Between the Lakes

To Ancaster, Ontario -- 54.5 miles, 12.9 mph, 1375 ft

Today was fairly uneventful. We are now in the section of Ontario between the west end of Lake Ontario and the East end of Lake Erie, and, apparently, this is the wine growing region of Ontario. We did in fact see a few vineyards along the way... just no leaves yet. The forecast was showing rain by the middle of the day, so we were anxious to get on the road. However, since we were running low on food, no one was actually full as we pedaled away from the hotel. So we stopped half a kilometer later at the first Tim Horton’s we passed. Meg’s brother Paul loved this place. I'm guessing the unbelievably cheap prices were a major factor. We all had drinks and breakfast sandwiches for $14 USD. The fact that the Canadian dollar is less than seventy-five cents, is definitely working in our favor.

Lunch today was a hodge podge of snacks while resting against a large electrical tower. Not very inspiring, but it hit the spot. One thing that has been amazing to see, both here in Ontario as well as in New York, has been the amazing fields of dandelions. Lawns and fields are absolutely covered and it’s beautiful. We tend to think of them as weeds, however, if I’m not mistaken, they’re actually the national flower of Russia. Our Warm Showers host in Lyons, Anne, also explained that they are excellent at pulling up nutrients from underground with their sturdy tap root.

Ah, dandelions!

One fortuitous event today was stumbling upon an old time 1910 mechanical “military band.”  When we stopped at the grocery store in Hamilton, about 20 km to our final stop, we thought for sure there was a high school marching band playing nearby. Dex was the first to notice that the music was in fact coming from a small trailer at the end of the parking lot. Pauline and John were the keepers of the this mechanical marvel and were delighted to explain it’s history and inner workings.

Our Warm Showers tonight was with Michael in Ancaster, an avid long distance cyclist whose journeys put ours to shame: North Africa, Europe, New Zealand, Southeast Asia. It was a ton of fun sharing stories. Jessica, Michael’s girlfriend, arrived for an excellent veggie lasagna. As usual, our hosts were fantastic with the kids. Michael and Jessica play on a couple recreational ultimate frisbee teams together. Noticing Dex and Kylie’s excess of energy, they happily suggested an outing to the neighborhood park to throw some discs. The short two on two game, in the end, was scoreless, but served its purpose of draining some excess energy. Thank you Michael and Jessica.