it rained some more and we had to cook under a shelter thing right across from the bathrooms. Every day really is a new adventure, today I tried canned potatoes for the first time. They were definitely interesting...not sure if I will want to eat them again after this trip but they are convenient.
