Day 43 - Rest Day - Pick Up A Rider

Thursday, June 29, 2017

It rained ALL day today!!  I have never seen so much rain!  It gave us a chance to use our Canada 150 Umbrellas that we bought so long ago.  They are now coming in very handy!

Let's back it up a bit..... First we picked up Ritchie's daughter Shevaun from the Airport.  She did a red eye from Vancouver by way of Toronto.  Wave Shevaun!✋
She will join Ritchie and Caroline for the final ride tomorrow.  If you've been following along you might remember she rode the first 2 days of this journey.  Very cool that she's here to ride the Victory Lap with her Dad and Caroline.

After the airport, we had to drive into town to pick up Shevaun's Rental Bike.  It was located up by the Parliament Buildings just on the other side of the Rideau.  We past by the Parliament Buildings on the way.  Lots of preparations are underway for Saturday.

A Quick Drive By

We drove to Lansdowne Park to get the bike out of the RV and onto the bike rack.  No time when we picked it up.  

We went to Malones for lunch, located further down the Rideau.

Our destination for tomorrow, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the National War Memorial.

We returned to Calabogie and after getting sorted out went back to the RedNeck Bistro.

Ritchie and I had to try the All You Can Eat Fish & Chips (Pickerel).  It was great!

 In a very special ceremony I was presented with a commemorative gift.  An "As Seen On TV" Twitch Bait that lights up and vibrates!!!  Yowzah!!!!

 Couldn't wait to charge & test it once we got back to the Resort!

 Tomorrow will be a very memorable day!!

Day 42 - Calabogie, Ontario - Rest Day

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Today was a great rest day and a day of reflection.

Hey! Did everybody see the article about us in the Brantford Expositor?
It was pretty cool.  Click here for the story.

My good buddy, André Fortier stopped in from Ottawa for a visit.  André is a 30 year retired veteran and has been a fishing buddy of mine for the last 35 years.  We have been through some great times and some difficult times together (we lost our wives 6 months apart).  It was so great to see him to catchup, trade stories and have a few laughs today.

We took advantage of our downtime to enjoy the resort that we're staying at, Calabogie Lodge.

It's hard to keep Lynn out of the pool.

No rain for a change.

With one day left to ride, Ritchie has completed 4637 km with over 26 km of vertical climbing!
Caroline has 2443 km with over 12 km of vertical climbing! She will surpass 2500 km after her last day!
Amazing accomplishments!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Speaking of accomplishments, about an hour ago, Soldier On surpassed Ritchie's $5000 goal, thanks in large part to his fellow Triple Shot Cycling Club members.

Honour House is still well back of his goal of $5000.  

I am not normally one to ask for donations, but this is the last piece of the pie to make this endeavour a complete success for Ritchie.  I urge anyone, especially friends and family members who have contemplated giving, but have not yet done so, to make a donation to Honour House.  I was there at Honour House, on the first day of the ride and it is such a wonderful healing place for our suffering veterans and 1st Responders with PTSD.

Here is the link.  https://honourhouse.ca/canada150bikeride/

Thank You.

Day 41 - Petawawa through Quebec to Calabogie

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

I took this shot just before we left Camp Michael in Petawawa as the duo was ready to leave on their journey.

Ritchie chose an interesting route that crossed the Ottawa River and took them through Quebec (our 6th Province!).  Before long we came to the Maarchand Bridge built in 1898 for $6,000.  It was repaired several times, the last in 1997 for $429,000.  It was closed a few years after that.  It is the second longest covered bridge in Quebec.

We rendezvoused with Ritchie and Caroline here.

You can't go to Quebec and not have Poutine!!!!  We stopped just down the road.  The food and service was excellent!

This photo was in the restaurant.  One year a log jam when the water was high almost knocked the bridge off its piers!

 We stopped often today as the skies were always threatening.

Caroline called it a day at the next stop.  She has put in an impressive 624 km this week (almost as much as I ride in a season!).

Ritchie road all the way to Renfrew.  It was a fun ride today and they dodged the rain.

Stopped into Scott & Sons to pick up a couple of items.  This store is special to Lynn and I as its where we picked up our first lock to put on the "lock" bridge in Ottawa.

This is the actual "Scott", actually 3rd generation Scott.  The store has been open for 100 years.  His Grandmother ran the store when his Grandfather fought in WWI.  He was back in the store working at 5:30 am the day after he arrived home.

These are all hand made miniature tools made by 30 year employee Ray Letting who passed away in 2009 at the age of 92.  They had incredible detail!

We survived a major downpour in Renfrew and on our way to Calabogie hail was piled up along the roadside.
Calabogie Lodge, our location for the next few days.

Ritchie has had an amazing ride this far (its not over yet!) arriving here several days ahead of schedule.

 But he just can't stay off the bikes!!

We headed "downtown" to the Red Neck Bistro.  Not your normal Red Neck restaurant.

 Some of its clientele drive Bagatti Veyrons.

 Suggested MSRP.........$2,225,000!!  Youzah!!!

An annual oil change costs $21,000 (yes, you read that right)!😲

 The Restaurant is owned by the Calabogie Brewery next door.

Cheers!! 

 A great dinner AND dessert and a great way to end a great day!!

Day 40 - Deux Rivieres to Petawawa

Monday, June 26, 2017
Another cool, overcast morning as Ritchie headed down the long road.

Caroline joined up with Ritchie today part way through the route.

The title says it all.  It invariably turns out that by the time we catch up with Ritchie (and Caroline), we have just passed an ideal spot to pull off (Picnic area, Snowplow turnaround spot, good sideroad) and then have to look for the first available safe spot past them that might work.  Today that was a dirt side road in the thick of the trees which meant Mosquito Hell!

Of course, once we got started again, we passed another spot that would have been ideal just a short way up the road (Murphy's Law).  Here's Ritchie's numbers.

We arrived at their son Mike's home in Petawawa.  Unfortunately, Mike is not there, but his girlfriend Alicia had him on FaceTime so he could see them approach.  

 It was definitely one of the best (and emotional) highlights of this trip!

After a lot of catching up with Alicia, she treated us to a wonderful home cooked dinner.

Mike is a lucky guy!

Today was a great day!  Very relaxing.  We are nearing the end of this wonderful adventure and the routine that we've been in for the last 40 days is starting to change.  Tonight we are parked in front of Mike's house.  No campgrounds, no campfires, just some good old fashioned family time.

Day 39 - North Bay to Deux Rivieres

Sunday, June 26, 2017
On our way to catch up with Ritchie and Caroline this morning and look who we caught up with!  Denis Paquet definitely has the record for the person we've crossed paths with the most (not even sure how many it is now).  This is probably the last time we'll see him (although I've said this before).  It's been so wet the last week, Denis drys his clothes by wearing them when he's riding.  He's an amazing guy and I truly hope we meet again in our walks of life.

We stopped in Mattawa for groceries.  These wooden sculptures were all over town.  This is John de Brebeuf.

The first one below is Grey Owl and just a few of the others.  Cool.

 
Caroline rode the full route today, so both Strava reports were identical.

Ritchie started a new project, a walking stick.

with a very unique handle.

We stayed at Antler's Kingfisher Lodge on the Ottawa River.  This is our last night in a campground on this trip.  We have had some absolutely amazing locations we've stayed at.  We had some stunning views of the river tonight.

I love this country!