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Day 56

This morning we didn't hear the alarm go off! We must have been so tired last night! (We also later found out the earphones were still in the ipod). Last night, I had a bit of a freak out. I had to go to the washroom in the middle of the night, and as a truck went past, I saw something shinning in the bushes. Nicole's dad told us a story before about how he saw a bunch of wolf eyes in the bushes in northern Ontario when he was on call one night, and my imagination was going wild! I rushed back into the tent as fast as I could, but was faced with a huge dilemma. I really had to use the washroom, but was really scared there were wolves in the bushes. I stuck my head out the tent to find out that the light was only a few fireflies. Talk about an overactive imagination! But this morning, we went back and forth about the plan for the day. Since Michael only had his front brakes, it's not safe cycling in the rain, so we considered not going. We mooched someone's unsecured wireless and checked the weather network. According to the website, it would be cloudy with showers all day, but only 1mm of rain. We figured that wouldn't be too bad, so we thought we should go to Dryden then re-evaluate. We got all packed up and hit the road. It wasn't too bad at the start, then the killer headwind and major downpour started! It was not safe to be on the roads! It was pouring down like crazy, and the visibility was poor, and so was the effeciency of the brakes! Unfortunately, there was NOWHERE to pull over! The closest place was in Dryden. The first place we came to (a motel) was closed on Sundays (random and strange for a motel!). The second place we came to was reasonably priced. It was more than we wanted to spend, but in the present conditions (we were soaked and freezing!) it was worth it! The owner was very nice and drove us to WalMart and the food store. He also talks a lot! It was funny! So thanks to the weather, today is a day off, and we're a little behind our ideal schedule. It's nice to veg out though. We watched the news for the first time in a while, and couldn't help but see what a mess Toronto is right now! Thank god we're not cycling through that! But we're using today as a relaxing day where we can update the blog and just enjoy not being outside!

Keeping dry in Dryden


Last night we were woken up with pouring rain from time to time, and we were a little reluctant to leave the tent. We slept through the alarm again, so we didn’t hit the road until 10 am. We had a big headwind and just 20 km out of Dryden, it started to pour, without back brakes, fogged up sunglasses and narrowing shoulders with transport trucks zooming by, we felt very unsafe so we went to the first open Motel we could find. The manager was very talkative, and although he couldn’t get us a deal, he let us air out our stuff and keep our bikes in his garage. He even drove us into town to do some grocery shopping. It was nice to lounge around indoors for a change.


Fun facts, stats and lessons learned

Distance travelled today: 44.5 km

Total distance travelled: 4217.8 km

Starting point: Bobby’s Sports Store parking lot, Vermillion Bay

Our Route: Trans Canada (Highway 17) all day. The roads and shoulder were pretty good all day, except the shoulder disappeared in Dryden.

Ending point: Dryden Motel & Suites, Dryden


  • Whomever said that the prevailing winds are from the west was lying.