July 7 Some more thoughts about our trip

I was asked about what I have liked about the trip; there are a number of things that I will comment about. For example, there have been a surprising numbers of complete strangers who approached us in restaurants when they saw our bikes leaning outside or would honk at us in greeting on the road when they saw our loaded bikes; they all wanted to know what we are doing and wanted real details. This has been a really heart-warming exposure to Canadians who normally might not look us in the eye, let alone engage us in conversation. Our supportive treatment at bike shops along our route has also been exceptional and another series of stories about those people and events are worth the telling. Also the people who welcomed us into their homes and made us comfortable is truly memorable. These and other themes will be stories in future entries.

What I thought I might start with is some comments about the natural beauty of our country. I have always loved nature and this has been a sensory experience in nature at close range. I have travelled by car over many of the roads that we have ridden. But enclosed inside a fast moving car is very different from experiencing nature from a much slower moving bike on which you can see, hear, and smell. We have watched so many birds - hawks nesting and swooping on prey, and thousands of ducks and wading birds at sloughs and small lakes along the way. Or the ubiquitity of red-winged black birds which always swoop around us sqawking as they escorted us along the road until we were off "their" teritory. They have been a constant for us and the trip would have been much quieter and something would have been missed without them. I also enjoyed the western yellow-headed blackbirds which added their voices to their cousins protests. I have a soft spot for wetlands, and was not disappointed at the variety of beautiful wet places I have seen. The plant life around their margins and in the shallows is so varied and eye-catching; we have enjoyed watching the seasonal changes in the water lilies and their blooms are now out in Ontario, as are the pickeral-weed flowers. Flowers have been another constant and a real highlight. There were the constant changes in flower types in the mountains as one climbs higher into the peaks or drifts down into the valleys. Also there were distinct changes as we crossed between various mountain ranges and saw the dry and wet areas. A recent experience here in Ontario has been the large number of Canadian lilies and yellow lady slippers seen as we rode south from Tobermory.

Insect life has also been impressive. We see so many dragonflies along the roadways; I never knew they were so numerous. Nor have I ever seen mosquitos cover my tent so completely that I cringed at the idea of unzipping the flap to get out!

I cannot comment about everything that I saw in one session, but I will close with a comment about prairie dogs. They are numerous in numbers beyond all imagining when seen from a bike. And their antics as we surprised them was a great source of comic relief as they dashed madly to and fro trying to decide what to do in their panic.

There is much more I could say about this but will close for now and post more comments about this later. I will also try to answer Gary B's question about the bikes, and deal with the topic of our wonderful interactions with those people along the way. Since I was asked, I may try to deal with things that try our patience too, but I need to avoid ranting. There are too many positive outcomes of this trip to let it seem that problems have dominated. This has been a life experience.

Gary