Day 115- The Keady Market

Day 115 Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Rest Day 2 at Jim and Mary's in Chesley Everyone was awake early this morning because we were going to the Keady Market. They wanted to get to the market early before it got too crowded. It was going to be deathly hot again today and even before 8 am we could feel the heat. There has been a heat alert in Ontario for the last couple of days. Most of the farms that we passed on the way were cattle farms. Jim said most of the cattle come from Alberta and some from Quebec. Even when we arrived the market was buzzing with activity. Some of the vendors have been here setting up since 5 am. Many of the vegetable vendors are Mennonites and arrive in horse drawn buggies. It's a good thing that we had hair appointments for 10 am because I could have browsed there all day. There were booths selling all kinds of vegetables- potatoes, squash, tomatoes, sweet corn, beans, peppers etc. and fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, and elderberries. My mouth watered looking at the many baked butter tarts and pies . Jams, pickles and relishes must have been lots of work for the vendors to make. One could buy various types of puppies, ( black lab, poodles, pugs) as well as rabbits, and birds. Mary was disappointed because usually there are also kittens to give away for free although she is happy right now with her cat, Cheezy. Several tables were selling honey and maple syrup and the smell of popcorn permeated the air. Other booths had jewelry, purses, tie dyed dresses, cute beanies and toques, children's toys, bed sheets, African sculptures, ball caps , lawn ornaments and used items. For children, there was a fishing pond and a giant giraffe air jumping tent. There were 2 sisters playing music at one end and David,a young University of Waterloo music student, dressed in a kilt playing Scottish music. There were cattle, mooing in pens, waiting to be auctioned off later in the day. That's what I call a great market! We drove back to Mary's house and Jim headed off to work. We walked down a couple of streets to Randi's house . She is an acquaintance of Mary who cuts hair. We're thankful that she is fitting us in on her day off. Boy, our heads look and feel better. Now I'll be able to see back through my rear helmet mirror with a clear view. Randi remembers Chesley when the spot where her house is now, used to be a farmer's field with a pond. We enjoyed our hair cut visit with her and shared about our families as well. On the way back to Mary's, we stopped a few houses across and down the street and knocked on Alison's door. Alison's family used to live in Sault Ste. Marie when she was young and we would see them at worship meeting every week. Dave used to run with her father, Willie, and people used to joke about how strange they looked with Dave so tall and Willie much shorter than him. They always joked that he had to take many more steps than Dave and had to work harder. I remember that her mother, Agnes, had a great gift for entertaining and cooking. In high school, Alison was also involved in cross country running like our children and going to Hiawatha park all crowded in the coach's big van. They moved to the Milton area shortly after our youngest daughter, Sarah, was born. Alison invited us in for a cup of tea and we caught up on each other's family. She and husband, Paul, have 4 beautiful daughters. The girls happened to be away at the Keady Market at that moment. I'm glad Alison had decided to stay home so that we were able to visit. It was almost lunchtime when we came back to Mary's . She made bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches and meatloaf sandwiches for us. We should have lots of energy for tomorrow. I did a blog after and we all had a short rest. Dave rode his bicycle to the post office to mail a parcel and watched Young Victoria on TV. Mary was cutting vegetables, fresh from the market, for our salad to go with the summer sausages for supper. Over supper and dessert, we talked about some of the canoe trips that we have been on and that Jim has been on in the past. Some of these canoe stories were very funny.

Day 114 Our 41st Wedding Anniversary

Day 114 Monday, August 30, 2010 Rest day at Jim and Mary’s house in Chesley. Today was our 41st wedding anniversary. It was as hot and humid as the day we were married at the University of Windsor Chapel so many years ago. The day was devoted to visiting, laundry, blogging and arranging an appointment for a hair cut (which we couldn't get until tomorrow). It was a nice quiet morning. We got acquainted with Mary's cat, Cheezy, who is an American short haired tabby. He keeps Mary busy during the day wanting to go in and out of the house. Melissa called and wished us a Happy Anniversary. Sarah sent us an email. In the afternoon, Dave called his cousin, Cathy, who lives near here and she came over and we visited together until suppertime. Her father and Dave’s dad were brothers. Cathy has been busy working on an extensive family tree on a website on the computer. When we get home, I will email her all the latest changes for my children. It was so nice in the house with the air conditioning on and it was stifling hot outside. Cathy went home to make supper for her husband and then Jim came home from work. Mary made a nice supper of meatloaf, cauliflower, peas, and dinner rolls with ice cream or cheesecake for dessert. By that time, it was almost 7 pm. We watched a few episodes of an English comedy program, chatted while I blogged and then settled down for the night. It was a nice rest day.

Day 113- Today we surpassed our mileage of the Bike Trip Out West...and Back

Day 113 Sunday, August 29, 2010 Distance 78.46 km. Time 4 hr. 5 min. Distance 7846.27 km. ( Our out west and back trip was 7835 km) The Skyview Motel room was quite nice as it had a king size bed and air conditioning so it was cool. We left from Corbetton on Hwy. 10 and made it to Dundalk in short order. Dundalk area is the highest elevation in Southern Ontario. We saw a little picnic table and cut grass area that we could have camped at if we had kept going yesterday. In Flesherton, we had a break and bought some lemon pastries at the bakery. There were some nice buildings and some paintings on the walls. We continued on Hwy. 10 to Markdale where we took another break. Dave went into the Foodland, and I was busy putting on suntan lotion and was approached by a couple who asked where we had been. Gerrit and Sylvia were visiting their daughter here. He is a retired dairy farmer from Prince Edward County. Sylvia is a nurse for the county specializing in diabetic injuries. After we were talking for a while they asked if I was Dutch. "Yes," I said. "How did you know?" They replied that I just looked Dutch. Gerrit was born in Holland and came to Canada as a 4 year old child in 1952, a year after my family did. Sylvia went in and shopped and we continued to talk with Gerrit and then when she came out, we talked some more. A very nice couple and we really enjoyed our time with them. We turned west from here on Hwy. 12. This was a great Hwy. with a decent edge, a good surface and little traffic BUT there were hills. Oh well. You can’t have everything! At it’s end, we turned right on Hwy. 6 which was busier and not as good and rode to Dornoch where we stopped at a little ice cream store and had lunch on its porch and of course for dessert I had an ice cream cone. Stepping down from the porch, I didn’t look down good enough and almost sprained my ankle. That has happened many times during the trip and I am thankful that it has never turned over completely. From a telephone booth there, we called Mary and told her we would be there in the afternoon. We went down Hwy. 25 and to our surprise at the end, Jim and Mary were waiting to greet us. It was really nice to see them. Dave hasn’t seen Mary for over 5 years so it was special for him. We said hellos and they informed us that it only took them 6 min. by car to get here and they would have cold drinks waiting for us at their house when we arrived. We passed through Scone on Hwy. 10 a short distance and then came to Chesley 0n Hwy. 30 and found their house on Northview Crescent with a For Sale sign on the lawn. They are looking to move into nearby Hanover which is closer to their doctors and shopping stores. The garage door was open so we went in and unloaded a few items and then went in for cold drinks. Mary is Dave’s younger and only sister. She is an excellent cross stitcher and sells her stockings, pillows , samplers and other items at the local craft fairs. Jim is the General Manager and Secretary Treasurer of the Saugeen Conservation area. They have a daughter and two sons that are all grown up and have moved for their jobs. After our drinks, we showered and I worked on blogs. I am serious about trying to catch up before we leave. For supper, Jim barbecued steaks and we had them with potato salad, green beans, fresh bread and a glass of fruity wine. It was delicious, especially the strawberries and cheesecake for dessert. We chatted most of the evening about our children and I did blogs and checked my email.

Day 112- Windmills!

Day 112 Saturday, August 28, 2010 Distance 87.12 km. time 5 hr. 35 min. Total so far 7767.81 km. We were awakened at about 4 am. by what I thought was a big raccoon and what Dave thought was a big rat in the garbage pails near the pavilion in Anchor Park in Holland Landing. Today was another day of hills. That would make it 3 in a row which our legs were feeling. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky so it promised to be a hot day. We followed Hwy. 8 to Bradford where we stopped at Giant Tiger and I bought hand wipes while Dave talked to a big guy outside who used to live in Sault Ste. Marie. Then we went to the Walmart and I got a new little notebook as my journal will be full after today and also vitamin pills for myself. That was at 9 am and I was taking off my arm warmers already. We took Hwy. 88, turned right at Bondhead to Hwy. 27 and shortly after a left to Hwy. 1 until we reached Beeton where there were lots of signs that land was going to be developed into communities. We turned right there to Hwy. 56 which led us to Nicolston and Hwy. 89. They were doing construction on a bridge there and we had to negotiate a narrow part beside the cars but I was lucky enough to get a police car behind me that stayed behind and made all the other traffic wait. I gave him a nice thank you wave after I had more room. I do that for all people that wait politely behind instead of squeezing by or forcing cars off the other side of the road. On the maps, all these roads look like back roads but they were all busy today. All these towns are developing land into houses and I think they are all suburbs of Toronto. Alliston has the homestead of Sir Frederick Banting who helped discover insulin. There was also a big rubber ducky in front of a car dealer that I took a photo of for Caroline. We stopped for lunch at a grocery store. Dave bought me a bottle of Gatorade. I have been getting a bottle at every store to replenish my electrolytes. Dave came out with a huge 2 quart bottle of pop because it was on sale and I got to carry it all afternoon in my foam roll because he couldn’t fit it in any of his side pockets. Lucky me! Lots of people are coming up to us and asking about our trip and complimenting us on our endeavours. One guy noticed the NFL. flag because he was from Stevensville, NFL. but is working in Ontario. It was really hot and the wind was blasting in our faces and the road was busy as we went along Hwy. 89 . There was a tiny edge. It was very trying for me because I was watching Dave ahead, my gear changes below which weren’t working well today,and the cars behind in my rear view mirror. Dave was suffering from the heat and hills today and from breaking the wind. On one uphill about 5 km. before Shelburne, a spoke snapped on Blackie’s rear. We went back down the hill to a farm house and Dave changed the spoke by their driveway entrance. My legs were glad for the break. We made it to Shelburne and Dave wanted to get a motel but the road was going to turn and the wind was supposed to be more on our side so I found out that there was a campground up the Hwy. at Corbetton which was just short of where he had wanted to end today. The wind was only a LITTLE better. We must have passed by over a hundred wind turbines on the way. When we got there, the campground was a little ways off the road but there was Skyview Motel right on the highway. Dave was hot, tired and pushed for the motel so I wasn’t going to refuse a second time. The only negative was that the restaurant next to it was closed somehow for today so we ate a little left over lunch food for supper. I turned Silver over and tried to get her to work better. We called Dave’s sister Mary, our daughter Melissa, and our daughter Emily, who has just returned from fighting forest fires in BC.