Day 64 - Hawkesbury, Ont. to Terrebonne, QC

July 16 (Thursday)

Start Time: 5:45 am

Stop Time: 2:00 pm

KM Travelled: 115 km

Elevation: +563/ - 616 m

Special Stuff: Goodbye Ontario, Rainbows, Quebec countryside

The Walmart parking lot campground is surprisingly restful! I thought we might have an incident with other vagrants (like us), but, nothing...just a great sleep.

At 5:30 am, I am all prepped for the day - and have done my checks on the weather and my route. There's a good chance of rain - which I don't mind. Brian is awake and mumbles - "60% chance of rain", and at that exact moment, it starts to rain. I correct him with the updated forecast of "100% chance of rain".

I wait a bit to see if the rain will pass, but it does not, so I just load up my bike and head out. I don't even bother with rain gear anymore - it just gets heavy and uncomfortable after a while - I don't need that!

I make my way with the zig zag departure through the residential area of Hawkesbury to the bridge that will take me over the Ottawa River to Quebec.  As I get closer to the bridge, I see the start of a rainbow. I laugh, Ontario is trying to send an apology for giving me such a hard time on these past month of riding through it. I think to myself, "It's going to take more than a feeble little start of a rainbow to make amends." 

As I start over the bridge - the Quebec morning sun bids me a warm welcome. I stop to take a picture - I am excited to cross over into Quebec. I turn around for one last look at Ontario, and am surprised with a full arc rainbow. I grumble and consider Ontario's apology (I need to let some time pass before I can grant it). But, I think to myself, "As difficult as Ontario was, I learned so much - about the province, biking and myself." Maybe I had to feel the rain (experience the challenges) in order to see the rainbow (my abilities and unknown potential).

There is no "Welcome to Quebec" sign to greet me, but I feel welcome in this new province. I get to enjoy many kilometers of great riding trails.

My ride from Hawkesbury to the suburbs of Montreal take me through farmlands. These farmlands have crops of vegetables like cabbage, potatoes, strawberries, and corn. I see some orchards.

As I ride alongside the river most of the day I see beautiful homes. At times it feels like I'm going back in time with the old stone homes and fences, other times I feel like I'm in Europe.

I come across people who only speak French. Learning to speak French fluently is one of my life goals...I will relish is experience and focus more on mastering the French language when I get back home.

At 10:00 I have a desire to stop for un café. My route does not take me past many store or shops, so coffee is not in the cards for me today. On days where it is not scorching hot, I'd like to start taking a coffee break part way through the ride.

Along my search for a coffee shop, it starts to rain and I get drenched. I come upon a road construction site where only locals can pass through, but they let me through, avoiding the need to take the detour. I am soaked, but I am grateful.

Yesterday and today, I realize that I am no longer fond of sandwiches - I feel too full with the bread. This is a new development. I now need to be more creative with my food planning. I stop at a roadside produce stand and pick up some baby tomatoes and new little carrots. The place is dripping with gorgeous flower baskets in full bloom. I wish I had room on my bike to put one.

I smell food cooking from people's homes as I ride through a village - and I think that I will have to make a point of eating some French foods to try while I am in Quebec.

Brian has headed off to a campsite just west of Quebec City, so I have two nights on my own. I do enjoy the simplicity of solo travelling. I am starting to see where it would be nice to bike with another person or two. I'll have to find others who enjoy longer distance bike riding, or would like to give it a try.

I get to my Super 8 hotel in a suburb north east of Montreal called Terrebonne. I'm excited to spot a Boston Pizza not too far off in the distance - it's going to be chicken parm tonight!

The past day or so, I've received several messages of concern about the air quality in Ontario. Fortunately (knock on wood) I've not had any issues with air quality. I do have a little bit of a headache, but that is likely a hydration/ electrolyte issue (I had some muscle craps today - first time in a long time).

Looking forward to getting to Trois Rivières tomorrow - I've seen the name of this city so much when planning my trip, that I feel that I just need to hang out there for a bit.

Here is a picture of the inside of my top bar bag. I have about 30 pictures of this now...the first few times it showed up on my photos, I couldn't figure out what I had taken a picture of!

There is alot more respect for bikers on Quebec roads. These signs are everywhere along my biking routes. Sometimes they even say 1.5 mètres. My experience, so far, has been that drivers are respectful of bikers on the side roads and secondary highways.