Wow, how did I get all the way to Ottawa?

Wow, I made it to Ottawa! This is the first time that the scale of this trip has really hit me. It's hard to believe that I've actually pedalled 2/3 of the way across this massive country. The change in scenery is so gradual while riding that you don't feel like you're covering much distance.

I left off last in Sault Ste. Marie at the Eastern end of Lake Superior. It's quite a cool city, with a really neat downtown area and seawall.

International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie. The USA on the other side.

First stop out of Sault Ste. Marie was a U-Pick strawberry field, about 4km down a dirt road but well worth the bumpy detour. We shared the smallest container possible, and still had enough to stuff ourselves twice during the day, make strawberry rice pudding for dinner, and have strawberry pancakes the next morning!

Mmm, U-Pick strawberries.

Oooo, U-Pick strawberries.

The most creative meal of the trip: strawberry rice pudding. Not bad considering I'd never heard of rice pudding before and Rachel only knew that it consisted of milk, rice and sugar.

Between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury parts of the road followed the North Channel of Lake Huron. I got to swim in my second Great Lake of the trip. Not as large or clean as Lake Superior, but still lots of fun.

Sproing! ... uh oh. Replacing a broken spoke in a yard near Espanola. Kind of fun when you've never done it before. The guy in the house watched us for the majority of the time and made us promise we would write him ...

In Sudbury we stayed with Liz and Pete, who were very kind to us. We had an excellent time, with great food and company. Pete even lent us his truck to use during our rest day. It was a little strange driving again ... I get quite uncomfortable going faster than 40km/hr!

Sudbury has loads of wild blueberries. Apparently they like the acidic soil. Pete showed us what they look like and where to find them.

Add Sudbury's giant nickel to the list of enormous things I've seem along the way.

Sudbury has a few huge smokestacks. A strike had closed the main factories, so the air quality was great.

Sudbury to North Bay was quite a neat trip. The view out onto Lake Nipissing was quite incredible with a big approaching storm. No picture unfortunately as I didn't want to get the camera wet.

Between North Bay and Ottawa the road travels just North of Algonquin Park. I had originally planned on going canoeing for several days but decided to avoid the difficult logistics in favour of more time on the East Coast. There were many neat small towns along the road. And the Ottawa River was so massive we mistook it for a lake at first!

The Ottawa River from Stonecliffe.

My first time seeing Canola fields ... pretty neat!

The weather has been pretty iffy the last couple of weeks. There have been lots of thunderstorms and we've been thoroughly soaked a number of times. You become proficient at pulling over and putting on your raingear really, really fast. Since it's warm out, the only worry is keeping your feet dry. As a result, we've spent lots of time playing cards in gas stations. Some other roadside hideouts have included a farmers market, a truck weigh scale, a craft shop, and of course Tim Hortons.

Rachel's rain jacket wasn't up to the task. But this garbage bag / clamp / twist tie creation kept her dry ... and very stylish! Pardon the reflections.

Right now I'm visiting my Aunt Dona and Uncle Glen in Osgoode, which is about 30km South of downtown Ottawa. It is wonderful to see them as it's been at least 6 years.

Après avoir explorer Outaouais, ma prochaine destination sera Montréal!

Dave