Marine City MI to Morpeth, Ontario Canada. 54.7 miles.
By Victoria Curran.
After being fully inspired and rejuvenated by our stay at Cheryl's little slice of heaven (words cannot express my gratitude for Cheryl and her generosity), we pedaled off toward the Blue Water Ferry that would take us from Marine City, Michigan, USA to Sombra, Ontario, Canada. Far quicker than our first ferry, we could see it as it left the Canadian shore and return to the US.
Once the ferry arrived, we quickly loaded our bikes on deck and stood around in the passenger waiting area for the brief time it took us to make our crossing.
Here's a panoramic shot of the St Clair River:
As we shoved off from the dock, we said goodbye to America
And hello to Canada!
While all streets tend to look the same (asphalt, cracks, painted lines), we were pleased to see that these bike lanes were a bit wider than those we'd seen in Michigan.
As with the US, we saw a lot of Canadian pride with flags waving from houses and from boat docks
We cycled from Sombra to Port Lambton where we stopped in a bit of shade offered by a lone maple tree. As I stood sopping my face, a kindly gentleman driving in the opposite direction pulled over to inform us that there was a nice little park about 3 kilometers down the road where we could sit and rest awhile. I don't know what it is about biking, but it seems to bring out the kindness in lots of people. Is it because we're so clearly harmless, vulnerable even? Maybe it's because we are so IN the environment. When you're driving along in a car, you're sealed off in a little tin can; when you're on a bike, you're really exposed and attract a lot of attention. I see it in lots of ways; folks waving from their porch steps, strangers shouting hello from atop their tractors, diners stopping by to ask about our goals, it's really fascinating. You really don't get this kind of interaction from people when traveling in any other way.
After leaving Port Lambton, we continued on to Walaceburg where we stopped for water. Water, always water. I am so susceptible to dehydration that it's become my mantra "do we have enough water? How far are we from the next place we can stop for water?"
About 10 miles out of Wallaceburg, we came to Dresden
and it is here that we ate lunch at Miha's. As with so many other eateries in small towns, we had the pleasure of being served by Miha herself. She took a lot of interest in our travels and chatted with us for quite awhile before a group of women who clearly make Miha's a regular lunch spot arrived. Thank you, Miha, for your kind hospitality.
After cycling a ways out of Dresden, we were greeted with the all-too-familiar sight of corn fields. Can you see how far this field goes?!
Or check out this panoramic shot if you aren't already stunned
Sometimes our food is grown in greenhouses. How's this for stunning?
Or this?
And lookie here, Dow SEEDS?!
Hey, wait a minute. Isn't Dow a chemical company? Dow Chemical and Monsanto Company...producing our food. What could possibly go wrong?
And I cannot even begin to fathom how much land in the US and Canada is dedicated to corn and soy! You've probably read that a lot of corn is grown to feed livestock, but I'm beginning to get the sense that Big Agra sees us as nothing more than livestock. Go, right now, to your pantry. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Now, pick up any random item on the shelf and read the label. I'm willing to bet there's a pretty good chance you'll find some derivative of corn, soy, or sugar in that item, maybe all three. Wait, did I just hear you oink a little? Yup, I think I did! Check out this article if you want to think about this a bit more: www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet/fitness/09/22/kd.gupta.column/
Speaking of food, by the time we'd cycled into Ridgetown, we were hungry once again. After going into a local market for more water as well as some apples (I have never craved apples so much in my life as they are so rare around here), blueberries, and bananas, we stopped into a little restaurant advertising Chinese and Canadian food. I never found out what Canadian food was, but my egg fu young was delicious
As was Judd's family dinner for one which consisted of an egg roll, wonton soup, orange chicken balls, chop suey, and mushroom fried rice.
After dinner, we mounted the bike one last time for the day and cycled off toward our destination of Morpeth.
We checked into our campsite around 8pm. We hadn't done laundry in several days (despite Cheryl's generous offer of allowing us to use her machines) and I was completely out of clothes. The camp grounds offered washers but no dryers. Alarmed by this fact (since our clothes, especially cycle shorts, must be dry), I wanted to get the clothes washed and hung to dry as quickly as possible and daylight was fading fast. When I went into the laundry facility, after being dive-bombed by some type of sparrow protecting its nest, I found only 2 washers, one of which had 3 inches of standing water in it. Hoping against hope, I tossed our clothes into the one washer, slid the coins in, and the water started to flow. Back outside, I could see and feel bugs. Unwilling to be mosquito bait again, I grew resistant to Judd's desire to swim as I wanted to get the tent set up so I could shower and jump into the safety of the tent. Sadly, he went down to the lake by himself. He took these beautiful shots of the shore and the lake.
And this sweet picture of himself that tugs at my heart two ways...utter love and adoration for his sweet face in one way and sadness for his being in this big lake all by himself.
On his return from the lake, he took this cool shot of a couple of wind turbines at sunset. I've noticed lots of signs along our path stating "no wind turbines"
so, like anywhere, there is controversy surrounding how we provide for our modern conveniences and the price we pay for it.
And, just because this little imp keeps popping into my mind lately, here's a sweet pic of my beloved Junebug who would have been 7 years old on the 15th of this month.
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