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Steve and Ruth Ride Across America
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Hi Everyone,
Yesterday it was obvious from the first time that I looked out the window that I was not going to ride. It was pouring!
Last night the weatherman said it was going to ok today and tomorrow and then maybe more rain or showers. This morning I looked out and it was fine. Then I checked the weather report and it said 60% chance of rain. A person I talked to said that he heard was chance of rain this morning and sunny in the afternoon.
I decided to ride based on two key factors: it was not raining and the wind was significant out of the southwest which meant a tailwind!
As I left the hotel, I felt a couple of drops but that means nothing. As I got out of the bank (ATMs are in the lobby) there were more drops so I put on the new rain covers. As I rode out of town, I debated whether to return to the hotel or to keep on going. I decided to keep on going it wasn't bad and it was probably going to end soon.
It was 10 miles down the road that I decided it was time to put on knee warmers, booties, and a rain jacket instead of my windbreaker.
When I stopped, I could feel the rain, but when I rode, I was going fast enough that I kept up with the rain.
I couldn't believe how fast I was going. I was twice as fast as I rode into Riviere Loup but I was going real slow going into the headwind and today I had a good 10 mph tailwind with gusts up to 20 mph.
At noon, the sun came out but I kept everything on just in case. My original goal was Rimouski but I decided that with the tailwind, I might go to Sainte Flavie so as I rode through Rimouski, I kept looking for a motel on the far end of town to make it easier to get out of town tomorrow. Then I was out of town and I decided to go for Sainte Flavie.
So here I am in Sainte Flavie, the junction to stay on the St Lawrence and go on the north coast of the Gaspe Peninsula or to cross over to the southern coast of the Gaspe Peninsula. The weatherman now says that tomorrow is cloudy with chance of showers and sun and a tailwind and then Tuesday and Wednesday is a 40 a 60% chance of rain so I have to go to a place where I am willing to stay for a rain day / rest day which means a longer day. The only thing that I don't know is where the north coast starts the famous ups and downs.
The Statistics: 91.46 miles and guessing at 1000 feet of climb. I don't believe the 6600 feet that the speedometer says because there was a weather change that changed the atmospheric pressure.
The St Lawrence is so wide now that I can't see across it any more.
Steve in Sainte Flavie, Quebec, Canada on the Gaspe Peninsula
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 4:22 PM PDT
Friday, 3 September 2010
Hi Everyone, The weatherman said it was going to rain today - 60% chance but it rained during the night. it was fine this morning and the roads and shoulders were dry by 9am but it was cloudy or overcast and chilly all morning. i did not see the sun until noon. The problem was a headwind all day. It let up only when I had to climb a hill. I am only one day (105 km) from Rimouski which is only 30km from Sainte Flavie where I have to decide whether to do the entire north coast of the Gaspe Peninsula or to do only the southern coast. The only problem is the weatherman is predicting rain on Saturday and Sunday but I take the weather one day at a time. The Statistics: 62.49 miles and 702 feet of climbing. Steve in Riviere du Loup, Quebec, Canada Sent from the hotel pc because the wifi will not ask me for a password
Posted by steveruthrar
at 3:34 PM PDT
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Hi Everyone,
I am across from Quebec in Levis.
This morning I left with the intention of riding on the Route Verte trail as the terrain to Quebec was supposed to be fairly flat and I ended up riding almost the entire day on the Route Verte trail. The exception was as I approached Levis the sign for the direct route disappeared and a policeman stopped me to ask if I needed help with navigation. He said that the route 1 sign to the left (Levis via Quebec) went through the old town and that I continue on the street I was on Hwy 132 for another 5 km to go to downtown Levis. I had already gone further than 2 km pass the Levis 2 km route 1 sign so I was thoroughly confused on what is actually Levis.
I continued for several km on Hwy 132 and found another route 1 sign and turned to find a bike path which was great as I was tired of fighting the traffic. Then I rode on the bike path for another 4 or 5 km and got to the ferry terminal. Now I knew I was in the heart of Levis as I looked at the map the night before to find out how to get to Quebec to sightsee and Joe had mentioned the ferry as great for viewing the cliffs.
The problem was that the hotels are at the top of the cliffs on the Levis side as there are cliffs on both sides of the St Lawrence River.
I don't know where all the traffic in Levis comes from or maybe I just ran into rush hour but the hotels are on Blvd Kennedy and I made better time riding on the sidewalks because the traffic is truly bumper to bumper.
You may get this email a bit late because I have a wifi connection but server problems. Maybe I can send but not receive.
The Statistics: 75.91 miles and 659 feet of climb all in Levis.
Steve in Levis, Quebec, Canada across from Quebec City
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 3:22 PM PDT
Hi Everyone,
I am across from Quebec in Levis.
This morning I left with the intention of riding on the Route Verte trail as the terrain to Quebec was supposed to be fairly flat and I ended up riding almost the entire day on the Route Verte trail. The exception was as I approached Levis the sign for the direct route disappeared and a policeman stopped me to ask if I needed help with navigation. He said that the route 1 sign to the left (Levis via Quebec) went through the old town and that I continue on the street I was on Hwy 132 for another 5 km to go to downtown Levis. I had already gone further than 2 km pass the Levis 2 km route 1 sign so I was thoroughly confused on what is actually Levis.
I continued for several km on Hwy 132 and found another route 1 sign and turned to find a bike path which was great as I was tired of fighting the traffic. Then I rode on the bike path for another 4 or 5 km and got to the ferry terminal. Now I knew I was in the heart of Levis as I looked at the map the night before to find out how to get to Quebec to sightsee and Joe had mentioned the ferry as great for viewing the cliffs.
The problem was that the hotels are at the top of the cliffs on the Levis side as there are cliffs on both sides of the St Lawrence River.
I don't know where all the traffic in Levis comes from or maybe I just ran into rush hour but the hotels are on Blvd Kennedy and I made better time riding on the sidewalks because the traffic is truly bumper to bumper.
You may get this email a bit late because I have a wifi connection but server problems. Maybe I can send but not receive.
The Statistics: 75.91 miles and 659 feet of climb all in Levis.
Steve in Levis, Quebec, Canada across from Quebec City
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 7:37 AM PDT
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Hi Everyone,
Today was a rough day. Several Canadians have mentioned to me the hills of Quebec when I told them where I was going. Well, today I found the hills.
It all started with a bike path along the river leaving Sherbrooke. Then the bike path went away from the river and onto a regular road that led into several hills. I get up to 12% on a hill. Then I went down to another river and the trail went on the road. No problem. A road next tom river means fairly flat road. Then the road turns into dirt. Then back to a bike path along a paved road and then the "fun" started.
The Route Verte trail becomes a dirt trail and then it goes down and up. Hey this is a mountain bike trail! Then it becomes more even and then more ups and downs. Then it goes along a freeway and should be more even, but freeways are made more even by taking dirt from the tops of hills and filling in the gullies. A bike path along a freeway goes the way the original terrain was. Lots of ups and downs.
I get to a town and hey, all I have done is 30 km. I'll never get to Victoriaville at this rate! Then it is more bike path along a freeway and I get to Richmond which has a hotel and I can call it quits for the day, but there seems to be a wino sitting in the doorsteps of the hotel so maybe not this hotel. There is no other hotel. Then I take a good look at the map and Hwy 116 goes from the town to Victorville. Yesterday I took Hwy 112 and it was much better than the bike trail so I decided to take the highway.
The highway starts with a long, straight uphill to the top of a ridge. Well, the map shows a valley so I must be climbing to the top of a ridge and there will be a valley on the other side. Besides, the bike trail is probably much worse. I get to the top of the ridge and I see a big valley. I get a great downhill and get to Danville and a tourist information office. The young lady tries to talk me into taking the bike trail that just happens to be just behind the office but it isn't paved so I don't trust it and besides, the highway is fairly gentle and smooth and has a great shoulder. So I continue on the highway.
I finally get to Victoriaville and the shoulder disappears at the city limits. With all the traffic lights, traffic gets bunched up and a shoulder is more needed than ever. I stay at the first motel that I see and it is a Route Verte certified hotel and it doesn't offer any more than other motels than I have stayed in. They do have a place to work on bikes and some supplies but I carry that stuff with me.
The Statistics: 68.66 miles and 2025 feet of climb. 15% max uphill and 14% max downhill.
There were times that I was thinking about cutting short the trip because I could never get the whole trip done in time if every day is like this. But Hwy 116 saved everything.
Steve in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 5:25 PM PDT
Monday, 30 August 2010
Hi Everyone,
Today was a frustrating day, but alls well that ends well.
I started by crossing a bridge with a super wide bike path and then followed the directions from the Al Forkosh website and everything worked fine with some glitches. The directions were correct but the highway wasn't. The directions said to ride on the left side of the highway because the bike path would be on the left hand side across the bridge. True, but the bike path was blocked off deliberately by concrete dividers and as I crossed the bridge on new pavement, I could see the bike next to me over the concrete dividers. Then I had to exit on an entrance ramp, but there was a shoulder.
The next part was ride along the lakeshore and there was no problem. There I saw numerous bike club riders and some wannabe racers (pelotons). I even found the bicycle shop that the local bicyclist told me about yesterday but they did not have the Route Verte book, but they did have it in the past. I met a local bicyclist who was interested in my bike because he is thinking about buying a Co-Motion tandem. He already has two tandems. A Burley and a Santana. He said that he would have ridden with me to Montreal except that he has to ride to meet his son for a previous engagement.
I then had to get on the Lachine canal bike path and I asked another bike shop (stopped to ask about maps) and he said that I was on it! That was frustration number one. There were too many cyclists out today. It is Saturday, but there was too much of a variation in the abilities of the cyclists. And the bike path had turns and underpasses and crossovers from one side of the canal to the other and back.
Then I waited to enter the old port of Montreal and the bike path seemed to end on one side and everyone was crossing over so I followed them and suddenly I was at the old port. Now there were pedestrians and sightseers and rental four wheel bikes, etc. Even the streets had horse drawn carriages. Frustration number two.
From the bike path map of Montreal that I got off the Internet, I knew that I had to ride along the old port for a while and then go on Rue Barrie and then the bike path would turn right and go along the Parc de Fontaine and the Velo Quebec place would be on the adjacent street Rachel.
I rode on Barrie where the bike path was a bike lane with both lanes on the left hand side with a low concrete separator to keep cars out. I asked someone how to get to Parc de Fontaine and I was told to turn at Sherbrooke which was easy to remember as that is the town I wanted to go to see Arkel headquarters. I remembered from the map that Sherbrooke was a diagonal street and I never saw a diagonal street. Then all the cyclist turned right at a street and I didn't know why except that the bike path ended. I kept on going and asked someone where Sherbrooke was and he said back several streets but I wasn't going to turn around and I knew that if all else fails, I would bump into Rachel at the far end of the park.
Finally I bumped into Rachel and a few blocks later I found the park and Maison Ciclists where Velo Quebec is. I locked up my bike to a tree (panniers don't fit in bike racks) and went inside. There is a coffee shop up front and a bookstore in the middle and a travel agency in the back. I bought the Route Verte book and the clerk told me how to get started on the way to Sherbrooke. I came into Montreal by following Route Verte number 5 for several days and at the old port I started following route 5 and route 1. Now to go to Sherbrooke, all I had to do was to follow route 1 all the way. Simple.
While I was talking to the couple watching my bike (because I locked it to a tree next to their table (they were drinking coffee) a bike ran over my foot and the woman did not apologize. It was the couple from Sequim, Washington that I met in Wisconsin (?). She was on the first Woman Tour group from Anacortes to Fargo, ND. They were going to take the northern route through Michigan and cross into Canada at Sault Ste Marie.
Well, they had a terrible time on highway 17 in Ontario out of Sault Ste Marie and tried to rent a car at Sudbury, Ontario and couldn't get a car and found out about drop off charges. They were lucky to fine someone who offered to drive them to Toronto where they rode Hwy 2 and the Waterfront Trail like I did.
Now they were at Maison Ciclists to buy a map of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. I told them that I got mine from AAA but that all the gas stations and convenience stores sold maps but they would have to wait to get the Maritime Provinces. They were also planning to save time by driving part of the trip such as renting a car in Prince Edward Island and exploring it by car.
I left them at Maison Ciclists and started on my journey to Sherbrooke. Actually I did not expect to go far. I just wanted to get across the St Lawrence River and stay at a motel away from the big city. Plus I expected the costs woukd be cheaper outside of the city.
Simple, all I had to do was to backtrack a little ways as I had seen the route 1 signs on the in. The route started across the street at the park and I followed them to the street where everyone had turned off from Barrie and the bike path ended. Off course there were no signs on Barrie but now there were signs coming the other directions.
I lost the signs on the old port where all the pedestrians and sightseers were and asked an officer who told me to go down to where the path turns and go left. It was confirmed by the Route Verte book. I went back the way I came in and when the bike path did all kinds of crazy loops because of overpasses, etc, I looked at the Route Verte book and someone else looked at a bike path map and it confirmed to go under the overpass / elevated road. The bike path ended with a detour and the detour ended up at the Port Champlain Bridge which is the bridge to the US. frustration number three.
I turned around and saw a bicyclist go down toward dock warehouses and I didn't know where that when but assumed that it was a dead end. Big mistake.
I decided that I had enough of the pedestrians and rode on the road and saw the other bridge in front and way up. I had to keep riding and then I realized that the bridge started climbing blocks away and that is where all the cars were going too. I was half way back to Maison Ciclist when I found the on ramp to the bridge. It had a good size pedestrian / bike path but the bridge was awfully high. Frustration number four. I have acrophobia and I had to ride on the outside (two way bike traffic) again and I had a horrible time on the Richard Bong Bridge in Duluth, MN. I made it up and over and then I realized that I was over an island. There was another bridge to go over. Frustration number five.
I got off the bridge and off Hwy 134 and looked at my map. A local cyclist to turn left at the light and to go to Rue Elan and turn right. So I rode on that street and found the shopping mall district and ate a late lunch. No one could help me on finding my way back to route 1 and then a clerk at a gas station pulled out a local map and said that I had come too far. So I turned around and saw a hotel. I was ready to call it a day and to start fresh tomorrow.
The hotel was full but another hotel by the Metro station had rooms earlier. I went to the other hotel and it had rooms available and no wonder. It wanted two night stay and that would be $400. Also all the other hotels nearby were full, according to the clerks.
I decided to go back, look for Rue Elan and head away from the river and toward Sherbrooke and hope to find a motel away from the exclusive area.
I got back to where I got off of Hwy 134 and had not found Rue Elan. I decided to continue going away from the river. There must another business area further out. About a mile later I found a business district but no motels but there was a lot of traffic a couple of blocks away so I headed there. Motels are where traffic is. It was Hwy 134 and there was an ESSO station there so I asked someone and was told that there was a motel a kilometer away at an interchange. I then asked the clerk for confirmation and she pointed across the highway and said there was a motel there and I looked and saw a motel sign.
I decided to try that motel and then there was the one a kilometer away if the first didn't work out. The first motel was ok but did not have wifi or Internet. The clerk called the other motel for me it was a little more expensive and did not have Internet either. She could have lied to me but I didn't want to ride down there to find out so I am here in Longueuil at a motel without wifi or Internet.
The clerk could not help me with route 1 but said that there was a bike path just over the back fence, but she couldn't show me on the map where we were exactly. And without the Internet, I can't use my gps because I have to get map from the Internet.
After a Coke and a shower and time to relax, I studied the Route Verte map of this town and thought that the route was on the other side of the Hwy 134 and back to the front desk because there were local maps on the wall there. There was a "how to find us" map there and it showed the exact location of the motel and I coiled find the exact match in the Route Verte map and I was just a block away from route 1. It was just over the back fence!
Now remember when I mentioned that a bicyclists had gone down a road along the pier warehouses and I didn't know where it went? Well, that was the right way to go. It leads to a bridge to an island and then a ride to the other end of the island leads to another bridge which crosses over to this side. However one bridge is closed and I don't know which one that is so maybe that is the one that is closed.
The Statistics: 48.71 miles and 798 feet of climb
Steve from Longueuil, Quebec, Canada across the river from Montreal
Posted by steveruthrar
at 6:18 PM PDT
Hi Everyone,
I have to say something that I keep forgetting to mention. Several days, maybe a week, ago I did something that I had decided not to. I looked at the map and tried to calculate how far I have to go to complete the trip as planned. It is a daunting task and I didn't know if I had time to do the whole trip by Oct 1. It is much easier to look ahead a couple of days at a time.
This morning I left Granby on the Route Verte trail. It was all paved today to Waterloo. At Waterloo, I lost track of the trail and asked a local cyclist (older gentleman) who pointed down the road I was on. I went on it for a while and then met a younger, fast cyclist who gold me it was about 25 km to Magog on Hwy 112 and that he was going that way. It took him no time to drop me.
After 5 km, I saw the Route Verte sign where the Route Verte crossed Hwy 112. I knew that it crossed the highway eventually and I took the opportunity to ask the gas station attendant about the route. The Route Verte map shows a 54 km distance from Waterloo to Magog and the road signs said 25 km. Then I looked at the convoluted path that Route Verte uses to go through Mt Orford and decided to stay on Hwy 112. Besides it is faster to ride on the road.
The road signs also said 44 km to Sherbrooke but I didn't know if that meant going on Hwy 10 which is a freeway that parallels Hwy 112. Once I got to Magog, I checked the map for the Route Verte versus the highway signs. Again, the highway signs were much shorter so I took Hwy 112 all the way into Sherbrooke.
I had studied the maps of Sherbrooke to find out where Arkel is so all I had to do was to find the Hwy 10 freeway bridge and then cross over on the next bridge. I didn't realize how spread out Sherbrooke is. It seemed more compact when I drove through in 2001.
I found Arkel and pushed the doorbell, but nobody answered and then somebody finally entered the sales showroom. Then other employees walked in from a break. I then realized that the front door had not been locked and I could have just walked in.
I showed Yves, the person that I had communicated with by email, my pannier rain covers and how the rear ones did not fit properly. He looked at the front ones also said that they weren't the proper ones either. I admitted that they were at least 5 years old but that the rear ones had never been used until this trip.
He went to the back room (factory) and came out with two pairs of rain covers and showed me how they fit properly. I asked him how much it would cost me and he said free. That anyone who would ride a bike from Washington (state) to visit Arkel deserved to get them free.
I told him that I have a testimonial on the Co-Motion website and that I was going to send a new one to Co-Motion and I would make sure that Arkel got endorsed.
So I expected to get to Sherbrooke tomorrow and I got here today. I expected nothing from Arkel (maybe a small discount on new rain covers) and I got free new ones.
The Statistics: 62.22 miles and 1748 feet of climbing.
Steve in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 6:03 PM PDT
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Hi Everyone,
As you figured out already, I did not have Internet access yesterday. Today I have super high speed wifi - 21,616 kbps download and 939 Kbps upload.
After Montreal, I wasn't sure about the Route Verte signs but today, away from the city, it was much better. I was able to navigate solely with the signs 90% of the time. There were several instances where I had to look at the map but those usually occurred in towns when crossing streets.
Most of today was on unloved roads which means hard packed dirt covered with small gravel, almost what I call cinders. I don't what that does to my tire life but it does slow me down a bit versus asphalt.
I also learned that the Route Verte tends to keep one on bike paths which means that food is available only in towns which are few and far between. On the Canal de Chambly, the route was on the left side of the canal and the road was on the right side of the canal. Stores were along the road so I could cross the canal and go onto the road if I wanted food.
Another thing that occurs, the same as in Germany along the Danube, is that it is hard to know to find out what town you are in when the bike path enters town and it is hard to know which way is the business district. Looking at the Route Verte book is the solution, but it is hard to get the book out and then look at the maps.
The problem I had in Montreal could have been solved by using a gps with a built in map. My iPad has the gps but I don't have my AT&T 3G access in Canada. I should learn how to download maps in my MotionX gps application. MotionX allows me to look at certain areas and download maps for those areas for use later. It does not allow me to download maps for an entire state, let alone a country.
The Statistics: 66.05 miles and 318 feet of climb
Steve in Granby, Quebec, Canada on the way to Sherbrooke
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 3:52 PM PDT
Friday, 27 August 2010
Hi Everyone,
I entered Quebec Provinve today and as much as I would like say that I am just across the river from Montreal, I don't know where the Montreal city limits are but I can say that I am close to Montreal. I am in the town of Vandreuil - Dorion which is on one side of the bridge that connects to the island just west of Montreal.
First of all I want to give credit to Joe LaPointe and Al Forkosh for the help that they have given me. Joe gave me website URL and the street address of Velo Quebec where I may be able to buy a Route Verte book and Al Forkosh helped me with GoodReader to save and read PDF files and last night he found a website of a blog where someone did the Toronto to Montreal bike ride and wrote down details of his route. I used it today to go from Morrisburg to Verdreuil - Dorion.
Today was a day for bike paths. I used Hwy 2 again to the end at the Ontario - Quebec line but I used bike paths in Cornwall because the traffic was bad and the bike path ran along the river and thus I could see exactly where I was going. Also Cornwall is several miles in length so it was relaxing to get off the road.
Later highway 2 ended at 401 which is the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way freeway) and I was supposed to the service road. I met a person studying my bike and it turns out that he is a local bicyclists and knew my route. He gave me something like 20 instructions on how to get to Vandreuil - Dorion turn by turn with street names. Of course there no way that I could remember all that information, but it was the same as the blog on the web. He also gave me the name of a bicycle shop on the route tomorrow that should have the bike route map of Montreal and may have the Route Verte book.
At the Ontario - Quebec border I met the couple that I met first several days ago between Port Hope and Belleville. Then I followed two local cyclists and saw when they rode on the left side of the road. That was the Route Verte #5 that was on the left side of the road. I talked to the two local cyclists and they are from Montreal and drive over to drive in this area.
The Route Verte bike path is easy to follow and is well marked. I was confident on the bike path. It was like Germany where there is little confusion of where to go. Even easier was the Soulanges bike path which follows the Soulanges Canal.
I did find a problem at the of Soulanges bike path. Going through the town and connecting to Hwy 338 was hard because the bridge was out. Construction again! However a bicycle and pedestrian temporary bridge was available and to save costs on the bridge, it was built down in the valley just barely over the water. Would you believe a gravel path down 24% and up 30%. It was hard pushing/pulling my bike up that gravel path!
The funny thing about Vandreuil is that all the locals think that I am French because they all speak French to me!
The Statistics: 83.25 miles and 314 feet of climbing.
Steve in Vandreuil - Dorion, Quebec, Canada
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 9:17 PM PDT
Thursday, 26 August 2010
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
Sent from my iPad
Posted by steveruthrar
at 8:43 PM PDT
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