Day Nine, Sudbury, ON, to Hawkesbury, ON - 392Miles

Sunday, August 15, 2010

In lieu of having the usual 7:00 AM breakfast this morning, we elected instead to conduct a prayer vigil in the parking lot before we departed, as it was Sunday. You don't really believe that, do you? No we didn't, we just decided to get some miles under our belt and eat later. We departed Sudbury, Ontario, at 7:00 AM under partly cloudy skies. We've been very fortunate with the weather, so far. We seem to be following a big storm moving slowly northeast across the country ahead of us, you know, the kind that shows up in red and yellow on the TV weather shows? We hoped not to catch it. It's been kind of like being in the eye of a hurricane, calm in the center, but nasty everywhere else.

After twenty minutes on the road, we once again ran headlong into a thick low-hanging fog this morning, slowing our progress considerably. After eighty miles and an hour and a half, we rolled into North Bay, Ontario, under clearing skies. We stopped for "push water" at the local Shell station and solicited a recommendation for breakfast. No question, the burger joint on the corner had the best breakfast in town, according to the attendant. We were skeptical but went to check it out. The parking lot was full with people waiting, two good signs. We were not disappointed and no one left hungry.

A customer at the restaurant inquired as to our destination. We filled him in and he said we need to go down the road a piece and see the Temiscaminque River, as the drive to Ottawa is just plain boring. We saw the river, nice but it's just a river and we've seen dozens of them this week. So, we motored on toward Ottawa and the Hard Rock Cafe, so that Bob could pick up a guitar pendant for his daughter; she apparently collects them. If the customer thinks that drive is boring, he has never driven from LA to Phoenix, AZ. We thought the drive was beautiful.

En route to Ottawa, the rains began to fall, lightly at first. We asked Bill, "See any rain on the weather radar picture on your GPS." "No," was the response, "Clear all the way to Ottawa." With those words still ringing in our ears, the sky opened up on us. We had ridden directly into the path of a tremendous thunderstorm with heavy rain. None of us even had time to don rain gear. Lightening was striking all around us and thunder was shaking the ground. We sought temporary shelter under the cover of a gas station awning. Two small blond girls, ages 3 and 5 were clinging to their father's leg on the gas pump island. They were both crying, holding their ears and mumbling something in French. Dad was trying to reassure them in vain. After twenty minutes, some of us changed out of wet clothes in a storeroom and put our rain gear on. Others just put rain jackets on with their soaked jeans and we departed under slightly less intense showers. It rained all the way to Ottawa, Ontario. The weather gods must be appeased!

Departing Ottawa, it rained the remainder of our journey to Hawkesbury, Ontario, some 150 miles away. We checked into a Best Western hotel, got cleaned up, and rode into town where we had a nice supper at the local sports bar. It was still raining. Riding in the rain isn't too bad if you are prepared and dressed for it, but riding in the rain at night is just the pits.

We have made three general observations during our travels, thus far. One, people in the mid-west, America or Canada, are just plain friendly. We can't get used to strangers talking to us all the time, asking how we are, and showing genuine interest in our travels. Two, almost everyone in the mid-west, America and Canada alike, smokes, Yuck! Lastly, the speed limits in Canada are ridiculously slow, 62 MPH is about the maximum, anywhere we have been so far, and the Canadians ignore them routinely. We had one local tell us that 19 KPH over the speed limit is quite acceptable, go figure.

Not many photos today; the weather was not cooperative--sorry. But, we did snap a few of the boy's after-supper planning meeting for tomorrow's ride to Montreal and Quebec, Canada. Bill is programing the route from the map into his GPS, John is documenting the day's activities and posting photos on the blog and Lane is, wait a minute, what is Lane doing? Let's take a closer look at his computer screen in the photo above. Lane is diligently playing Solitare!

Oh well, until next time, take care and be well.

P.S., If I neglected to metion it before, if you click on the photos, they should open up larger for your viewing pleasure. (:-)