Life aboard is pretty relaxing – with a routine of swim, eat, chat, nap, and repeat at least twice per day. To shake things up a bit, we took the skiff out for an ice cream at Murphy’s Point Provincial Park on Sunday afternoon ($2 for a giant scoop), and went for a row around the harbour on Monday morning.

Thank-you John and Claire – it was delightful to visit you on your floating cottage. What a wonderful way to spend a weekend

Our morning view.

Scott reading the paper.

Claire out for a row.

When I decided to do this – and have some fun with it – I found myself slowing down and really appreciating the beauty in the ride. We are so vary lucky to have great urban bike routes that include to much nature. It is a rather lovely ride. Hope you enjoy the tour!

The first three photos are from the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, between the Champlain (Island Park) bridge and Alymer.

And here is a picture of the same rapids, from the Ottawa side of the bike path.

An now my photos get a little more creative. Starting with a bridge across the Pinecrest creek.

When I started to look for photo opportunities, I realized just how big the trees were on this part of the path.

The initial view of the Ottawa River (I live about 5 km from the River).

Rather than biking, some people enjoy the swimming at Westboro beach.

Each year, the NCC hires an artist who builds these statues in the river. The water is really high this year, so there aren’t as many as in years previous. I actually stopped and talked to the artist one year, and posted about it here.

A brief stop on Bate Island on the over the Champlain bridge to Quebec.

And Bate Island as seen from the bike path on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River just east of the Champlain bridge.

The parliament buildings from what I think is one of the prettiest stretches of the Ottawa River pathway (Quebec side).

And the National Art Gallery.

The paths follows along behind the museum of Civilization, providing another great photo opportunity.

Crossing back on the Alexandria bridge into Ottawa provides a great view of the Rideau Canal locks.

And a fun close-up shot of one of the locks with a bit of the Chateau Laurier in the mirror background.

A close-up the Rideau Canal above the locks.

Some folks choose to explore the Rideau Canal by kayak.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time and needed to get home. So I conclude this journey with a photo of the sunset from Britannia beach.

What do you think? Will you take up the challenge and show the world pictures of your regular bike ride? I, for one, would love to see it.

It has been three years since then. We made it around the world, and successfully returned home. We returned rich with experiences and a new outlook on life. In the almost two years since we’ve been home, I worked full time for 8-months and now I’m a full time Ph.D student. Scott took a year off to explore and is now working for Alcatel-Lucent.

Looking back – and looking forward – the biggest thing I learned on the trip was a strong belief in fate. I don’t mean fate in the “I’m not going to do anything and see what happens” sense, I mean fate in the “looking for opportunities and taking advantage of them as they present themselves” sense.

So now, I think about putting it out my desires to the universe and if the support structures appear, then I know I’m making the right decision – if I’m blocked at every corner, then I need to re-evaluate. But looking back, fate always took care of me, and it still is.

With any luck, you’ll see updates of our summer cycling adventures.

We are just happy to be back!

This year we decided to try out yurt camping – Becky booked us an overnight in the Taylor Lake Yurt up in Gatineau Park. Getting there required a 6 km ski involving a few rolling hills.  Not much distance, but we were carrying extra food, clothing and overnight gear, which added to the challenge.

Having never stayed in a yurt, we didn’t really know what to expect. When we arrived, what we discovered was luxury camping, although perhaps we shouldn’t really call it camping. Our yurt had a wood stove for heating – with a nice glass window so we could see how the coals were burning in the middle of the night, a propane stovetop for cooking, pots and pans, bunk beds, a fridge, and a picnic table. To top it off, there was a sky light in the centre of the ceiling, so we could see the stars at night and the trees above us during the day.

We enjoyed the ski up to the yurt, and upon arrival, quickly dropped off our heavy gear and went out for a bit more of a ski in the remaining few minutes of daylight.  By the time we got back to the yurt, we were happy to have our headlamps!

It took us much longer than we had hoped to get the fire going. At first, it just wouldn’t seem to stay lit. We were shivering and wondering what we were doing wrong. Fortunately, they had some directions on the wood storage box which explained that we should be using pencil sized kindling.  Our previous kindling was too big and we didn’t have enough of it. Scott went back outside to chop some smaller kindling, and with smaller kindling in hand, it only took Becky one additional match to get the firing going.  Clearly our Scout/Guide skills are a bit rusty!

While the yurt was warming up, our stomachs started growling so we enjoyed some baguette and brie while our dinner was cooking. It took about 90 minutes for the yurt to get warm – longer than Becky expected. We often go for a ski up to the cabins in Gatineau park, but there always seems to have been someone there before us to start the fire and warm the cabin – we have never entered a cold cabin!

Unfortunately, the struggle with the fire meant that Becky spent much of the night nervous about the fire going out. She was glad for the glass on the wood stove that allowed her to see how the fire was burning each time she awoke in the night. She got up several times to throw a log on the fire, ensuring that it didn’t go out in the night. The beds were quite comfortable, and Scott slept solidly all night.

In the morning, we took advantage of the sunny skies, and went for a short ski without our overnight gear. Unfortunately, Becky seem to be having some issues. She fell early on, then again whilst descending a hill. Eventually, she gave Scott her light backpack. She was not feeling quite right, so we headed back to the yurt. Once inside, Becky took off her ski boots to discover she had a US Quarter under her insole. No wonder her balance was off! It must have fallen from the shelf in the front hall and rested nicely under her heel for the ski up – once it got dislodged it moved to below her toes. Then it totally threw off her balance – at least that is the excuse she is using!

We stayed in the yurt right up to the last minute. A half hour before checkout time, the safety patrol arrived by snowmobile to ensure everyone was OK. It was quite funny to watch as the driver took off his helmet and exchanged it for a Santa hat. He came in to check that we were OK, then proceeded on his rounds. We suspect they do a survey of all cabins and yurts before the cleaning crew arrive. If we were unable to get out on our own, the patrol could have given us a ride on their snowmobile (or the sled they were towing).

It was a spectacular day for a ski home – sunny, blue skies and fast snow.  A wonderful early Christmas present!

When we popped our heads out of the tent at 6:30 am, everyone around us was gone. The field of tents from last night was almost empty – only the last few slowpokes rushed about trying to get their gear loaded up before the trucks left.

For our lazy morning, we headed downtown to Burger King for breakfast before starting our ride. The Burger King was located in the lower part of downtown, which had been completely flooded when the levee broke earlier in the week. It was amazing how much of the cleanup they managed to do. We were sad to learn that the city had done a bunch of landscaping just for RAGBRAI, but it was all washed away in the floods.

When we finally got on the road, it was obvious that we were at the tail on the pack today. A lot of riders got up early and made a quick dash for the finish line. The passthrough towns were not nearly as busy and most of the “regular” vendors skipped the day.

The ride today was hillier than the previous day, but we enjoyed the change in terrain as well as the beautiful weather. We had been warned about Potter’s Hill – that is was a mile long and a 6 percent grade – which to us didn’t sound all that bad. We’d see when we got there.

Before Potter’s Hill was the necessary detour to see the Field of Dreams – from the movie. It was really neat to see the field. Many cyclists where waiting to have a swing of the bat and run around the bases. We did as many other cyclists were doing, and use the opportunity of corn fields for a pee break - unfortunately, the center field cornfields had a particular odour of too many cyclists and not enough rain!

The Field of Dreams.

Becky hiding in the corn fields at the edge of the Field of Dreams.

Rather than retrace our steps back to the main road, Scott suggested a detour – a slightly shorter route that involved a dirt road. We failed to realize the route also involved several rather steep hills! It was nice to get away from the crowds for a brief moment, even if the route was not exactly easier than the main road.  Becky spared no opportunity to remind Scott that he had dragged her up and down these “extra” hills.

A “short” detour on the way out of the Field of Dreams – we eventually reconnected with the main route – after  a few additional steep hills!

As we approached the infamous Potter’s Hill, it didn’t seem that bad. The first 1/2 mile was only about a 5% grade. However, as we approached a corner, the hill got really steep. A sign said 19% but we figure it was more like 17%. Scott put many people riding light racing bikes to shame when he rode up the entire hill fully loaded. The majority of cyclists walked up. Becky alternated pushing her bike and riding. At one point a nice gentleman came up beside Becky and helped her push for about 50 meters. The assistance was greatly appreciated.

The beginning of Potter’s Hill – doesn’t seem so bad yet!

People pushes their bikes up the hill.

Becky riding out in front of a group walking up Potter’s Hill!

We thought we were done with hills after Potter’s Hill, but coming in to Dubuque it seemed like a never ending procession of ups and downs. At one point a police officer stopped Becky just as she was screaming down a hill (ugg) to allow oncoming traffic to pass by. The unfortunate part was that she had to start the next steep hill with no momentum at all – not so much fun with a loaded bike.

We did finally make it to the dip site – it certainly felt like we were one of the last riders on the road. The site was rather sandy making it a challenge for us to get our bikes down and then back out again. Fortunately, there were many people around to lend a hand.

Yay, we made it!.

Dipping our tires in the Mississippi river in Dubuque. Can you see the exhaustion on our faces? We did it!

Becky getting some help with her bike from a passer-by. Getting the loaded bikes out of the sand and back onto the pathway was a challenge!

Yay! We did it!

A busy pass-through town.

Road kill – RAGBRAI cyclists commemorate any roadkill they find along the route – we never saw a dead animal without some form of memorial.

A typical picture of Eastern Iowa – note the hills!

Statistics

• Manchester to Dubuque (PDF route map).
• Reported as 47.5 miles (76 km).
• We rode 88 km.
• Ride time: 6 h.
• Total Scott: 802 km, Total Becky: 752 km.
• Costs: $30 food (not including dinner back in Galena)

The day started out really well – We were riding fast and enjoying the company of many different cyclists as they passed us by (or we passed them). We are starting to recognize the faces of people who are moving at about the same speed as us – so we pass them and an hour later they pass us and the process repeats itself throughout the day. The calls of “Oh Canada” continue to amuse us – especially when the folks get the tune wrong and sing it to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree”.

Happy Becky early in the day – note the American flags lining the streets in town.

A pink tractor (painted in honour of one of the breast cancer charities) in one of the pass-through towns.  Tractors anchor each end of a long steel cable, and people hang their bike handlebars over the cable.  The world’s largest bike rack!

All was going well until about noon, when Becky started to overheat. The heat compounded by not enough sleep meant she was feeling rather yucky and in need of cooling down. We stopped in a farmer’s yard to enjoy some shade, home-made lemonade, and visit with some kids. After a brief break, she felt better, but once we got back on the bikes and started moving again, the yuckiness came back. As we pulled into Stout, Becky decided to take the SAG. With any luck, she would get into town early enough to get the tent setup and make dinner plans, while Scott continued with the ride.

Crowds of people and bikes in a pass-through town – this actually isn’t that busy.

Becky’s SAG journey started off well, as she was able to enjoy the air conditioning in the SAG van. The SAG continues along the route until it fills up. Once it is full, the driver re-routes to the highway and heads straight to the end town. Unfortunately, the SAG was moving slowly at that time. The driver had to stop and enquire about a VW Van that was for sale, and then he had to stop again for lunch. Since it was later in the day, there were not too many people getting on the SAG, such that we never did fill up. After a couple of hours the air conditioning became too much, and Becky was feeling chilled.  Becky noticed Scott’s bike as we passed through Hudson (more than 2.5 hours after she got on the SAG). It took more than 3 hours to get into Waterloo, and Becky got to the campsite only 10 minutes before Scott!

Meanwhile, Scott was having a lovely time riding the remaining 50 km.  Shortly after Stout, the route turned east, and the wind turned into a tailwind, and he got to visit with some other recumbent riders.  One had the clever idea to attach a retractable badge clip to the top of her seat, and use that to hold her Camelback hose.  Pull forward to drink, release and it retracts out of the way.  We’ll have to try that.

Team “spam” all had cans of spam on their helmets.

The National Guard uses RAGBRAI as a recruiting event – they have have fancy displays in the pass-through towns and provide cold water and Gatorade.

In Hudson, they had a great pirate theme happening, with rides, costumed locals and a pirate ship.  With a large beer garden and live music, many people were having a great time and staying a while.  Scott figured he couldn’t stay too long, since Becky would have arrived and be wondering where he was.  Untrue as it turned out, but probably a good thing.  We didn’t do any training which involved riding 140 km and stopping for beer in the middle, so he wouldn’t have been prepared.  Instead he found the other music venue, with a great jazz band in a shady park.  Very relaxing, but after a short break he pressed on.

The evenings campsite was on a college campus (designated the quiet campground, but we were able to hear the music from the mainstage  quite well given that it was 3 miles away!). We decided to head to the cafeteria for dinner. Just as we arrived, they ran out of lasagna, but luckily they replaced it with spaghetti. This made Becky very happy, since Spaghetti is a much better dinner for her (less cheese). The cafeteria was also scheduled to open early for the morning breakfast rush (at 5 am). Our charter is doing very well at finding good camping locations.

A bicycle built for six! (they have two kids in the trailer). Note the crutches in the back. The mother had stitches in her heel so she couldn’t walk, but she could still ride. It was neat watching the “train” get started!

Scott in a recumbent paceline!

The biking Elvis’

Becky’s bike loaded up on the SAG trailer.

Tent-city at the college in Waterloo.

A creative way to hang laundry.

Our campground in Waterloo.

Statistics

• Charles City to Waterloo (PDF route map).
• Reported as 82.2 miles (132 km).
• Scott rode 136 km to campsite, Becky rode 86 km.
• Total Scott: 603 km, Total Becky: 553 km.
• Costs: $34 food, $5 batteries (because Scott forgot the charger for the rechargeables in Galena)

We awoke at 2 am to the crash of thunder and flash of lightning, followed immediately by a deluge of rain. We had been warned about the storm and had secured our tent with extra guy wires, so checked for leaks and tried to go back to sleep.  This was difficult, since we had been warned by another rider that in 5 of the last 6 RAGBRAI’s they have  evacuated to the storm shelters due to severe weather – hail and tornadoes are not uncommon at this time of year.  (We’re not sure of the 5 of 6 statistic – that could have been a ‘scare the newbies’ exaggeration). Every night of RAGBRAI, storm shelters are designated for each camping area. In the event of a severe storm, the police and fire trucks come around with sirens and flashing lights to evacuate everyone.  Fortunately, the storm was not severe enough for us to evacuate, although it might have been nice to spend part of the night inside the designated shelter –  a Serta Mattress factory.

In the morning, we could see that many of the campers did not have good tents, as they dragged themselves out of soaked beds.  We were happy to be warm and dry.

Although our tent and gear didn’t get wet, we still had some wet laundry that didn’t get enough time to dry out yesterday. We packed it up and brought it with us, with the hopes of finding a laundromat in one of the pass-through towns so we could dry things out.  We asked in Swaledale and Rockwell to no avail. We were warned that there was “nothing” in Cartersville.

At one point, we noticed up ahead a guy riding a Penny-farthing! We rode along and said hello, and chatted with Blaise, the Bygone Bicyclist, about touring. He is hoping to do the tour from Alaska to Terra del Fuego on a Penny-farthing.

As we rode on, Becky’s shifter was acting up again – that is, it required superhero strength to turn the shifter. We decided to stop in the next town to grease it in hopes that it would start shifting better.

As we turned the corner towards Cartersville, we came upon a huge traffic jam. Cartersville may not exist as a town any more, but the local farmers put on a great party, and everyone was slowing down and pulling off.  The chosen location was a large farm, with an artificial lake and a swinging trapeze. A long line of cyclists were doing flips off the trapeze, and landing in the cool water, to the cheers of onlookers.  Behind one of the barns was a “slip-and-slide”, where teams of cyclists where clearly enjoying themselves. There was definitely a carnival atmosphere in Cartersville.

Scott worked on Becky’s bike, and discovered that water had gotten into both the shifter and external gear ‘mech – perhaps due to the driving rain last night.  He disassembled the shifter and ‘mech, cleaned everything and re-greased it, while  Becky took advantage of a bike stand and hung our wet laundry to dry. Our quick break in Cartersville turned into a 2.5 hour mid-day rest as we enjoyed the spectacle around us. Given the short distance today, we really enjoyed a relaxed pace for the day – if only all days could be this much fun!

By 2 pm, we were packed up and continued on our way.  We heard later that the party got rowdier after we left, and a bunch of cyclists started skinny-dipping in the lake.  This didn’t go over well, and eventually the police arrived, shut the party down and send the cyclists on their way.  When we hear these stories, we always wonder how much to believe though … (Here is the official report).

When we arrived in town, we headed directly to the Hy-Vee grocery store (and air conditioning). Becky was getting pretty warm, so we took 45-minutes walking through the store and sampling the various things they had on offer. We decided to pick up some pre-cooked ham steaks to make sandwiches for dinner and provide protein for breakfast. We were also glad to have brought along a small thermos, so we could buy milk for the morning. While at the grocery store, we ran into some folks from our Charter, who provided directions to our campsite – this turn out to be a good thing, as tonight’s  campsite was well away from the main campground.

We pulled into the campsite to discover it was right next to the swimming pool! The pool even had a waterslide, big enough to have a couple of corners. Since it was still early, we enjoyed a swim and a couple of tries at the slide before showering and relaxing for the evening. It was really nice to have a quiet evening at camp and to be in early enough that our laundry and swimsuits dried before bed.

Today was a turning point for Becky – she really enjoyed the day, and only wished that more days where like this one. The shorter distance meant there was more time for fun.

RAGBRAI TIP – If you are at all picky about food, consider bringing a camp stove. Getting food at the grocery store and eating at camp would save time and ensure you were eating right.

RAGBRAI TIP – Even without a camp stove, the grocery stores in the overnight towns provide a good option for a quick healthy dinner.

Pass-through town rolling out the beige carpet just for us!

One of the “Leisure Suit Larrys” – there were several, all in tacky coloured suits and riding vintage bikes. The shorter ride day meant that a lot more teams were out in costume today.

Long line for Farm Boys Breakfast Burritos!

The SAG stopping at Cartersville to pick up a few tired (or hungover) cyclists.

The Cartersville crowds.

Scott fixing Becky’s shifter.

Team slip-n-slide.

Statistics

• Clear Lake to Charles City (PDF route map).
• Reported as 51.8 miles (83 km).
• We rode 92 km to campsite.
• Route ride time 5h min.
• Total: 467 km.
• Costs: $48 food

As we approached Clear Lake, we were both very warm. Scott suggested jumping off the route and following along the lakeshore (thank you GPS maps), so we took a detour. Less than 500 meters off the route we found a park with beach access to the Lake! Quickly, we removed helmets, shoes, and electronics and jumped in the lake to cool off.  Relief!  We were hot enough that the chill of the lake was a comfort, and Becky dove right in – almost unheard-of!  The cool-off gave Becky that boost she needed to make the final journey into town and our campsite (which turned out to be an additional 15 km away).

Our campsite was in the middle of an industrial park, several kilometers from downtown.  After setting up our tent and showering, we decided to head downtown for food.  Becky really didn’t want to get back on the bikes again – plus the bikes were being used as a laundry drying rack, so at first, we decided to hitch a ride. After 10 minutes of unsuccessfully sticking out our thumbs, we gave up and headed to the shuttle bus stop. The shuttle came by pretty quickly, and we were soon dropped off at the edge of downtown. Note: most towns provided shuttle service for a donation. All our experiences with shuttles were good – but we did not stay out too late. Those who were out later in the evening often ran into lines at the shuttle stops.

We didn’t do so well on the dinner front. We got to town too late for a church dinner, and there didn’t seem to be many other local options.  We found out later that there was only one church dinner and it ran out of food at 5 pm. Fortunately, the church was still open (and had Internet and A/C), so we hung around there for a few minutes before venturing out for food. We waited in line for 45 minutes to get a fajita dinner from one of the vendors, but it was worth it.  Filling, and quite a bit better than the ‘walking tacos’ we had yesterday.  Has anyone heard of a Walking Taco?  We hadn’t.  For the uninitiated, it is a (small) bag of Dorito chips, opened and filled with ground beef, grated cheese, lettuce and salsa.  Neither haute cuisine nor healthy, but it did fill the void in our stomachs.  The fajita dinner still wasn’t up to Texas standards, but was much better than a Walking Taco. In hindsight, we would have done better to go to the grocery store and picked up dinner there.

The Clear Lake RAGBRAI committee had set up a fenced area downtown to watch the entertainment. It was free to access if you had a wristband, and $5 for those without. We discovered that the beer was cheaper at the V.F.W. (Canadian Legion equivalent) outside the fenced area, so there wasn’t much benefit to being inside other than a clear view of the overly loud band on stage.  Perhaps we’re getting a bit old…

Scott discovered that his arms got rather sunburned today. We stopped by the first aid truck to see if they had any recommendations. They sprayed on some Solarcaine, which didn’t really do much, and they recommended Tylenol and gave him a few packets. We were surprised that the first aid folks were able to give out drug samples (they had Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve).

Laundry is proving to be a challenge for us. We usually wash out our cycling shorts and a few other clothes items every day. With the long riding days, we aren’t getting in early enough to have them dry before night sets in, and the overnight dews mean that things get wetter overnight. We are left with hanging our shorts and other laundry off the back of our bikes to dry. This is challenging since we are riding without panniers. We receive as many comments about the laundry hanging off on our bikes as our Canadian flags.

For Becky, today was definitely a low point in the RAGBRAI experience. She is struggling with finding food that agrees with her body, and the basic camp chores such as laundry are taking too much time and energy.

RAGBRAI TIP: Bring clothes pegs and a line for hanging laundry or 7 complete sets of cycling clothes.

RAGBRAI TIP: Bring a mesh bag for your tent. It is almost always wet in the morning when it needs to be packed up. If you store it in a mesh bag, it might be dry by the time you pick it up at the end of the day.  So far, this has worked well for us.

Can you find Becky in the sea of bikes?

There were a disproportionate number of ‘bents on RAGBRAI, but what was especially neat to see what the number of girls on ‘bents.

Soy bean fields and windmills – typical Iowa scenery.

Entering town at the end of the day usually involved going under an arch and today we even got a cheering section.

Statistics

• Algona  to Clear Lake (PDF route map).
• Reported as 59.9 miles (96 km).
• We rode 109 km to campsite.
• Route ride time 6h 15 min.
• Total: 375 km.
• Costs: $48 food

On our route today, we passed through Pocahontas, Iowa –  affectionately known as “Poky” to the locals. There we found a church that had opened up it’s basement restrooms and kitchen, so cyclists could use the facilities and fill their water bottles. We took advantage of the cool space to do some yoga before continuing with the ride.  We’re finding it’s the random acts of kindness which are making the trip special for us – people offering free water, church basements and random passers-by cheering on the stream of cyclists.

Becky got a new nickname today: “Rumble Girl”! In Iowa, there are rumble strips across the entire lane as your approach a stop sign (usually 3 sets of them). The riders generally go around the rumble strips and yell “RUMBLES”, so that the following riders know they are there. Becky on the other hand, rides over the rumble strips while yelling “RUMBL-L-L-L-L” with a fun vibrato caused by the bumps. This usually causes everyone around to smile and laugh. After the second or third time, a couple of kids on the back of tandems started to call Becky “Rumble Girl” whenever she passed them.

Later in the day we passed through West Bend, Iowa – the home of the Grotto of the Redemption. From a distance, the Grotto reminded us of Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. On closer  inspection, they look nothing alike – the semi-precious stones decorating the Grotto creates busy textures reminiscent of Gaudi’s designs – perhaps his inspiration was a Grotto in Europe somewhere?

We tried a different food strategy today – that is, we tried to avoid waiting in long lines so we could spend more time biking – but it didn’t work out as well as we had hoped. We had a decent breakfast at the local coffee shop before leaving town (a breakfast burrito, but not nearly as good as Farm Boys though the shop had  great coffee). We stopped for some food in one of the later towns, but it turned out to be pretty awful fast food (processed turkey on processed white bread and a “walking taco” – a small bag of crushed Doritos with ground beef,processed lettuce, cheese, and sour cream on top – yuck!).

When we arrived in the overnight town, we decided to head directly to a church dinner, rather than the campsite.  Since we had a charter, we knew that there would not be any issues with finding a place to camp. Arriving into town late meant that church dinners would run out of food soon.  In addition to a good meal, the church dinners often  provide an air conditioned place to sit and relax and no lines for the flush toilets – definitely something that you want after a long hot day on the bike.

At the end of the day, Becky tried out one of the shower trailers since it was setup close to our campsite. Amusingly, the line for the women’s was much shorter than the line for the men’s – quite the contrast to any lines for  flush toilets!  Fortunately the kybos are unisex – there are many more men on RAGBRAI than women. The $5 shower was luxurious – pressurized hot water! It felt great to get clean after the long day’s ride.

Another day another traffic jam – riders walk their bikes as they enter a pass-through town.

Banana bike.

A farmer setup a corner “corn boil” stall. For $1 per cob, it was the best and cheapest corn we had the entire trip.

As we entered this pass-through town, they welcomed us with decorated hay bales.

Walking through another pass-through town. There were a disproportionate number of ‘bents on the ride.

Bikes strewn everywhere outside of the Grotto of Redemption in West Bend.

The grotto was decorated everywhere with semi-precious stones.

Tonnes of cyclists taking a break to check out the Grotto of Redemption.

A necessary self-portrait. We are looking a little warm!

Statistics

• Storm Lake to Algona (PDF route map).
• Reported as 79 miles (127 km).
• We rode 142 km to campsite.
• Route ride time 7h min.
• Total: 266 km.
• Costs: $60 food, $5 hot shower

Once we left the campsite area, the police had placed cones to keep riders to one lane on the road. This very quickly became futile as the number of riders expanded to fill both outbound lanes. At first we were nervous about oncoming traffic and riding in the left lane, but soon we discovered that riders take over both lanes for most of the day.

We moved along quite well for 20 km or so, then crested as small hill and a sea of humanity and bikes appeared.  Shouts of “slowing!”, “slowing!”, “stopping!” filled the air.   We slowed to a stop, and walked our bikes forward for a few hundred metres before discovering the cause.  It was The Farm Boys – purveyors of quality breakfast burritos, and very popular.  We were ready for a real breakfast, so we  decided to join the line up to see what all the fuss was about. We had been warned about long food lines, and this was to be our first experience with them, waiting over an hour for our breakfast burritos (fortunately, the coffee didn’t require waiting so Becky enjoyed her second cup of the day while in line). The burritos were definitely worth the wait – fresh shells loaded with real scrambled eggs, hash browns, ham, bacon, cheese, and salsa – yum. Becky can also attest that they had excellent coffee too.

Our first traffic jam of the day – at the Farm Boys kiosk.

We soon discovered that bicycle congestion is common, but riders handle it well, with good communication.  Mostly it happens in the pass-through towns as riders stop to buy food, use a kybo, listen to the music or just rest for a bit.

Pulling into Kingsley – the first real pass-through town. Note the mass of riders on the road ahead.

Our second food stop of the day was for lunch at Pastafaria – where they had great pasta accompanied by great reggae music. This too was a RAGBRAI tradition, and the lines were long. We waited for about an hour for lunch, but the pasta was precisely what we needed.  Yum!

As we approached Storm Lake, we found our charter in a park along the lake on the outskirts of town. After yesterday’s experience, we were happy to have found the charter so easily. We quickly found a spot in the shade for our tent and jumped into the lake to cool down. Unfortunately, Storm Lake was really warm – so warm that it didn’t do much to cool us down. It did however remove the first layer of road grime and sweat.

We ran into Nancy at the campsite and was glad to see that her wristband had been found. We asked her about the showers, and she explained how they worked with the charter – we need only find a solar bag that was not in use and fill it. The longer it is left in the sun the warmer the water will be. The water directly from the truck was pretty cold, which on a hot day was nice but a bit of shock to the system. We quickly found shower bags and enjoyed a nice cool shower.

Next on our agenda was food. Unfortunately, there was nothing near the campsite. One of the other cyclists mentioned that he had a nice lasagna dinner at a local church, just up the road. Since there was a risk of them running out of food, we needed to get there quickly, so we hopped back on our bikes in search of food. It turned out that both that church and the school dinner had run out of food – it was almost 7 pm. We did find a loaded-baked potato dinner at the local historical society. Apparently, they didn’t get much traffic early on, so they reduced the price to $5 per person. Since they had food, we were happy to enjoy the baked potato with all the fixin’s (ham, bacon, beans, salsa, sour cream, fake butter, broccoli, and cheese). Dinner included a banana split dessert – but they ran out of bananas just as we got there (we managed to share the last 1/2 banana).

As we crawled into the tent at night, fireflies started to dance out of the grass. It looked like small sparks launching out of the ground. Becky has never seen fireflies behave like that – we usually see them fly around bushes. It was really cool to see them jumping up around all the tents!

RAGBRAI TIP – Cornfields make great outhouses with no lines and great privacy – bring a trowel!

The morning traffic, taking over both outbound lanes.

Bikes filling the roads – and this isn’t event a busy time!

There were several fellow Canadians proudly displaying the maple leaf – we didn’t actually meet these guys.

Can you pick out Becky in the crowd as we approach a pass-through town?

Bike parked/abandoned along the side of the road as their owners waited in line for food.

Bike littered everywhere as riders take a break.

A creative recumbent rider – he rode the entire week as a shark! The number one question asked of him: “Aren’t you hot in there?”

Throughout the ride, there were posters proclaim the various benefits of hog farming in Iowa.

There were also lots of clever roadside signs to keep us amused as we rode.

Ever wonder what happens when a windmill blade gets hit by lightening?

Note the Canada flag flying with Becky’s sign. Throughout the week, we were greeted with “hello Canada” and “Oh Canada”.

Team tutu were wearing tutus all week – not always wearing them where you would expect them too.

Statistics

• Sioux City to Storm Lake (PDF route map).
• Reported as 68.5 miles (110 km).
• We rode 115 km to campsite, and an additional 9 km to and from dinner.
• Route ride time 6h 38 min.
• Route to day total: 124 km.

We arrive at the Dubuque Bowling and Beyond to a flurry of bus traffic – buses are still arriving, and others are moving about to find the right location. Some buses have nice clear signs, but others are not so well labelled. We find bus 3, 4, and 5 with Pork Bellies charter, but aren’t immediately able to find bus 1 – the bus we were assigned to take. As Becky sits in a corner with all our bags, Scott walks around all the buses in search of bus 1 – eventually a Pork Bellies staffer comes and puts a ‘bus 1′ sign on one of the unlabelled buses and we quickly load up. Our bus appears to be the least nice of the Pork Bellies buses – and definitely not the fancy coach that they promised us. As we enter the bus, we are immediately hit by the smell of old smoke – yuck.

We find ourselves a seat and immediately start talking to the people around us. We are inspired and encouraged by the friendliness of other RAGBRAI riders – the friendliness of riders turns out to be one of the best reasons to participate in RAGBRAI.

The bus stops at 10 am for the designated “lunch stop” at a truck stop just off the Interstate. This seems a bit early, but we are happy for the opportunity to get out and stretch our legs. The lack of decent food at the stop makes us glad that we picked up lunch at the grocery store yesterday – no need to eat processed “instant” fast food.

We pull into Sioux City and the bus driver takes us to the Pork Bellies camp site. Unfortunately, this is not where we need to go. It is not where the RAGBRAI campsite is, or many of the other charters. It is also not where our bikes are expected nor where we were told we would be dropped off. Scott goes of in search of someone from Pork Bellies while most of us remain on the bus – refusing to unload at what we think is the wrong location. Eventually, Scott returns to inform us that we are indeed in the wrong place and someone from Pork Bellies will inform the driver of where we are supposed to be – but before we can leave, we have to wait for bus 6 to arrive because we are carrying some luggage from bus 6. We definitely felt like second class citizens on the Pork Bellies charter.

The bus takes us to the very busy dip site parking lot and drops us off. We have no news of when or where the truck with our bikes will appear. We only hope that Pork Bellies has told the bus driver and the truck driver the SAME location! People that are staying with RAGBRAI (that is, not on a charter) are setting up their tents in a nearby field – people who are in larger groups are sending some people off to their camping locations while others wait for the bikes. The kind folks in Sioux City have arranged golf carts towing trailers to ferry people and gear from the parking lot to the various camp site locations. After sitting in the sun for half an hour, Scott recognizes the transport carrying our bikes. It drive past us so Scott chases after it while Becky sits guarding over our gear. Unfortunately, the truck doesn’t stop and Scott chases after it for 3 km before it gets back on the highway for a second loop. Scott is stuck walking back to the dip site – after spending 30 minutes chasing after the truck – with no hat and no sunscreen. By the time he gets back to the dip site, the truck has returned, and has almost finished unloading bikes.  He is very hot and grumpy. Becky has been waiting for over half an hour and has no clue where Scott has gotten too – she too is grumpy and concerned that the truck will leave without us getting our bikes, as she is stuck watching our huge pile of gear and can’t go get bikes. Fortunately, Scott is able to find the bikes and a family takes pity on him. One of the kids helps him push Becky’s bike over to where she is sitting. So far, things aren’t going quite as smoothly as we hoped.

We are carrying almost as much gear for RAGBRAI as we did for our trip around the world.  With the prospect of bad weather and the lack of opportunities to dry laundry RAGBRAI veterans recommend carrying enough clothing for the entire week.  Another little difference from self-supported touring, where we travelled for 16 months with two pairs of bike shorts, and two other pairs of pants!

We stop a baggage cart and ask if they know where Ron Oman Charters is located.  These are folks that we have chartered with for the week – they will be carrying our luggage from city to city and claiming campsite space for us. When we first arrived at the Pork Bellies site, Becky borrowed a phone and asks where Ron was located. The person told her “in the main campground” (so not the Pork Bellies campground) and “upriver of the Casino”. At the time she thought the description was adequate, but now we discover that the entire campground (some 5000 + tents over 4+ km of riverfront) is upriver of the Casino! We load up our bikes and ride the strip of campsites from end-to-end. First a cursory glance looking for Ron’s logo, then a more detailed search, asking each group we find. Finally, a third sweep and still we are not able to find Ron Oman Charters. With each lap we stop by the Info Desk to ask if they know. They say we are not the only ones asking and that if we do find them, to please let the info desk people know! After the third pass, we give up.

We go to the dip site for the ceremonial dip of our rear tires in the Missouri river – bikes fully loaded!

Dipping our loaded bikes into the Missouri River. Can you see the frustration in our smiles?

With 5 pm approaching – (3 hours after arriving on Sioux City) – we need to head up to the Bike Expo to pick up our registration packets – the folks at the Register decided that they did not want to risk our packages not arriving in Canada, so they didn’t mail them. Instead we were to pick them up. The ride up to the Expo (about 4 km away from the campsite) involves wading through many cyclists and pedestrians – this turned out to be only a small taste of what was to come. We walk our bikes through packed crowds to find a quiet spot in the shade against the building. There we rest our bikes and Becky goes into the conference centre in search of our registration packets. Becky is greeted with a long, almost unmoving line. Anyone wishing to change their registration is also in the same line. Anyone looking for parking passes and day passes are able to go to a different line and be served almost immediately. After half an hour, the line moves enough that Becky can see in the room. There are 4 people providing crowd control and only one person serving the people who need registration changes – it appears that only one person can operate the computer. Becky tries very hard not to grit her teeth in frustration. All she needs to do is pick up a packet. Someone behind the desk says “Can I help anyone?”, the person behind Becky says “I need a parking pass”, and the gentleman behind the desk calls him out of the line and serves him. When he says “Can I help anyone?” again, Becky blurts out “I just need to pick up a packet”. He motions her forward, and digs out the registration package. With a quick flash of her ID, Becky now has the package in hand, with our essential wristbands and bike bands.
In the interim, Scott has found the telephone number for our Charter again. The person we speak to is back in Omaha, but tells us to look for the giant American Flag upriver of the bridge. This is more like it!

The next order of business is dinner – we haven’t found our charter yet but we are both hungry. Becky asks the information desk about where to find food and is told there is a church serving a spaghetti dinner up the street two blocks (literally up – Sioux City isn’t flat!). We make our way with our loaded bikes to the church and are happy to discover they still have food. Not long after we arrive, they run out of food – so we got there just on time. We savour the air-conditioned sit-down dinner after being out in the hot sun. A church gymnasium never felt so nice! Dinner is so good that we don’t have room left for the wonderful baked goods served for dessert – luckily we have a container in our bags… a snack for tomorrow. We also take advantage of the church washrooms to rinse the sweat from our faces – perhaps our last flush toilets for a while. We feel much better and at 7 pm, we head out again in search of Ron Oman Charters.

We find the giant American Flag, and it’s right beside the information desk. Unfortunately, no-one near it knows anything about Ron Oman! We go back to the information desk – which now has a note on the board with a brief description of where to go – pretty much around the corner from the information booth. We follow the directions but are still unable to find our Charter. We ask around, and the super friendly folks from Bubbas suggest that we join them. If we had not already paid Ron, we certainly would have joined Bubba then and there! We kept asking people around the Kybos until we found someone that knew where Ron Oman Charters was. Someone kindly leads us to the marked off area in the middle of a stand of trees – a lovely site, but certainly not obvious. No big surprise that we couldn’t find it.

It is 8 pm and getting dark, so we swallow our frustration and set up our tent. We share some of our story with our neighbours and someone lets us know that we should be looking for the pink flag, which we could now see flying from the rented gear truck. Unfortunately, even if we had known to look for a pink flag, they had just set it up about an hour before. We discover that several other people suffered the same fate, wasting hours in search. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come…

Now that we have found everything, we decide to put all the frustrations behind us and get back into a good mindset to enjoy RAGBRAI. We visit with a few people camped around us and discover that the folks in the tent beside us are also from Ottawa – Ottawa, Kansas that is! We were soon to discover just how many other Ottawa’s there are (Kansas, Illinois, and even Iowa!). We also meet Nancy who is very friendly and helpful, even though she is missing the registration packages and wristbands for her group. Ron is frantically searching for them, which may explain some of the other disorganization.

Sioux City did do a great job of providing water and Kybos (porta potties). There were enough Kybos around that you didn’t need to wait in line if you were willing to walk a bit. There were many water stands set up throughout the campsite, providing safe drinking water. Most were an assembly of hoses plastic pipes and faucets. They worked great for toothbrushing, water bottle filling and rudimentary showers.

We were in bed before 9:30 pm, tired after a long day, and trying to get rested up for an early morning.

We slept well for several hours, then at midnight, Sioux City welcomed RAGBRAI with fireworks, launched from the river beside us. We are sure many people enjoyed them, but not us, and probably not many of the other riders. We aren’t exactly sure what the planners were thinking! Many riders awake before the crack of dawn (around 5:15 am) to pack up their tents and get on the road. We talked to several others who were quite annoyed with their disrupted sleep.

RAGBRAI TIP 1 – If you’re a RAGBRAI newbie, choose someone other than Ron Oman Charters. Many long-time RAGBRAIers are very happy with him, but we recommend choosing a charter who does a better job communicating their location and their services.

RAGBRAI TIP 2 – Bring good earplugs. Becky’s earplugs did not block out tent zippers and fireworks. (Bring Eyeshades too, ours were invaluable)

RAGBRAI TIP 3 – Bring copies of every piece of paperwork and email you receive, and everything you might think useful from the RAGBRAI site. You never know what bit of information you’ll need in the chaos of 10,000+ cyclists and their entourages.

RAGBRAI TIP 4 – Don’t rely on AT&T for cellphone service in Iowa.  From Canada (Rogers/Fido) our U.S. roaming partner is AT&T, but AT&T service outside the big cities in Iowa is minimal.

In March, we filled in the application and waited with bated breath for the results of the lottery – 8,000 spots are available for week-long riders. The remaining spots are saved for “day” riders – those riding 1 to 3 days,  rather than the entire 7 days. The route varies each year. This year the route is in Northern Iowa and is one of the flattest and shortest routes. It is dubbed the third easiest RAGBRAI route – we’ll see about that!

Planning the drive from Ottawa, we discovered that Paula and Dave, whom we met on our first freighter cruise, were exactly half way between Ottawa and Dubuque, Iowa.  Dubuque is the final city on this year’s RAGBRAI. We had to stop by for a visit! When we contacted them, they were delighted that we wanted to stop by.  They also told us that Dave’s brother Ed and sister-in-law Karin live in Galena Illinois, only 15 miles from Dubuque. Perfect!  Karin and Ed graciously offered us to a place to stay and park our car for the week we were riding. We are so lucky to have met such great people on our journeys.

On Wednesday, July 21, we had a great visit with Paul, Owen, and Irene. Unfortunately, Dave was away on business, but we hope to see him on our return. We enjoyed a great walk through the park in Ypsilanti, Michagan and played a couple games of dominoes (Becky won at least one game). We also enjoyed some of Ypsilanti’s finest brews, although we were a day early for the Michigan Brewer’s Guild Festival. (Who knew Ypsilanti was a centre of microbrewery excellence? If you love small-batch beer, we recommend a visit to the area)

On Thursday, July 22, after the long drive to Galena, we were delighted to meet Ed and Karin. They have “retired” from the full-time jobs in Chicago, and are now working and farming in Galena. Between raising bees for honey and tending a large organic garden for market produce, we’re not sure they’re any less busy, and that’s not counting other part-time jobs. They sure seem to be having fun though!

We visited the farm to see the garden and bees, and also got a tour of the Prairie fields that Ed is restoring. They are members of the Prairie Enthusiasts, and have spent the last few years carefully seeding, weeding and burning their fields, working to restore the original prairie ecosystem.

Karin’s vegetable garden in Galena Illinois, carefully protected from deer.

Karin in the back of the pickup on our way to see Ed’s prairie.

Scott standing out in one of Ed’s prairie fields. Amazingly, it is all planted and weeded by hand!

Thursday night brought a thunder and lightening storm that lasted more than 3 hours and dropped more than 5 inches (125 mm) of rain on Galena and Dubuque. Things were looking rather soggy when we drove into Dubuque to drop off our bikes. With more rain in the forecast for Friday night, we happily accepted Karin’s offer of a ride into town in the morning. This meant we did not need to camp out in Dubuque on Friday night. Friday night, an additional three inches (75 mm) of rain fell, causing major flooding in Galena and parts of western Iowa. We were very happy to have stayed indoors!

Flooded Galena Main Street. Note the submerged minivan and closed flood gates. Saturday, July 24th.

Foggy but not-so-flooded Galena Main Street a week later. Sunday, Aug 1st.

Note: If you are subscribed to our email feed, you will be receiving these posts one to two weeks after the event. We did not bring a computer with us on RAGBRAI, so the blog posts are being written from the comfort of home as we recover from our adventure!

This is a picture of Sylvie and Ben a.k.a. Frogs on ‘Bents. They have been on the road since April 2008. We originally connected with them via email, and kept in touch occasionally during our ride, so we were very excited when they told us they were coming to Canada this summer, and riding through Ottawa! That was, until we checked the dates… they would arrive in Ottawa just after we left for RAGBRAI 38. Very sad. Fortunately, we did manage to meet up with them at lunch near Brighton, Ontario, as we drove toward Iowa and they pedaled east. Hearing their stories, now we want to go to Patagonia!

We only wish we could have spent a few days riding with them. We would have been quite a sight too – four fully loaded HP Velo Streetmachines!

For our first S24O, we decided to go south to Manotick and the Rideau Canal, about 65 km each way. Preparation took longer than it should because all our all our gear was spread about the basement and the kitchen. Becky took advantage of having a kitchen and did all the prep work for dinner and breakfast – what a change from expedition cycling!

We finally managed to get our gear all packed up and were ready to go by 2:30 pm. We looked into the sky to see some pretty scary clouds and questioned our sanity. It was all very reminiscent of our first day touring, leaving late in the afternoon with thunderclouds in the sky. Fortunately, the clouds seem to be moving out of our away. Each time we approached one, it moved before we got too close, making for a beautiful ride on traffic free back roads.

On our route out we followed a bike route from the Eastern Ontario Recreation Map. We highly recommend this map for anyone riding from Kingston or Cornwall to Ottawa as it shows many different rural routes where you can enjoy the countryside with very little traffic. We didn’t use the map for the route home, and we regretted it.  The recommended route was much quieter and more relaxing.

Following along the canal, we took advantage of a policy that allows those arriving on bicycles to camp at the lock stations for minimal cost. We stopped and enjoyed dinner at the Burritt’s Rapids lock station, then continued on to Lower Nicholsons where we camped for the night, all for the princely sum of $4.90 per person.

We arrived an hour and a half before sunset, but as the sun was sinking the mosquitoes came out. Anyone working at the locks might not realize just how bad the mosquitoes can be, as the lock staff had all left before they came out to feast.  We quickly set up the tent and crawled in.  Once it got dark, the fireflies provided us with a show, lighting up in the field and trees in front of our tent. It was so nice to be camping out under the stars again!

Morning came early, as Scott had to be home by 1 pm for a meeting. Becky crawled out of the tent shortly after 6 a.m. and immediately became breakfast for the mosquitoes. The remnants of  mosquito coil we had bought in Malaysia, which did us well all last summer, seemed to have lost it’s potency. The mosquitoes were not all affected by it. Fortunately, Becky packed some DEET, so we were able to eat breakfast without getting too annoyed. By the time we packed up, all the mosquitoes had gone away – melted in the morning sun.

Our trip home turned out to be a physical challenge. Normally, 65 km would not have been a problem; however, that day Mother Nature decided to give us a 20km/hr headwind. We pushed ourselves and barely made it home in time. In the end Scott got to his meeting a little late, since a shower and a big lunch were necessary first.

Overall, it was a great trip and we’ll definitely do it again!

Becky has an aunt with MS, and we both know people with the disease, so this is a cause close to our hearts. In addition to funding research, the MS Society of Canada provides support and services to help those living with this disease, their families and caregivers.

In order to participate, we both must raise a minimum of $250. We would greatly appreciate it if you could help with a donation.  Any amount helps. You can donate online by clicking our fundraising links below. An electronic tax receipt for your donation will be sent to you by e-mail.

• Donate to Scott’s ride
• Donate to Becky’s ride

If you are not comfortable donating online, get in touch with us, and we can arrange a donation by cash or cheque.

Most of my ride home involves side streets and bike paths, but there is a little stretch where I need to ride on a busy street. The more recently developed part of the street has a bike lane, but once you cross over to the older part you lose both the bike lane and the paved shoulder. Fortunately, I only need to ride about 300 meters on that stretch before I turn left onto a  side road.

So, I watch my mirror closely, waiting for a gap in the traffic both oncoming and from behind. I see my opportunity, as a car passes me, the next car has just made a right turn onto the street (about 250 meters back). I signal my left turn, then quickly pop into the left portion of the lane ready to make my left turn. I’m only in the lane for about 20 meters. There is no oncoming traffic, so I won’t be in the lane very long. I hear behind me screeching wheels and the car honks his horn. He never really got that close to me, and there was plenty of room on the right for him to pass me if he was approaching too quickly, but the whole thing rattle me (actually it didn’t rattle me, and I’m concerned that I should have been scared rather than angry). I’m guessing that he turned right and accelerated without seeing me, such that when he did see me he had to slow down quickly.

Either way, I realized that it doesn’t really matter if I was right. If he didn’t see me until the last minute and wasn’t able to slow down in time, I would have been in a very bad state. I can do everything correctly, but the driver will always “win” if an accident does occur.  Grumpy as that may make me feel, I will definitely be more careful making that left turn in the future.

April Fools or not, it is 27 degrees out and sunny. I think its time for bike ride!

Last Sunday was a huge accomplishment for me – I skate skied up to Pink Lake in Gatineau park, a 6 km trip one way with 100-meters elevation gain.

When I reached the top of the hill huffing and puffing, I was rewarded with an amazing view. This picture is my proof that I did it!

An hour on a small boat in not too calm seas brings us to the centuries old fishing villiage of Battle Harbour, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We walk around for hours not seeing another person, and it is difficult to imagine that this was once the unofficial capital of Labrador. Battle Harbour was an active fishing village from the 1770s until the east coast fisheries closed in 1992.

Getting to Battle Harbour requires a long ferry ride and several days riding on remote roads, so we feel like we are on the far edge of the earth.  Once we arrive, we feel cut off from the outside world, with no phones or Internet.  It almost feels like we have stepped back in time, since many of the buildings are restored to the way they would have been in the 1700s, 1800s, or 1900s.

We first heard about Battle Harbour from the friendly folks at the Labrador Visitor Centre in L’Anse-au-Claire. We were sold on a trip to Battle Harbour when they told us that unlike the rest of Labrador in July and August there are no vicious Labrador flies – a tiny black fly that takes a chunk out if you when it bites making it impossible to be outdoors without protection. After several days of riding in clouds of flies we were ready for a break!

Amenities at Battle Harbour range from the dorm style bunkhouse heated with a wood stove to cottages and homes.  Some buildings have electricity, but others are more historically accurate, with oil lamps and wood stoves, and all are furnished in the traditional Newfoundland and Labrador style.  You can self-cater or join the staff for wonderful home-cooked meals and post-dinner entertainment in the Dining Hall.  We took advantage of dinner and enjoyed roast turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, salad with partridgeberries and bakeapple cheesecake for dessert.  Partridgeberries and Bakeapple berries grow wild all over Newfoundland and Labrador, and are still a common component of the diet here.

The staff provide a history-filled tour of the town every day.  Our guide was Cyril, who grew up and lived in Battle Harbour for much of his life.  Hearing from him about the changes brought by joining Canada, by the Snowmobile, and the collapse of the Cod fishery was fascinating – huge changes in less than half a century.  We were fascinated by the huge salt-house, which stored 1.4 million pounds of salt for preservation.  For centuries, until the advent of freeze-drying, drying and salting fish was the main method of preservation.  We reflected often on just how lucky we are to have been born when and where we are.  We spent hours exploring the old buildings and hiking around the islands many trails.  We have included a few photos of some of the stark vistas of the surrounding landscape.

We were very happy to spend two nights at Battle Harbour, and could probably have spent longer soaking in the isolation there.

For more information, check out the Battle Harbour Website .

Location of Battle Harbour

Friedel and Andrew of  Travelling Two tagged us to share our 3 best travel secrets, as part of a Tripbase project to bring some great tips together from across the net.  The other two locations are coming soon…

On weekends, we ski out to one of the many cabins for a nice dinner by the wood stove. Our favourite cabin looks out onto the Ottawa valley from above. Often we will sit at the window at night and trace out the river by following the winding darkness between the lights of the farmsteads.  The flickering orange light of the fire shines through the glass door of the wood stove, and we sit and watch the dancing shadows as we warm our toes and our dinner.

Skiing in the moonlit quiet is a magical experience, but daytime skiing is wonderful too – and it permits photographs.

Scott climbing a hill in Gatineau Park on a bright sunny day.

Canadians have a new Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) this year.  Every Canadian resident over 18 gets $5000 contribution room each year, and any income earned is tax free (just like an RRSP). Unlike an RRSP, withdrawals are tax free too.

Now the important part. If you don’t open an account, you don’t get the $5000 contribution room. You don’t have to put money in the account right away, but you need to open it before Dec 31, 2009.

Go open one today!  And tell your friends!

1. Take a look at a comparison chart of different TFSA accounts.
2. Choose a company
3. Open an account
4. Deposit your $1, or $25 or whatever
5. Put more money in when you have it. It’s a good place to keep your Emergency Fund if you keep one.
6. Watch your money grow tax-free

Note that tax-free doesn’t necessarily mean fee-free.  Bank fees can eat up any gains you might get.  If you’re just opening the account to get the contribution room, and not putting much money in to begin with, I’d recommend the ING Direct TFSA Savings Account. Simple, no fee, and no minimum contribution.

Once you have more money in your TFSA and want better returns, you can take the money out of your first account, and move it to a TFSA Investment Account, where you can buy mutual funds, stocks and other things which can make a higher return.

The Government of Canada has details on How the Tax-Free Savings Account Works, and there is lots of other detail on the web.

Happy saving!

My latest flashback is of a hot place. We ride over a bridge into a town, passing some kind of museum (or world heritage site). We choose not to stop and visit since we feel pressure to ride before it gets too hot.  The museum or site is somehow related to death or war, which adds to my lack of desire to see it.  Scott comments that he feels some obligation towards visiting, but we press on anyway. It is late morning and we pass a market that has been set up in a parking lot. We pull over and park against the steps of a corner store at the back of the market. I’m hot so my priority is to find myself a cold drink. Ice is hard to find – this tells me we were relatively new to the country and had not yet figured out how to safely buy ice. I buy a Coke in a glass bottle – another sign: glass bottles mean we must have been in Thailand, and a coke means I couldn’t identify a sports drink in the cooler. It tastes awful (as Coke always does to me), but the coolness is refreshing. We walk through the market and buy some fruit and vegetables – garlic, onions, oranges. We may purchase something else, but I don’t remember it. My flashbacks are clearly not 100% total recall.

I asked Scott about this one, and he has no recollection of it. I’ve search through all our pictures and journal entries of Thailand and Malaysia and I still have no clue where or when this flashback took place.  I think I may be stuck with it for a while!

Our local Lebonese halal grocery store has some nice big (about 1 inch long and 1/2 inch wide) fava beans. With some experimentation and Web research, I’ve manage to reproduce something similar to one of our favourite types of fuul. I tested it out on Scott’s extended family this weekend, and it met rave reviews.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients

• Large fava beans (one can or about 2 cups dried) *
• 4 tbsp olive oil (separated)
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• salt
• sprinkle of cumin powder
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 tbsp of tahini (sesame paste)**

* If you cannot find fava beans, you can substitute white kidney beans or another large bean. It won’t taste the same, but it will still be good

Directions

1. If using dried fava beans, soak them overnight with 1/2 tsp on baking soda. Cook until tender – this is best done with a pressure cooker, as boiling tends to make them mushy.
2. Peel the brown shell off the fava beans. This is required for both canned and dried beans.
3. Heat the fava beans. I use the microwave, but you could also bring them to a quick boil.
4. Sprinkle salt over the fava beans. This is necessary when using dried beans. Canned beans are sometimes salted.
5. In a deep frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil.
6. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds.
7. Add the fava beans and stir – fry for 1 minute.
8. Add the onions and stir – fry for 1 minute (you don’t want to cook the onions too much, they should be crunchy).
9. Remove from heat and add the tomatoes – stir.
10. Divide into serving bowls (makes 3-4 servings).
11. Sprinkle with cumin.
12. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
13. Sprinkle with the remaining olive oil.
14. Drizzle with tahini.**

** Optional.  If you can find it, Lebanese tahini (which is a thick liquid rather than a paste) tastes better than Greek tahini.

When: Sunday, 13 December 2009 at 12:30 pm
Where: NOW Room, First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, 30 Cleary Ave, Ottawa Ontario

Everyone welcome.

If you want to learn a little more about Unitarian Universalism or the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, feel free to join us at our Sunday morning worship service, which starts at 10:30 am every Sunday.

Question: “What is your favourite place?”

To chose from all the countries we visited, the countries we liked the most were Turkey and Thailand. Turkey was culturally rich and the people were wonderfully friendly. Thailand was also culturally rich and it was an easy place to be a traveller, making it an easy place to be when your are travel-fatigued.

Our favourite cities (not for biking) were Damascus and Rome, although we also felt that we could easily spend 2-3 weeks in Istanbul without seeing all there is to see there. Damascus is such an old city that it still feels like you are stepping back into history when you walk the streets. The Syrian people are friendly and if they see you with a camera will often pose and ask you to take a picture. Rome is a place that Becky feared because she had heard a lot of bad things about gypsies and getting robbed. We never felt unsafe wondering the streets of Rome at all hours of the day and night. There are so many neat fountains and churches, you could spend weeks there and not see the same church or same two ceiling frescoes.

Question: “Did you ever get sick?”

Yes, we each had various bouts of stomach sickness throughout the trip. This is expected when you are eating strange food all the time. We received some advice and antibiotics from our travel doctor at home before we left, that got us through most of our stomach woes.

Becky did get rather sick in Syria and Jordan. All the coal used in households for heating and cooking in Turkey and Syria caused her asthma to act up. She ended up with bronchitus in Syria and a lung infection in Jordan. In our experience, Syria has much superior health care to Jordan. In either case, if you are sick in either country and need to see a doctor, go visit a Christian or Islamic hospital – do not visit the state miliary hospital and avoid Egyptian doctors!

Question: “Now that you are back, what will you miss most about being on the road?”

This question was asked when we first arrived home, and we couldn’t answer it. Now that we have been back for a month, we have a better sense of what we are missing.

Becky is missing living outdoors. There is something about breathing fresh air all the time. It is much more difficult to wake up in the morning indoors. It makes her want to crawl back into bed. Becky remembers having a hard time sleeping in Turkey unless the windows were open. Our hosts thought we were odd to open the windows when the weather was cold, but Becky was so accustomed to the fresh air that she couldn’t sleep without the fresh breeze. Some nights, she finds she has the same problem at home.

Scott is missing the time spent contemplating on the bikes. We spent endless hours riding and there was never any pressure to contemplate any specific thing other than perhap where we were going to sleep that night or where we were going to get our next meal.

Question: “Have you gotten back on the bikes, or are you totally sick of them?”

We do not yet have a car, so often the bikes provided us with the most effecient means of transportation. That being said, winter seems to be approaching us earilier this year than in years past. We hope to have a car before snow on the ground makes cycling unsafe.

Unfortunately, we have not found the time and necessary weather such that we can enjoy a long ride on our recumbents; although Becky has been out to a meeting in Kanata (about 36 km round trip), and we have done a few rides downtown and back (about 60 km).

Question: “How far do you travel in a day?”

This changed throughout the different legs of our trip. When we look back at our distances for the beginning of the trip, we can’t believe how short our days were!

• Going around Lake Ontario average 76 km / ride day (16 ride days).
• Eastern Canada average 68.6 km / ride day (45 ride days).
• Europe and Middle East average 50 km / ride day (19 ride days).
• Southeast Asia average 64 km / ride day (46 ride days).
• Western Canada average 92.9 km / ride day (70 ride days).

Question: “What was the furthest you rode in a day?”

Our longest day by distance was 152 km from Prince Rupert to Terrace in British Columbia. Our longest day for riding time was 8 hours: the day we rode into Stonecliffe Ontario in the Ottawa Valley.

We rode over 100 km on 37 days (195 ride days total); the majority of which were ridden in Western Canada.

——

It is very strange to be back in Ottawa, both familiar and very different. From what I’ve heard from others, this is to be expected – whenever one spends time in another environment, coming back to the familiar may not seem that familiar after all.

My biggest stressor so far has been all the stuff we have. After living on a bicycle with only what we could carry, a full house of accumulated stuff seems excessive, but I struggle to get rid of any of it. The big things that are solely my responsibility are the contents of my office (lots of papers, computers and electronic equipment) and the workshop (lots of tools; from a table saw and floor-standing drill press down to many clamps and screwdrivers). Before we left, Becky did a lot of work to de-clutter her personal stuff, both clothing and office, and has done well weeding out the kitchen since our return. I have not done so well.

Our sporting equipment is another big chunk that needs weeding through. Between equipment for sports we rarely play (e.g. hockey equipment) and multiple versions of the same piece of equipment, that’s another big chunk of space and stuff. I’ve been reading Zen Habits and Unclutterer as inspiration for simplifying my life, but have not yet reached any epiphanies.

One thing which did stick with me was the idea of clutter as procrastination. Any time I put down something not in its correct place, I’m procrastinating dealing with it correctly, and it becomes clutter, which results in later stress and effort. As I sit in my office and look around, I can see piles of stuff like that. This sort of procrastination-induced clutter is really a tax on my future self, since the piles cause me stress, and they will need to be dealt with again.

{insert brief pause while I quickly move stuff out of my direct line of sight, either into an inbox for later processing, or away if it is an easy and obvious thing to do}

…Ahhh… If not perfect, at least the clutter on my desk now has a proper home.

As I go through this exercise of de-cluttering and organizing, I need to remind myself why I’m doing it. As we travelled, I realized that I was not content with my former life in high-tech and telecommunications. It was interesting work, and often technically challenging, but it never fed my need to make a difference in the world. Helping big companies solve technical problems, and allowing the people of the world to be more connected (if only in a small way) is a good thing, but I look at the inequities of the world, and humankind’s focus on the near term and immediate self-gratification, and think that there must be some more meaningful contribution I can make.

I started to think about this as we were riding, but found that the day-to-day effort of riding, finding food, and finding shelter in strange places (and foreign languages) prevented much deep reflection. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs at work!

I also need to bounce ideas off of people in order to refine them, and didn’t want to inflict all of that on Becky. I thought that the simplicity of life on the ships might help, but there we were recovering (and getting caught up on photos or blog posts) or getting ready for the next phase. As well, there was always something new and shiny to look at on the ship, whether up on the bridge, in the engine room, or walking around the deck.

Now that I’m back in Ottawa, I’ve decided not to look for work, and instead focus on this search for a different path. Even without looking for work, I find the activities of daily living taking over, and it’s easy to lose sight of my goals.

Speaking of goals, that’s another thing I’m struggling with. I’ve never been successful at elucidating my goals. When I was asked for 5 and 10-year goals back in high school, I had no good answers, and I have nothing better to offer now. I have always let the river of life push me where it will, and taken the easy (or at obvious) path. Now I’m twenty years past high-school, and looking to change that, but have 20+ years of inertia helping to keep me in my current life.

As I’m de-cluttering my computers and electronic stuff, I find the detritus of various other attempts to organize my life and direct my energy, whether it’s various attempts at GTD, different tools for information capture (each with a bit of information captured from a short period, until I stopped using the tool) or lists of books, websites and blog posts about organization and self improvement. If I can locate the data, it might be interesting to look at how long each tool lasted, and the periodicity. I suspect that each tool was used in a focused way for no more than a month, and I changed tools or approaches every 6-8 months. It’s too easy for me to get caught up in the “productivity porn” of a new system, a new device, or what have you, rather than actually figuring out what I want to do and accomplishing it.

What am I going to do do differently this time?

• simplify my life by not taking on too many projects immediately (whether that be looking for a job, volunteering, or starting new hobbies)
• journal daily, and aim to publish something at least once a week on some aspect of my quest
• acknowledge that I do have things I want to do differently in my life, and challenge myself to actually figure out what those are
• focus on my physical health, with daily exercise and an effort to become strong, flexible and healthy
• make music (and improve my musical skills) a priority, to help develop balance in my mental development

What do I want to do that I am not yet doing?

• be ruthless in weeding through the “stuff” of my life, and willing to let some of it go
• work on my mental fitness through hard focus training, mindfulness, and meditation
• figure out a way I can actually decide what I want to do (or what the world is calling me to do) so I can find goals which resonate with me

I’m looking at this time as a time of seeking, a time of training, and a time to look at the overall balance of my self. I’m seeking what the world is calling me to do, and training both body and mind. My body to be strong and healthy, and my mind and will to be focused and dedicated. This feels pretentious as I write it, but it also feels true.

I’m sure there are resources to help with all of this, and as I find them I plan to document how useful they are to me.

I had to modify the recipe from our cooking class to account for ingredients available in Canada, as following the exact recipe in our cookbook made a very salty and spice dish!

For those that want to try it, the recipe follows.

Ingredients

• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
• 2 shallots
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon thai red curry
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 to 1 lb of chicken cut into thin chunks (can also use pork or beef)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (about 1/2 a lime)
• 1 lb Chinese egg noodles – fresh are best, but any egg noodle will do
• 1 zucchini or Chinese eggplant (can substitute other vegetables – beans, bamboo shoots)

• chopped green onion
• chopped fresh coriander / cilantro

Procedure

1. Slice shallots, chop garlic, chop ginger, and set aside.
2. Mix the Thai red curry with turmeric and set aside.
3. Chop vegatables and set aside.
4. Chop chicken and set aside.
5. Heat oil pot – it is best to use a heavy skillet or dutch oven.
6. Add a portion of the curry to the oil and stir until fragrant. The more you add now, the spicier the curry will be. Add a minimum of 1/2 a teaspoon.
7. Add the shallots, garlic, and ginger – stir until shallots are cooked.
8. Add the chicken, and brown (about 1 minute). If the pot is too dry, add a tablespoon or two of water.
9. Add 1/2 the coconut milk, 1/2 cup of water, and simmer until the chicken is cooked (about 5 minutes).
10. Add the vegetables and simmer for 2 minutes.
11. Add remaining curry and stir until it is well mixed.
12. Add sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, and remaining coconut milk – heat until just before boiling.
13. Taste – if not salty enough, add more fish sauce. You may also wish to add more sugar.
14. Set aside – turn off the heat if the pot will keep it warm; otherwise, turn to low heat.
15. Cook egg noodles per package instructions.
16. Put a serving of egg noodles in a bowl, top with curry, green onions and cilantro.
17. Enjoy.

On the way to work each morning, I ride on a couple of major city streets. These roads have two lanes of traffic in each direction; however, they do not have bike lanes. To make matters worse, they also have square curbs. As a cyclist, if I were to follow the “keep as far right as possible” rule, I would have no place to go when a car passes me too close. In addition, the further right I ride, the more likely a car driver thinks they can sneak pass me without changing lanes. To be safe, I ride in the middle of the right most lane. Once I started doing this, the car drivers got the message “to pass this cyclist safely, I must move over into the left lane.”

Taking this one step further, anytime I am riding on a street where I think it is unsafe for a car to squeeze by me, I ride in the middle of the lane. This requires cars to wait behind me, or pass only when the left or oncoming lane is completely free of traffic. I learned this lesson the hard way; when a car passing me in a narrow construction zone clipped my handlebars with its side mirror, knocking me onto the shoulder. This would not have happened had I been in the middle of the lane, as the driver would have been unable to pass me.

Of course, riding in the middle of the lane only works if you are very visible. If you are wearing dark clothing at night, and are not well lit, stay off the road!  Unlit cyclists are a danger to both cars and other cyclists.