Day 60 Wednesday, July 7, 2010 Distance 99.48 km. Time 5 hr. 53 min. Total so far 4265.48 km. Elevation-sweating sky high Happy birthday today to my brother, Frank! It was foggy this morning in spots so I had my tail light on for most of the time until it dissipated. We took Hwy 219 along the water to make a short cut of sorts. We passed Broad Cove, Dunvegan, St. Rose, Chimney Corner, and Margaree Harbour. Finally after not seeing too much due to the fog, we came back to the highway at the Cabot Trail sign. At a viewing area , we met George on a Bike Friday (they fold in half to fit in a suitcase). George is from Texas and flew into Halifax where he rented a car to drive to Baddeck where he started cycling. We all took photos at the big scarecrow place. Thank you George for your blog comment and also the one from your friend, Jean. We stopped for lunch in Grand Etang where he kept going. I hope he is doing well on all the hills. We mailed a card and took off after a good break and stopped in Cheticamp for groceries. There I met Marie Josee and Lise who are from Quebec and touring here. Marie Josee makes instrumental music and you can look her up at google "marimuz". I apologize as I don't know on the computer how to make an accent sign above a letter. Soon after we entered the Cape Breton National Park and had to stop and pay an entry fee. We had an afternoon of beautiful vistas, great uphills and were dripping with sweat as we climbed Jerome Mountain and French Mountain. At one point, a young strong bear ran across the road right in front of Dave. We thought we could still do more distance when we came to the campground and thought we would try to make it to the next emergency shelter area. But when we got there it wasn't suitable for camping so, although I had had it by then, we proceeded down the curvy, steep downhill of MacKenzie Mountain. Half way down, Dave stopped to cool our rims and uncurl our fingers from the brakes. When I stopped, I could hear a loud hissing sound (Dave is deaf sometimes) and his back tire was going flat. This isn't what we needed halfway down on a 90 degree day where we were overdue to stop!! The change was fairly quick and I was more nervous the rest of the way down thinking about a flat while moving. I remember moving my bum farther behind my seat to keep from feeling like I was falling over. We made it intact and Dave loved it all - the climbing and the descent. When we saw the Black Whale in Pleasant Bay all boarded up, we looked behind it and set up there exhausted but happy.
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