21 July
The sound of the truck door woke me up this morning, the first time that I didn't wake on my own, I think an alarm clock for tomorrow might be in order !
Once again we were blessed with clear skies , I think it’s the eight day in a row !!, the wind gods were once again in our favor with a gentle tail wind and the temperature, well it’s been hot , low 30s today.
Six of us set out this morning Bob, John, myself , Brigitte, Rhiannon and Janice , we were later added Bob and Greg to the group as we neared Marquette our first stop were we hoped to find a dinner and have breakfast.
The ride to Marquette ( 50 km) was one of the nicest in a few days winding through some lush farm country there was oat, barley, wheat , corn, canola, beens and some other crops I could not recognize , smaller plots but more advanced crops here , perhaps the weather being warmer or just that now we are approaching the end of July. The road twisted left and right so we were going around bends !!! something not done since BC, and it was nice !!!!
Arriving in Marquette we thought we were out of luck , a very small town with no activity except for a truck parked at the side of the road , as we neared to our surprise this little no name building was surrounded by bicycles and as we pulled in some of our ridders were coming out raving about the food , so in we went and once again there was an overwhelmed proprietor with a full establishment of hungry bikers and a good few locals , but she was up to the task and called in reinforcements and was doing an admirable job keeping up with us , I had the most amazing club sandwich !!!! As we we were leaving another group was pulling in so I think we probably cleaned her out of all her stock by the end of the morning !!!!
After Marquette the roads returned to disappearing into the horizon, people had told me that the Manitoba roads were some of the worst we would encounter but really they have been rather ok except for the fact that most of them have no paved shoulder. We were told that today was one of the flattest sections of the trip and yes it lived up to that as not a single hill was climbed.
We rode on with “Lower Fort Gary” as our destination , and historical side the Fort is in great shape as most of the building were made of stone and the interpretive program was outstanding with people dressed in the costume of the era acting out there respective roles.
We had spent a lot of time at the Fort and at rest stops along the way so it was well after 4 when we left and we had to call in that we would be late for dinner. Luckily the last part of the ride was straight forward and we got in with just enough time to set up tents before dinner was ready.
I am tiered today , it was a good day on the road , our core group from the morning except for Brigitte stayed together the whole day which is unusual as we do tend to pick up and loose people during a days ride, you can start off in a group of five and end up in a group of ten or visa versa, live on the road is interesting but I’ll write about it another day . Tomorrow : Ontario !!!!!
Total ridden today: 165.2 - average speed : 23.7 - Ridding time: 6.57
We have been following the railway tracks since B.C. the sound of train whistles and the rumbling of trains at night are very familiar to us as they are never very far off from our campsites,
The long flat road
Bob, this is what you need to help keep the horses quiet while you blacksmith !!!
I asked the clerk how long a letter would take to be delivered , he said about a month to Toronto area about a year to England !!!
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