Introduction

Allo, hello, tere,

Some old lines/puns: Pierre qui roule, rock and roll, the rolling stone (gathers no dust).

Who: Pierre, Ottawa (ON)

What: Cross Canada travel.

When: After a few days rest in Tofino, British Columbia at the beginning of May, 2008, hit the road around the 4th. The 1st time-based goal is to arrive in Ottawa in mid June, race in a 24-hour mountain bike competition, and head back on the road a few days later. Finish the trip in St. John's, Newfoundland, at the end of July, 2008, before returning home to Ottawa to start being an adult again.

Where: Canada, West to East, via Toronto, Ontario. Detours: Val Gagné and Manitoulin Island (ON), Gaspé region (QC), and Cape Breton (NS).

Why: Visit this beautiful (and fairly big) nation of ours. See family and friends. Taste the cuisine of different parts of the country and enjoy the various beers and wine along the way. Experience anything the villages and cities along the way have to showcase. Lose 50 pounds and be buff.

How: By bicycle (her nickname: Dzie, pronounced D-Zie).

Extras: According to mapquest, a drive from tip to tip (via Toronto) would be 7710 km (85 hours of driving, 2 ferries). A flight would only be 5400 km (9 hours flight time, with switching planes 2 times).

* I do occasionally feel I am following the footsteps of a few great ones (whom I've also had the honour of riding with), who have done this trip in the past - Al, and especially Tanya. I do hope that I can bring in some new pics, new stories, and not rehash stuff that those amazing folks have done before me.

** I imagine I'll be a bit lonely at times throughout the trip, where I highly request and encourage comments from you guys. It'll be my way of having some conversations with you. I'll try to update the blog every few days.

Disclaimer: Most of you guys know me. In my posts, there will probably be a mixture of bizarre stories, silly jokes (like the weight-losing bit a few instances before), some references to music lyrics and movie lines. I will do my best to entertain, but sometimes, I might miss the mark on being funny or entertaining (hopefully not though).

Posting messages: Readers with a gmail/blogger account - you know what to do. Readers who do not: post a comment as anonymous (but put your name at the bottom of the comment please). The occasional personal messages can be sent to pierre.l.perron@gmail.com

Ciao,
p2

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Day 24 - Winnipeg to ...


You'll have to excuse me
I'm not at my best
I've been gone for a month
I've been drunk since I left
This so-called vacation
Will soon be my death
I'm so sick from the drink
I need home for a rest
Take me home!

Gone a month, and I am basically home – Ontario! I haven't been drunk since I left, nor do I need a rest yet.

Had a few sentimental moments after crossing the border. Weird and neat feeling.

Winnipeg to Kenora, 230 k, 9.5 hrs
Overcast
Slightly windy (mainly headwind with a diagonal cross-head wind for most of the day until Ontario)

Pictures updated - click title for them.

If Winnipeg is the gateway to the West, then heading the other way must be the gateway to the East. Prairies are behind me now.

I woke up with my calves being a bit sore today. Odd. It must have been all the walking I did the day before. Gees I'm out of shape.

I decided to not do the Trans-Canada highway again and went North. Good call. I eventually went through a provincial park. The road wasn't that good (alright), but the route was definitely worth it. At one point, I thought “gees, the terrain is changing a bit, it looks different”, and realized that I have entered the Canadian Shield. Nice. Lots of winding up and down roads, lined with streams, lakes and rocks. Some wildlife too. Almost no traffic, just quietness. Definetely better than the TransCanada, in my opinion.

After crossing the Ontario border, while listening to Paul Anka sing Black Hole Sun, the sun came out for about 30 minutes (just faintly, but I could see my shaddow a bit). That was nice.

Kenora seems quite nice. Nestled on inlets of lake superior, there's lots of nice views from here.

There. Short entry as I am quite tired (now 1 am). I got in at 9 (after spending some time downtown), set-up camp, ate, showered, laundry in the sink, spend some time on the phone with a friend, but what took long was just organising those photos and adding comments before uploading them. Priorities – the blog and such, instead of sleep. Oh well. I will be getting up in 6.5 hours or so. Another typical day tomorrow,, so ride all day.

Thunder Bay in 2 nights, so heads-up Michael and Bonnie. Looks like Val Gagne on the evening of the 4th and 5th. I'll crash one evening at memere's, and the other eveving somewhere where I can see as much as the Perron's and Couture's. I have no idea who is where, so if someone could drop me a line and I can be a bit organized with my visiting. It'll be nice to see you folks, and get a day of resting (visiting, not having to do the touristy thing).

Later, et bonne nuit.
p2

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back “home” Pierre. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you’re here in such a timeline with the many side adventures!

You’re one heck of a cyclist :)

MT

Boo said...

Welcome "home"! Ontario is definitely a beautiful province!

Anonymous said...

Allô Pierrot
Oui les prairies sont en arrière. J'espère que la pluie ne va pas te tarder. Pas trop de bonne temp pour le weekend. Mike & Bonnie t'attendent. Entre par le garage et tu pourras entrer ta byciclette et ton stuff. Mémère a hâte aussi. Elle a changé son rendez vous pour être à la maison quand tu arrives. Je lui ai dis que je veux une photo quand tu arrive dans la cour et une autre avec elle et Ron(second hand grandpa) Keep on trucking, you're doing extremely well. Demain ma tante et moi allons à Perkinsfield pour fêter Martial 70 ans. Surprise party. Sa fête était au début de mai alors il n'a aucune idée.
See you soon
Love you
Mom

Anonymous said...

Great blog, but I just thought you should know where you are. Kenora is on Lake of the Woods, not Lake Superior. Don't worry...you'll know Lake Superior when you see it. No inlets, just one massive ocean of a Lake. I highly recommend stopping for a swim (if you're brave enough) at Old Lady Bay outside of the Sault...beautiful scenery, and abslutely freezing water. Worth the suffer though.

Keep on blgging.