On the Road Again...I Just Can't Wait to get on the Road Again!

Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again...

or maybe I can. Or atleast it would seem that way. After a fantastic stay in eastern ontario between Cornwall and Ottawa it might have seemed like we were never going to hit the road again. Pre Canada Day saw Skye and I bike up to Ottawa. Our departure saw my younger sister home alone for the first time, beginning her new job as a park ranger. It's weird how quick she's growing up. But considering I felt relatively comfortable leaving her means she's obviously completely capable of being on her own now. You're a big kid now Franny! We left Cornwall in a thunderstorm, but it soon let up and we could enjoy the relatively flat trip to the nations capital. That is until my tire blew out, again. Some cursing insued but a trustly little back up tire made the rest of the trip possible and we rolled onward. We had a somewhat depressing chat with a fellow in Winchester, but nonetheless we kept our spirits up and pushed forward. Ceilidh picked us up on Bank St. when the traffic became too dangerous and we settled in for the night. We poked into the market and checked out an interesting pub that would have made Dracula proud. Canada Day was spent on Skye's brother Shay's terrace. Shay and his girlfriend Patty were great hosts and had a gathering that was making all the passer byers jealous. So much so that people joined in on the fun. But after the Canada day festivities wound down, it seemed appropriate to hit the road again and get some distance under our tires. I had a little bit of work done on my back tire and Kent from Phat Moose Cycles guaranteed me that it would be problem free for 500kms at the least. Well, since Im writing from Sudbury, you were true to your word. Now lets hope you under estimated! We left Ottawa and rode the bike path right out of town. We peddled into Arnprior to visit a L'Arche house for the night. They had dinner ready for us when we arrived and even had a place for us to stay. We woke up early to join them for a 7:00am breakfast, which most of you will know is about 5 hours earlier than we usually get up. I guess there is a first for everything. The early start helped us get to Pembroke in good time. We stopped at a grocery store for some supper and chatted with a friendly old war veteran. He shared some interesting stories and was glad to have some ears to listen. We on the other hand were glad to hear some of his fascinating stories. On that note, we gave the Petawawa Army Base a ring and inquired about possibly setting up our tent on their base. The officer on duty wasn't around so we continued onward, unsure as to whether we had a place to stay. A couple kilometers outside of Petawawa, we got a call back from the base letting us know they would be glad to arrange something. So we rolled onto the base and checked in at the front gate. They set us up with a camp site on the base. Little did I know the base was HUGE! It was a community in itself. It had its own campgrounds on the property. They set us up free of charge. So we made our way into the base and biked around, exploring this new setting. We stopped by a tank display and snapped a couple photos. When we got to the campgrounds we were taken back by the fantastic view and awesome scenery. We slipped on our swim trunks and ran down to the beach for a swim. We met a young fellow named Justin who was friendly as could be and interested in our trip. We chatted about bikes and what not and then Skye and I took a brief swim in the cool lake water. On our way back to our campsite Justin met us again and gave a donation to L'Arche. He was a nice guy and his family was too kind, hooking us up with some snacks, citronella candles, and fire wood. Thanks Guys! That night we had a run in with a trixy racoon. He was clever enough to unzip my bag and steal a nutrigrain bar from the pack. We scared him off, but he returned later to snag a bag of peanuts. And so we begin to tie up our food. Atleast it wasn't a bear. Leaving Petawawa was a task. It was pouring rain and the highway 17 was terrible, just as we were warned. Par for the course we kindly looked past advice and treked onwards. The shoulders were nil and the trucks were plentiful. This theme continued pretty much the entire way to sudbury and apparently will continue even further. This required us to adopt a new technique of getting way off the road anytime a transport is approaching. It slows the travels, but extends our living period. We had the chance to visit another L'Arche in North Bay and had a wonderful visit again. The residents were good humoured and helped us navigate our way around the kitchen. A task not as easy as it sounds in such a large kitchen. Without their help we would have been stuck for hours. The workers were great to provide us with sleeping arrangements and made us feel right at home. We took off the next morning, despite Skye feeling under the weather. Regardless he tackled the 130km without any major difficulty. We were lucky enough to meet up with the Ceilidh's boyfriend Ian's Loney-Price crew in Sudbury. They're treating us royally and feeding us like kings. Caribou sausage was on the menu last night, courtesy of Eric's shot and ribs are gracing the menu tonight. I'm hoping to be able to sneak a peek of Janice's trade, working in Public health with Harm Reduction strategies, as it is an interesting avenue that pertains to my recent schooling. We're enjoying the rest day and are glad to have a place that makes us feel at home away from home. We've still got a lot of Ontario left, but we're taking it one peddle at a time.

Cheers for now...