HOW BIG WOULD IT BE?

We've had a great couple of days riding along the shores of Lake Erie. The roads are in tough shape, but the people are so friendly and courteous and the scenery so spectacular that we don't mind the potholes along the way. We had a very long day a few days back, mostly due to dawdling in the small coastal towns like Pt. Rowan. We met the nicest librarian there, who told us a fantastic story about her dad biking across Canada. He was 73 years old when he decided to fulfill his cycling dream---he shipped his bike, which was extremely old and battered out to Vancouver and then flew there to begin his journey. The librarian said that on the morning he departed, he cooked himself a steak then stuffed it in his thermos to take with him. Her mom asked him if he thought there wasn't food in Vancouver, and he said he wasn't so sure. She gave us several glimpses of what that trip was like for him, and we were spellbound. Right up until the end, when he was photographed with his arms outstretched holding a map of Canada. I wished the story had ended there, but the story had a sad ending. The summer he made his epic trip, he was struck by a car in his hometown and he died just a few months later. But, the librarian focused on the positive effects of the trip.

We spent the night two nights ago in a village called NORMANDALE, where less than 125 people live. It was one of the nicest evenings of our trip---a perfect little spot on the coast where a huge foundry once existed, but then floundered. Not much remains, except some super nice people.

Last night we were in Dunnville, and when we rode into town we saw another fully loaded cyclist, who yelled out our names at us. It turned out that he had joined up with his family---Shirley and their 14 year old son Noah!! We hadn't seen Shirley and Noah since Idaho, or possibly even Washington---I was so surprised to run into them again. They've been on our tails for many days now---stopping in the same spots we had stopped in, and hearing about us and our trip.

Today we rode through Pt COLBORNE on our way to FT ERIE. Pt Colborne is celebrating Marine Days, and I stopped at a civic fund-raising booth where they were selling chances to "DUCK A PULT" for a loonie. I was figuring out how to play---you shoot a rubber duck, using a gigantic slingshot---out onto the river at a big target. Unfortunately, the duck-a-pult was experiencing technical difficulties, and I didn't get to play. One of my goals this summer has been to say "yes" more often, to try things I wouldn't normally try and to not miss out on anything along the way. So, "duck a pulting" will have to wait. BUT, I talked to an older gentleman who was studying my bike. He said that my bags were really big, and I told him why I had so much on my bike. Even after hearing that we had been on the road almost 10 weeks, from Seattle-ish to here, he was puzzled by the weight I was carrying. "Look at it like this...", I said. How big would your bags be if you took every piece of clothing you have worn since May 30 and put it in a bag? If you took all your shoes you've worn this summer, all your toiletries, your bed, your stove, your dishes, your pots and pans and food and stuffed it all in a bag, how big would it be? If you took everything you've used this summer, including books and Scrabble games, photos, even the roof over your head and packed it into a bag, how big would that bag be? I think he started seeing my bags a little differently then!

We are off to Ft ERIE this afternoon, then on to Niagara Falls tomorrow. I've seen so many interesting things, and met so many cool people these past few days. I wish I had the words to do it all justice and the time to write them down.