I woke up scanning the mesh of my tent, counting the many mosquitoes waiting to get at me. Sitting in my tent, I packed up my little camp rolling up my sleeping bag and organizing my tent for the road. As soon as I opened my fly; however, to my surprise there was an older man staring out onto Nipigon Bay. I guess sometimes the saying, "ask and you shall receive" is true because this man was about to help me a lot.
It turns out that this man, his name is Russell, is a fellow cycle tourist who has traveled all around Australia including from coast to coast and across the deserts where conditions are very rough. I assume since he's traveling across Canada, that he has also traveled around in other countries as well. This man is a bicycle Guru. When I told him about the difficulties I was having with my bike, he Shrugged and said "oh I can fix that". He then told me about how he would rebuild his wheel when he needed to when he was in the desert, and proceeded to show me how to straighten a wheel using my thumb as a gauge after that he took me to his bike and showed me some inventions that he made for bicycles including a new type of seat with sides that move independently and a new type of steering mechanism. This guy is a genius and really did help me a lot.
If you're interested in seeing his inventions and reading about his story...
Check this out:
www.bestprss.blogspot.com
With a new wheel I felt like I was able to pick up the pace and cover quite a bit of ground, but the weather was strange. For some reason it's still felt really cold like it was October or November in Victoria. And I didn't know why the weather was shifting so wildly either.... With only one route and no other place to go except forward, I just continued cycling on to the east and I eventually made it to Terrace Bay Ontario. By the time I made it there the fog had rolled in and I couldn't see the beautiful view that the place is so famous for. I considered wild camping again, but in the end I decided to settle with a motel. While I was trying to find a place, I met a father and son playing outside in the parking lot and we had a chance to chat. He later told me that he would have offered his trailer which he has in his yard. They even looked for me but by that point I had already chosen a room for the night. The room was okay, just okay --that's all I'm going to say about that. I settled in for the night, and tried to get some rest.
I almost forgot to mention Rossport which was a beautiful little town. I ate a delicious lunch and had a nap under the gazebo by the beach-- it was wonderful.
Also, Rainbow Falls was a provincial park where I decided to stop for a little while to take a break from the saddle. Rainbow Falls was certainly a nice place, but most Provincial Parks in Ontario cost about 45 bucks to camp.
I slept well knowing that at least in Terrace Bay I had a roof over my head if it poured again.
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