Getting off the saddle in North Bay

Hello, friends and family!
Yes, we are alive and on schedule, although there have been some close calls in the last several days when we were out of contact. So now that we have emerged from radio darkness on the far side of the moon, I'll tell you all what has been happening, and I will discuss a rather long streak of bad luck that was out of this world.
I can't believe that we have been out of contact on this thing since Dryden! Do you know how far we've traveled since then? Do you know how much we've changed? That was 8 whole days ago! 875 miles! I don't even remember being the person I was way back in Dryden. Here's how it all played out:

DRYDEN TO ENGLISH RIVER:
I woke up that morning with a fever, which was great, and we left our fantastic hosts' home rather late, having been sucked into the drama unfolding that morning on the roads of the Tour de France, but not so late that we were doomed from the start, and headed east to begin our pursuit of the Quebec border in earnest. The roads were nice enough. At that time, we were just beginning to feel the undulations of the toes of the foothills of the Canadian Shield, a now weathered, ancient mountain range in east/central Canada that may well be the oldest in the world, and the rolling hills and twisting roads were extremely refreshing having recently come out of the long, tiresome plains of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and western Alberta. We had a light headwind, which is never fun, but we just kept chipping away at the distance and tried to stay motivated. One of the things that you learn on a trip like this is that when looking at a map, a name and a dot on the map does not necessarily mean civilization...Especially not in Ontario. When we left Dryden, we unknowingly dove into vast nothingness. It was really tough to find water along the route, which all you bike riders know is rather a bad thing, and it can be a real downer to ride that far and not even have the option of a stop for a snack. We were basically depressed by the end of the trip, and Eric had to shoulder a lot of the work on the ride after my sickness had drained me of strength. It began to rain in the afternoon and we made the decision to camp as soon as we had the option which, according to the map, was a place called English River, which was a closed motel, a closed store/restaurant, and a lot of construction workers hanging out and frying the day's catch of fish. We set up nonetheless and got some sleep after 95 or so miles.
ENGLISH RIVER TO THUNDER BAY:
One of our only signs of life in that area! Thunder Bay is an inexplicably large city of 500,000 people tucked into the northwest corner of Lake Superior, 115 miles southeast of our campsite in English River. We rode 30 miles in the morning to the next little town, where a restaurant was available, and we ate breakfast and brushed our teeth and took stock of what needed to be done. I was still sick, and we were both pretty tired. We were going to have to deal with a crosswind on the southbound portion of the route, and a strong one at that, but we were going to turn east into Thunder Bay with about 15 miles to go, so we were excited about having the tailwind for that. Around the corner where we made that left-hander to the east was a place called Kakabeka Falls, an extremely impressive waterfall, which was quite a sight for tired eyes. We spent a little bit of time there appreciating the falls, then headed into town where we set up for the night with a couch-surfer.
THUNDER BAY TO ROSSPORT:
This is where civilization and hope disappears. Rossport was a long ways off down a road that undulated rather intensely all along the water's edge, and into a very strong heawind. It took all day. Allllll day. Sore butts, people. I was a little bit healthier after having rested well in the Bay, but a full recovery was going to be made impossible by upcoming conditions. Eric did a great job sharing the workload in the wind with my weakened self, and he did so quietly while he was dealing with his increasingly burdened hind-quarters. Tough kid. We camped again in Rossport, and by the evening's end a cold front had moved in. In the middle of the night a storm announced its presence, and the rain started coming down, abusing the things that we hadn't water-proofed. It made for a cold, sad morning. But hey! We were camped right on the shores of the lake and before the storm painted the world grey, it was a beautiful sight! That was good stuff.
ROSSPORT TO WHITE RIVER:
125ish miles! Its fine to do 125 miles in one day. No problem. But after those two previous days, and after the distances we had covered prior to this day, and with the now consistent headwind, it was tough! There was really only one place that we could stop for food along the route as well, a place called Marathon, which was right near the mid-point. We ate breakfast 20km down the road from Rossport at a neighboring town called Schrieber, and then we headed out. The rolling hills were starting to get bigger now. The road between Schrieber and Marathon was all hills and no rest. Stupid 75 pound bikes. The scenery was gorgeous though. Lakes everywhere. Wildlife. Not a soul in sight. It was perfect when we could focus on it. We made it to Marathon, the only place we could stop for food, and ate at the one restaurant by the highway (Marathon is actually 5km off the highway, a distance we weren't willing to add to the schedule). The food was low in quality and quantity, and high in price. Lame. After the pseudo-snack we headed out on a 55 mile push to our destination with nothing in between. It was tough, but it seemed to go faster than I thought it would, which was nice. We were in White River by sunset. It was extremely cold that night, the coldest its been yet, and our camping gear was still wet from Rossport, so camping was not an option, and the two motels in town were both completely full! We went to a burger place to eat and think things over, and the next thing we knew the manager was going for a drive to find a couple he knew with a cabin that they would rent out for the night. The town was so small that he had finished his search in 10 minutes, and they pulled up to the restaurant right behind him. We followed them up the road to their cabin and got set up. There was even a heating vent right in the hallway floor for us to lay the tent on. We got a good night's rest, and we got to dry out all of our stuff. It doesn't get much better. Oh wait, yes it does. White River is the original home of Winnie the Pooh! How you ask? Wasn't A. A. Milne from London, England, you say? Well yes, Mr. Milne and his son Christopher Robin Milne were from London, but before Winnie became the beloved character of so many a children's story, he was a real bear. An enlisted man in the Canadian army had purchased a young black bear in White River and named the bear Winnie, in honor of his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When he shipped off over seas during the war, the bear was given to the London zoo on loan. Five years later, the loan was made permanent, and Winnie the bear became a favorite attraction for many visitors to the zoo, including Milne and his son. There you have it. White River's claim to fame. Needless to say, Eric was freaking out.
WHITE RIVER TO AGAWA BAY:
Another long one, and again with the headwind, only this time the hills were officially the Canadian Shield, so they were getting bigger. The first half of the trip was between White River and a town called Wawa, with virtually nothing in between, and the same can be said for the road between Wawa and Agawa Bay. Up and down we went all the way into Wawa, where we stopped for lunch and picked up so camping food for that night. Once we had stocked up, we shoved off and headed south through Lake Superior Provencial Park, a 50 or so mile stretch that ended with a campground at Agawa Bay. The ride was again very time consuming, and finishing that type of a day is all a matter of patience, and for Eric a matter of lasting longer than his butt. Which he was able to do. We arrived in Agawa in the early evening hours, and our campground was right on the lake again, only this time we had made it all the way around to the eastern shores. The lake was beautifully serene, and the sunset was spectacular. The Lake Superior area has been one of the most breathtaking regions we have been to...It would have been so much better if it didn't have its own weather system, bent on destruction. That night it rained. Only a little bit compared to out night in Rossport, but this time there was a lot of thunder and lightning. That sort of noise makes for interesting attepts at sleeping. It had passed when we woke up though, and we prepared ourselves for the day at hand.
AGAWA BAY TO SAULT STE. MARIE:
The ride out of Lake Superior Provencial Park took us farther south to our next big sign of civilization in the Soo, as it is called around here (Sault is pronounced Soo, so don't act like a tourist and strut around these parts saying, "Salt."). It was another headwind day, and one of the worst ones yet at that, and the hills were still quite intense. All of the obstacles ended up cutting the day short, as we had planned on riding into Thessalon, about 30 miles past the Soo, but ended up stopping in the city and making up the mileage the next day. Getting to the city was pretty great. We ate at a Boston Pizza again, which you can never get enough of, and set up in a Super 8 motel. Good food. Good rest. Good stop.
THE SOO TO ESPANOLA:
We woke up refreshed, and finally with a tailwind! And it couldnt have come a day sooner, as we had a 150 mile day lined up. We got out of town in a timely manner and started knocking off the miles and a very healthy pace. I was finally starting to feel better, and it ended up being a great day with some fantastic scenery. The farther east we went, the more the hills calmed down, and the faster the ride moved forward. When all was said and done it was 8:15 pm, the sun was out, we were done with the 150, and we had averaged 19 mph. Pretty good with heavy bikes and tired legs. Spirits were up again! Eric's butt was hurting, but other than that it was all thumbs up.
ESPANOLA TO NORTH BAY:
120 miles!! That's right....270 miles in two days. And another tailwind, though this time it was a bit of a crosswind as well, so we didnt move quite as fast as the day before. The roads were supremely treacherous. Trucks whipping by. Gravel shoulder. Thermal cracks in the pavement every 10 feet. Oh man, it was a balancing act. Sometimes trucks like to assert themselves and remind lowly bike riders how awesome they are in their gigantic rigs by forcing us off the road or by shooting dangerous gaps between us and oncoming traffic, but we made it through the gauntlet unscathed, albeit a little shaken up. The last 20 miles were wet! The rain started coming down hard as we approached North Bay, and we arrived at our host's house last night looking like cold, drowned rats. She must've been so pleased to see us in such close proximity to her clean house. She was very nice about it though, and we got warm showers and a great dinner before bed, so the day finished itself off very comfortably. Now we have a semi-rest day as we head south for aboot 65 miles to Magnetawan, were we will be staying with some friends before we turn east again tomorrow. Better get started!

We hope that you all are doing well, and we miss you a great deal. Take care!

- Jason

PS (this is Eric's transcription of a conversation we had as we waited at a traffic light, about to turn east, out of the 7-day headwind between Thunder Bay and Sault-Ste. Marie. It's pretty typical of most of our dialogue on this trip:)

Eric: Oh, man, that tailwind is so close, I can taste it. I can taste it!
Jason: I'm not sure you can taste tailwind.
E: No, you can, and it tastes great.
J (sticking out his tongue to test): Oh yeah, I guess you can. Mm. Delicious.
E: I told you so. It's like butter. Butter, baby.
J: I'd say it's more like water.
E: OK, sure, it's like water. Watahhhh. Mmmm.

Jason doesn't say anything.

E: That's the kind of conversation we should put on the blog.
J: What is?
E: That conversation.
J: Which one?
E: The one about tailwind, and how it tastes.
J: Oh. You mean this one?
E: Yeah, I guess we are still having it, eh?