THANK YOU LORD, JESUS and THANK YOU EVERYONE Also Some Souvenirs and Some Statistics

Dave and I are thankful for the safety, care and guidance given to us by our Lord Jesus during every moment of this trip. We appreciated greatly the love and support and help of our children and their families. We are grateful to Boyd, Marnie, Lorraine, Hank and Edna for helping to watch our house. We felt very much at home during our short stays with Tony and Laura in Ohio, Gary, Sue and Nancy and also Darryl and Heidi in Pennsylvania, Jon and Cheryl in Maine, John and Norma in New Brunswick, Jim and Adrienne in Nova Scotia, Darrell and Judy in Newfoundland, Gordon and Diane in Quebec, Jim and Mary Lou and Cecil and Julia in Ontario. We had many followers of the blog, brothers and sisters, relatives, old friends and new acquaintances. The list got longer as the trip went on and we gave out the address of the blog. Thank you to Robert and Ann and Dave and Carolyn for keeping every one at worship meeting up to date. Encouraging comments from Frank in McGregor, Josephine in Ottawa, Bob and Helen, Bob and Vera, Isabelle in Sault Ste. Marie, Bill in Gaylord,, Mary in Flint, Mike and Joan in Newfoundland, Andy and Rika from BC, Clara and Craig from PEI, Michael and Kim from Mississauga, Gerrit and Sylvia from Belleville area, Kitty in Singapore, Betty in the Netherlands, George from Texas, Deborah in Nova Scotia, Denise and John, Peony Jane and Jawihan and many, many more. We took great pleasure in exchanging stories with other cyclists and pray that their trips will go as well as ours did. We will remember Aaron, Denise and Gilbert, Jacynthe and Sylvie, Chris and Debbie, Gunther and Buckard,, Lisanne and Shawn, Brad, Bill, Carmen and Rick, Josianne and Andre, Ian, Chris and Mike, Stacey, Michael, Herve and Ginette, Ania and Kasia, James, Gilbert, Betsy and Mignault just to name a few.

The photos here show some souvenirs we sent back for the grandchildren. Anne of Green Gables t-shirts from PEI. and Southwester rain hats from NFL. and NS.

A few statistics:

Number of days-121
Total km.-8329.32 km.
Longest day on bike- 7 hr. 15 min.
Farthest day-132.45 km.
Number of USA states-7
Number of Canadian provinces-6
Number of photos-over 6000
Number of bicycle stores visited-10
Number of ferry rides-8
Sleeping:
Number of homes-21
Number of motels-27
Number of campgrounds-30
Number of town parks-11
Number of other places with permission-9
Number of stealth spots-21
One night in ferry
=120 nights

We hope everyone enjoyed our blog as much as we enjoyed our trip. If anyone wants to write to us further at any time the address mother_hayman@hotmail.com can be used. Thank you all!!!!

Homecoming Welcome and please stay tuned as there will be one final blog to follow this one

There were balloons on the side door and everything looked fine although the grass and flower beds are overgrown. I went next door to Lorraine’s house, said hello and got the house key. While Dave looked around inside, I went across the street to tell Boyd that we were back in town. He brought the mail in and checked the dehumidifier until his surprise stomach operation. Then his daughter Marnie and Lorraine took over. Afterward, I visited Hank and Edna who live on the other side of our house. They also watch out for any strange activity. We have all been good neighbors for 32 years. Then from the front yard I called each of our children to tell them of our safe arrival. Emily and Matthew who came over periodically to cut the grass and start the vehicles had been over last night. There were balloons all over, a fresh bouquet of flowers with Welcome and Happy Anniversary signs, chocolate covered almonds in a bowl and mixed nuts in another. There was a nice basket of tomatoes from Adam's first attempt at gardening. In the fridge there was a quiche and an apple pie made by Matthew’s Melissa and downstairs in the freezer was a Welcome Home ice cream cake. WOW ! Thanks Emily and Matthew. I had a snack and then a shower and it was strange to be back in our house. I had to think twice about where things were. Matthew and Emily with her dog, Sako, came over later and spent the evening with us. It was a great homecoming.

Day 121-Reaching our house in Sault Ste. Marie

Day 121 Monday, September 6, 2010 Distance 61.53 km. Time 2 hr. 59 min. Total so far 8329.32 km. Dave and I were up when it was still dark. Everyone else at Cecil’s house in Bruce Mines was still sleeping. We went downstairs and checked the weather on the computer because it was raining at the present moment. Dave said the rain should slow down in a couple of hours. Cecil woke up and made me eggs and toast and tea for breakfast. Cynthia got up next from the couch. She had given up her bed for us. Thank you. Cecil took out the cat treat bag and all the animals came eagerly looking for a handout. Julia woke up last and her hip was still sore today. She is an excellent painter and I took photos of some of her paintings. She is also knitting thrumb mitts like we bought for Dave on his birthday in Prince Edward Island. She gets her wool from a local sheep farmer. She has also purchased some beautiful wool blankets. Cecil has also made her some looms to do knitting on. I asked if I could come back for a lesson some time. Finally the rain slowed down and we started to pack the bicycles and said our goodbyes just before 10 am. Thank you Cecil and Julia for putting us up and feeding us and providing wonderful company. Good luck Cynthia with your new job and may you enjoy your return to Sault Ste. Marie. HOORAY! The wind was less today but it was on our BACK so riding was easy. The traffic wasn't bad because it was early in the morning on Labour Day. I’m sure it would increase greatly by afternoon. We passed several horse and buggy signs and when we passed through Desbarats, we saw a Mennonite family pulling up to the intersection where they stopped to water the horses. Our first snack stop was just past the cut off to St. Joseph’s Island. Here the highway divides into two and all the traffic goes one way. SWEET! Everyone moved way over to the other lane for us. It is all farm land along here and big flat areas on either side of Pumpkin Point hill. After the Bar River flats , we turned off the main Hwy onto Hwy. 17 B which used to be the main Hwy. It led us into Echo Bay. At the gas station, we looked up the address of Bob and Helen who we see on Sundays at worship meeting. We surprised them although they have followed the blog faithfully and knew we were approaching this area. We brought our lunch in, admired their wall of family photos and sat down at the table. They provided dessert of blueberries and peaches. Bob and Helen have picked and sold blueberries for many years. They go up to Wawa and he has special equipment that he has made that he uses to scoop up many berries at a time and then they use various blowers to get rid of the leaves and debris and they put them in baskets and sell them. Very professional! Maybe my son-in-law, Andy, should make one for Caroline who LOVES to pick berries of all kinds and make jam. Helen also had a bushel of peaches from Traverse City area that she is going to process into jars. I enjoyed the fruit but was NOT envious of all the work. After we left their house, we stopped at the giant Looney statue at the outskirts of the town for a photo and then crossed the bridge from Lake George to the Echo River and entered the Garden River First Nation where a sign reminds drivers that they better not speed or they will be prosecuted. Many community members have been killed by speeders in the past. This road is so quiet now because most of the traffic takes the bypass. Along here it is more scenic as you get glimpses of the north channel of the St. Mary’s river and you pass by Pine Island. One prominent slogan that has been on the railway bridge that goes over the Garden River says “This is Indian Land.” At that spot, it started to drizzle a little so we sped up. Finally we could see the outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie. We passed the lights where the bypass comes back to the Hwy., crossed the railroad track and took Frontenac Street through the Batchewana First Nation Rankin Reserve up to Manitou Park. A couple of turns brought us to Anna Street and near the end we came to our house. THANK YOU, LORD, for our safe return after 121 days.