Sunday, July 13, 2008

Finished with the hilly highways (for now) in Arnprior

We got some rain last night, and waking up this morning, Brian and Jon had a bit of a surprise. Their tent was sitting right beside an enormous puddle, the water had soaked through the groundsheet and the bottom of their tent, and Brian's clothes were damp with moisture. Nothing much they were able to do except pack it up and wait for an opportunity to dry it.

After yesterday, we were left with little water, and had to take our first opportunity to fill up. We found a hotel caled the Swiss Inn in Denbigh that let us fill up our water sacks, but it was cloudy. We showed it to the owner, but it was all she had and had been serving it all morning, so we didn't get much sympathy. Not our first choice, but we took what was available until we could find better.

At lunch, we were able to kill two birds with one stone. We found a rest stop near a river to get a swim, the sun came out allowing us to dry everything out, and a nearby gas station had some clearer water for us to drink. Didn't taste great, but at least it was an improvement...

Coming out of Kennisis Lake, the road has been quite hilly and we've been slow going through it. We did hit some milestones today, however, as Brian, Jon, and Mike all cracked 80km/hr on the second of two consecutive downhills (Mike once again holds the record just above 82km/hr). The ups and downs finally disappeared as we hit Renfrew and were back on the Transcanada, much flatter and faster for us. Too bad it was near the end of our day, but we still flew to Arnprior, where we turned off to look for a spot to pitch a tent.

We had a few options around the Madawaska River, which cuts through the city. An old woman whom Jon, Pat, and Mike met near one of the churches walked them past a cemetery (they were a bit weirded out by that) to a park that sat along the river, and we have set up camp there. There were some trees in which we could somewhat hide the tents, and tables for us to eat on, and as long as nobody comes in the middle of the night to kick us out, we'll be fine. Unfortunately, the water is no good for us to swim in, and the bugs were absolutely brutal as we set up the tents just after dark. We had to kill a whole bunch of them once were inside, as they just swarmed trying to get in!

Tomorrow we'll pass through Ottawa along the Ottawa River Parkway, stopping for a picnic lunch at the War Museum before leaving. Hopefully, along the relatively flat terrain from here to Montreal, we can make good time.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

one more sleep!!!!

Anonymous said...

Keith - do you think your mother is excited for you to get here? We all are!

xoxox

Anonymous said...

No more sleep before Montreal and I know who's excited more than Keith's mother....Congratulations guys, keep going, we are with you.