Hey guys!

Jason here, eager to fill you in on our time in Canada since Winnipeg!

As Eric mentioned, we had a couple of great hosts in the city, which was really kind of a shove into a series of motivation boosts that I will walk you through, one by one, and over a great deal of time, so that you can test your endurance too. Actually, I'm tired, so it will be short and sweet.

Here we go:

We left the apartment in Winnipeg and rode straight into some serious car-dodging situations as only the big cities can deliver. We stopped first, unscathed, at a bike shop where I pumped up my rear tire (I've been plagued with flats on this trip...in fact, I think that until the last couple of days I had only spent two or three days on a fully inflated rear tire, as our flat repair pump is inadequate when it is required to fill a tire to such a high pressure, which makes for some slightly more difficult riding). After the quick fill, we headed off in search of a restaurant to provide us with the proper riding fuel, and find one we did! I don't immediately recall the name of the place, but two sisters seemed to be running the show, and they were kind enough to offer us our food free of charge, which we accepted with glad hearts. We each had a very high-quality breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, french toast, sausage and bacon, and coffee...Oh and of course, the best chocolate milk I've had on this trip...Perhaps ever. The food was amazing. We're talking glorious hashbrowns, and legitimate maple syrup all over that golden french toast...Good heavens, I'd better stop there before I head back to Winnipeg. They even offered us sandwiches for the road, which worked well with the fact that we would likely eat again soon, so we thanked them as much as we could and headed out into an 87 mile day into Falcon Lake (I know that 87 miles isnt that intense, but hey, we were ready for a little rest), and so began a three-day stint of low intensity enjoyment....Straight into a headwind on the great plains.
Oh what heartbreak! Luckily the road only maintained such an unforgiving angle for about 25 miles before it headed in a more northeasterly direction towards our destination, which gave us a wonderful cross/tailwind. We made great time the rest of the way, not to mention the sense of accomplishment we felt when we passed the sign for the longitudinal mid-point of Canada. The plains transitioned into lake country as we opened our stride a bit in the closing miles, happily pedaling the slight downhills of the Trans-Canada just before Falcon Lake. We arrived in town and followed our day's end ritual of jokes over chocolate milk before heading on to our host's home, a beautiful cabin-style house secluded from the somewhat touristy hubub of downtown. We ate some spaghetti for dinner, put on the movie "Closer," which was way more emotionally intense than anything that we were ready for, planned our route through Ontario, and went to bed. What a day, and what a night.
The night faded into today, as nights do, and there was work to be done. We ate some breakfast, recieved a very generous donation from our host, and took our sweet time getting ready for one of the shortest days of the trip, a fantastically relaxing and, as it turned out, beautiful 37 miles into Kenora...Effectively a rest day. We crossed the border into Ontario and truly appreciated the wonderful change of scenery....A delightful vacation from the horrifying monotony of the prairies. Oh, how we take a tree or two for granted.
We are now safely in Kenora, posted up at the Super 8, and now that I have seen today's stage of the Tour de France, I am ready for bed.

But before I go, we have a few fun things to discuss:

Adaptations to a life riding through prairies all day:
- Beer bets. That is to say, a list of "fouls" one might commit on a cross-country journey, and each one requires the offender to do penance in the form of buying one beer for his friend. Examples: First one to cry(we broke even, crying at the same time), first to get a flat (Jason might as well buy Eric a 12-pack), first to crash, first to smooch a Canadian (Jason gave Eric 3-1 odds), a long list of Tour de France bets, first to vomit, etc.
- Trading 5 mile pulls in the wind, giving the day structure, and providing us with interim goals.
- Counting Ground Squirrel carcasses (like counting sheep...There are as many as you can possibly imagine)
- Getting flat tires and accepting the fact that you will be riding on 50 psi for a long time.
- Stopping and eating PB and J's.
- Singing all of Michael Jackson's hits...Over and over, the way they were meant to be heard.
- Water
- A delightful in-tent camping game where, provided that you are bored enough, you open the flap for a count of 5 seconds, close the flap, and go to war with all the mosquitoes that made it inside.

The top conversation points on this trip, in order of frequency:
- "This wind sucks."
- "My butt hurts." - Eric
- "PB and J break?" - Whoever gets to it first.
- "Matthew Kanagy is awesome."
- "I don't care if he's crazy, Michael Jackson is incredible."
- "I understand your claim that the modern religious climate in America renders its populace susceptible to philosophical fallacy, but I maintain global economic trends indicate that..."
- "I hope we don't have to pay for this..."

Animal sightings:
- More black bears! A dead fox! People!

Number one goal of this trip:
BUILD THAT SCHOOL. Everyone get involved!

A brief message to the good people at Bob's Bicycle Shop:
Hey guys! I recieved your hello from my mother, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to say hello back! Rod, thanks for the call, its nice to get the support. Brad, I think its safe to say that we opened it up a couple of times out here. Brett, your ears are pierced. Everyone else, eat a lot of Moe's for me...Lauren is mercifully exempt. - J


I hope everyone is doing great, and we will be back for more soon! Night!

- Jason