Life is a highway , no , life is the open road !!!: Day 29

Emo

25 July

We are camped by a beautiful lake , our bellies are full of delicious chili, John is strumming away at his guitar on the dock, some like me on there computers writing up the days events , conversation and laughter can be heard everywhere, socializing made possible by the absence of the dreaded mosquito, today for us we are in heaven !!

Last night after our epic mosquito battle I finally retired to my tent and as darkness neared I must admit I was worried about laying down to sleep as I knew the likely consequences , but eventually I succumbed and built up a pillow with cloths and my own pillow so that my head would be elevated and I laid on my side all night that way , most uncomfortable but it worked !!!, this morning I woke and no dizziness !!!!!! what a relief !!!, I was able to function right from the get go and I was able to eat breakfast !!!

Speaking of breakfast , what a challenge it was , last nights mosquitos had all night to muster the troops , they brought lots of reinforcements and met us head on this morning , swarms of them attacking every little bit of exposed flesh. We cooked pancakes , oatmeal and the usual dry cereals were laid out, cyclist eat on the run , many leaving even without eating just to escape the onslaught , the ones that eat did it quickly , packed up and were on the road , camp emptied early !!! , we loaded the truck and left relived to be on the road away from the attacking hordes !! . We had been told to look out for the Saskatchewan mosquito, but they pale in comparison to our Ontario devils !!!!

Today I left last with Janice as we were sweeps , nether one of us felling particularly strong so we took it easy , about an hour up the road we caught up to Ed and the three of us spent the day together , the riding was pleasant to start with the rolling hills and lakes , then it changed to farm land as we started nearing Fort Frances, the temperature pleasant early in the morning quickly changed to HOT ( mid 30s ). We stopped for a bacon and egg breakfast in Emo a very scenic town on the shores of a large river ( don’t know the name ) latter in Fort Frances we stopped at a Tim Horton for coffee and to linger in the air conditioning . As we left town we were surrounded by lakes on all sides and the scenery returned to stone , pine and lakes .

About seven km from camp we were moving along silently just eating up the miles to get to camp when I looked ahead and saw a black bear crossing the road , I snapped a few picture as we rolled towards it ( can hardly see the bear ), and we lost sight of him when he went down into the ditch , but as we neared the spot we saw that he was just there munching on berries looking at us, we prudently moved to the other side of the road and then Ed spoke to him and all of a sudden he ran off into the trees , an exiting moment !!!!

A note of interest is that we have been cycling on Young Street , the longest street in Canada - world ? , and if I where to stay on it I would end up very close to home.

And now I’m enjoying this heavenly camp ground , without mosquitos !!!!

Total ridden today: 132.9 - Average speed: 22.9 - Ridding time: 5.46