DAY 41 OF THE AROUND-THE-BLOCK SOJOURN-AUGUST 10, 2008

August 10, 2008 - Sunday - Day 41
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
  -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 339    - Total Miles -  9652
Mattawa,Ontario,Canada - to Mont-St-Hilaire, QC, Canada
(-staying at Le Transit Motel   -)
(Ontario to Quebec)
- RAIN DAY?????-

    Awoke refreshed as usual at about 6:30am.  Opened the motel room curtains, and sure enough it was pouring. Well, I was going this morning no matter what, so after catching up on the nightly emails I worked harder than ever about getting ready for a rain day. I put almost everything in plastic bags, got my rain pants ready, got my mostly waterproof light jacket ready and also the heavy one.  I got out my gaiters.  And I got all packed up.
  Then I went for a run in the drizzle down to the dock area. I got images of the river and of the motel/restaurant up on the hill. I resolved to come back one day as this is a wonderful place.
  After the run I went with the computer to the dining room where I caught up on said emails and had a delicious oatmeal breakfast.  By then, the texture of the sky had changed, the rain had abated, and the heavy clouds lay threatening, but not dropping any water…  I asked folks arriving from the east about the weather there and every one said it was pouring when they went through. So I went with my plan, packed and dressed up ready for rain, gassed up at the station not far away, and took off east.
  Until the cities of Ottawa and Montreal much further east, it was a fairly easy and by any standards regular biking day. No great sights, nice roads, a few farms sprinkled along the way.
   Once, I saw a bunch of bikes go by the other direction, and one was a trike with a canopy!  It was an unusual sight for sure.
***
  I wonder how many more days of purring through nature day after day it would take to get tired of this??  I love my life back in Havertown and what I do there, so though I guess I could continue contentedly at this for quite awhile, I'm happy to be returning home as well.
***
  I had my first 100 miles in by noon.  I thought that was pretty good considering I hadn't left by ten, and after gassing up it was 10:20!
There were a bunch of routing number changes. The first was Route 17 became Route 417.  I miss the "Route 1 - Transcanada Highway" signs that had been my guides for so long. The new ones still say, "Transcanada Highway" however.
  Buzzed through Ottawa around 1:30pm. There were a few questions about routing, but the 417 Transcanada sign was generally pretty clear to follow. All the markers were in place.
  Stopped for gas and lunch at a place where one had to pay for wi-fi. Ugh. Didn't do it. (And the result was more than 60 emails at the end of the day. Good thing I'm a fast typist!)  The lines weren't long, but the poor performing, slow, and/or lazy staff made it an unnecessary wait.
  I asked about directions out on the parking lot and was given so much help it was unbelievable. It's always good to have second and third opinions on a ride like this!  One guy walked all the way to the other side of the parking lot to help me!
  Montreal was a bit tougher and more complex as the routing changed a bit and the highways were swifter moving and less forgiving. A few times I pulled over to check and make sure I was going the right way. Then it was a challenge to maneuver back onto the highway.
  Not only that, but the signs stopped being in English and French. They were ONLY in French here.  I mean it was like being in a foreign country!  YIKES!  (The last was tongue-in-cheek if you don't know me well enough by now.)
  I was doing pretty well when I came upon a couple riding two up on a big bike and asked some directions to be sure. The cute-as-the-dickens girl in shorts in the passenger seat had a smile that lit the day, and the friendly fellow wanted to help a lot. He gestured for me to follow him to the correct road. At first I thought he took me past the right way, and we went through the city. That may have been the case, and he just wanted to give me a tour - and if so, it was well worth the extra time and miles for me.
   I'll remember that moment - I saw the way to go which seemed well marked, but the French-speaking fellow beckoned me to follow him and NOT go the way the signs directed.  What to do? I made the decision to trust the camaraderie of motorcyclists and people who want to help, and to follow these complete strangers to wherever they were taking me - which was through long tunnels and back into the heart of the metropolitan area.  There was also the question of the language barrier - because when we had a few moments to chat at traffic lights for instance, the communication between French and English was bumbling and halting at best. And I wasn't so sure he understood where I wanted to go. None-the-less, I followed them.
  We went over a big bridge at one point with Montreal proper to the left and huge ferris wheels and an amusement park there. It was a wonderful fleeting sight. Finally he got me back (again!) to Route 20 East, and with friendly waves we parted.
   I rode to the other side of the big city and about 20 miles further northeast to the second motel I came to. It was perfect.  On the net I noticed a Cardinal game was to be on ESPN, and I tuned in while munching popcorn and drinking lemonade. (It was the first time I had a motel room TV on the whole trip!) Too bad they lost, because otherwise it would have been a perfect day….
  By-the-way, I was suited up and waited for the rain all day.  The clouds continued murky and threatening for the entire time on the Nomad. In the distance I could see the wet stuff coming earthward, but the road seemed to turn away from the showers at every bend in the highway.  Had fifteen drops for the day! This 41st day of the trip I was fortunate weather-wise that's for sure.



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