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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.

I decided to see how far I could go today, to improve my chances of getting to church on time tomorrow morning.  The weather was beautiful, and easy to appreciate after days of rain.

I had a lot of trouble getting out of bed this morning, as if I were reacting to something in yesterday's lunch.  When I started carrying my gear downstairs, I slipped and fell down the stairs on my back, scraping it painfully.  I decided I was in no condition to travel... e-mailed Leela to say I'd be late, paid for another night, and went back to bed.

I'm kind of stunned because I just learned I have to leave tomorrow morning instead of Friday.  Fortunately I did most of the things I wanted to do today, but still it's a bummer.

This morning I biked up Mont-Royal for the view.  The mountain is taller than all the buildings in the city below, and it took me 20 minutes just to coast back down!  It's a popular spot.

The bike map said that after crossing the border into Canada, I could continue north on Quebec highway 223 "and the Chambly Canal towpath into Montreal."  I asked the border guard, and he confirmed that if I followed 223, I'd see signs for the towpath in about 25 miles.