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This morning I watched the Tour de France stage of the day in the lounge while eating several bowls of cereal. Cereal is one of the foods I miss eating on a regular basis because I can’t carry milk with me. I didn’t do much else today other than spend a couple hours in the library updating my blog, checking e-mail, and locating a bike shop in town. At the bike shop I had my rear tire replaced and the technician there commented on a few other things I should have worked on later.

I woke very early this morning, especially considering the time zone change. Every other time zone change caused me to wake up late. The grass was very damp and it soaked my shoes through as I packed up my tent.

After riding a little ways I stopped to call the hostel and book a room when I saw a cell tower. I also took the opportunity to setup a self portrait of me riding by placing my tripod on top of a rock face at the side of the road. It took a couple tries to get the timing correct.

I had lunch in Shabaqua and finished reading my book in the shade before continuing on to Thunder Bay. It was getting much warmer out. As I approached Thunder Bay it looked like it might rain but thankfully it didn’t. At least not where I was.

I stayed at the Confederation College, Sibley Hall Residence/Hostel for $20/night for a private room with shared bathroom/showers. After dinner in the evening I went to the lounge to watch the Tour de France updates. I’ve now biked about the distance equivalent of the tour. Though I’ve climbed fewer hills and took 2 weeks longer than they do.

This morning was sunny but a bit cool. Though I guessed it was going to heat up during the afternoon. I had lunch at the Lodge Lake rest area where I met a couple from Montreal who were travelling across Canada in a van. They said they were cyclists and would love to be able to do a trip like mine.

It started raining as I finished eating. I took shelter under a tree because it looked like it was going to pass. I was right, and once it passed I took off my raingear and filled up my water bottles from the lake using my filter because I wasn’t sure where I was going to be spending the night or if there would be water nearby.

I had another break in Upsala after climbing some big hills to get there. The landscape around is constantly changing. Only a couple days ago I was riding past dozens of lakes, now it is mostly a thin forest. In Upsala a young boy asked me to watch his dog while he went inside to the washroom. When he came back out he talked with me for quite a while about my trip and suggested a nearby campground.

I didn’t stay at that campground and actually went another 40km to the rest area at the time zone change marker. This wasn’t quite in Raith but that was the nearest community. The mosquitos were awful here and it started raining during yet another meal here. Why is it always raining whenever I want to eat? Before going to bed I tried to call the hostel in Thunder Bay but found I had no cell service and would have to call tomorrow.

Today was another late start so that I could let everything dry off. The grass at this campground was quite muddy. I stopped at walmart in town to get groceries to last me until Thunder Bay.

The weather was partly cloudy today. That only lasted until the Jackfish Lake rest area. As soon as I started to have lunch it started raining. I took shelter and continued on once the rain passed. But that was only one rain cloud. Before long I could see another huge downpour coming up behind me on the road. I raced ahead of it to a motel where I took shelter and put on my raingear. I couldn’t outwait this rain and had to ride in it. The rain stopped and started about 2 or 3 more times in huge downpours for the rest of the day.

I got to Ignace where I refilled my water bottles and bought fruit before heading out of town to find somewhere to camp. Right away I climbed Tower Hill where there was a senic lookout over the town that I decided to camp at. It was quite a nice view that I didn’t get to enjoy for too long because a thunderstorm sent me into my tent just as I ate dinner.

I intentionally started late today because I wanted to camp for free tonight and thought it best that I not stop and setup too early. It was raining so I stopped in at Tim Hortons to see if I could wait it out while eating a second breakfast. It didn’t stop and actually continued for pretty much the entire day.

I stopped at the Dixie Lake rest area hoping to find some shelter for lunch but all the picnic tables were uncovered and the closest thing to shelter was the outhouse. So after eating an apple under a tree I rode on until I found a roadside restaurant to have lunch and dry off at. Of course, it stopped raining as soon as I was eating there and I could have ate my own food at the picnic table outside.

I did end up eating my own lunch a while later in Vermilion Bay before biking the rest of the day to Dryden. I ended up staying at a campground there because the area seemed pretty populated and I didn’t want to risk having to go too much further to find somewhere suitable. Not to mention that the rain had stopped so I could setup my tent while it was dry.

The camper next to me approached me during dinner to ask about my trip because he did the same thing 12 years ago. He gave me some advice about the next few days towards Thunder Bay (ie. there is almost nothing inbetween here and there). The upside to staying at a campground that I had to pay for was that I at least got to have a warm shower after spending the entire day in the rain.

It was a cold morning so I wore my long tights and long sleeve shirt. The cold also caused me to stay in my tent longer than usual and got off to a late start. Breakfast in the tent to avoid mosquitos also delayed my start.

I bought groceries and had lunch in Falcon Lake. This had been a possible destination for me yesterday but the rain and flat tires made me want to stop earlier. I had a number of other stops throughout the day including the Manitoba and Ontario info centers near the border. I signed the cyclist log at the Manitoba one.

I’ve finished 4 provinces now. On my way into Kenora, a cyclist out for a day ride caught up with me and we talked all the way into the city. He even led me to the bike shop were I was thinking of replacing my very worn out rear tire. It was closed so I ended up not doing that. What little I saw of Kenora looked very nice. It is located right on The Lake Of The Woods.

I stayed the night in the Anicinabe Park campground which cost $20. Unfortunatelly this seems to be the low price for all the campgrounds in the campground guide books for the province. The provincial parks start at about $22. Hopefully I’ll be camping freely more often here.

I finally got up at a good time and walked a few blocks to a place called The Nook for breakfast and was back at the hostel by 8 when the office opened so I could get my bike from the shed. Before checking out I installed the new bike computer and removed both my old ones. Lets hope this one lasts.

It took a few wrong turns to get out of the city because highway 1 wasn’t well marked through the city. Just as I got out it started to rain and I took cover at a Robins Donuts before a huge downpour hit. I put my raingear on and hit the road after the main downpour stopped. But it didn’t stop for long and I eventually stopped under an overpass for lunch (there just aren’t enough small towns or rest areas in Manitoba). Shortly after that I crossed the Longitudinal halfway point of Canada. This is earlier than I expected it.

It rained on and off for the rest of the day. That didn’t bother me so much other than when it rained while I was changing a flat tire. Both times (I didn’t find the staple that caused the first flat and assumed it was a pinch flat until 2km later when I was flat again).

I finally made it to the campground where it rained while I was trying to setup my tent. I set it up quickly and was glad to get inside it to get away from the mosquitos anyways. So I cooked dinner inside the entrance to the tent and stayed there for the rest of the night.

Oh, and I’m finally out of the prairies. The road is still pretty flat but there is plenty of forest around.