Deep in Bliss in Deep River

SNM Tour Day 42

We said goodbye to Dave and Lucy (Monique assured me it would be Lucie given French background - she was wrong, probably for the first time....ever) but not before being fed a hot meal (and being treated like royalty) just one more time. I think we ate much, much more than our cycling burnt off for the first time in this tour (I'm not complaining, this woman is a great cook and baker).

Started the run to a misty sunrise, then started cycling with Bob through more and more mist and fog and .....we were cycling through clouds.  We were covered in a spray of water over our helmets, and fronts of jackets and cycling gear. And we went updown, saw horses, updown, saw a great blue heron, updown, saw a picturesque lake and a beaver dam, updown, saw an OPP officer.............oops, apparently a few truckers had called and were worried about our safety given the ongoing heaviness of the fog. We were forced to stop in Mattawa until it cleared a bit - which was fortuitous in that we checked out this quaint little town and had some fun taking photos while we were chomping at the bit to get back on the road.  

And soon enough we were and saw much more upupupdown, upupupdown (or at least it seemed that way) as we left Northern Ontario and made our way into the Ottawa valley.  The sun came out and we rode a good solid day of mileage to Deep River.  We were treated to a stay at a home on the Ottawa River, the owners being away but still being kind enough to offer this. WOW - this was truly a home away from home and allowed us a place to spread out a bit, get a good home cooked meal and enjoy the water.  Terrence and Natalie, we cannot thank you enough for your generosity and kindness to all of us, sight unseen.  On this anniversary day of global mistrust (9-11) I am grateful to see that we can still share just a bit of human kindness and trust.

We have probably now entered the portion of Canada that we are least familiar with, this part of rural Ontario and later rural Quebec.  We have made many trips to Toronto and Ottawa, Quebec city and Montreal, but have not driven in the surrounding areas much at all so this should be full of surprises for us!

Tour Day Sponsor - Schmenge Brothers Golf Tournament in Manitoba. Cousins Tom, Ken and Mag (among a list of others) have continued to mount a successful and fun annual golf tournament to raise monies for cancer care in honour of cousin Lawrence (aka Laurie, aka Larry) who died of cancer a few years ago.  Cousin Laurie (as I always knew him) was a kind spirited, gregarious soul, who enjoyed life, and especially the people around him. Hopefully we will get time to have a really good visit with his widow Pat while we are in Charlottetown PEI. 

Not so Random quote of the day

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the



most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.


Charles Darwin