Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

It started off ok. We gimped downstairs for our complimentary breakfast and it wasn't bad. Cereal, muffins, scones and croissants. We left slowly and watched quite a bit of the tour de france. A couple of guys collided and one had to be airlifted out. We both wished we could be airlifted out. The weather channel predicted hot, headwinds, bad smog, again. Checkout was a shock, but it was only Canadian money.

Then the fun started. The haze had thinned some, so the sun was able to bake us better. The headwind was still there, maybe a little stronger. The roads continued to zigzag at 90 degree angles and we continued to want to go at a 45 degree angle. We added some more serious hills today. Lots of time in granny gear with no wind so the flies could harass us. Plenty of headwind on the downhill to keep us from making up the time we'd lost climbing.

We wanted to have an easier day and since we couldn't change any of the other factors, we called to make a reservation at a park about 60 miles away. We got the last site, until she had all our information and punched the reserve button, by that time someone else had gotten it. I asked about the next park, about 20 miles farther. She said there were lots of vacancies. An obviously bad sign, but where else could we go?

We rode the Talbot Trail road near the Lake Erie for a while. Then we figured out we might save a few miles and hills if we went inland a few grids. We never saw the lake anyway. That worked pretty well until a bridge was out and we had to detour. We found all the hills and most of the miles that we had hoped to miss. We stopped to survey the choices at one intersection and my foot sunk into molten tar. Fortunately it didn't get in my cleat. We had to avoid riding the tar ribbons along cracks. They had the consistency of snot.

We stopped at a store in the one town we passed through today and got a few things for a half hearted picnic. We expected more towns and more stores but they didn't happen. We were almost out of water and still 25 miles from camp when we passed a mechanic shop. They let us use the outdoor faucet. I didn't care for the smell but Mike filled all his bottles and camelback. A few miles later he dumped them all out. He said it tasted like diesel. We rode around a church looking in vain for a faucet, then looked for anyone outdoors we could ask for water. No luck.

Finally we came to an intersection with a restaurant nearby. More fine dining. I reluctantly decided that fish and chips would be better riding fuel than the smoked eel sandwich. It was excellent and so were the two cans of iced tea. We got water and slogged out the rest of the ride with full bellies and hydrated bodies.

It's tomorrow morning. No pix today.

The road deteriorated as we passed the Lake Erie Steel Company and Ontario Power Generation, neighbors of our park. Mike figures the companies must have donated the park land in lieu of fines for some horrid environmental disaster. The park is basically a few acres of weeds with patches that they have mowed and put picnic tables on. It's full of people. Really loud people. Our neighbors have a kid or two and a dog. Anytime one of them makes a sound the mom shrieks at them to be quiet. Someone was peacefully playing a guitar and her daughter was singing along angelically. Mom shrieked about the song she was singing. If the dog barks, the mom barks louder. I'd really love to put her out of my misery.

I went down to the beach after we did our laundry. (It does have a washing machine. There's one good thing.) As near as I can tell the beach is either a big flat rock (I'd love to know the geology of it.), covered with moss, or rock and rubble with a little sand mixed in. Guess I won't get to swim in a third Great Lake after all.

The worst part of the park is that we had to get it for two nights and we'd really like to spend two nights in a campground. But we're gonna get out as early in the morning as we possibly can.

Mike determined that this ride, and continuing this ride, is pointless and stupid. He decided that the purpose of the ride is to reflect on all the pointless and stupid things in his life. Then he realized that all of life is pointless and stupid. Guess he's fulfilled the purpose of the ride.

A tailwind and/or a cool day might help us lift our spirits over all the other hurdles. As it is, I keep wondering about Buffalo's airport and bike shops, or maybe an airlift.