April 9, 2011
April 9 - In a Car for a Loooong Time: Cochrane, ON, to Toronto, ON
Doubletree Hilton Hotel, Etobicoke, ON CDN$109++
IT NEVER ceases to amaze me how fast wake-up time arrives. It was 3;30 am and time to get up. I was ready to go within 15 minutes... no dragging of feet here. Before long I needed a quick peek into my Little Monkey's and Little Chicken's rooms - only a few hours since they left but my heart is already aching in an anticipatory manner - two weeks without my little pookies. To make it even tougher, I flipped on the TV for a moment to find Alvin and the Chipmunks - the same one I had watched with Alex yesterday as I lay on the sofa with him laying on my stomach!
At 4;06 am we headed out of town after the 'departure' photo at Tim Hortons. The first 6 km were endless; the next 744 km went fairly quickly. Mind you, within that first 6 km, as we came around a long curve in the highway, along came two transports side-by-side as one tried to pass the other on a blind corner. The fright ensured my fully awakened state after that point.
Once I get rolling I can let my mind wander: What should I do for the next batch of homebrew? How can I attach the steel cart to the draught fridge? How should we modify the living room when we re-insulate the walls? How could we install photovoltaic panels on our roof? Or evacuated-gas water tubes? All kinds of non-cycling issues to prevent the mind-numbingness of long driving.
The topics changed; the kilometres went on; the snow diminished; the temperature went from -2 C to + 15 C. Why do we live in the North?!
MA needed a few things so we found the new MEC in Barrie. She got a windbreaker; I got an extra rack bungee for bangers (the name Alex gives to 2-litre pop bottles since he bangs things with them) of water while riding, and a new mini-pump just in case.
Our time was tight so we headed off down the 400 Highway and were at Sherway Gardens mall at 1:30 pm which was the specified time to meet my sister and her kids for a short visit before we departed. it was not a long visit but a nice one as I had not seen them since Christmas holidays.
When her kids started to get bored (they are 5 and 2), she left so I went to find MA at the Sporting Life where she was buying Specialized cleated shoes and having the cleats removed from her old (though still new) shoes to her new ones. They were much more comfortable than the Bontragers that she SOOOO hated.
It suddenly donned on us that $50 bills might not be accepted in Cuba so would find ourselves without any cash. It was 4:06 pm and all of the banks were closed already so we decided to try a currency exchange at the airport. The first one said no, but at the second one the woman from Serbja agreed so we changed a pile of fifties into a very big pile of twenties. Whew! What a relief!
Back at the Doubletree ($109 + taxes for one night accommodation and 15 days of parking) we read a bit. I am trying to finish Neil Peart's 'The Masked Rider' about his bicycle trip in Cameroon. I really like it as he says what it is really like to tour - the good and the bad.
For supper we ate at Red Lobster with our Easter gift cards. Lobster. Shrimp. Scallops. Delicious but talk about calories, cholesterol and fat!
Waddling back to the van we drove up to the hotel where we adjusted our luggage, read our books and looked forward to the next two weeks!
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