Ontario the Beautiful

A quick posting as I should take advantage of the wireless availability.

July 4: Winnipeg to West Hawk Lake (164.12km)
I left the hostel at 6AM in order to avoid as much of the morning rush hour as possible. It worked out pretty well. I did get some significant traffic, but by that time I was leaving the outskirts of town and going against the trend.

The ride was good today. I didn't ride on the trans Canada at all and the traffic was light. By lunch I reached Elma and stopped to eat. During the morning I was thinking at one point how I hadn't had a flat tire yet and how things were going well. Well, I jinxed it! Upon leaving after lunch, I noticed I had a flat. It was actually good that it happened at the restaurant as there was also a garage and they could inflate my replacement tube much faster than my hand pump would have.

I intended on making it to Rennie today, but by the time I got there it was only 3PM. During lunch I met up with Jim (Kansas) and Mike (Perth, Australia) who are cross country riders as well. They told me there was a campground 30km further. Since it was early in the day, I soldiered on and got to the campground at about 5PM.

I'm now in fly country. I knew this part of the trip would be marked with a lot of bugs, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw. While I was riding, there were swarms of I'm guessing about 50 flies (horseflies, wasps, dragonflies) circling around me. What it made me think of was the movie The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis. In the early parts of the movie, he's a taxi driver navigating through the streets. Well it sort of looked like that scene where flies were buzzing in all directions and sometimes even hitting into each other. Initially, I was concerned that I would be stung millions of times, but I noticed after a while that they didn't sting me. It seemed, they simply wanted to taunt me. Eventually, I began to ignore them. They remained a concern however because some would land on my glasses and block my view or fly in my ears.

July 5: West Hawk Lake to Kenora (67.80km)
I rode into Ontario today and was extremely glad to leave the Manitoba highways. So far, Ontario's roads are treating me much better. The scenery is getting a lot prettier and hillier as well. I was riding by lakes all day and they were all very picturesque.

For the next few days, the distances that I travel will in large part be governed by the accommodations available. Today was a short ride because the next available option was 90km away through hilly territory. I'm glad I stopped here as it's quite pretty and I was able to do some groceries and go for a swim.

As it happens, Jim and Mike from yesterday are at the same campground. A few more words about them. The two met a few years back on a bike trip crossing the US and they have been partnering up ever since. Needless to say they have a ton of touring experience and make me look like a complete rookie:) If you're interested, check out Jim's website at www.WanderingTheWorld.com

Check out the pictures of the pretty scenery.