July 10, 2018
Day 53 Meaford
Meaford Ontario
Today it seemed to take quite a while to get rolling. We had our morning beverages and some oatmeal while we slowly put the camping gear away and packed up. Caroline, our host came out after a while and chatted with us. I forgot to mention yesterday that Jon and Art helped her catch a porcupine that had burrowed underneath her cabin. They set up a “have a heart” trap near the whole and put some apples in it. I happened to walk by it about an hour later on my way to shower and saw the porcupine in the cage. Um, guuuuys!! They came running around from the deck. The porcupine was strong enough to bend the “trap” door and it started wriggling out, even though it was pretty big! It got out, but they kept it from going back under the cabin by blocking it with rocks. It ran off under the neighbor’s back deck. Problem solved! Haha.
We traveled along the Bruce Peninsula between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. We had a fabulous tail wind most of the day. Before we knew it, we’d gone 40 miles. We stopped in Wiarton for lunch. Jon had seen a sign a ways back advertising an Irish pub and was craving some Irish stew. We stopped to ask about it and were told it was closed, but the Green Door Café was excellent if we could get it in as it sometimes requires reservations. We found it and walked in, holding the door for an older gentleman who was leaving. The restaurant was about 75% filled, with “reserved” signs on all of the remaining table but one which looked like it just been vacated, probably by the older gentleman. The waitress said that, without a reservation, it would probably be a 30 minute wait. Then she noticed the empty table and said, “Oh wait, let me clean this table off! Then you’ll be all set.” Perfect! We had plenty of time, so we each ordered a light beer. Even though there wasn’t Irish stew, they did have a beef pot pie that came with a salad. I got a chicken wrap and soup. Both dishes were amazing! After lunch, we continued across a smaller peninsula to the inlet that went down to Owen Sound. We went through the town of Kemble and past an interesting monument that looked like a table set up with tea and snacks. It was a tribute to the Kemble Women’s Institute, the oldest active women’s institute in the world. Quite interesting. Next we cruised into Owen Sound and stopped at a little diner for some ice cream and ice water. The waitress also filled our water bottles with ice water. We had twenty miles to go, but most of it was busy 2-3 lane highway. Overall it wasn’t bad, but at one point, I had the ultimate scary moment. I’m typically right behind Jon on busy stretches and from time to time he’ll stop pedaling to drink water or whatever and slow down. When this happens, I don’t always automatically teach down for the brakes. A lot of times when that happens, I’ll make sure there aren’t any cars behind us and I go out into the lane until I slow to his pace. As I did this today, I pulled out into the lane only to see a car coming from the other direction right at me. He was passing another car. Needless to say, I braked hard and pulled back over, but it was pretty frightening. Now I know to look behind and forward...or just use those good ole brakes!
We stayed at a nice little motel in Meaford, with the Italian restaurant next door. We ordered a pizza and it was excellent. Not sure why, but I think this was only the second time we’ve had pizza on the ride.
Today's ride: 96 miles (154 km)
Total: 835 miles (1,344 km)
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