Sunday, July 22nd 2012
Saturdays post was submitted early in the night and therefore missed a few developments. I was writing the post from the Don Cherry bar in Parry Sound and of course it is odd for someone to be blogging from a bar stool so naturally people are inquisitive. I spoke with the nice bartender for a while and a gentleman at the bar named Rick. Rick has a 1968 Shelby 428 Mustang and I believe it. See I told you I would post you!
Everything was relatively calm until Merritt’s staggette came to the bar. I was eaves dropping of course since they were pretty loud and standing right next to me. They were discussing what tasks the bride to be had to still accomplish before the night was through and when I heard “what about this guy” I handed them my card to drum up some donations. I was successful in retrieving $20 but lets leave it at that as I may find my self in trouble with someone. I went with them to the local nightclub which was in my hotel so I knew I could make back alive. After a few hours of drinking the group managed to get kicked out of the bar but I think it was a blessing as I needed to get some sleep. The ladies were a lot of fun and though I am pretty hungover because of it, I think I was able to wipe from my memory most of the bad road in Northern Ontario.
Today I woke up at the crack 9am. I was really groggy but managed to shower and pack in less than an hour. I stopped at the local Subway restuarant in Parry Sound and the owner gave me my meal for free -nice guy! Parry Sound is a beautiful little town that more than doubles it population during cottage season. It is worth a visit if you are passing through. Climbing back up to the highway I was in a total fog figuratively and literally as the afternoon sky was a hazy grey. I was very hot already and I just put my head down and pedalled.
There are no longer gas stations and stops right beside the highway. Each little town or stop is a couple of kilometers from the highway which is a bit of a drag because you never know what your gonna find or how far you will have to go to find it. Eventually I stopped at Iroquois Cranberry farm. It wasn’t too far off the highway but they only had cranberry juice and cranberry jam. The juice was excellent and I drank 950ml sitting in some shade looking over the farm.
I had lunch in Port Severn which is a small channel to Lake Huron to Six Mile lake and a series of islands. They have a swing bridge there which I had to wait at as to boaters where going in land. Back on the 400 highway the shoulder virtually disappeared forcing me to ride close to traffic flying by at 100 kilometers an hour. It was time to cut off so I took the #16 highway which turns into #12 which is only a two lane highway and has very little traffic. This was nice but I knew I eventually had to ride West of Lake Simcoe so I cut over to Moonstone rd which is a farm road more or less but pretty good road with a lot of little hills. Though this sapped my energy it was peaceful and I got some nice pictures and videos.
I stopped in Moonstone at a little convenience store where I met the friendly owner Amtul Bashir. There is a bit of a story here which I will post as a separate message. In a nutshell she is from Pakistan and now lives in Canada and is a poet of sorts. She had one of her poems about Haiti translated to English which she has allowed me to share with you. As I mentioned I will put it in a separate message that I will leave on the home page for a while. Before leaving she gave me a bottle of water and wished me luck the rest of the way.
I finally arrived in Barrie later in the day and decided to go to the camp ground on the South side of town to save some time tomorrow. I rode down the lake shore which is very beautiful with a bike and walking trail and ended up in Uptown on Dunlop street which is loaded with bars and restaurants. I stopped to kind of take it in and noticed an older couple eyeing me. I said hello and they came and spoke with me. Though Danish they had lived and worked in Canada for many years including Banff when they were fairly young. They now lived in Denmark and were visiting some of the towns the used to live in plus seeing a few relatives in the states. Their daughter was also a bit of a cyclist and left university to go work on farm in Australia since she wanted to lean about from more of a hands on level than an academic one. Before going they gave me $3 and wished me good luck!
The campground on the South side of the lake turned out to be a trailer park and not a place where I could throw up a tent. Now I had a dilemma because it was 8 kilometers back to the KOA campground and I was dead tired and it was dusk. I looked for a hotel instead and found the Comfort Inn about 2 kilometers away near the highway. I explained my situation to the front desk person and he was able to give me a nice room for $75. A very good bargain and very timely – thank you Comfort Inn!!!!
I got cleaned up, nursed my wounds and walked across the street to the pub next door but they were closing. It was only 10pm! So instead of getting a cab I for some reason walked back to the main drag on Dunlop street which took me a good 40 minutes. I really don’t know what I was thinking or if I was thinking or how I had the energy. I vowed to cab it home which I did but not before having the best burger I think I have ever had at Donaleigh’s Irish Pub ( http://www.donaleighs.com). I got a ride from an Irish cabbie coincidentally and he gave me a dollar for the cause.
