Oh, Canada

Days: 14
Distance: 1350 km / 838 mi
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

So, we made it to my brother's coop house in Ann Arbor! Here's the latest list of adventures:

Niagra Falls

We biked from Rochester to North Tonawanda, a town right near the falls. There we stayed with Corey, a couchsurfer and skydiving pilot (how cool is that?). Corey showed us around town and helped us find our way to the falls in the morning. We crossed the "Rainbow Bridge" to Canada. The toll collector got so excited about our trip that he let us cross the bridge for free, and the Canadian customs officials let us jump the line in front of all the cars. After crossing over we relaxed and enjoyed the view for a while.


















Hamilton, ON

We had another fantastic couchsurfing experience with Alicia and her parents in Hamilton, ON. They took us out to dinner and fed us goat at a caribbean place. I've discovered a new food that I like!

The Magic Gazebo

We bike in all weather, and rain doesn't bother us. In fact, we thought we'd seen the worst when we got drenched biking out of Rochester. But there's one thing we don't do: lightning. Riding a steel bike across open fields in a lightning storm just seems to us like a recipe for a Darwin award. Unfortunately, it turns out this part of the country has thunderstorms pretty much daily in the summer.

The ride to London was tough. We faced extremely harsh head winds all day. We had to pedal hard just to even go downhill, and progress was very slow. Dark coulds began to gather in the late afternoon, and by evening the sky was looking ominous. Exhausted, we arrived in a tiny town called Thamesford and decided we needed a large snack break.

I was looking for a place to sit and eat when all of a sudden up ahead I could see a large gazebo by the side of the road. There was no apparently obvious reason for it to be there. About two seconds after we sat down in the gazebo, the sky openned up and it began to pour. Of course we were nice and dry in our magic gazebo!

At first the thunder was only in the distance and we weren't worried, but by the time we finished eating the lightning was directly overhead. We decided it wasn't safe to bike, so we had to wait until the storm moved farther away. We called a friend who checked radar images online and informed us that this storm was moving away, but several more were on the way!

After about half an hour the lightning was far enough away that we deemed it safe. We put on all our rain gear and headed out. To our delight, we discovered the horrible headwinds had finally calmed, and we raced to London ahead of the second storm!

Springbank Snow Countess























The inscription reads:

In honor of
Springbank Snow Countess
World Champion Lifetme Butterfat Producer
9062 Lbs Butterfat and 209.505 lbs milk in 10 lactations. Average test 4.37%
Born Nov 8th, 1919--Died August 9th, 1936
Errected by the Holstein-Friesian Association
of Canada August 4th, 1937 on Springbank Farm
Where her lifetime was spent in the service of her breeder and owner
T.R. Dent

London and Ipperwash Beach

My Grandmother's friend Ian hosted us in London, and he took us up to his cabin on the south shore of Lake Huron. We had a relaxing day, letting our muscles recover.




























Crossing the Border to Michigan

Our original plan was to cross back into Michigan via the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit. However, another cyclist we met at Niagra Falls warned us that the bicycles are not allowed either on the bridge or in the tunnel. (The bridge has a sidewalk, but it's been closed ever since September 11th due to "security concerns"). We decided to cross the border north of Lake St. Clair via the ferry from Sombra to Marine City.



















I have to admit my first thought after getting off the ferry on the Michigan side was "I want to go back to Canada". Let's just say Marine City, MI has seen better days.

While trying to change our Canadian dollars back to US dollars at the local bank we were approached by a drunk guy named "Don". Don was facinated by our loaded bikes and the explanation of our trip. His hand was also bleeding very badly, but he refused my offer of a bandage. "I'm a tough guy" Don told us, and then went on to brag about all the fights he's been in.

"Do you girls know how to fight?" Don asked.

I admitted I don't fight often.

"You should know how to fight, cuz on a trip like this someone might try an' kidnap you," Don slurred. "Do you carry any weapons? You should carry weapons!"

Don offered us his protection and wanted to give us his phone number, but we just told him to have a nice day and biked away. We never did get to change our money!

The Empty City

We were a little afraid of biking through Detroit, but it turned out to be an easy city to bike through. Why? Well, frankly, the whole place is practically empty! We were biking through on a Tuesday at noon. In any other city the streets should have been bustling with traffic, but not Detroit. It looked like Boston would look at 7 am on a Sunday.

I asked my brother about it, and his response:
"Of course it's empty. Why would anyone go there?"

The Graduation Hiatus

So, a day after arriving in Ann Arbor, my brother and I drove all the way back to good old Cambridge, and tomorrow I'll attend commencement. It took a full 13 hours to drive back, and for the first time I fully realized just how far we've biked!

We'll make the drive back to Michigan on Saturday, where Amelia and the bikes are waiting. We'll probably start biking again on Monday, June 8th. So stay tuned for part II.