Total distance: 4018km
Average speed: 22.4km/h
Weather: cloudy with sunny periods
Even with the mosquitoes buzzing inches from my face, I still managed to fall asleep until 8 this morning. Not wanting to spend any second extra with the bugs, I packed up everything inside my bivy, then proceeded to walk to my bike still with it over me. I was sitting at the picnic table cooking some chocolate oatmeal when Scott, the same friendly guy from last night, came by and gave me some coffee and a jar of peanut butter (of which I must have eaten like 1000 calories worth of). This little spot, which includes a campers grocery, crafts gift shop, gas station and carving gallery, has to be the greatest rest stop in Canada. All morning the staff and other visitors (including a vendor from Wawa, a woman whose daughter wanted to go to UBC and some motorcyclists from Minnesota) asked me about my trip and wished me well such that I again didn't leave until after 10:30. It was another wonderfully scenic ride to Sault Ste. Marie, a nostalgic goodbye to Lake Superior. People warned me about the mile long hill at Goulais River, which was one of the steeper ones but nothing is really that bad after BC. I really admire cyclists who go from east to west, who surprisingly I think I've met more of, as they must get quite the shock when they come upon the mountains (not to mention the prevailing headwinds)! 70km later I got to Velorution and finally got to see what all the touring cyclists have raved about. The owner, Andre, lets bike tourists camp and shower for free. It really was an awesome bike shop, and even though I wasn't going to stay there after having ridden further than planned the last few days I had to stop by. They made my bike all smooth and shiny again after 4000km, and showed me a very nice route out of the Soo on Highway 17B before sending me on my way. I admit I have been a bit obsessed with distance; there was no way I would have imagined doing another 90km at 3pm (or 5pm two days ago for that matter!) when I first started the trip, but those 200km+ prairie days showed me what my bike and I are capable of. From Lake Superior onto Lake Huron and the landscape changed again. It's a lot flatter, almost prairie like with the farms and grass. There were also more towns in between, something like 5 in the 90km to Thessalon, which I hadn't planned to stop at until last night. I arrived at my host Tome's, who was wonderful to accept the last minute request, place around 7:15. Turns out Tome worked as a bus driver in Vancouver and I got to hear about a job that people definitely take for granted. After dinner we watched a cool sci-fi movie called The Jacket.
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