There was a brief rainshower this morning, and I expected it to return all day, but it never did.  I stopped at a restaurant for a second breakfast and was glad I did, since there were no more restaurants when I was ready for lunch.

The geology as far west as North Bay is beautifully folded gneiss, as in the Appalachians.  But just west of there, the hills disappear and you're on the Great Plains!  I saw a field of live soybeans today for the first time since October... I expect I'll see them all the rest of the way to the Twin Cities.

Turns out that storm last night was more severe than I thought, and I might have been wise to take more precautions.  Oh, well!

Today was cooler but so windy that I made very slow progress into Mattawa, where I parted ways with the Ottawa River and ran some errands.  I decided I couldn't make it all the way into North Bay as I had planned and stopped near Talon Lake.  The campground has no showers, but I scrubbed myself off in the lake.

I had a leisurely breakfast with Norma & Kit this morning and didn't hit the road until 11:00.  It was another hot day, with lots of steep hills to climb, and I ran out of water about an hour before reaching my destination, but all was well.

After dinner a humdinger of a thunderstorm went over: hail and very close lightning.  I thought I had chosen a campsite on high ground, but when I opened my door, I found a lake!  Fortunately the rain only lasted a few minutes, and I was able to move my tent to higher ground.

43.1 mi

I should have gone farther yesterday... as it was I had to ride 13 hours today, some 105 kilometers instead of my target 80.  And it was a really hot, humid day.  I went through 5 liters of water plus a liter of other drinks -- that's more than I drank in a day while hiking the Grand Canyon in the peak of the summer!  At least the roads were flat; I hear tomorrow I won't be so lucky in that regard.

I stopped for lunch (poutine!) and ate it outdoors so I could dry my camping gear, so that i wouldn't have to worry about it tonight.

I took my time leaving Leela's place this morning, waiting for rush hour to end.  I followed bike trails all the way out of the city and was able to stay off main highways most of the way to Fitzroy Provincial Park.  I could have gone farther, but I would have had to rest and refill my water bottles, and the park was the closest place to do either, so I just stopped for the night.  It'll mean a long day tomorrow.

29.2 mi

This morning Leela and I went for a bike ride up to the "hogsback" waterfall.  It was her first time on a bike in many years.

This afternoon I biked out to the Museum of Civilization, but I forgot my wallet and so had to come back to Leela's.  I walked to the nearby Museum of Nature instead.

The Canadian Museum of Nature is under reconstruction right now, so more than half the exhibits are closed, but I enjoyed what I got to see; it's like a museum of natural history that focuses on Canada.  They had a few exotic species in the "creepy crawlers" exhibit, but everything else was native.  I particularly enjoyed the exhibit on medicinal plants.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on May 31, 2005] ]

Hello again. I've covered a lot of ground since I last wrote, so I'm going to leave out a lot of details and focus on telling stories which I hope will interest you.

I got up at dusk this morning and braved the morning fog to make it to church on time.  I thought I was going to make it when I reached the Ottawa River Parkway trail, but it was longer than it looked on the map, and Leela's church was on the far side of town.  I was exactly half an hour late for the start of the service, but just in time for the sermon.