Falcon Lake to Kenora
On the road by 7:45 with raingear on and another EAST wind. We entered Ontario today and boy could you tell! The flat prairies gave way to rolling hills, rock outcroppings, and a road that was constantly curving. 'Granny' had to make a re-appearance. Then the skies opened up and made us into 'drowned rats'!
As we entered Ontario we were overtaken by another Cross-Canada cyclist. This man was from the Netherlands and he had left Vancouver May 6 but had taken a different route than us to get to Ontario. He went up through Kamloops, the Kicking Horse Pass, Lake Louise, Drumheller, and across the Yellowhead Highway. He is heading for New Brunswick to tour around it and then back to Montreal. In 2003 he rode from New York to Los Angeles. He had the 'largest' calf muscles I have ever seen. Useful I am sure, for the coming climbs in Northern Ontario.
Manitoba....What to say? As we crossed Manitoba we were surprised by many things. First and foremost this province is flat, the flattest of all the provinces that we have cycled through. Manitoba has a large agricultural area as good as any we have seen on the trip. We had heard that Manitoba roads were 'unfriendly' to cyclists and they lived up to their reputation. However, it appears that the Manitoba government is beginning to improve the highways but many 'millions' will still have to be spent. And then the weather! Like Alberta, Manitoba showed us its ugly side at times and did not want to let us cross.
We are staying at the Travelodge on the east side of Kenora. The pouring rain has forced us to cut today's ride a little short of our intended destination. So again we are drying ourselves out.
Today we had two more milestones. We have entered our 5th province and we passed the 3000 km mark on our bicycles!
Daily Distance = 71.30 km. Time on the bikes = 4 hours 54 minutes. Average Speed = 14.46 km. Maximum Speed = 39.69 km. Wildlife Sightings = Our friendly campground deer that we got to pet, numerous other deer.
Kevin = 3 Sue = 0.
