John’s Blog

  • Toronto Epilogue

    Toronto Epilogue

    Well, it took us sixteen days to get here – I figure it is worth a little meditation on Toronto itself. I guess kind of an epilogue . . . First off, we’ve decided that any initial hesitation we had about Toronto was due more to those first sixteen days making us tired than to…

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  • TORONTO!!!

    TORONTO!!!

    The day we’ve all been waiting for! Okay, the day that Diana and I have been waiting for. Arrival! In Toronto! With a hot shower, a real bed, and a restaurant around the corner. Well that was easy. NOT! It was fun though. Super fun. And – when we can stop thinking about tired legs…

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  • Villians, Tragedy, Zombies, and Death

    Staying on the Princess Bride theme, do you remember in the beginning when Peter Falk’s grandfather character tries to convince the not-feeling-well Fred Savage character to let him read the story? “Is this another kissing book?” asks Fred’s character. Well, the grandfather’s answer – all about adventure, swordsmanship, vengaence, etc. – is kind of how…

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  • (Dead) Porcupines and Waterfalls

    I guess maybe we’re getting the hang of this bike touring thing. We get up, we pack up the tent, we find a coffee shop, post our blog, and we ride and see. Then, once we reach our destination for the day we hit a grocery store, head to our campsite, set up camp and…

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  • The Winds of Canada – and other Canadianisms

    Since the Ominous Ghost Cloud our riding has really been pretty nice and easy. Wind generally at our back. Fair skies. Fun riding. So good, in fact, that we decided to throw in a ride on a mountain bike trail along the way. We took the green route – but still . . . See…

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  • Ferry Godmother

    Ferry Godmother

    So we left off with our Ferry Godmother having saved the day by banishing the evil Ghost Cloud and conjuring a scrumptious meal out of the nothingness that is the approach to Manitoulin Island. The big question was whether she would come through again for our most important connection of the trip – the 30…

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  • Mennonite Rush Hour, Giant Pumpkins and Ghost Clouds

    I won’t bore you with the first half of our day. It was pretty and all, but there were basically no services and we were hungry so we biked on the TCH (the Trans Canadian Highway, for the newly initiated) until we found a town – Massey – with a few services. There we had…

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  • Chuck

    Chuck

    Now that I’ve been doing this a few days I can say that there are days where a long time goes by and you’re not quite sure what you’re going to write about. Today was not one of them. As soon as we left Tim Horton’s – after a surprisingly good breakfast – I met…

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  • My “Day Off”

    My “Day Off”

    The truth is that I was prettty tired by the end of the day yesterday. It’s not that we biked that far, or that the day was that hard. But eight straight days of 4-6 hours per day is a lot for this old body. I needed a day off. Of course, we can’t take…

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  • Of Interstates, Apples and Passports

    When we pulled in to St. Ignace yesterday I realized that the main road from St. Ignace to Sault Ste. Marie is an interstate. My first thought was that I had misapprehended the U.P. They have an interstate – makes it a real place after all.  But after I got over my snarkiness, my next…

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