September 26, 2016
Near Gracefield to Mont-Laurier: On the Trans-Canada, and I think I ran over a goldfish
The temperature really dropped last night after the sun went down and, while there wasn't frost at the campground, like last night there was patchy frost here and there. That's bad news for the leaves, which have already been looking very brown. I sure picked a good year for this trip. And a good route--once again I'm asking myself why I didn't go to the Netherlands.
On the plus side, I think today is my last day of merely trying to get somewhere (I'm thinking of it as a repositioning cruise), and tomorrow I can start having fun again.
I got back on the trail to Maniwaki and was pleased to note it was more scenic today. On the trail itself, on which motorized vehicles are not permitted except for snowmobiles in winter, I noted many tire tracks from cars, ATVs, farm equipment, and, occasionally, bicycles.
At Lac Blue Sea, the character of the trail changed, the surface improved, vacation homes lined the lake, and I met a woman out for an early walk.
Now, having a conversation with me in French is a painful experience, especially in Quebec, where the accent is... difficult, and the society inward-looking. 99% of people will not accommodate you with simpler, clearer speech when they realize you don't share an accent/dialect/level of profiency. I can travel in France, I can travel in Morocco, but in Quebec I depend on switching to English early in the conversation.
This woman greeted me and I returned the greeting. Then she asked a question that ended with "...grand voyage?" I have no idea what the first part of the sentence was, probably something like "Vous faites un". Conversation having been initiated, there is a pause while I try to decipher the string of sounds you just made and process them into individual words. In this case, partial success was enough.
Next, I pause some more while I compose a reply, and that will be prolonged while I mentally rehearse the pronunciation and rhythm, since I didn't learn those properly when I learned French.
Finally, I will say something you probably won't understand because my throat and vocal cords are dry from biking all day and I'm finding it impossible to say anything in French. If by chance my voice cooperates, my reply will still be wrong because it'll sound like France French and not Quebec French.
This time, after an immensely long pause, I finally mustered a reply to the woman's question: a semi-shrug and "Toronto à Montreal."
Yeah, she switched to English after that.
She warned me about all the poison ivy and pointed some out at the side of the trail.
"That's poison ivy... and that's poison ivy... and that..." She waved her hand at a large swath of green plants, "All of that is poison ivy."
Oh, good. I've probably been in contact with tons of the stuff. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't react to it. Still, I was careful to stay on the trail the rest of the way.
Somewhere south of Maniwaki, the trail ends abruptly with no real exit to anywhere, so I took the sandy back road through the Kitigan Zibi land to reach the town. Maniwaki was far nicer than I had expected, the houses very well-kept, a huge difference from the previous day, when worn-out siding (or no siding) and sagging roofs were the standard. Some houses even had flowers outside.
After yesterday evening, I wasn't comfortable wild camping, so I took the 105 out of Maniwaki and decided to push on to Mont-Laurier, where I could get a motel room.
At a park 35 km or so before Mont-Laurier, I met a pair of tourers, young guys, doing the same thing, though citing cold instead of rifles as the reason for not camping tonight. I don't know how long they lingered after I left the park but I do know I reached Mont-Laurier first. The Trans-Canada highway was busy and uninteresting, so I can't imagine they stopped much along the way (I also can't imagine how cyclists follow that road for 6000 km across Canada--that sounds horrible). That means I might not be as slow or tired as I think I am! A very encouraging possibility.
I texted them in Mont-Laurier that evening, but they were too tired from the hills to meet up, which is too bad for them because I was planning to buy them dinner.
So I ate two dinners. I didn't think I could quite manage three.
Today's ride: 106 km (66 miles)
Total: 945 km (587 miles)
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