Saturday, July 09, 2011

Ottawa Ontario 2011

Back in Ottawa on my way home from NH and I love these Canadian cities. Got a bed at the same hostel I stayed at last year and right now sitting in the Ket talking with Shannon who I met last year. She took such good care of me last year that she remembered my order. Prime rib medium rare, twice back potatoe and Caesar salad, how could it ask for better help. Sorry you don’t get to see the pictures yet this year until I get it figured out how to get them attached to my blog, but at least I get to write about it. Have a lot more people that I’ve already met in Ottawa to get to, including Brian who also remembered me from last year. This time we actually did have those drinks together and if you don’t remember the story, check out Ottawa, 2010 just for that story, More to get to, but right now I’m gonna concentrate on this meal in front of me.


As usual Shannon did me good with a great piece of meat and even better service and of course I’m invited back for next year. Hopefully she’ll be here cuz it’s always nice seeing her smile. Have now moved on to Pier 21 which I’m sure I was at last year when they had a live band playing and it is the same tonight, but I think I’m not only here earlier than last year, but they have a blues fest going on that they don’t expect the bars to start hopping until later. Oh well, Morgan and Borechuck are taking good care of me and if I could load and attach my photos to my blog, you’d get to see what a Borechuck looks like. For me, I’ve enjoyed talking with Morgan, a Sociology major at the university.


Now for a followup on what I did on my vacation at Tamworth before getting on to the rest of the happens which led me to Pier 21. You know, if you’ve read the blog that I made it safely to the mountain home of the Mathews and again, as usual, if you could see the pictures, you’d see what I mean. Tuesday was a day of relaxation for me and no plan on going for a bike ride because I’ve hit’er hard getting here that at least one day of the bike will be a good one. That lasted about half an hour because there was no Mt Dew in the house that I hopped on the bike and made a quick trip into town just for a 12 pack. Ready and set to go now that I’ve had my dew for the day that I decided to go with Jeff and his little girl Alyse for some kayaking. Well, more that they decided to join me since that was my plan for the day. I was put to work even though I was looking forward to a nice relaxing day, but riding a lawn mower around isn’t too bad, except for all the rocks you need to try and avoid. These lawns around here have a lot of rock beds that you hit it once with the blade and realize it’s another pile to mow around.


Day two was my plan to make it to the Washington Mt Auto road to ride the bike to the top. Have already done Pike’s peak which is twice as high, that is sea level that last year when I attempted it, I got stuck in Conway o a day of rain. This time, the weather has been nice and hot for just such a ride and the skies look clear that I’m looking forward to being able to see a lot from the mountain top. The one thing which is the worst trying to get any where around Mt Chocura is if you have to got North of Conway to get somewhere. They main road goes right thru town which is full of stop lights that I swear what should take an hour ride to the Auto road was an hour wasted just getting through Conway. I don’t know all of the back roads like the locals, but I’m learning. Anyway I did make it to the road and today was a $15 ride to the top and believe it or not, I road half way and had to turn around because like the guide said, if you’r afraid of heights, riding the auto road might not be for you...and again, if you believe that, you don’t know me very well. I love the thrill of anything like this and the guy collecting did warn me that there was about a mile stretch at mile 5 which was gravel. Hell, that’ll be nothing like the last 3 miles climbing Pike’s peak, remember that? I enjoyed most of the ride except for the cars that felt they had to stop for each other coming down or going up the mountain. Do you know how hard it is at a steep climb having to stop the bike for some cars that apparently can’t figure out how to move over for each other, well I’ll tell you, it’s not fun at all. I was behind 4 vehicles that either they’d stop for the cars coming down or the cars coming down would stop for them and believe me, there’s more than enough room to pass without having to stop. Anyway, close to the top and had just past 5000 meters high when I was being blown all over the road and nothing but clouds. I guess that day of seeing a lot won’t be today and once I did get to the peak, it was really cloudy and windy. If you could see the pictures, you’d see what I mean, but soon, believe me soon and you’ll see pictures attached. I did meet a guy and his daughter from Pennsylvania who had just climbed the mountain and were waiting for his 19 year old son coming up a hard pass to get there for the climb down. I’ll tell you, I give those people who climb these mountains a lot of credit for what they do and I know for my little Chocura Mt climbs that that’s nothing like a mountain like this. Hung around as long as I felt hoping the weather would clear and I’d be able to see more and I did a little, but it seemed it would never clear that it was finally time to head down. Thank goodness no one in front of me that I could ride down as fast as I wanted and believe it, I kept it in first gear most of the way and off the brakes. There are plenty of pull offs for the brakes to cool, but I didn’t need to use them. I did hit a stretch where I was in third gear to you can imagine how fast I might’ve gotten going until I came to another sharp turn or over the edge. So I had to add a little thrill to the ride and I love rides like this, you feel you’ve just accomplished so much.


I did make a trip to the other side of the mountain once I got down because I thought I’d check out the Cog rail side that you can take to get to the top. A train specifically built for this mountain just to take people to the top and I guess there are some pretty good stories about just how this rail was built. Not much on that side of the mountain and I think more people actually take the Auto road or a bus up that road to get there than the cog. I was pretty cool and the side that had the museum so you could see some of the story of building the rail such as the special shovels the guys would ride down when the work whistle blew. Apparently they would hit speeds in excess of 90 mph, riding a shovel down the rail. The whistle would blow at 5:00 and some of the guys would make it to the bottom at 5:03, trestles and all. From there I found a great road, the Bear Notch road down to the Kankamangus trail which is definitely worth the ride, which you’ll hear more about.


Day 2 night we finally played some games I could partake in. Well, I guess I could have day 1 night, but I’m not a big fan of speed scrabble. Day 2 and I did play a little speed scrabble as long as we were assured to play Continental, the card game we’ve played for hour here before. Well, we did just that and I enjoyed the cards much better than scrabble even though I didn’t come in last playing scrabble, speed scrabble that is.


Day three and today is just full of all sorts of what I thought were surreals. Jeff, Wendy and the girls were leaving early that although I was locked in the dungeon again, made sure I got up to see them off early that morning. Sure I went back to bed, but had to get up at least an hour later when Mark, Julie and the girls were ready to leave. Yes, 2 families with 2 young girls as well as Dominick, how could I forget Dominick, but it was me and a few families with kids, which I love playing with the kids as long as I don’t have to be the one to take care of them when they’re ornery or upset about who knows what a child will be upset by. I did have a great time with the kids and all of a sudden later Day 3, well, before noon and all are gone except of the Mathews and their 2 little ones, Pente and Lilyanna who is only about 2 months if even that. Most of the day after the other families had left were cleaning the house and after that, it was time for me to leave George and Niki alone with the kids while I did some more kayaking and swimming. Just after George the third and Sheryl showed up I did decide it was time of me to ride route 113 backwards since I’ve only ever ridden it one way and I’m glad I tried the other route. I saw things that I’ve never seen the other way and you always have to ride a road both ways to really appreciate it.


Day 3 evening and we have even more visitors, Niki’s sister and her 2 kids as well as Niki’s mom showed up to visit for a few days, Sorry, I don’t remember all of the names, but do remember Keane and Bennie the kids. George the 4th and I played war with Keane for the first time he’s really played a card game and I think he’s hooked. That and we showed him how to shuffle the cars like a Vegas dealer. Later that night and it was a new game of Continental, which was a lot of fun.


Ok, how‘bout todays ride and how I ended up in Ottawa in the same hostel I was at last year. Well, this time I did plan ahead and figured since last time was questionable getting a bed, this time I reserved one a day in advance. Couldn’t do it over the internet for some reason when I road into Chocura to use the libraries free internet, but finally had phone service that I called and reserved so only have to worry about getting hear. This morning was no different than any others leaving NH that when getting to bed late I’m in no hurry to get up and get going and today was no different. I figured Ottawa is just over a 6 hour trip that I have plenty of time. I did get going after 10:00 with about half of the household up since the rest were in bed with child, but that was cool with me. I did get my usual ‘tootles‘ on the way out so I’m good to go. As before I‘m heading to the Kankamangus trail so I can ride it all the way west and remember what I said about Conway, well, this time I was sitting in traffic for almost half an hour before getting to my turn. There’s something about the roads around NH and Vermont and not only the roads, but everyone does drive slow, even slower than a slow speed limit like the 50 that most of Vermont has posted. They don’t have many roads posted at 55, but that’s only a number that not only I don’t follow, that is unless I’m from Vermont cuz then I’ll make sure I drive slower. Oh well, I did my usual passing to make sure I had the lead and could set the pace so made to the Vermont just in time of put my helmet on. It’s gonna be helmet most of the way home from this point on.


Oh, and the other big news of the day, my bike turned 8 today, 88,888 miles for an 2006 so I keep packing on the miles. I had thought I missed the photo op of my odometer last night that I checked it out and had 7 miles to go, almost as far as the Dunken donut, but had to pull over to take a a picture, let’s see if it turns 9 before the years over.


This time I’m not going to make the same mistake with directions as I did last time in upper NY with highway 2, but I guess I did it earlier than last. I pulled off from the freeway to early through downtown Burlington where I figured I better find my best route to highway 2 and according to the gas attendant in the middle of the college, go back the way I came and head north another 5 miles before exiting. I did and what I difference getting the exit number as well cuz I might of pulled off too soon with the way the roads are signed around here. There are so many highway 2‘s which will take you to other roads that instead, why don’t they just list the main road instead of all of these connecting roads. Well this time, I got upper NY figured out and even though it’s a very boring stretch of road, I did make the Canadian border so time to leave the country, only for a few days. I did have to ask security if this was the right exit for Cornwall and after he made sure I backed up, apparently I was invading his personal space as he reached for his gun, this was the exit to take. Surprising they don’t have a sign that says Cornwall Canada, but I wonder if the Canada side marks the Indian reservation on the US side any better.


I passed my test on the way in and found out I’m about an hour away. That won’t be any problem except for the thunderstorm possibilities, but I can say, I made it with only sprinkles that now it’s pouring out, but I’m happy to also report I don’t have to ride thru it. Ok, now to the hostel and running into an old dude, Victor from Australia who is 63 and riding the worlds longest transcontinental highway, the trans Canada highway from Vancouver to St John’s, remember the most Easterly city I visited a few years ago. He’s one of my roommates and just pulled in on his bike, which happens to be man powered and apparently he’s travelled the world on different adventures. He’s originally from Southern Ireland, but has been in Australia for years before retiring to take this bike trip. Not only was he fun to meet and talk with, but if you remember my trip last year, I met a guy Brian that was staying at the hostel that I met here last year. He stays here when his wife kicks him out of the house, so guess what weekend this is. He did remember me and like I told him, maybe this will be a regular happening. Ok, enough writing and I’m gonna start enjoying the festivities now that the bar is starting to fill up. Untile next time have bike, will travel.

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