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Day 41
Yawn...another perfect day

ROUTE: London to Brantford Ontario DISTANCE: 64 Miles WINDS: Light and variable
WEATHER: Mostly sunny, warm...high 83 TERRAIN: Flat to gently rolling TOTAL CLIMBING: 1250 Feet

DAILY REPORT:  We took a late load this morning due to the shortish day.  Rooms aren't usually ready when we get there if we show up before 2:00 anyway.  Breakfast was basically on our normal schedule which gave everyone a chance to read the local paper or just sit and relax before we started the day.  With loading scheduled at 8:00 it also gives everyone a chance to be waiting in line to load...but that wouldn't matter what time we scheduled load...even if we did it at 3:00 in the morning there would be a few who would get in line at 2:45.  Just bicyclist's normal personality I guess.

Our route today was mostly out in the country...the kind of roads I like...no center line and smooth blacktop.  We popped out occasionally to a highway, but we were only on them long enough to get to the next easterly blacktop road.  If I didn't have my route sheet that said we were in Canada, it would be hard to tell we weren't in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, or New York.  I know this sounds like a broken record, but we passed farm after farm this morning with corn, soybeans, and wheat blanketing the horizon.  Most of the wheat has been harvested by this time and those fields were now dotted with large straw bales waiting to be taken to be used as bedding for livestock.  It brought back memories of my youth when I worked on a farm to see the combines harvesting the wheat crop and farm implements hauling hay and straw to the storage barns.  When I was a kid, we hauled the hay on small wagons or single axle trucks, but around here the use semis to haul the huge round bales of straw.  These farms are on a bigger scale than the one I worked, but the processes are the same...hard, dirty work, but very satisfying at days end.  We also came upon some crops we haven't seen before today...things like ginseng (right), tobacco, lima beans, green beans, and more asparagus.  The ginseng plant takes over 4 years to mature.  I like that...only have to harvest every four or five years.  Knowing about the healing properties of the ginseng plant, Jim our mechanic put a ginseng root in his pocket all day and he said he felt nothing by rap time...we'll report on his progress tomorrow.  I can attest he wasn't acting any more unusual than we're used to. 

Even with the late start, the riders were enjoying the back country riding, the cool morning temperatures, seeing beautiful landscape, and the flatish terrain.  I think they'll be ready for some hills soon, but even with that, the last two days will give them more than they've bargained for...but that's not for another few days.  For now, we'll continue to enjoy the respite from the big climbs and a welcomed day off tomorrow.

Tonight we are staying in Brantford Ontario.  Brantford's history can be traced back for more than three centuries to the time when native tribes led by Chief Joseph Brant lived in the area. He was better known to his people of the Six Nations as Thay-en-da-negea.  His statue, made of melted down French cannons in 1886, stands in Victoria Park in downtown Brantford. Chief Brant led his people from their lands in the Mohawk Valley of upper NY to the Grand River basin where they crossed the river. This spot became known as Brant's ford . . . and thus began the name, location, and history of Brantford, Ontario.

There are many other notable previous residents of Brantford: Alexander Graham Bell, who made the first long-distance phone call from here in 1876, Indian poet Pauline Johnson who was born and raised on the Six Nations Reserve; the faithful Indian sidekick of the Lone Ranger, Tonto, born Harold J. Smith, later changed to Jay Silverheels; hockey legend Wayne Gretzky; and comedian Phil Hartman.

I think everyone is looking forward to a day off and playing at the falls.  I know I'm ready for a little time to recharge before the final assault into Portsmouth.  It will be a busy day though as we have 5 new people to get in shape, vans to clean, and prep for the last week.  Next week will go fast...hang on and join us for our finish.  But first I guess we need to get back into the US...we may have to wander around Canada for some time if they won't let us in.  Tune in tomorrow and see if we make it back.  See you then.

 

DID I REALLY SAY THAT?:

"You know, Sondra and Jeff have been married now for 6 days!"
"Yeah, who said it wouldn't last."

"All this flat riding makes my butt hurt."
"Yeah, I guess your butt is not what it's cracked up to be."

"We rode on Putnam Road today...they must not have gotten the word that Sondra was married to Jeff...they should have changed it to Lazer Road."

"I was disappointed not to see the London fog."

"Did you see the London Bridge?"
"No, it had fallen down and was just ashes."

"It's so hard to manage beauty on a ride like this."

"Does this road make me look fat?"

 DID I REALLY DO THAT?:

Ernst was really looking good today in his new jersey and socks that Jan M. had bought him after his laundry got misplaced.  Seems the other evening in Birch Run, for some unknown reason she was doing his laundry (we won't tell his wife because she thinks he's learning new domestic skills) and when she finished, he was at dinner so she left it at the motel counter to have them call his room and leave a message that it was done and to pick it up there.  Well, as all best laid plans play out, they didn't call and he didn't pick up his laundry.  The next day he asked Jan where his laundry was...oops...still at the Birch Run desk.  A phone call got it all shipped to a forward location, but in the meantime he was missing a jersey, socks, and evidently some underwear.  Ergo, the new jersey and socks this morning.  Ernst asked her not to go to the trouble of spending for a replacement, but she insisted on buying him a jersey and socks...but she did pull up short of shopping at WalMart for some replacement underwear.   

DID I REALLY SEE THAT?

Today, in Otterville, Canada we passed the shortest rail line in North America.  Passengers get on one end of the railcar, walk the length of the aisle, and get off to greet their anxiously awaiting relatives.  They haven't seen a train in these parts for a long time

"Boy, I sure like these hands-free phones. . . .
Pssst, that you Doris, eh?  Quick! Help me out here and call the cops, would ya?  There's a suspicious human wearing tight pants and colorful shirt aiming some sort of contraption at me as I speak. Oh no...it just clicked!  I may be in real trouble...tell them to hurry, I may not have much time left!" 

????

The sounds of Canadian cows. 

A fisherman's dream, a Live Bait dispensing machine.  Really!  Earthworms at the push of a button.

I finally found an angle I can shoot the the tandem and see Janet...I usually just get her ear sticking out around John's helmet.

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