Day 117- No HST ! and Silver upside down, Andre gets first prize and Mary Ann takes a fall

Day 117 Thursday, September 2, 2010 Distance 92.57 km. Time 5 hr. 2 min. Total so far 8071.29 km. Before leaving the Buckhorn Motel just outside of South Baymouth, I turned Silver upside down and worked on the cable adjuster for the front gears. I got them going good and turned the bike over and later as I was loading, we noticed that my front tire was not flat but low. It was like that yesterday but after I filled it , it was okay for the day. We decided to do that again today. Then we were off. For the first stretch of Hwy. 6 on Manitoulin Island, you need a seat with 6 inches of foam and 6 inch springs underneath. There are road bumps every few feet. It was awful! We passed by farms, mostly with cattle, and no crops except hay. I took a photo of a bride and groom made from hay bales. Most of the rock was layered rock, sort of like limestone. We had our first break at a cemetery. I decided to put my music on and enjoyed listening to it for the next two hours. It puts a pep into my peddle. We passed Manitouwaning. Our next break was at High Falls Park. There wasn’t much water coming down the falls but it is quite a drop in the same semi circular shape as I have seen at Pictured Rocks in Michigan. There was road construction at different areas today. They are putting white gravel on both sides of the road and in a couple of spots they have dug up the road to work on drainage. At one spot, Dave stopped all of a sudden and called out the name “Leonard.” Apparently Leonard went to White Pines C & VS when it first opened in the 70’s and was on the first basketball teams with Dave as the coach. He lives in the Sault now but is working here as the head supervisor of the construction. We stopped for some photos at the Jesuit Mission to Manitoulin lookout. At the Shaquiandah First Nation, there was a sign showing their displeasure with the HST. I stopped at the Strawberry Channel lookout for 3 pictures. Dave missed it zooming down a hill. After 3 hr. and 15 min., we arrived at Little Current and stopped at the Valu mart for groceries. We went on to the information center to eat and inquire about camp grounds or motels between here and Espanola. But they didn’t know of any except a lodge that costs $300 a night. We had 2 choices-go back a little and get a motel here or go on and hope to find something. The sky was darkening and the weather prediction was for rain. We decided to go on for another hour and a half. I told Dave the minute it started to drizzle we would stop anywhere and put up the tent. The wind was on our back a bit but we had several hills as we were going into the Lacloche Mountains. We had to go past 16 km. of Whitefish First Nation land because they have NO TRESPASSING and WE WILL PROSECUTE signs all over every nice little spot. We weren’t going to chance getting caught. Along the road we met Andre who came over to talk. He gets first prize from me for being the most accomplished tourer so far. He is 73 and has been touring since his marriage breakup in the early 90’s. He has cycled in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. This is his 16th year and he has logged over 60,000 km. This year he is doing a little circle tour and will soon finish in Ottawa. He is riding a Bertrand bike (with disc brakes and front shock) made for him in Hull, Quebec. Now there’s a partner that would keep Dave moving. He gave us his card which has a picture of the world map and says Have Bike Will Travel Anywhere and Everywhere . Shortly after, we came to Whitefish Falls which is out of the reserve. We went to the town park where I took a nasty fall off Silver. I had my left foot out and was ready to park at the end of a picnic table but my front pannier hit the table and moved the bike to the right and I fell to the right with it. I guess I kept my hands on the handlebar so my right knee and hip took the whole brunt of the fall and on gravel as well. I was still clipped in with the right foot which was stuck under the bike so I moaned until Dave could park his bicycle and come over and lift mine so I could unclip and get up. OUCH!! I had a nasty cut on my knee which started bleeding. This was all in vain too because camping wasn’t allowed here and Dave hadn’t seen the sign. We went back to a place called River Lodge owned by Steve and Jackie. They have only had it for a few months and have a lot of work yet to do to establish this trailer park and campground. We were the only customers today and set up way back in the field while 2 deer approached feeding on the grass and a porcupine lumbered slowly across in the distance. It never did rain during the evening so I was able to turn Silver over and change the tube that had been leaking. I really couldn’t find out where though. We had supper and it was dark when I finished writing the journal.