Life is a highway , no , life is the open road !!!: Day 44

August 9

A look at the map revels 31 turns today a sharp contrast from northern Ontario , this will keep us off the main roads and give us a good flavor of the country side in this part of the country. Some have opted for more direct routes others for detours to visit places of significance to them , we followed the map and had a thoroughly enjoyable day despite the rain.

Right from the start I got the feeling of being near home , we rode through prime agricultural land , farms to the left , farms to the right , lots of corn and cows and here and there horses also.

The morning started very nice but rain was in the air , you could tell , for the first 50 km the temperature stayed around 22 degrees , and the rain held off. We went through a few very pretty towns but none restaurants so we reverted to our peanut butter and jam sandwiches for breakfast something we hadn’t done in a while, not quite the same as an omelet but we still like the PJs .

We were relaxed on the road at times three a breast chatting along, traffic was light , it was going to be a long day so the early pace was not to fast and most of the climbing was in the first half of the day so no point in burning up the legs , in a jovial mood we arrived to the decent of Bowles Hill into the Beaver Valley, a warning had been issued about the decent but as kids often do caution was thrown to the wind and Ed launched himself down me in hot pursuit with Janice and Bob behind , speed built up and up turn after turn ( I had to break a bit on one as I wasn’t sure I could hold it ! ) and as you came out of the final turn and looked at the bottom there was about 10 other riders waiting and watching and sharing the excitement as we joined them at the bottom , a check of my speedometer reveled a top speed of 71.1 km/h !!!!! the fastest I've had the bike at during the whole trip !!!!!.

Of course there was a price to pay for all this glorious rush of childhood excitement , after a few km of meandering through the lovely valley floor we were presented with Beaver Valley Hill our way out witch happened to coincide with the sun coming out and a hike in the temperature to 31 degrees as we climbed and climbed , once again I through caution to the wind and attacked the hill and continued on to Eugenia were I finally found a store and ended up drinking two bottles of Gatorade !!!!, the rest of the gang showed up and we ended up eating a breakfast/lunch here. ( a few km latter we found a small restaurant in Badjeros and eat a second lunch !!!)

About 20 km down the road the first drops of rain started and on we went , at one point meeting up with fellow riders sheltered at a house on one of the many turns , we declined there invitation to join them and decided to run for Creemore were we wanted to stop and enjoy a nice cold beer , well not 2 minutes passed and the heavens opened up and it started to really rain , we quickly downed our rain gear and on we went , and it rained even harder !!!! . Nearing Creemore there was another decent so once again Ed throw himself down with me in hot pursuit , the difference this time was that it was raining so hard it was impossible to keep ones eyes open , the breaks didn't work very well at all and there was a lot of water on the road , WOW !!!!! it was awesome !!!!

We finally got into Creemore soaking wet agreeing that something warm was in order so we forfeited the beer and headed to the bakery instead and what a treat we were in for , amassing hot chocolate and Bramble-berry pie !!!, I had to buy the whole pie as they did not sell slices but it was well worth it !!!. We left puddles on the floor of the bakery when we went and rode on as thunder filled the sky but about 20 km on the rain stopped and eventually as we neared Alliston the sun came out.

All of a sudden we turned south towards Alliston and I recognized the road , I was ridding on my home roads !!!!! what a thrill !!!! I was going home !!!!, I had been calling Evelyn through out the day to let her know of our progress as she was going to pick me up at the campground , and now I was almost there !!, hard to describe the feeling , but it was suddenly sinking in that I had ridden a long, long way to get here , the sum of the days equaled an accomplishment finally , I was home and I’d came a long way to get here, 5,231kilometers !!!

As we turned into the campground there was Evelyn and the pups waiting what a lovely sight !!!! , I left my riding companions in camp wishing them a dry rest day and headed for home sweet home !!!!

Total ridden today: 165,6 - Average speed: 21.7 - Ridding time: 7.36