Hi Everyone,

Yesterday the weather forecast was for 40% chance of isolated showers 
and this morning it was reduced to 30%.  It looked promising when I
 left the motel.  I had rain covers only on the rear panniers because
 they are the hardest to put on.

By the time I got to Brockville, the sun had come out and I thought
 that it would not rain in my area.  A few miles from Brockville, I
 saw wet pavement.  I should have been forewarned, but I just thought
 that it had rained there earlier.  It was odd that the wet pavement
 was only a half mile to a mile long.

I kept on going and several miles later there were a few raindrops but
 not enough to worry about but I was out in the middle of nowhere so 
there was town to take shelter in.  Then I saw a park like place but 
the driveway said Private.  I went in the driveway anyway and got
 under a shelter with several picnic tables.  By now it was light 
rain.  There I found two bicyclists who had passed me in Brockville. 
 One was from Ottawa and one was from Brockville.  Then several pickup 
trucks showed up and parked.  It seems that employees from the 
petrochemical plant across the road come to the private park to
 smoke during lunch because smoking is not allowed on the company
 premises.  No wonder!  

After 15 minutes or so, the rain became drips and the two cyclists left. 
 I waited a little bit longer to make sure that it was really over. 
 Then I took off also and a hundred yards later it started pouring!  
I quickly turned around and headed back to the shelter.  

I waited over 30 minutes and then the sun sun came out.  I still waited
 because the trucks were really kicking up road spray and since there 
was no shoulder there, I would be drenched from the road spray.  It
 took at while for the trucks and cars to displace the water on the
 road and the sun was still out to help dry out the road.

It was about 1 pm when I got back on the road and the road was 
reasonable and the drivers were courteous by slowing down when 
they passed me.  By the time I got to Prescott, there was no 
evidence that it had rained and this was only a couple of miles away.
  
I cleaned up my rims with paper towels from the gas station and 
left in the sunshine.  I saw the bridge at Johnstown which is the 
first place to cross over to the US.  Just as I passed the bridge, 
it started dripping again.  Then after a few minutes it stopped again. 
 I started thinking that this may go on over and over again so I had 
to remember where the next town with a motel was.  It was Iroquois 
but that was almost to Morrisburg where I had planned to stop.  

I kept on going and no more rain.  Then I got to Iroquois and it was
 a new strip shopping center.  I could not see any old buildings there. 
 I saw the motel and kept on riding.  Morrisburg was only 13 km away 
according to the McIntosh Inn billboard.

While I was drinking a Coke in Iroquois, I noticed a dark cloud ahead. 
 By the time I had finished drinking the Coke, the dark cloud had gone 
passed the road.  The winds must have been howling at the cloud level.

Several miles down the road, the road was wet.  The dark cloud must 
have been a rain cloud.  This time the bad driver was a truck on the
 other side of the road.  It was a dump truck with open wheels and it
 kicked up enough spray to come over to my side.  Luckily the other 
drivers were more courteous. As before, the wet roads dried up and it
 was dry in Morrisburg.

There were supposed to be three motels in Morrisburg.  I passed one
 with a faded sign half hidden by trees and there were quite a few 
cars there.  The second one had one car and a big parking lot.  
No wifi!  On tonthe third motel - the McIntosh Inn.  

The McIntosh Inn is named after the apple I assume and not Apple 
computers.  The wifi here screams!  10,043 Kbps download and 1,333
 Kbps upload.

Tomorrow I should be arriving into Quebec Province.  The weather 
forecast is for several sunny days.  The problem is to decide
 whether or not to go to Montreal and then Sherbrooke home of 
Aarkel or go directly to Sherbrooke / Arkel.  My main problem 
is that I left my Route Verte book at home and I don't know how 
to get into Montreal.  The AAA map is not helpful so I may have
 to buy a Montreal map or hope for a Quebec tourist office at
 the border.   

The Statistics:  68.28 miles and 1259 feet of climbing.


Steve in Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada
   

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