Hi Everyone,

It seems that I made things more difficult yesterday by using the hotel pc. 
 My iPad was able to send email, but because it could not run the Internet 
speed test for uploads, I assumed that there was something wrong with the
 server / iPad connection. 

From now on I will run an email test before I jump to any conclusions that
 make things harder on me.

Today I left Port Hope under sunny skies and a light headwind.  At my first 
hill, I discovered that I need a day off or something because I just don't
 have the energy that I had on the way to Toronto.  Maybe it was because it
 was flat with tailwinds until I got to Toronto!

I should arrive in Quebec Province in two or three days.  The weather 
forecast for the next few days is good. Then I will go to Sherbrooke 
directly or via Montreal.  That will take another two or three days.  
I am lucky that the Canadian Labour Day is Sept 6 so I don't have to 
worry about arriving at Arkel in Sherbrooke on a holiday. 

I sent Arkel an email asking them on a recommended bike route to the factory. 
 The only time that I visited them, they were in Lennoxville about 10 miles
 away.  But that time I drove my car there!

Today I was passed by a bicycling tourist, a true lightweight tourist.  
He had only a handlebar bag!  He was riding from Toronto to Kingston to
 Ottawa and return to Toronto.  Was it Bruce Hildabrand that gave a talk at
 the Bicycle Outfitter who toured the Alps with only a saddlebag?  Jobst 
Brandt used only a saddlebag and maybe a handlebar bag.

It helps to do a three day tour near home.  The weather is known, help is 
available from home in case of mechanical problems, and the route and 
facilities are known.

I had a pizza slice for lunch and I am glad that I did because when I 
came out, there was a couple who had rear panniers.  They were going 
from Toronto to Montreal. 

I am staying at the Ramada Inn and I was surprised when I saw a cord 
in the shower / bathtub.  I double-checked before I pulled on it.  
It was a clothesline.  In Italy the bathtubs have cords but they 
are for an emergency to call for help.

The Statistics:  54.99 miles and 933 feet of climbing with a light headwind.


Steve in Belleville, Ontario, Canada


Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

Today was better than the previous several days.  There was no headwind! 
 The wind was only a couple of mph and it was cloudy.  Traffic out of
 Belleville was light and the drivers were considerate unlike yesterday 
when traffic was heavy in packs and the drivers were the worse I have 
seen in Canada.

I passed through Kingston, the city where the St Lawrence River begins.  
It is at the northeast corner of Lake Ontario where Canada and the US meets.  
Kingston must be the name of a township as well as the name of a city.  
The Welcome to Kingston sign appears some 20 miles from the city limits.  
Kingston is a big city in area and has a new section (malls, etc) and an 
old town section (stores packed together). 

On the way out of Kingston, I gave way to two vehicles - Army armored cars! 
 The is a Canadian army base here.

I decided to ride to Gananoque because I was felling good with the lack of a
 headwind and the town is only 28 km farther.  I saw dark clouds on the way 
in but there was no rain although the weatherman is claiming a 40% chance of
 isolated showers tomorrow.  

I am staying at a motel that has me in a cabin and that is good because 
I have a porch and ground space between cabins so I was able to lube my 
chain.  The only problem is that wifi is available but not in my cabin. 
 It is available 30 feet away so it is an antenna placement problem.  
This is not the first time that it has occurred and it will not be the
 last time.


The Statistics:  69.77 miles 1015 feet of climbing



Steve in Gananoque, Ontario, Canada 28 km past Kingston


Sent from my iPad

Day 53 Toronto, Ontario Hi Everyone,

This morning I made a mistake.  I walked outside and the rain was the
misty kind and then I looked at the radar.  It appeared to be raining in
Toronto but the radar image was north - south and just barely off the
coast of Lake Ontario so Hamilton was clear.  I concluded that the rain
would move over the lake as I rode north toward Toronto.

Still, I was prepared with rain covers on the panniers and I wore leg
warmers, booties for my shoes and a rain jacket.  Before I I left the
Burlington city limits, the misty rain became light rain. Maybe the rain
clouds are not moving over the lake and I am riding into the rain!

Luckily it is Sunday and there is very little traffic and no one is in a
hurry.  I don't have any problems with spray off of cars and there are
no trucks.  I ride in the street but move onto the sidewalk in a
construction zone.

There is no problem with riding on the road versus riding on the
Waterfront Trail off road because the Waterfront Trail is on the road. 
Then I get to Mississauga and a park is under construction and the
Waterfront Trail is the using the alternate route on the map.  It is
going around the Petro Canada facility.  I remember seeing this
on the maps.  I follow the Waterfront Trail signs and end up at a
park.  No bicycles allowed!  I remember seeing this on the map I
thought that it was where the closed park was.  I look at the map
on the information board and it showed me how to go around the
park.  I find Waterfront Trail signs on the route around the park. 
Why didn't they have a warning sign earlier to suggest the route a
round the park?

Then I get back to Lakeshore, the road that I started on in Burlington! 
I should have stayed on Lakeshore! 

Mississauga is a long city!  I was told that it is 10 miles long and I
 believe it!  Then I go through another town and wonder if it is just
a part of Toronto but it isn't.  Finally I get into Toronto.

By now I am leery of Waterfront Trails that go into parks and then
come out only a short distance away so that I would have done
better by staying on the road.  However Lakeshore is only a block
from Lake Ontario and I can see a pedestrian / bike path along the
water and I can see the coast quite a ways and I can see it leading
to downtown Toronto which is quite a ways off.

I follow the bike path for miles and past by the amusement and
entertainment area that my relatives and I went to in 2000.  I thought
that going through Toronto would be a snap.  Then the bike path ended
at a street and I asked someone where it continued.  I was told to ride
down Queens Quay and the path would appear again.  Queens Quay
is the waterfront street with piers for commercial establishments similar
to the Embarcadero in San Francisco.  There are piers or land jutting
out for restaurants and I can't believe how many ferries or sightseeing 
boats terminals there are.

It is a good thing that it is Sunday as the traffic is light and the drivers
well behaved.  I can imagine what it would be like on a work day. 
Eventually I see a park and the bike path resumes.  Then it leads to
 an industrial area where the freighters are.  I see a marina and cross a
small bridge used to connect marinas and see a Chinese dragon boat
coming in after a practice session. 

By now the sun is coming out and I am getting hot so I remove the rain
jacket, the leg warmers, and the booties, hoping that I am not jinxing
myself.  I asked someone where I could find a motel.  He told me to go
down the road marked a private road and make a left on Leslie and go
to Front Street.  I proceeded to Leslie, made a left (only choice available
 as it is a T intersection and right is a fence.  Then I go to next big
intersection and it is Lakeshore!  I continued a couple more blocks and
it is Queen Street and is a commercial area with all kinds of stores.
 I was told that a motel was just down the road and I passed by many
fast food places and local restaurants and ethnic stores.  This is a real
neighborhood.  Finally I see a Days Inn next to a car wash. 

I washed my bike because I had ridden 3 hours in the rain and it was
filthy, especially the wheels. Then I entered the Days Inn and heard
a beeping sound.  It was the alarm because the power went out. 
The local area had lost power but Toronto is smart.  The traffic
lights and the streetcars are still running.

I was given a choice of waiting for the power to be restored or going
to another Days Inn "not far away" maybe 10 minutes by car where
there were at least 4 motels because it was near a highway.  Power
outages are not uncommon and has taken up to four hours to be
restored so I decided to go to the other Days Inn.

Up the hill (not much of a hill) and I see that they lost power to
traffic lights.  A bad sign because now I can't be sure that the other
motel has power as it is getting worse as I ride up the hill.  Finally I
see a bike shop and it has power!  This section of town has power!

I get to the Days Inn and it is the only motel that I can see.  It is $30
cheaper than the other one and it has power. 

Tomorrow is predicted to had a 30% chance of rain but I have to see
the radar first.  I don't want to ride two days in a row in the rain.

The Statistics:  50.24 miles and 611 feet of climbing and 3 hours
in light rain.


Steve in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Day 52. Burlington, Ontario

Hi Everyone,

Today started out cloudy or overcast with a hint that the sun would show
itself.  I  used a combination of the road and the Niagara Recreation Trail
depending on traffic conditions.  Mostly there was little traffic. I got to
Niagara on the Lake and had a pasty, the first one in Canada.

It was easy to find the Waterfront Trail.  The signs are obvious.  All I had
to do was to ride toward Lake Ontario and turn left at the sign for Mississauga,
a town on the way to Toronto.  I saw a bike rental place and they gave me
a map of the area. They just happened to be at the corner for a right turn. 
They warned me that the beginning of the trail in Niagara on the Lake had
some dirt sections but that conditions would improve later.

After a couple of go off the city streets and into a park (dirt trail) for a short
distance, sometimes for only a couple of blocks, I decided to stay on the
streets as much as possible.

As I left St Catherine, the trail went on the frontage road (service road)
next to QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) a freeway but there were detour
signs but I keep on going and in a mile ran into a bridge being rebuilt.
There was no way that I could go through the fence and then ford a
stream so I turned back.  I met a local bicyclist coming toward me and I
told him that the road was close and he knew because he lives nearby. 
He told me to go over the freeway overpass and use the frontage road
on the other side and then come back after two interchanges.

So I rode on the frontage roads and the Waterfront Trail would enter
and leave the frontage road.  Sometimes I followed the trail when it looked
like that it go on a parallel side street and sometimes I would stay on the
 frontage road when it looked more direct and there was little traffic.

I met a couple eating lunch at a picnic table that appeared to be on a
private company property.  He was really interested in my Co-Motion
and knew all about it.  It turns out that they live in Toronto so they could
tell me how to get there.  I keep up with them for a couple of miles and
then dropped back and would catch up at interchanges.  Then it started
to rain.  Only a few drops but I decided to turn off at an interchange to
put the rain covers on the panniers and to grab some lunch.  By the time
I finished eating, the rain had stopped.  I proceeded on and in a couple
of miles, the road was perfectly dry - it never rained there!

It started dripping again later, but never enough to make me put on rain
 jacket or a wind breaker. 

I found motels out in the middle of nowhere with no source of food nearby
so I kept on going until I reached Burlington where I am downtown with
food and museums around me.  It may rain tomorrow and I wanted to
stay at a place that had sometime to do if I have to stay put.


The Statistics:  70.45 miles and 597 feet of climb.


Steve in Burlington, Ontario, Canada about 30 miles from Toronto
and the map implies that the Toronto metro area is some 20 miles
long.  So I'll have to ride 50 miles to get on the other side of Toronto.

Day 50. Dunnville, Ontario

Hi Everyone,

After all that happened yesterday and the weatherman predicting 70%
chance of rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon, I decided to plan for
 an early afternoon arrival and selected Dunnville instead of Port  Colborne
(another 35 km).

I got to Dunnville and decided that the weatherman was wrong as there
were only a few nonthreatening clouds and then the radar showed no
storm clouds.

I could have pushed on to Port Colborne, but I needed an easy day
to rest as I have not had a good night's sleep recently.

Tomorrow I will be arriving in Niagara Falls to sight see and I may or
may not get to Niagara on the Lake until the next day.

Today I arrived in DelphI and saw flags of various nations on lamp posts.
 I stopped at the Canadaian Belgium Club and asked several women
in the parking lot.  They didn't know why the flags but two of the women
were from Flemish speaking Belgium.  Of course I had greeted them in
French!  Later on I found a plaque that explained the flags.  They represent
the countries that local residents had come from.  Of course they did not
have the Welsh flag that I was wearing.


The Statistics:  64.60 miles and 387 feet of climbing.


Steve in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada

Day 49. Tilsonburg, Ontario

Hi Everyone,

I just got the good news from Leslie than Ruth is home!

This morning I went to the St Charles Police Departmnet and file a missing
person report with them that will go to the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial
Police, other Canadian agencies, etc. I didn't get out until noon. 

I only got to Tilsonburg because of the late start.  I turned left at the Tilsonburg
left arrow sign and went down a steep hill. Finally I saw a large log building.
It was an inn but the woman who just left the building said that there was a
cheaper place on the other side of town.  Right turn where that car is turning
and up a hill and right turn at the traffic light and up another hill.

Well, I went right at the intersection, up a hill, right at the traffic light (buildings
on the left up a hill also), then right at the sign Hwy 3 (the highway I was on
all day), up a hill, and finally back at a different entrance to Tilsonburg. 
No motel.  I asked someone mowing the lawn where the motel was. 
Back the way I came and turn right at the intersection where I turned to
come this way (should have gone straight instead of turning right to go
up the hill) and the motel is at the top of the hill.

I went back, went down the hill, turned right, went up the hill, and into
the motel parking lot. No wifi but no other motel in sight and I need a place
for the night. Then I walked down the street to McDonalds.  No wifi at
McDonalds.  Then I saw a Hoard Johnson Motel.  My iPad picked up the
HoJo wifi.

I got Leslie's email about Ruth being home.

I called the St Thomas police and left a message for Constable Steve
Bogart. I went back to HoJos and sent him an email.  I just got a phone
call from him.


The  Statistics:  38.56 miles and only 385 feet of climbing.


Steve in Tilsonburg, Ontario, Canada

This morning I checked my cell phone voice mail and there was nothing
 but that was Rogers Communication acting for T-Mobile.

I went on Hwy 40 like I wanted to yesterday and I found out why a local
tried to steer me clear of it.  It is a beautiful new asphalt highway with a
good shoulder but the trucks like it also.

At Blenheim a local told me how to see Lake Erie but I gave up because
I would have had to go into Rondeau Provincial Park for some unknown
distance and there was no guarantee that I would see anything.  However
I did see tobacco leaf being hung up to dry and fields of tobacco.

I continued on Hwy 3 to St Thomas and food availability is few and far
between.  All day I could find only 3 towns or crossroads that had food.

After I got into St Thomas, I tried calling Ruth.  I got her voice mail so my
T-Mobile cell phone works via Rogers in Canada.  I left her a message of
where I am for her to call me back. It turns out that my prepaid account
has limited international calls - just Canada and Mexico.


The Statistics:  69.71 miles and 388 feet of climbing.



Steve in St Thomas, Ontario