Full speed ahead ..... well, sort of

Saturday Sept 5 - Sunday Sept 13

334 miles

Toledo -Fremont- Kingsville Ontario (via ferry in Sandusky) - Blenheim - Port Stanley - Port Dover - Port Colborne - Niagra Falls

After the mid-afternoon departure from Toledo, we back-tracked the route we had taken 3 weeks earlier, heading to Elmore, OH to catch the bike trail to Fremont. Between Genoa and Elmore we stopped to visit with Paul and Sandy, long-time farmers in the area who Reuben had worked closely with during the Fremont portion of his career at Heinz. They were very excited to see us, not only to get caught up on each other's activites, but they were headed to a party that evening that had a bicycling theme to it. Armed with pictures of us (we didn't give them the shirts off our backs) and the stories we shared with them, they felt very well

prepared to star in the event. We arrived at the Fremont hotel kind of late (38 miles) and ordered pizza delivered in (first time for that).  Reuben also broke loose with a cold, and spent much of the night trying to get sleep between sneezing and coughing.  Teresa got to listen to it all.

On Sunday we attended Mass at yet another remodeled Fremont church, St. Ann's. They had started the remodel before we left 18 years ago and the finished project is fantastic. The ride into Sandusky (33 miles) was another short day and we caught the 3:30pm 'Peelee Islander' ferry to - you guessed it - Pelee Island. It was good fun riding on the lake once again, we had several occassions when we lived in Ohio to enjoy the islands area, so it brought back good memories.  After a short stay on Pelee Island, we transferred to the 'Jimaan' ferry and crossed to mainland Canada, arriving in Kingsville Ontario at 9:30pm. We rode safely in the dark for about 1 1/2 miles to the motel. Hope we don't have to do that again. 

Monday, which was Labor Day in the USA and Labour Day in Canada, we tried to find a restaurant for breakfast, but the only one in Kingsville that was open was a totally packed Tim Hortons, so we ate a couple snack bars and went on. We rode through Leamington and past the massive Heinz factory there - they were in the thick of tomato season, poor souls. We rode on to Wheatley and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Scott and Donna. Scott is the Agriculture Manager for Heinz at the Leamington factory and we have worked closely on many things over the years. It was really great to visit with them for a couple hours before heading on to Blenheim. We arrived in Blenheim (38 miles for the day) in the late afternoon, pleasantly surprised at the light traffic encountered on a busy holiday, and checked into the Queen's Motel. Not sure which queen it's named for, but I doubt any would claim it for their own. Oh well, a roof over the head is often enough.  By now, Reuben had lost his cold, but Teresa had found it.

Tuesday we awoke to wet roads, but nothng coming down when we left. Had great coffee and a muffin in town and bought groceries/supplies before leaving Blenheim shortly before 10am. Unfortunately, the restaurant we thought was open about 15 miles up the road wasn't, but we did find an ice cream bar at the gas station across the road. After another 12 miles or so, we did find an open restaurant in New Glasgow and had some very hearty pancakes.

Pushing on along the Lake Erie coastline, we managed to just avoid small cloudbursts ( it rained over an inch in Leamington that day). We arrived in Port Stanley about 3:30pm and 58 miles later, and pulled into the home of our first "Warm Showers" hosts, Margaret and Bob, whom we had contacted a couple days before. Warm Showers is a website for an online organization of people who offer the use of their homes to touring cyclists who are also WS members. As a member, you agree to open your home when you can, but you don't have to permit cyclists in if you don't want to. You indicate how much prior notice you require and provide a list of the services you are willing to offer: a bed or just a place to pitch a tent; food or not; laundry; kitchen privileges; shower; etc. Margaret and Bob have a very unique home in Port Stanley, with an attached gazebo with bedroom.  We changed into our swim gear and walked the short distance to the beach to rinse off in the lake. We returned to the house to put on our finery and enjoyed dinner and a fantastic chocolate cake for dessert at the great restaurant next door, finding our way back to the house and Bob shortly after dark. We had to hit the sack before Margaret arrived, but we got to see both of them before we headed out in the morning. Thanks so much to both for the great hospitality and generosity you showed us.

Wednesday, we traveled 68 miles from Port Stanley to Port Dover, almost entirely through fields of corn, soybeans, treefruits (apple season would start in a week) and tobacco, seeing a good amount of tobacco harvested and put up in barns. I might add that ever since we left Toledo, we faced an east wind which, like the winds we had in our faces in Montana and North Dakota, were not supposed to be. This day was also complicated by 17 miles of road under repair, nearly all of it torn down to gravel. So we were quite tired when we arrived in Port Dover to look for a place to stay.

Heading down to the waterfront, we looked all around for a motel but couldn't see one. We stopped at an information board and called a couple of the motels/B&B's listed, but could only leave messages. A gentleman walked by and we asked him about lodging. He wasn't from the area and really didn't know, but he said he was staying at the Erie Beach Hotel which was just behind us: if we had turned around, we would have seen it. While I was checking us in there, Teresa gathered a crowd around her to tell our tale, and asked a gentleman where the best place to eat was.  He pointed at our hotel and said the perch was the best on the lake.  So we had dinner figured out, too, and he was right.  After a very filling perch dinner we walked around town and the beach, then hit the sack.

Thursday was a pretty nice clear day but the headwind was still fairly strong.  We left Port Dover shortly after 9am, having had our first breakfast at Tim Hortons: the coffee is quite good, but the food leaves something to be desired - it sure ain't pancakes, eggs and bacon!  We had decided to modify the Adventure Cycling route when we could, since we had enjoyed riding right along the lake enough: the north shore is comprised of clay cliffs about 80-100 feet above the water, but every river that runs to the lake has cut a  sharp gully down to lake level, so you end up dropping downhill quickly and climbing back up very slowly on the sharp grades.  These may have led to Teresa getting a soft tissue injury in her tailbone the previous day and which became quite painful as the day wore on.  So when the route zigged towards the lake and there was a option to stay the course, we took the option and avoided those sharp grades. 

Near Nanticoke there is a US Steel factory that was not operating.  A huge facility, we spent at least 20 minutes riding around the perimeter on the south and east sides.  As we approached the main gate, we saw a crowd of folks with signs and, as we turned further eastward, noticed that it probably was a group on strike.  We turned around to see what was up and had a good visit with the picketing workers who had been locked out by US Steel.  It seems that US Steel had purchased the facility a couple years ago and was trying to implement US style work rules and benefit plans.  Negotiations had broken down and the company had decided to shut it down almost 40 days earlier, idling about 1,000 union workers.  Asked what it would take to settle the impasse, they felt that only government intervention would work.  They wondered how we could work for Americans: we responded that we had been very blessed, and left it at that, wishing them well as we headed on our way.  Before we left, they told us they had met a couple from Arizona a few weeks earlier passing by - Tim and Cindii, the authors we met in White Star Park on our first swing through NW Ohio and who had been riding for 7 years!

We made it to Port Colborne, at the downbound entry point to the Welland Canal, around 3:30pm and after 58 miles.  About 5 miles before the town, we came back along the lake and saw a lake freighter entering the port.  Arriving in town we headed straight for the canal and there the ship was, just entering it.  Very exciting, bringing back memories of when I was a lowly deckhand on the SS Herbert C Jackson during the fall of '71 and summer of '72.  First time I remember seeing the canal, having only gotten as close as Buffalo, NY, just across the water, during my short time on the lakes.  The original canal was commissioned in 1829, providing a navigable link between Lakes Ontario and Erie for the first time as Niagara Falls tended to be a bit too treacherous.  The existing canal was completed in 1932 and is comprised of 7 locks on the Niagara Escarpement and an 8th guard lock at Port Colborne to adjust to Lake Erie levels.

We spent the night at the King George Inn, an old style inn with very nicely appointed rooms above a tavern and restaurant.  We enjoyed a really nice dinner and sight-seeing evening with Liz and Joe, whom we met at the memorial service for Chris in Toledo: they are John's cousins, living in Welland, ON about 11 miles down the canal towards Lake Ontario.  We had originally talked about staying with them, but the long days and headwind were getting to us and we decided to call it a day when we reached Port Colborne.  So they generously offered to come see us and take us to dinner, which was perfect for us and a great evening.  They sent us off with great tasting apples and pears from their trees which we finished off before reentering the US.

Friday, after a great breakfast at a tiny cafe on the canal (thick homebaked sturdy toast), we found the paved Friendship Bike Trail just across the canal from the King George Inn, and rode the 20 miles or so to Fort Erie at the inlet from Lake Erie to the Niagara River and just across from Buffalo, NY.  We enjoyed a very interesting tour of the historic Ft. Erie, which during the war of 1812 was variously controlled by the British or Americans and was the site of the bloodiest battle on Canadian soil in August of 1814, during which the British lost over 1,000 men.  The fort was destroyed by the Americans as they abandoned it shortly before winter of that year, the forces being better used to defend the East Coast which was being invaded and Washington, D.C. was burning.  What we toured had only been rebuilt as recently as 1937 as an historical site.  They put on a very interesting tour with docents attired in the clothing of the time and put on a musket firing demonstration.

After the fort tour, we caught the Niagara Recreation Trail which follows the Niagara River all the way from Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake on Lake Ontario.  As we were riding along, we met another trans-con cyclist, Daniel, who had lost his job a couple months previously and with little long-distance cycling experience, had bought a bike and a week later set off from Victoria, BC headed to Nova Scotia.  As his funding was very limited, he was camping most of the time and knocking out 80-100 miles a day to try to finish in about 50 days.  He said the first two weeks were really painful as he got into cycling shape.  I can imagine.

We found arriving at Niagara Falls from upstream on the Canadian side to be quite a marvelous approach: there is little congestion, the river is wide and impressive at the precipice and you can see the mist rising above the river as you get nearer.  We rode most of the way and then dismounted as we got within a few hundred yards and the crowd began to thicken.  Enjoying the Candian Horseshoe Falls for a period, we then walked past the view of the American falls and remounted to ride the remaining few miles along Niagara Parkway to our motel.  Arriving mid-afternoon, we found time to ride to downtown of Niagara Falls to get the laundry done right away so it wouldn't take away from our full day off.  There is a very good attempt going on to revitalize the downtown, stalled somewhat by the economic downturn.  Lots of eateries and small boutiques.  Unfortunately, we were able to ride down the main drag without any traffic.

Saturday, our first day off in 10 days of riding!  From Ann Arbor we had covered 472 miles, toured in two states and one province, two countries, had visited many good friends, made several more, caught colds and Teresa was still fighting hers.  After breakfast, we caught a taxi to take us to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a very upscale tourist town at the point where the Niagara River enters Lake Ontario and the home of the Shaw Festival, named for the playwright George Bernard Shaw and dedicated to the dramatic arts.  The Festival encompasses 3 theatres within 4 blocks of one another, each one presenting at least 2 productions daily.  Walking about town, it had a quality quite similar to that of Carmel, CA, for those who have been there. The weather, which was superb, added to the experience, and we wandered around town for a short while before lunch and coffee.  Afterwards we were treated to an up close and personal production of Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon For The Misbegotten", with third row center seats in a very small and personal theatre at the Court House.  Any closer and we would have needed our raingear, as the father role was quite determined to splash the front row during a scene when he was washing after coming in from the fields on a hot day.  Spectacular performance of a marvelous work, we couldn't get over the wonder of it all.  If you have the chance to go to N-O-T-L, we strongly recommend the scallops at Zee's, at the eastern edge of the downtown next to the main Shaw Festival theatre: melt in your mouth delicious.  We returned by taxi to our motel, fully rejuvenated and excited to get on with the next major leg - New York.

After breakfast on Sunday, we headed north along the Niagara Recreation Trail once again, with occassional views of the spectacular gorge and river below.  It was about 5 miles to the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the 4th and most northern bridge across the Niagara River. Prior to leaving, we studied the map very carefully to be sure we knew just how to get on the bridge, and we also had scoped it out the previous day during our ride to N-O-T-L.  Still, we managed to make a wrong turn and ride about 5 miles out our way.  It seems the signage for the bicycle entry appears only after you have entered the employee and visitor gate, which is right where the Canadian Customs booths are.  Cars need to go the 2.5 miles one-way to enter the highway and backtrack to the booths.  Once in, we were directed to walk past the booths - carefully - and get on the roadway to the bridge.  It was early enough on a Sunday that we had little difficulty as traffic was light.  Pretty nice view from up there. 

We came to the US Customs with a little trepidation, not knowing if we were going to have to tear our gear apart for inspection.  We presented our passports (yes, we had carried them all this way just in case) and as soon as the officer asked us where we had come from - California - a small party of customs officers began around us asking us all the usual questions we get about our trip with a keen interest in our adventure, not in whether we had contraband.  I hope terrorists don't figure out crossing this way, but it worked well for us.

I know this was only Canada, which is hardly any different than the US in most ways, eh?  But I am always happy to come back into the US.  It must be a carry-over from the many returns outlandish places in China, Africa and elsewhere.  Anyway, it was a good feeling to enter New York.  We rode east from Lewiston to Lockport, at lunch, then got onto the Erie Canal towpath.  A crushed limestone surface beneath our wheels, we rode the 30 miles or so to Albion, NY, passing several quaint canal towns along the way.  The canal and towpath are almost level, so the only impedence is wind and intersections at the small towns.  In Albion, we found the Dollinger Motor Inn to be the only place to stay, and they have a unique way to check in: there is a phone outside the office that you pick up, a person comes on the other end and takes your info/credit card and tells you to take an envelope with a certain name from a mailbox nearby; inside is the key to a room.  I guess if they get more customers than prepared envelopes, someone has to come down to the office.  The room was fine and the location good for our needs as there was a grocery store next door where we stocked up on travel food and had a nice deli dinner with rotisserie chicken, salads and Ben and Jerry's.

And so the last day in Canada and first day in NY comes to an end.  This writing was completed on 9/23 in Middlebury VT.  We have about 5 days of riding left in our plans before we reach Portland, ME this coming Sunday or Monday.  Teresa is about over her cold.  We plan to return to Modesto on Thursday, October 1. Wish us luck as we finish our adventure over the next week.