30/06/10 New Buffalo to Chesterton

 

We spent most of the day at the beach in Michigan City. We're not getting lazy or anything like that, sometimes you just deserve a break.

That's a part of the road we had to take in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. It's a road that has been built in a swamp, so I guess it just decided to take over human creations.ahaha
When we got to Chesterton it was one of those evenings with lack of food and laziness about finding the camping spot. Some man spotted by and invited us over to his place, which was a great relief in the state we were. Around a campfire we got to know Eric, his wife and his kids. They are a very interesting family with bright funny kids. We go to bed quite late, wake up early. En route vers Chicago tomorrow.

Distance: 55 km

29/06/10 Niles to New Buffalo

 

Images often say much more (see video). We get to New Buffalo and try to cook dinner on the beach. It's full of sand and completely burnt but the beach makes us forget it.

Distance: 45 km

28/06/10 Sturgis to Niles

Une journée sans histoire. Je suis tombé de mon vélo en accrochant Amélie et mon porte-bagage avant a pris un coup. On soupe à Niles en regardant un match the baseball dans un parc. On se met à la recherche d'un endroit pour camper mais on ne trouve pas. On abouti finalement à 1:30am dans un boisé adjacent à une église baptiste avec des cerfs qui nous tournent autour toute la nuit.
Distance: 85 km

27/06/10 Coldwater to Sturgis

When we wake up in the morning, there are two new people in the cottage, Mike's dad and his girlfriend just arrived. A thunderstorm is coming so we decide to wait before leaving. Mike's father cooks breakfast for everyone and later, we swim in the lake. Since we are no longer on our road, we have to find a new itinerary. After having lunch in Coldwater, we say good bye to our awesome hosts and go back on our bikes.Thank you Mike and Jessica for sharing so much with us.

We stop at Sturgis around 21h00 and ask a man who is gardening if we can pitch our tent in his backyard. He answers that this place does not belong to him but that he will try to find the owner. So he comes back with the owner 10 minutes later. She unlocks the door and just lets us go in. Wow! I can't believe someone offered  us an entire house to sleep without knowing us at all. We are flabbergasted! 
Distance: 45 km

26/06/10 Toledo to Coldwater

Looking at our itinerary for the next days, Mike realizes that we're going to bike very close to a farm pond where it's impossible not to catch a fish. He proposes to meet at the pond at the end of day. So in the morning, we start biking on the Wabash Cannonball Trail. It is the worst day, very hot, humid and windy. I fell like an egg in a pan all day.

We finally arrive, tired and dehydrated, at the pond around 18h00. Mike, Jessica and their friend Mike are already there and two fishing poles are waiting for us. Amelie catches one big fish and I catch three. After fishing, we put the bikes in the trunk of his car and drive to Mike's cottage near Coldwater. What at great, but tough, day! Distance: 75 km

Les bouteilles d'eau

Voilà! Ça sera un topo hors des croniques quotidiennes.

Depuis que nous sommes au sud des Grands Lacs, disons depuis Port Dover, il y a une certaine obsession pour les bouteilles d'eau qui s'est installée.
Alors on campe sur le gazon de quelqu'un et soudainement la 3ième voisine se pointe avec des bouteilles d'eau et elle veut vraiment nous donner des bouteilles d'eau. Et on refuse et elle veut encore. Mais bon quand tu te lèves à 8h le matin, je comprend l'intention mais bon un café ça pourrait faire l'affaire aussi.

Et puis on se fait un superbe picnic à l'épicerie sur tes tables de patios à vendre et la caissière sort prendre sa pause cigarette et là:

-Vous avez soif? Vous voulez de l'eau? Vous voulez une bouteille d'eau.Vous avez soif.
-Non, c'est correct, on a des gourdes d'eau pleines.
-Vous avez soif.
-Non!
-Vous avez soif.
Et vraiment fier elle revient avec ces deux bouteilles d'eau!

Ok je pense qu'il faudrait mettre au clair certaines choses:
1.L'eau est potable au Canada et au États-Unis.
2. Les bouteilles d'eau ça prend du pétrole,Pétrole=BP=fuite dans l'océan=méchant
3. Embouteiller de l'eau ça prend de l'énergie, beaucoup d'énergie pour rien quand bien souvent c'est de l'eau du robinet filtré que vous achetez.
4. ON PASSE NOTRE JOURNÉE À BOIRE DE L'EAU, À REMPLIR NOS BOUTEILLES D'EAU ET À REBOIRE L'EAU. SI VOUS VOULEZ ËTRE GENTILS, ON PEUT PAS SE FAIRE DE GÄTEAU AU CHOCOLAT. C'EST BON DU GÄTEAU AU CHOCOLAT ET ÇA DONNE DE L'ÉNERGIE. SVP ÉVITEZ LES BOUTEILLES D'EAU, OPTEZ POUR UNE AIDE ÉCOLOGIQUE. LE GÂTEAU!!!!

miam miam miam

25/06/10 Toledo

On a fait un détour à Toledo, seulement parce que je voulais voir le Glass Museum de S.A.N.A.A et vraiment ça en vallait la peine. C'est vraiment difficile à décrire mais suffit à dire que le bâtiment est encore plus impressionnant en vrai que sur les photos et que la dimension du musée rend les salles disposées en labyrinthe très lisibles. 

Il y a des dégustation de vin ouverte au public le vendredi soir, alors c'est un excellent moment pour visiter le musée et le cuisto est super sympatique. Bonne bouffe, bon vin et de l'architecture de qualité.

Vous aviez un gun j'espère?

On va jouer au jeu dont vous êtes le héro, suite au commentaire du mécano de vélo qui a dit: "Vous avez traversé Détroit? Vous aviez un gun au moins."

Vous venez de traverser la frontière entre Windsor et Détroit et vous vous apprêtez à traverser Détroit. Comme c'était impossible de traverser la frontière à vélo vous êtes en train de remonter votre vélo suite au voyage en taxi.
1.a) Vous embarquez vos saccoches et vous partez.Allez au numéro 3.
  b)Vous embarquez vos saccoches, retrouvez votre gun dans votre sac et le metttez élégamment dans votte cuisard.Allez au numéro 4.
 
3. Vous pédalez à travers Mexican town, puis à travers les industries et vous arrivez à River Rouge. Vous avez une soudaine fringale.
a) Vous continuez à pédaler quand même, vous mangerez sorti de Détroit.Allez au numéro 5.
b) Vous arrêtez au premier dépanneur que vous voyez. Allez au numéro 6.

4. Vous pédalez à travers Mexican town, puis à travers les industries et vous arrivez à River Rouge. Vous avez une soudaine fringale.
a) Vous continuez à pédaler quand même, vous mangerez sorti de Détroit.Allez au numéro 7.
b) Vous arrêtez au premier dépanneur que vous voyez. Allez au numéro 8.

5. Vous continuez à pédaler et vous croissez du regard un bel homme noir dans sa bagnole montée.
a) Vous pédalez le plus vite possible pour sortir de là. Allez au numéro 9.
b)Vous soutenez son regard. Allez au numéro 10.

6.À votre sortie du dépanneur il y a une gars avec son gun qui vous attend à votre vélo. Il vous demande votre argent et il va vous laissez partir.
a) Vous lui donnez. Allez au numéro 9.
b) Vous tentez de négocier.  Allez au numéro 11.

7. Vous continuez à pédaler et vous croissez du regard un bel homme noir dans sa bagnole montée.

a) Vous pédalez le plus vite possible pour sortir de là. Allez au numéro 9.
b)Vous soutenez son regard. Allez au numéro 12.

8.  À votre sortie du dépanneur il y a une gars avec son gun qui vous attend à votre vélo. Il vous demande votre argent et il va vous laissez partir. 
a) Vous lui donnez. Allez au numéro 9.
b) Vous sortez votre gun.  Allez au numéro 13.

9. Vous êtes sorti de Détroit, la vie est belle.C'était un peu étrange mais sans plus.

10. Il sort son gun et vous fait signe de vous tasser sur le trottoir.Il vous demande votre pognon et embarque votre vélo dans son char. Il s'en va. Vous avez plus rien mais vous êtes en vie. Vous courez hors de Détroit et allez vous commander un pichet de bière.Vous sortez en courant sans payer et allez voler le vélo d'un petit gars qui passe. Vous en retirerez sürement quelques dollars pour survivre.

11. Alors il vous tire....il avait pas envi de négocier. Et se pousse aussi avec votre vélo. Vous saigner sur les troittors de Détroit.

12. Il sort son gun et vous fait signe de vous tasser sur le trottoir.Alors vous sortez votre gun aussi et s'engage un échange de balles entre vous sur votre vélo ne sachant pas manier un gun et l'autre qui tire comme un fou tenant le volant d'une main. Soudainement l'auto disparaît, vous êtes sain et sauf. Soudainement les sirènes de police retentissent. Vous avez brûlé un feu rouge. Vous allez en tôle.

13. Vous avez aucune idée comment utiliser le gun, mais bon. Vous vous regardez. Votre main qui tient le gun tremble tellement que vous finissez par échapper le gun. L'autre se met à rire. Il trouve ça tellement drôle qu'il vous laisse partir.

24/06/10 Monroe to Toledo

Now it's Xavier's bike that has some problems, he has to spend 2 hours truing the wheels. The back one is really crocked and the tire is prematurely used. So at 4pm we're finally back on the road to Toledo where we're gonna meet Mike, a couch surfer. We meet him on the way to his home he passes by by car and recognizes us.  
So we get to his house and meet his girlfriend Jessica. We cook a huge BBQ with some beers and it's a really nice evening.

Distance: 55 km

23/06/10 Essex to Monroe

  Highway 3 is the worst road ever. It's a heavy truck traffic road, where cars go 100km/h with no shoulder. 

We didn't really have a choice so we hit the road after a good garden hose shower in the backyard of our hosts. When we got to Windsor we finally found a great bike shop with very competent mecanos Ambassador Bicycles. There was nothing wrong with my bike finally, just a bump in the tire. But I can live with that. More importantly we learned that we could not cross the Windsor-Detroit border by bike. 

So we tried to take the tunnel bus to get to Detroit but, bikes are only allowed in bike bags! All buses are equipped with bike racks, but it's illegal to use them. Great!

So we ended up having to dismount our bikes and put them in a taxi. We got to the other side without any problem and got attacked by a man working in the border office:

Where are you going?

What are you doing?

There's a tornado coming.

You cannot ride your bike through Detroit.

Especially you, the girl, you shouldn't be biking here.

 I'll tell you where to go and you just ride ride. You never stop, you just ride your bike until you're out of here. 

And blablabla start of the scaring campaign.

Detroit is the not the most welcoming town I've seen, with burned down apartment block, rows of car on flat tires or on milk crates and the absence of people walking in the streets, especially as we got to the western end, but it's not that bad. During day time, if you know where you're going, we felt safe.

So we went trough Detroit and kept going and we could see the weather was turning bad. So we stopped and asked this man if we could camp on his lawn. He was a bit in a state of panic and told us there was a tornado coming and we should not be staying outside and eventually he just put our bikes and his pick-up and drove us to a motel! You have to stay there. We heard the sirens twice in the city. The wind and the rain was pretty bad, but it wasn't really a tornado, just a big storm. The tornado was the only subject on all the TV channels.

Distance: 85 km

22/06/10 Wheatley to Essex

This day was suppose to be easy. We would get to Lemington and take the boat to Sandusky and we would be in the U.S. Done

Things ended up a bit different. When we got to Lemington, on a Tuesday, we learned that the next boat to Sandusky was on Friday.And there was something wrong with my wheel, like a constant bump, but we couldn't really tell what it was so we started looking for a bike shop to learn that the last one in town had closed 6 months a go. We just went to the library, which is becoming our best friend for internet access, and started thinking of another plan. At 5pm we left in the direction of Windsor. We would cross the border in Detroit.

 Distance: 54 km

21/06/10 Glasgow to Wheatley

We've just biking all day! When we got to Wheatley we wanted to take a campground for the first time. Campgrounds are 40$ a night....you can get a motel room for the same price. So instead of getting ripped off we kept biking and eventually pitched the tent on the beach behind all the fish factories. Weird people were coming and going, looking at us and leaving. Eventually we were alone because there was a huge storm all night.

You're tired. You've been biking for too long. You can't fell your legs anymore. What should you do? Light up your pineapple boosters and make your bike fly to the moon. Attachez vos tuques!

Distance: 94 km

20/06/10 Port Burwell to Glasgow

On sort de notre champ d'éoliennes vers 9h30 et il était temps parce qu'il fait très chaud. On se rend à Port Stanley ou on réalise qu'on est dimanche. La plage grouille de monde. Ca fait peur! On se repose deux ou trois heures à la plage puis c'est le départ pour Blenheim. En comptant, ça fait 75 km à parcourir et il est déjà 17h30. Bref, c'est une mission impossible. On décide de rouler un peu de nuit pour écourter la distance à parcourir le lendemain. C'est une superbe soirée. Il n'y a pas de voiture sur la route, la lune nous éclaire de toute sa lueur et il fait pas trop chaud, pas trop frais. Vers 23h, on décide que c'est assez et on campe dans un champ a l'arrière d'une forêt de sapin. Toute la nuit, il y a un p'tit lapin ou un truc du genre qui grignote nos bagages et qui nous tient réveillés.
Distance: 92 km

19/06/10 Long Point to Port Burwell

On fait le déjeuner, des crêpes pour rappeler les crêperies de Montréal à David. Son fils n'est pas revenu. On décide d'aller à la plage pour profiter du beau temps. Je lis un roman et Amélie dort. Il y a des dizaines de kite-surfer qui s'amusent sur la plage.

On part vers 16h00 en direction de Burwell. La route entre Long
Point et Burwell est magnifique, pleine de falaises de sables qui s'érodent au gré du vent.  Il y a aussi une belle variété de cultures. On récolte au passage cerises et asperges pour le souper. À Burwell, je suis mort. On trouve une épicerie et plus tard un champ vague au pied d'une éolienne ou camper. Distance: 45 km

18/06/10 Port Dover to Long Point

Jane and Ken are incredible hosts. In the morning, they offered us breakfast and let us do laundry.When we told Ken we were going to Long Point today, he gave us the address of a friend there. When we left their house, it was already 12h30. It is our first very hot and humid day biking. Xavier was drenched in sweat.

Long Point is a little hidden paradise. The beaches are beautiful, the water is hot, the wildlife is great and the community is very particular. How to describe it? An hybrid between a piece of Florida in the middle of Lake Erie and a bayou...maybe...

Après avoir soupé sur la plage, on rencontre David Stewart, le père de notre contact là-bas qui nous accueille dans la maison de son fils. On passe la soirée sur le bord d'un feu à boire de la bière et à manger des hot dogs. David passe ça vie entre Long Point, le Brésil et les États-Unis. On parle et boit beaucoup cette soirée là. Distance: 56 km

17/06/10 Port Colbourne to Port Dover

It is already 13h00 when we start biking on the Transcanadian Trail.The trail is in very bad condition. At one point, we have to clear a tree from the way so we can pass. Suddenly, the trail stops 20 km before where it was supposed to end. We finally arrive at Dunnville hungry and thirsty more than never. We spend two good hours at the Sobey's, eating, drinking and washing our things.

When we go back on our bikes, it was already 17h and we still had 45 km against the wind before getting to Port Dover.As we were looking for a field where to camp, we met Jane and Ken.They offered us to sleep in their camper car and we accepted. We had a very good time with them, especially talking with their son Dusty in the hot tube. Dusty is passionate about bikes. He built his own bike and a 10 feet jumping ramp in the woods. No way we will try this jump with our heavy loaded bikes. Distance: 83 km

16/06/10 Fort Erie to Port Colbourne

I woke up early in the morning and decided to let Amelie sleep a little bit more. I tried to fish but the fishes were definitively more experienced than me. My line broke and while I was fixing it, a big fish made splashes 2 meters in front of me. Ok! The fish won, I lost.

On the road to Port Colbourne, the winds are very strong. Fortunately, we are riding on the Friendship Trail, a cycle path very straight and protected by trees. We stop at Bay Beach. The waves on the lake Erie are monstruous but the water is not too cold so we decide to take a bath. Later, we get to Port Colbourne and set the tent in an empty field. I cook the diner while Amelie is having a nap. Distance: 45 km

 Sûrement la pancarte avec le plus de fautes de français au monde.

15/06/10 Niagara Falls

Après une journée de merde, on prend des résolutions. On décide de prendre le temps de trouver des campings plus agréables, de ne pas attendre trop tard pour manger, de faire de moins longues distances et de faire plus attention à notre couple. Une belle liste d'améliorations à apporter après le constat d'échec d'hier. On décide de retourner aux chutes parce qu'hier on a rien vu.

So we went back to Niagara Falls and had a nice diner right in front of the falls where there is a continuous flow of tourists. We met an American guy and had a nice talk with him. Then, we biked 20 km in direction of Fort Erie. We stopped and camped on the shore of the river. Our nicest spot up to now! I heard fishes jumping off the water all the night.

distance: 35 km

14/06/10 Grimsby to Niagara Falls

C'est la journée des vins aujourd'hui. On visite plusieurs vignobles du Niagara dont ceux de Southbrook, Stratus et Jackson-Triggs. Amélie boude un peu parce que j'ai tenter d'ajuster son vélo à Mississauga et maintenant c'est pire. On arrive a Niagara-on-the-lake vers 19h00 et décide de continuer jusqu'à Niagara Falls. C'est une très mauvaise décision car en arrivant, toutes les épiceries sont fermées et la soirée se termine en mangeant du beurre d'arachide à 23h dans un trou près des chutes. On se sent vraiment pas à notre place parmi tous les touristes, les casinos et les hôtels de luxe. On campe finalement à l'extérieur de la ville dans un champ investé de moustiques. Il est 1h00 du matin! Beurk!

distance: 85 km

13/06/10 Mississauga - Grimbsy

We left Mississauga at around 12h and biked to Hamilton where we had diner with Nathalie, a friend which whom Amelie used to spend 1 month with every summer. When we left the restaurant, it was already 9pm and we were at the entrance of Hamilton. So we crossed to whole city and then started looking for a place to camp. Eventually we ended up in a swomp, it was 11h30pm we decided to keep going. We saw some people having a beer on their porch so we asked if we could camp on their lawn. They offered much more then a camp site.

Il y avait 5 personnes dans la maison a ce moment là. Et ça c'est avéré que le frère était un fou des vélos qui avait fait un tour de l'Europe à vélo et qui transporte son coffre à outil, puisqu'il travaille dans la construction, sur son vélo. Et la maison était magnifique, avec plein de détails de corniches et de frises fait à la main, et un grand soucis de préserver l'esprit d'une maison de 1880. Une très belle rencontre.

Don't hesitate to come see us in Montréal.
distance: 90 km

12/06/10 Mississauga - Repos

Aujourd’hui, c’est repos. Mes fesses en ont de besoin et moi aussi. Hier, on s’est couché tôt et ce matin on a fait des crêpes aux pommes, au fromage et au « sirop d’érable trop cher » pour toute la famille. Pendant qu’Amélie peine à écrire le blogue, je prend soins des vélos et déguste les cerises qui poussent à l’arrière dans la cours. On passe des heures à discuter avec les parents de Rohit. Sa mère me confie un mélange d’épices indiennes qu’elle fait elle-même. Ce soir, on montre nos photos à toute la famille.

11/06/10 TORONTO

Aujourd'hui on se sent vraiment en vacance. Notre nouvel ami Rohit nous fait visiter son campus ainsi que le Bike Share, un organisme qui loue gratuitement des vélos aux étudiants de l’Université de Toronto.

Sans bagage, on pédale ensuite sur le bord du lac Ontario jusqu’à Toronto. Dans la ville, on flâne un peu et roule en vélo au centre ville. C’est très différent que de rouler à Montréal. Les automobilistes ont peur de nous frapper et nous klaxonnent. Bien que la ville commence à développer son réseau cyclable, il n’y a presque pas de bandes cyclables. Aussi, les rails des tramways rendent la conduite très inconfortable. On revient à Mississauga pour souper. La famille de Rohit est très chaleureuse. Ils nous racontent l’Inde autour d’un souper que la maman fait « pas trop épicé » juste pour nous. On se promet de leur rendre la pareil demain matin avec un déjeuner de type crêpes et sirop d’érable.





















Now in 10 points I'll resume my perception of cycling in the greater Toronto area:
1) Car drivers hate cyclists and it gets worst in the suburbs!
2) It's illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk! It is a vicious circle: cyclists are scared of cars, cyclists go on sidewalks, cars think cyclists belong on sidewalks, you get screamed at when you ride your bike on the street. People don't realize that they have the right to cycle on the streets. STREETS BELONG TO BIKES as much as to cars. Use you bike on the street, it's your right and you should show it to automobilists!
3) Bike lanes along the Ontario Lake are very nice, although not always well indicated.
4) People that cycle in the city, cycle with style!
5) Tram tracks makes it very hard to bike, you almost need a mountain bike to go through the city.
6) The bike lanes in the city center are too narrow and there are too few.
7) The Toronto's bike rack are well designed and easy to use to lock your wheel and your frame.
8) The suburbs have been designed only for the cars and don't take into consideration at all pedestrians or cyclists.
9) The connection with the public transit system is really good. The buses and trains let you take you bike with you and rush hour restrictions are not abusive. On the negative side, when you get out of the train in the suburbs in much harder to find a cycle path that will get you home.

10) Cyclist culture will have to grow for cycling to get safer in the city and for car drivers to understand the rights of cyclists

Now that's Rohit and me near the Ontario College of Art and Design

10/06/10 Bowmanville to Mississauga

Only day where we really needed to get somewhere, as Rohit was waiting for us in Mississauga but things were going really slow. We left around 11:30am after some problems with trying to connect to the internet. Biked a bit and then in Whitby we needed some food so Xavier went to Metro to get some bread and ham. He came out 45min later with 7$ worth of grocery. We’ll never know what happened in the Metro that day.

We’ve been following the Waterfront bicycle trail on our way to Toronto, but at this point things got a bit iffy.  It was really hard to follow the indications, we were making 5km loops that were getting us back 200m from where we were before, it was getting us on roads with no shoulder where cars were going 100km/h and had never seen bikes. There are indications for the Waterfront trail about every 3 turns. We finished having lunch it was 4pm, we still had 70km to go. By 7pm we were in Scarborough, where we got some things to cook spaghetti in a grocery store where people were screaming at each other. Things were not going very well, until we saw this guy, David, biking with a big box of Tide at the back of his bag between his 2 panniers. He offered to bring us to the nicest spot in Scarborough where you see the cliffs, the port and the vastness of Lake Ontario. We decided to go. He went to fill our water bottles at his house while we were trying to cook our dinner. We realized we had no more gas, so it was peanut butter and jelly sandwich again. David came back with hot tea and homemade rhubarb pie. Thank you David, that made our day!

 So we left Scarborough at 9pm. Biking down Kingston St. was pretty nice despite bad road conditions and arriving in Toronto by night was great too. Now it was 10:30pm. So we went to Union Station to catch a train to Mississauga. So I asked the lady 2 tickets. And she asked where are you going in Mississauga? I mumbled some street names and asked for a map. Now maps don’t exist in Central Station. So I was screaming to Xavier that was holding the bikes 100m further, where are we going? What are the streets? Eventually the lady said I’ll send you on a bus. It’s at 11:30pm. Thank you but that’s a bit late. So I left the counter.
Suddenly some guy that was speaking French came to us: “You should take this line, there, get out there, ride your bike up there, turn there and you’ll be there.” So we ran like crazy with the fully loaded bikes to catch the train. We finally got to Mississauga and after a 30min bike ride we knocked at Rohit’s door. It was midnight. He was waiting for us with pizza and drink. Wow! Finally we’re home!
Distance: 102km

9/06/10 Presqu'Ile to Bowmanville

Now that’s Xavier’s worst day since we left.  We had nothing left for breakfast so we tried to pedal to an apparently opened grocery store in the provincial park of Presqu’Ile. Obviously it was closed, never trust provincial parks. The beach was nice despite the bad weather.

Strong winds but for once in our direction. The waves on Lake Ontario were about 1.5m high.

The road was actually pretty nice with orchards going all the way to the water. We decided to ride as much as we could as the wind was helping us a lot.

We arrived in Newcastle at 8pm looking for a warm place to stay for the night, but we didn’t know there was not much in this town. So we had to ride to Bowmanville to find a motel. We got there and it wasn’t really a luxury to pay for a place to stay after one week, as Xavier was completely frozen. He put the heater to maximum and he was just so happy to be there. He was numb from the cold and rain but he would have never told me, masculine pride. I was suffocating in the room. So we cooked our dinner and then Xavier sat in the bed with the bag of Ruffle chips and the Stanley Cup final and you had never seen someone so happy of being in a crappy motel. Distance:104km