we were up and out by 7. jacob isn't used to getting up that early, but he wanted to ride with me. we stopped briefly at the corner coffee shop to say goodbye to michelle. she gave us breakfast on the house.
heading out of port stanley is an immediate short, steep hill, then it's flat again. soy bean fields, corn, and hay mixed with occassional woodlands. there're are also sporadic apple orchards, blueberry farms, and even rarer, a peach grove. fruit is in season and roadside vegetable stands are common.
first stop is the sleepy hamlet of port burwell. a two block commercial district. there is a small park with a view to a small inlet into the lake erie, a couple of boats out in the water, a lighthouse that seems kind of far from the water, and a submarine. the submarine is sitting in blocks out of the water, behind a couple of small restaurants. this is not a model, it is a full blown, modern submarine on display just sitting there like the tide went out and left it stranded.
just before port rowan we stop at a fruit and vegetable stand. we talk with the owner for awhile and he gives us each a couple of peaches; jacob buys a couple of ears of corn to eat raw later. then we pass the etude d'oiseaux canada. chris, we probably wouldn't have got you passed that, but we didn't stop. a little later we pass the candian raptor conservacy , but it was closed to the public. my eagle eyes have seen a bunch of hawks, alot of gulls, and the canadian geese heading south
in port rowan, we stop at a small bistro for a sandwich. a tuna wrap is surprisingly cheap, while the ice tea is ridiculously expensive. port rowan is a pleasant little summer town with a nice, small downtown of two or three blocks.
down the road we hit port dover, a full blown tourist town. it's afternoon and the main street is crowded. it leads directly down a small hill to the lake, boats, and beach. we stopped at the obligatory coffee house. the owner and jacob discuss gaming on ps3. a game called 'dark souls', i think. jacob is a master, the owner can't get past the elementary levels. another customer comes in with his wife, and he joins in the discussion about other games. he's in his fifties, i'd say, and shouldn't be so knowledgeable about gaming. i felt dissasociated.
i discussed money with him. turns out that the merchants don't really make the .03 on the dollar, because the banks take it in conversion fee. unless they can hold on to it till they go into the states. which is a double win, then, because things are cheaper in the states, as well. problem is that it's just not that easy to get to the u.s., a couple of hour drive in either direction. they definitely liked it better when the candian dollar was worth more than us, which it briefly was a couple of years ago. on the other hand, several years ago the dollar was almost worth 1.50 canadian. that was good, too, because they could take their goods to the u.s. and sell them cheaper.
we rode the lakeshore road, which became a little, unstriped lane with cottages along it. little things on little lots. on the lake front, they're crammed in every which way. worse than sections of the little river road in walland. stretches had houses on both sides of the road, other stretches the road separated the houses from the water and there were little sitting areas between the road and water. it varried by community, sometimes the houses were nicer with larger lots, sometimes crammed in. sometimes there are small beaches with brown sand and rock, other times no beach at all. a very pleasant bike ride. the wind was mild coming in off the lake.
things are more expensive in canada. camping is one of them. tent camp spots at the provincial parks are around $38. that's ridiculous for a touring cyclist. imagine paying that for 60 nights. in washington state, the campsites had $8-10 special rates for cyclists. in montana, the communities let you sleep in town parks for free. here, when we finally found a private campground at the end of a 100 mile day, the manager wanted $30. she said that was a deal; they normally charge $42, and you're only allowed one tent per site. we complained a little, noting that we were just spending the night and would be up and gone by 7:30. she said she'd take $20. we didn't tell her that we had two tents.
in the morning, we were up at dawn and on the road. 35 miles into port colborne. i could tell jacob was pretty tired from yesterday, he wasn't used to that kind of mileage. he'd been averaging more in the 50-60 range. after riding a bit, i decided it was probably best if i went on ahead. i told him i'd be in a coffee shop in port colborne for an hour or so and we could meet up there. which we did, but that would prove to be the end of our travelling together. he admitted to being worn out and needed to stop and eat. since we were going to split up at fort erie anyway, i went on ahead.
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