There and back again; a bikers’ tale

The storm that kept us in Windsor for three days finally did let up, so we packed our bikes and bags, and began the journey to Ottawa. We had hoped to spend most of the holiday weekend with mom and sis, but as usual, the weather was uncooperative. The rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow had eased up, but the high winds and cold temperatures remained. It was not easy going, but go we did.

As the fearless leader for the day (we take turns leading) I navigated a course through some of the backroads of southwestern Ontario. We went through large areas of downed trees and flooded fields. At one point we passed a dozen Ontario Hydro service trucks all lined up on the road, no doubt trying to repair the damage from all the ice and fallen trees. We passed major intersections with no power to the traffic lights. Signs of the havoc caused by freezing rain were everywhere, but thankfully the roads were clear and mostly dry.

The route took us through some distantly familiar areas, including right past the place we used to live in London. It’s been decades since we’d been back, and like the growth of Ann’s grey hairs 😉 , so too has this place gone grey with buildings. Our big 12-story apartment was still there, but now dwarfed by numerous bigger ones. A massive Costco shopping mall now stands where the beautiful cornfield used to be.

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” … so true, and kinda sad.

We pressed on through London, heading toward the small town (pop: 38,000) of Woodstock. We had booked a cheap motel from our last stop at a Timmy’s (Canada’s main contribution to high culinary culture). It was cheap but had OK reviews. Did I mention it was cheap? No bed bugs though (as far we could see), so all good!

The next morning we woke to the heaviest frost we’ve yet had, along with fog so thick that we couldn’t even see the road next to the motel.

By the time we’d scraped the ice and frost off the bikes the fog had lifted enough for us to at least see the road. We drove a short distance to a nearby eatery, and settled into a warm, slow breakfast. During breky our waitress asked about what we were doing. Upon hearing some of our story began to regale us with her plans to get out of debt, get an RV, and go travelling “before it’s too late.” She was in her mid-30s, and figured she and her husband were on track to get away in their 40s. We heartily agreed with her plan.

From Woodstock, Ottawa was still around 600 km away, which for us is around ten hours of driving. Too long for a normal day, but the forecast called for rain and possibly snow the following day, so we decided to push hard to make Ottawa. We arrived by about 9 pm in the cold and dark. It  was a hard day, but it was all worth it b/c the next day it rained hard.

It was great to see Mom. Even nice to see baby sister Kathy 😉 We chatted for a few hours, then went to bed. The next day we babbled some more, got reacquainted with the cats, including our little Hammi, and ended up at their favourite pub for supper.

Sadly, Kathy had to go to Toronto for a few days to help organize and schlep boxes of donated material to the National Art Gallery Library. So Ann and I and Mom just hung around, relaxing, talking, cooking, eating and drinking. Oh, and Ann got my Mom addicted to the game GeoGuessr. She’s such a bad influence…

In addition to all the yakin’ and drinking and computering and relaxing, I also managed to replace some rotted baseboard in Kathy’s bathroom. Sadly though, the day came when we had to say goodbye and head for Belleville.

We arrived in Belleville and moved into our new temporary digs. We’ve rented a room in a house from a really nice fellow who normally rents through AirBnB. He very kindly gave us a good monthly deal, so we’re now here in a warm, cosy room with full access to a great kitchen, living area. Best of all, the place comes with good wifi and a really friendly cat.

The day after moving into our room we visited the marina and our boat. Pachina Mia weathered the winter just fine this year, as did our car. We went over not really knowing what we were going to do this first day. We have so much stuff to sort out. The car is packed, the boat is packed, and we even have extra stuff in a storage shed. Stuff everywhere…

Anyway, much to my surprise, the car started up without a hiccup, so now we’ve swapped our two two-wheelers for one red four-wheeler. Feels very strange being without the bikes after all these months, but the car is far more practical right now, especially since winter is still hanging around down here in southern Ontario; snow today with highs not predicted to go above freezing for the next few days. Brrrrrr.