Good Fortune on the Fleuve Saint-Laurent

I left Quebec on a dark and rainy afternoon about 5 days ago now. I caught the ferry across the Fleuve Saint-Laurent and looking back at the city, it was as if it was 400 years earlier. With the Castle Frontenac, the old fort walls, and the dark clouds above, Quebec looked like a menacing stronghold from the past. I went no further then the Casse-Croute (poutine stand) just off of the ferry where I took shelter from the escalating storm. This is where I met Myriam. Myriam has spent a lot of time in BC, has cycle toured through Europe, and speaks perfect english. She immediately got on the phone and lined up a place for me to stay that night. I only rode less than 30 kms to Beaumont to be welcomed into a warm, cozy 200 year old stone house by Annie and Audille. They had just prepared crepes de la mer. Crepes filled with asparagus and seafood. This, along with a fresh salad from the garden and a glass of wine and I had to ask one of them to pinch me. The dinner was the best I have had in a long time and the company was great. We sat around the wood fire in this cool old house on the river and exchanged stories, learned more french(that was just me), and felt very fortunate (again, just me). I slept on a cozy bed next to the fire while it rained outside. The next morning, Myriam came out for breakfast and gave me another number of some friends in Rimouski where I am right now. I am about to hit the road after another great recharge here (including another great meal upon arriving). I will be in New Brunswick in two days and then start my whirlwind tour through the Maritimes. I fly out of St.Johns, Newfoundland on the 26th of September. 26 days, 4 provinces left. I think days off are now a thing of the past. The temperature is dropping and the rain is expected to increase with the two new storms heading up the east coast. My appetite seems to be going up as the temps go down. to be expected I guess, but I canèt believe how much Ièm eating and am still always hungry! Well, I appreciate any emails or comments more than you know so keep em coming. Send food.
Thanks, Blaine

Pledge link fixed

I finally fixed the pledge link on the sidebar. All it does is direct you to the original Raising Money post I put up earlier this month. Ièll give a quick recap.
I am raising money for The Alzheimer Society of Canada and the Go For Green project. I asked people to pledge me one cent per km from the 3000 km mark on. I would like to modify that slightly in that, if you are interested in pledging any amount of kms, that is great and muchly appreciated. (1000 kms = $10)
For more detailed information on how to pledge some kms, try the link. It also has more information on the causes. These are also found as links in the sidebar.
Thank you so much to all of you who have pledged kms already!!!

Quebec City - The rest of the story

In Quebec, I have been staying with Steve and Marie-Julie. They are friends of Marie-Lou`s and are very cool hosts. I met many cool Quebec`rs through them. We went to a nice party where everyone was singing or playing an instrument by the end. They live very close to downtown as well, so it made it easy to check out the city.

Quebec City Mini Series

Bonjour,
I have 3 video clips of Quebec City.
Part one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH_jOw7_f8M
Part two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsMan9JqIKU
Part three:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijjqvJWa64c

It turns out that when I thought I was in the main tourist area of the city on the video, I wasn`t. So I will put another post with some pictures.
Salut

Quebec - La Belle Province

It didn`t take long for Quebec to become my favorite province to bike in. The trip from Montreal to Quebec city was so enjoyable. They have a completely seperate bike route that makes it`s way along the shores of the St.Lawrence River, through farmland and small villages. The weather was perfect for biking - sunny, but not too hot. I really felt like I was in Europe. Passing small fruit and vegetable stands, practising my french, and stopping at nice viewpoints to eat. Here I thought Quebec was just going to be poutine, second-hand smoke, and people using 4 or 5 swear words at a time. Au Contraire, mon frere. Don`t get me wrong, I eat poutine almost every day (how can you not?) and find myself tabernac`ing things now and then. Overall though, Quebec is clean, beautiful and friendly. They are also very tolerant of english speaking people, especially if you are making an effort. There is no better way to learn a language than to immerse yourself in it. My french has been improving at a steady rate. I`ve got a lot of the slang down. Voyons Donc. Oui, c`est ca.
Here are some shots of the trip from Montreal to Quebec.

A couple more pics of Montreal

I thought I should include a shot of the view from the top of the Olympic Stadium since I mentioned it earlier. The other is taken from the waterfront in Old Port, Montreal.

Jump out of a plane at 11,000 ft - check

Finally! I`ve been wanting to skydive my whole life and finally got the chance while I was in Montreal. In Montreal, I stayed with an old friend I knew from Banff. Marie-Lou is a social worker who works with youth on the street out of a center in Montreal. Through the center, they arranged and funded a trip to a skydive center west of Montreal and a chance to skydive for 11 youth. It worked out very well for me that they needed someone with a class 4 driver`s licence to drive the van full to the ranch and back. In return, I got to do a tandem freefall from 11,000 ft. I wanted to do the course and jump by myself from a lower elevation but I was the only anglophone around and there wasn`t anyone to give me my own private instruction. So instead I was clipped onto Dean, who has done over 3300 jumps. We got to freefall for 45 seconds which is really hard to explain. The first 5 seconds we were kind of tumbling through the air and it was too much sensory input for the brain to take. Once we leveled out, it was still insane. What a cool feeling to freefall! Wish I had a helmet cam to video it. Oh well, here`s a picture of me and some of the crew anyway. It was really cool to experience this with these guys. Definite confidence builder!

The Olympic Stadium

Built for the olympics in 1976, the Olympic Stadium is apparently a bit of a sore spot for the locals because they only just finished paying for it and they`re not doing a whole lot with it these days. It`s still an impressive structure and offers a great view of the city when you pay the $10 to take the elevator to the top.

Montreal City

I made it onto the island of Montreal via a train from Dorion. A bit of an adventure on it`s own with 100 lbs of bike and gear in tow. Then, Bam! , I`m in the city. I got out at the Montreal Canadiens arena. I forget what corporate sponsor name it has now. They have a wall showing all of their stanley cup wins. very impressive. Do they have the most wins of any team? I can`t remember. I got someone on the street to take this picture of me amongst all of the people and action. I swear there was a lull at that moment. Things are happening in downtown Montreal. It is a very cool city, oozing with culture. I`m a big fan of Graffiti in the cities and Montreal is a great showcase for the artists there. Here`s a good one.

Maxville to Montreal

From Ottawa, I stayed off of the main arteries and pedalled my way along quieter country roads for the remainder of my Ontario experience. This was a nice way to finish off the same province who's highways would have drove me to drink if riding on the highways drunk wasn't such an incredibly bad idea. The first day I made it to Maxville, a small friendly town that someone had suggested I check out. Maxville is small to be sure, and friendly as they come. The next morning on the way out of town, I met an off duty RCMP officer who was also a bike tourer. I had coffee with him and two of his buddies outside the local convenience store. Characters, to say the least. I have a picture of them and will post it the next time I get to a computer. I'm not able to at the moment. I do, however, have a link to a video clip of me riding my bike along those small country roads a short time after leaving Maxville on the day I would make it to Montreal.
Try it out, I hope it works. Hmmm, I guess you will have to cut and paste it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkLcIWgX-FI
I started an account on Youtube so that I can start posting video clips. Got to keep up with the times you know.
I will get caught up with updates soon.
Salut
Blaine

On to the Capital

From Wilderness Tours, I pedalled my hangover away getting to our nation's capital, Ottawa. Luckily, my good friend Ted picked me up before I had to navigate my way through the city. I spent the next 3 nights in Ottawa with Ted and is wife Joanne. Ted and I went to college together 6 years ago in Invermere. The first night I was there they had a stag/stagette to go to so I tagged along. No rest for the weary. It was a fun night and I got to see Jon and Jen as well, Another couple I knew from Invermere days that are friends of Ted.
I really enjoyed Ottawa, it's a beautiful city. The parliament buildings were very impressive, the market was great and the amount of green space in the city was top notch.
I didn't get many pictures while I was here but here's one of some of the local produce at the market.

Gratuitous Whitewater shot

One of the locals on the 'Garberator' wave, Ottawa River.

Good times on the Ottawa River

At long last I got to paddle on the famed Ottawa River. After a lazy morning in Deep River drinking coffee, reading magazines and talking about biking, I finally said thanks for the break and pedalled my bike past Beachburg and on to Wilderness Tours. This is the largest raft company in Canada and they have an amazingly well developed base area with a restaurant, volleyball courts, bungee jumping, mountain biking, camping and the usual debauchery that surrounds rafting. I went in hoping to drop a couple of names, give the "I raft guided in BC" speel and get as much as possible for free. It worked. The crew at Wilderness Tours are awesome and treated me so well. I ended up camping there a couple of nights, had all my meals covered, and got in on the first day of a 3 day whitewater playboating course with pro-kayaker/shit-disturber Corey Volt. Mad props to Sharky, Corey, Lara, and Jamie. In such a short time I met so many cool people, had an amazing day kayaking on the Ottawa and even got a little closer to flatwater cartwheeling. It was so nice to be in a kayak as opposed to the bike for a day.
Here's the story background to this picture. While kayaking that day, I 'swam', and Corey helped me get back in my boat and retrieve my gear. In the whitewater world, its bad to swim(have to pull your deck and escape your boat). Especially between guides, boating friends, or as was the case here - when I was basically in calm water. My punishment for this was to either drink beer from Corey's neoprene boot (standard given the situation) or do a Stuntman shooter. Corey was good enough to come up with the Stuntman option as he has worn his booties for the last 100 days straight and just had some fungal problem clear up. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be held liable for any health related repurcussions. The Stuntman shooter requires tequila, salt and lime. Step one: snort the salt up your nose. Step two: shoot the tequila. Step three: squeeze the lime in your eye. This is Corey and I just after step 3.

Deep River Hospitality

Before this trip I heard many stories of people inviting travellers into their homes with offers of a meal, a bed and a shower. I was offered all of this hospitality by some friendly folk in Deep River, Ontario. Their names are Aubrey and Suzette and they cycle tour regularly as it would turn out. Here's a picture of them on the deck of their cool house in Deep River. Thanks for everything guys!

The old highways were better

From North Bay, I had a tough day to Mattawa, only 70 km away. I just could not get into it this day. There was a 25 km stretch of road construction that left the no.17 even worse than normal. Mattawa seemed like a nice place so I called it quits there and fed and drank my tough times into submission with a double cheeseburger and a couple of beers at Myrt's family restaurant. I sat and read my book for the next two to three hours before I pitched my tent for the night about one block away at the local high school. The next morning on the way out of town I met a cool construction worker turned fiddle-playin' street-busker named Roger. He gave me an impromptu history lesson on Mattawa, the meeting place. Mattawa is at the confluence of the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers.These were major highways in earlier times. I was happy to get my first look at the Ottawa River, maybe the most popular whitewater river in Canada nowadays. Here is Roger standing outside the office of Angus Magazine, an off the wall publication of rants, raves and stories of complete fabrication. I've now got the latest issue in my possession.

Long time no blog

Hi all,
sorry for the lengthy delay between blog updates. I am alive and well and now in Montreal. The couple of days when I had access to a computer in Ottawa, I could not get in to the site to add anything.
I have got some serious updating to do. I offer this picture of a corn field. I have been riding by these steady for the last week.

Quick update from North Bay, Ontario

I'm on a limited use computer here in North Bay so I can't download any pictures. Just wanted to update my progress. I decided to stay on the 17 all the way to Ottawa where I plan to be in 3 more days. The weather has been great, the people friendly and the experiences plenty. Had a great day yesterday. Found a huge patch of wild blueberries and gorged on them as well as taking a container full with me. Went cliff jumping into the river with some 14 year old kids in Sturgeon Falls, met a cool couple around my age in North Bay who let me use their shower and washing machine, and camped on a beautiful beach under a near full moon. I'm really enjoying life on the road right now. Life presents you with so much when you are open and receptive to it.
keep in touch,
Blaine

Just a little reminder

Definitely my favorite road sign I've seen on this trip

Raising Money

I'm now at least half way through my trip across Canada but I have decided that it's better late than never. I would like to try and use this opportunity to raise some money. I have been thinking about this for a while now and it seems that since I have been travelling around Lake Superior, too many signs have been pointing towards making it happen. It started with a good visit with Terry Fox just north of Thunder Bay. They have an amazing monument to him there and he is truly a Canadian to be inspired by. Since then I have also been inspired by other cross canada cyclists raising money for different causes. I have been doing a lot of thinking and researching as to what I wanted to raise money for and how I was going to do it. There are still some things that need to be ironed out but I thought I better get going on it if I'm going to do it at all. Here is what I have come up with:

I have pedalled a little over 3000 kms so far (3200'ish actually). I hope to pedal at least 2500 more, give or take.
I am asking for a pledge of one cent for every kilometer I pedal from the 3000 km mark on. This could mean a total of somewhere between $20-$35, depending on how many kms I end up riding.
I am not setting any totals that I want to reach, rather going with the thought that any amount raised will help.

All money raised will be donated to these two causes. 50% to each:

The first is the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Alzheimer's is a progressive, degenerative brain disease and is becoming more and more prevalent in our society. I think you would have to be pretty lucky these days not to be affected by this disease in some way, whether it be from someone you know having it or having it yourself. Much research needs to be done and money donated will help. Please use the link on the sidebar to learn more.

The second is the Go For Green: Active Living and Environment Program. Go For Green is a national non-profit, charitable organization encouraging Canadians to pursue healthy, outdoor physical activities while being good environmental citizens. They have a number of programs including:
Active & Safe Routes to School - a national program encouraging the use of active modes of transportation to and from school.
Commuter Challenge - a national program that aims to increase the awareness of the benefits of sustainable commuting and to encourage Canadians to take action by walking, cycling, taking transit, carpooling or tele-working instead of driving alone to get to work.
Ice Dreams - This is one of my favorites. It is a national program that encourages the development and use of new and existing outdoor rinks in Canada.
Active = healthy and happy

To pledge one cent for every km I ride from the 3000 km mark forward, please send me an email at senorbowe@hotmail.com with the word pledge in the subject line. For now, I am going to keep all pledge emails in a seperate folder and work on how I will collect the money once the km total is in. For now, the email only need say that you want to pledge my kms. Do not give me any financial nitty gritty yet. All money will be collected at the end of my journey. Thank you in advance to all who want to help with these causes.

*Please do not feel any obligation to do this. I will not be hounding you to pledge me or anything like that, and I still want to keep in touch with you!
**On the other end of the scale - if you would like to pledge all kms that I ride from the beginning to the end of the trip, please feel free. (By no means expected though!)

Cross Canada cyclist bottleneck

A lot has happened riding around Lake Superior. Here's the summary.
I left Thunder Bay on my own as planned and rode to Nipigon on the first day. After camping in a field (with permission) I awoke to found I was basically on an ant hill. So a quick removal of a couple hundred ants from my food bag later, I went into town for a cheap breakfast. This is where I ran into Darren and Sebastien. They were just leaving after having taken an unexpected day off. Some locals took them out sailing and 4x4'ing for the day. So I rode that day and the next still on my own. As I rode into Terrace Bay on that 3rd day I heard some yells directed at me as I rode by the campground, so I turned around and came in. It was some other cyclists, two of them loaded with gear and one on a supported trip. The two self supported riders are two young girls from Quebec; Josianne and Andree. They started in Quebec, rode east through the maritimes, flew to Vancouver and are on their way back home. These girls are full of energy and enjoying every minute of their trip. They have been riding loosely on the same schedule as the Tour de Canada, a supported group ride across the country. So they were all at this same campsite and I was invited to join them for some riding over the next couple days. The Tour de Canada has a truck that transports all the cyclist's gear from camp to camp so the riders get to travel unloaded. As a result, they travel fast. I got onto the french girls' schedule of waking up crazy early and getting a big head start, and then getting in late after the Tour at the same camp. On the second day, after riding 40+ km into White River, who do we run into just gettting ready to ride? Sebastien. He and Darren parted ways the day before. After much rejoicing of meeting up yet again, we became a unit of 4. We had a lot of fun riding together that day and made it to Wawa that night. We rode together, along with the Tour for another day still and then I let them go on ahead. Again, it was a lot of fun riding with other people, but the crowd was a little large for my liking. I will see Sebastien along the way again and hopefully get to visit the girls in Quebec city when I go through there. Best of luck!
Oh, almost forgot to mention. In Wawa, we also ran into a couple from BC riding across the country to raise money for AIDS. Here is a link to their website. http://bikeacrosscanada.ca
The girls also have a website and are raising money for a non profit organization in Quebec.
http://unpieddevantlautre.org
Safe travels Sebastien, Andree, Josianne, Jason, Kylie, and all the Tour de Canada crew!

Here is a picture of Sebastien, Josianne, Andree and some curious tourists as we have lunch at the Lake Superior Provincial Park information center.
Ok, I can't get that picture to upload. I will try again later.

I'm going to miss her

Lake Superior has become a big part of my life in the last week. I rode my bike for over 700 kms around her shores. Staring out over this ocean of a lake from my final camp spot, it was hard to believe that it was the same body of water I was looking at while in Thunder Bay. Here's a cool vantage from the highway somewhere on the northern shores.

Big thanks!

I just wanted to say thank you to all those who have been writing comments or sending emails of encouragement along the way. It means a lot and helps to keep the spirits up. I especially want to send out a big hello and thank you to all my relatives who have been keeping in touch. This is probably the most contact I've had with family in one summer. Who knew all I had to do was leave the province. Here's a sunset picture of Lake Superior from my last camp spot along her shores.
Best Wishes for all of you! Blaine

Wawa

Wawa, Ontario is a cool little town on Lake Superior a couple days ride away from Sault Ste. Marie. It's full of stuffed moose, giant canadian geese, barrels of maple syrup and other Canadian headliners. Definitely geared to the american tourist but a friendly town all the same. two thumbs up for Wawa!