MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

We are almost to our destination today, Normandale ONTARIO, but have taken a break in Port Rowan. Of all the beautiful cycling days, this one is near the top of the list. We've had an incredibly perfect day---lots of sunshine, with cool gentle breezes at our backs and a great route along the "lake shore line" of Lake Erie. Most of the ride takes us through agricultural areas, with tobacco fields, soybean, corn and what I think is asparagus. Many of the farms have produce stands with fresh corn and tomatoes, peaches and whatever else they're growing. Plus, the monarch butterflies are migrating in this area right now! They come to Canada to feed on the milkweed---it's the only thing they eat right now because it causes some kind of chemical reaction which makes them taste TERRIBLE to birds. Good idea for them! They are all over the place, sometimes floating around my bicycle and into my face. I like it. I'm seeing lots of deer, and several foxes, too.

Pickerel is still the specialty, although perch is also. Kami and I were discussing "pickerel" on this morning's ride---what is it? It sounds like mackerel, and it also sounds like pickles. Whatever it is, it doesn't sound good to me.

In candy bar news, I tried the "Sweet Marie" bar this morning. Not too shabby---its American relative would be the Baby Ruth. There's a whole line of bars called "Mr. BIG" that I might go after next---there's Mr BIG, then MR. 2 BIG and then another even bigger one. There's also one called the BIG TURK, which doesn't sound very appetizing, and one that simply says on the label "EAT MORE!". What is that? I'll probably try it....

An interesting phenomena has occurred to us several times---this morning we stopped in Port Burwell for the requisite peanut butter sandwiches, and we also decided to climb to the top of the wooden lighthouse at Port Burwell. Even though it was super steep, and ended up being a ladder at the end AND is cost $2. It's the oldest wooden lighthouse on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie. When we got back to the ground, this man on a bike showed up. He looked like Spalding Gray, so much so that I wondered for the rest of the afternoon if they ever found Spalding Gray's body. Anyway, he asked where we were going, and then told us the road was closed and we needed to detour. He described it in detail to us, and was 100% correct. More than once a guy on a bike has shown up just when we needed him. If we had seen the "road closed" signs, we would have been in such a jam---but we weren't even concerned today because he had told us what we could do. This is at least the fourth time that has happened. Always a guy on a bike.

We are headed to DUNNVILLE tomorrow, then FT ERIE, then NIAGARA FALLS. Monday is some sort of holiday here---I'm not sure what it is though. I've heard some people talking about Labour Day. Maybe that's it? There's also some kind of liquor strike in the making---people are talking more about that than anything else!!