Ken, Sue, Stewart & Jessie's Eastern Canada Tour

KELOWNA TO MONTREAL LOG

DAY -2 Kelowna to Calgary SP 0 KM MAY 9/02 THURSDAY

Well the bike is packed, the plans made and I'm off to meet my sister Jessie in Cochrane, AB. Hope Sarah makes it there intact! This is a loaded trip and we must carry everything until Ken arrives in June. We can do it! The log may be slow in getting onto the internet without our "computer geek", but I will try my best. It is snowing today in Calgary(report to follow) and unsettled weather out east. Why am I leaving BC with +10C in Kelowna!! That's what "Plastic" is for... The Best Western is around every corner!

May 5/02Sunday Email from Jessie: The local weather report for Cochrane: At present it is snowing ,blowing in from the east at a cool -2. Forecast high is +7 however that high on fri. was not realized as we didn't even break the 0 mark. Sat. was not bad. By noon it was slightly above 0 reaching a high of +4. Bike riders desperate to get out bundled up and took on the elements to run errands and make sure brakes and gears are running smoothly. The sun fought for air time and actually was on top sporadically throughout the afternoon. A lone gardener was seen stiring her winters accumulation of compost (slime) into the compost bin. This overtime inning of winter does strange things to the inhabitants of this land.

Well all trips shouldn't be this eventful! I need my man to look after me!! Started off from Kelowna yesterday to find out I couldn't check my bike straight thru so had to pick it up at the Calgary airport and my large box of gear! Bike Box seems to have made it, but the gear shifter was sticking out so had to do box repair today. I had a near catastrophy by leaving my wallet on the airplane! Why do they need the id once you are in security!!! Oh well I might calm down in a day or two. Spend most of the day trying to get the programs loaded for Jessies digital camera with no success. Don't know how we will download her pictures, but will hopefully meet a computer geek along the road! Jessies bike is traveling with cardboard and bubble wrap so we will see which one they treat better!

Who booked the flights! Have to be at the airport at 0730 so leave by 0630 from Cochrane. Thanks to Megan and Stewart we should make it on time.

0 KM 0 hr min ride time M 0 A 0 TD 0 KM OD 10,795

DAY 1 Calgary to Ottawa 19.89 KM MAY 11/02 Saturday

Well we got up on time thanks to the wake up call of Mom! She came up at 0530 to see why we were not up yet? We set off for the airport and as we didn't want to leave Mom at home, we all squished into the wagon (2 bikes, 2 gear boxes and 4 people!)

Due to my stopover in Calgary, Sarah needed a new ticket! After some discussion with the senior AirCanada staff it only cost me $25. (Tango price) to get her back on the plane! Next time remember to book straight thru flights!! Hope Ken doesn't pay double! The plane trip was great, a little rough on the decent. The plane was 2 weeks old, with fancy tv's that flipped down from the ceiling for news and movies. Arrived in Ottawa with great surprise in 3.5hrs. We had thought it was to be 6 so that was a bonus! The bikes arrived in great shape. Note for others: padding and bagging is enough. Jessies bike was all together (except pedals and turned handlebars) so she just had to pack the bags which she also left on the bike. I on the other hand, had to put my front tire, front rack, pedals & panniers on. We spent 1hr20minutes packing up.

0 km by bike many by foot! TD 19.87km so far
O'Brian House: Gatineau Pk
Trullium: flower of Ontario
Parliment Biulding
Parliment Biulding from Hull
Sea of Tulips
Off we go!
Bike of the day

DAY 3 Ottawa to Gatineau Park Hostel 42.39 KM MAY 13/02 Monday

Got up and packed early so Alix could go off to work by 0800. Was a cool 8C so started off with long pants and jackets. I cann't say enough about the great hospitality. Hope to see him out our way sometime.

Off to see the Parliment Buildings. Trouble to find a safe place to leave our loaded bikes. Finally just locked them up outside the entrance. There is security as in the airports...had to turn on the laptop! This is a tour well worth taking. I had no idea how elaborate the carvings are and what all the detail has to do with. There are images of the flowers and crests of each province, faces of different political members thru the years and whole stories in picture form. A lot of history in that building. I enjoyed seeing it. The views of Ottawa are great from the Peace Tower. Then we were off to find the path to Gatineau Park. It had cooled off while we were on the tour, the wind was blustery and very cloudy. Stoped for a tomato bagel at the lookout over Pink Lake. Very few cars as we wound our way thru the hills to old Chelsea and on to the hostel on Carmel Rd. We are in Quebec, but this area seems to have a lot of English influence....names of roads, look to the homes, people we spoke to...

Arrived at the hostel which is on a farm site...not much to look at on the outside, but really very nice inside. They are rebuilding this fall a new site with small "huts" for rooms and a central kitchen/living room area. Sounds neat. Met a nice friendly couple from London on the start of a world tour. This wasn't a particularly long day, but a good warm up day to hills. Need to raise the seat on Sarah as I feel I'm riding a "clown bike" with my legs never stretching right out....I know they aren't very long, but they still need to be out full length to get anywhere!

42.39km M48 A 12.5 T 3h22min TD 62.26 km

DAY 4 Gatineau Park Hostel back to Ottawa (Orleans) 27.76KM MAY 14/02 Tuesday

Oh my... got up to snowing!! Sticking to the car windshields...now what to do? Well we packed up and Rob the hostel owner, offered us a ride to Ottawa and we took it.. I know we should have been strong but just wasn't in us today. He dropped us off on Sussex Boulivard and we headed off for Tinkerbells (Karen and Bruce Bell) It was pouring rain and the water sheeting off the passing cars was crisp at 4 C. The route is really nice past embassys and the river on our left. Arrived at Karens like to drowned rats! Needed hot showers and tea to warm up. Was so great to see Karen. The girls, Karleigh and Haleigh have grown so much. They are really sweet kids. We were treated once again to a super meal and dried out all our gear. It is great to plan trips with "home stays"! It didn't get over 5C today. Sure glad we aren't staying in a tent.

27.76 km M36.6 A 14.8 T 1h52min TD 90.02 km

DAY 5 Orleans to Chatham Municipal Park 101.55 km May 15/02 Wednesday

Oh what a joy to wake up in a clean bed... Maybe Elizabeth has something there! Anyways we had a great morning with Bruce and the kids before they set off for school at 0745. They are Karleigh (7) in grade one and Haleigh in prekindergarten (5) Karen was off early to work recovery in a dental clinic. We were off before eight with 2 C and broken clouds. We made good time as the wind was mostly at our backs. We took the Cumberland ferry at $1 each. It runs all year and is like a speed boat going across the Ottawa river.We planed to stay at Plaisance National Park, but as we were there by noon, just had our lunch and went on. It looked like a really nice spot to stay, but tomorrow was to be a 98k day so off we went. After the campground at River Rouge (closed) and the one at Grenville non existant... we pressed on to Chatham. It was a long day, but mostly flat so we did fine. It did get up to 20C for part of the day, we were down to shorts and vests. Tomorrow is to be sunny we hope as it is clear sky tonight. The showers were really welcome and the young fellow renting spots lent us a kettle, so haven't missed our stove yet. $4 each to camp sure is a bargain. I am very tired tonight as I sat up with Karen and Bruce to talk last night. We went thru constuction and it was very dusty and also the towns seem to have lots of grit blowing about. My eyes are dry and burning some. The birds are plentiful...lot of geese overhead...maybe they think it's fall! Sure feels like it! I'm not making sense so off to bed with my cuddle bunny!

101.55km M45.6 A 16.1 T 6h16min TD 191.57 km

DAY 6 Chatham Municipal Park to Oka (Zibou Bed and Breakfast) 39.59km May 16/02 Thursday

Rain started at 0700. My back is giving me a little grief, but nothing T3's cann't fix. Happy Birthday to Duncan today. We were really lucky to use the games room to dry out the tent and have breakfast before heading off towards Oka. The river is high and with overcast skies not as pretty as I'm sure it can be here. The road was rough with frost heaves which are jarring...one more reason for a mountain bike. Really cute french style homes along the way. Small towns ~10k apart. Dandilions are the only flowers in bloom. The shoulder came and went, not much traffic and most people pull over. Rain sprinkled all day, but we decided staying in the tent was out tonight so we are at a B&B in Oka... sure wish I had learned to speak French better. Most people have been very gracious to us.

The weather remains cool... 10C today... leaves are barely out yet and the wind feels like fall. Seeing lots of swimming pools in yard so it must get hot here sometime! The B&B is an old home on a side street in Oka 3 blocks from the river.$69 for 2 which is not too expensive. We are heading out to check out the town and maybe take the ferry over to Hudson in Ontario.

39.59km M A T h min TD 231.16 km

DAY 7 Oka to Montreal (Catherine Forbes) 69.10 KM May 17/02 Friday

We headed out with cloudy skies. The bike path was flooded from town to the campground, but we were lucky it was open from there on. What a great bike system. A paved wide (8') path from Oka to St Eustache and beyond. We turned off at Deux Montagnes to cross over into Laval via the dam. The path once it was in towns ran down the middle of the road on what might have been a median with trees on it. At every cross street there are stop signs for cars and bikes. Great way to slow the traffic and really safe for the cyclist. We had no one honk at us!