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After a late arrival home from dinner last night, I don't think any of us got much sleep before the morning's wakeup. We were supposed to be at Martin Swiss Cycle at 8am to be escorted out, but we were a bit late, and the thunder and rain coming from outside wasn't making things easier.
Thankfully, we weren't so late that we missed the "departure committee" that had assembled to see us off. There were 30+ people who had come out to see us go, many friends and family of mine. I had a tough time keeping it together, touched by everyone's effort to make it out despite rainy, stormy weather this morning. My cousin Andrew led us out, and two other Specialized employees came with us along with three others. The Specialized crew led us downtown before they had to go off to work, but Ron Perowne and Rick Hart followed us all the way to the bridge off the island to Repentigny before turning around. Ron's been taking lots of video of us while we've been in town, and at times had to work to catch up to us, one hand on the camera getting shots, one hand steadying his bike, while trying to make sure he didn't run into anything!
Luckily for us, Quebec boasts the top-rated network of cycle routes in the world, the Route Verte. We are following it along the North shore of the St. Lawrence along highway 138 through Trois-Rivieres and Quebec City right now. It's got very little traffic, and we often had a generous shoulder to boot. The weather was rainy for the most part, but it cleared up at the end, and we met a number of other cyclists along the way who were also travelling the Route. Before arriving at our campground just West of Trois-Rivieres, we met three cyclists who have been going across together, two from Regina and one from London who joined up in Ottawa. Something else that we have met so many people from London making the journey!
The rain returned as we went to bed, now pouring down on us with thunder cracking loudly on the river. Tomorrow we'll go through Trois-Rivieres first thing on the ride, before heading towards Quebec City.
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3 comments:
You were not alone on 'keeping it together'. Special to have had Ron and Rick with you, and having heard from both of them on their return, they both loved the ride!!! xoxoxox
You sure weren't the only one trying to keep it together. Am so proud to be your grandmother and soooooo thankful that I wasn't Christopher Columbus' - no daily blogs in those days!!! Great seeing you all and only 17 more sleeps till Newfoundland. xxxxx's
Count on my prayers throughout this intrepid endeavour of yours! Fr. Fred in Montreal
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