Day 119: Brighton, ON to Bowmanville, ON

August 24, 2017

We had a long ride today and it was chilly and cloudy all day. I am so ready for Florida weather again! Apart from lack of warm sunshine, the day was good. We rode through a few small towns, some nice residential areas on the lakefront and miles of farms.

It was pretty to see the tractor working in the wheat field with the lake in the background. I tried to get a sailboat just behind the tractor, but it's hard to see.

We must have been riding along a major Ontario rail line today. We saw a lot of trains.

We started with breakfast at the Brighton Inn. It was a good breakfast and the owners of the B&B, Don and Nikki, were among the best B&B hosts we've had.

At our first stop in Colborne, we got into a long conversation with the clerk at the convenience store. I think he might have been the owner. He is on our short list of the nicest people we've met on our trip - he gave us free Diet Coke.

I'm sorry we didn't get his name, but he was a very friendly guy and we enjoyed talking to him - even before he gave us free DC.

The next stop in Coburg wasn't so nice. The clerk at the convenience store there told us he "didn't have a washroom". I never believe that and it just irritates us no end to go into a business where public restrooms are the norm and be told that. We rode on and found a Subway, which was OK. I'm not a big fan of Subway food in general, but it's clean and predictable.

The last 25 miles of the route had no services. The roads were good and we didn't have any problems riding without a break. We went through an area with lots of apple orchards. They were growing apple tress in a way we'd never seen. The trees were growing on trellises.

All the orchards in this area were planted this way

We checked in to the Best Western in Bowmanville about 5:00 and I was looking forward to getting the laundry done. The hotel's website lists "guest laundry, 24 hours, free" in their amenities section. Free use of washers and dryers is one of the things BW Plus often offers and I look for them when they're available. We got the laundry all sorted out, pockets checked, buttoned and zipped and ready to go and I went up to the desk to ask where to find the laundry room. The clerk said they had no guest laundry. I was seriously aggravated. I think my frustration tolerance is lower as we near the end of the trip. It seemed like a big deal to me at the time. I came back and got my Surface and carried it up there to show her the website. I don't know what good I thought that would do, but I was so annoyed. Our hotel tomorrow has a laundry and it will be fine to do it then, but I just hate it when hotels publish bad information. I feel like they took my money under false pretenses.

How's that for letting an insignificant annoyance get to me?

Tomorrow we have a short ride of less than 40 miles to Pickering. We'll get there in plenty of time to get the laundry done!

Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 4,717 miles (7,591 km)

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