Otta- what?!

We have been making our way west, but not as fast as planned, due to a rediculous heat wave with 100+ temps. (thats over 30 for all you canuks). We have been hitting a lot of ice cream shops and swimming holes, just to stay alive! We saw Ottawa in a blur, but still managed an adventure or two. Mostly, just enjoying the rolling farmlands of quebec and (finally!) Ontario.

i cant resist a bucket of water dumped over my head on a hot day- thank you splash parks!

We got a new frying pan! Now we can make more than one-pot meals, and here, scrambled eggs and asparagus! Voila!

yup, we hit 3000 miles! You'd think we'd be farther west, right? Us too.

The friendly farmers are always willing to offer a peice of land for camping!

Experimenting with some more advanced cooking skills- Pad Thai!

Just your average candelight dinner on the ottawa river!

a nice view of the Parliament (its like canada's white house), crossing the bridge over to Ottawa

We arrived at the Parliament building right as they were starting their noon yoga class, so we joined in. We got to see the parliament from all different angles! It was a great stretch, except for the sweating profusely in the noon sun part.

On the hottest day so far, which was like 100 + a billion with humidity, we didnt make it very far on bike, but we DID find a great afternoon swimming hole!

We realized there were blueberries right on the roadside- yes please!!!

Today we are finally showered and happy thanks to a couple we met in Deep River, Ontario, who have given us a bed, showers, pizza, and wifi. Once again, we love warmshowers.org!

We put the Real in Montreal

Montreal- planned to stay one day, but got sucked into this awesome city for three and a half! A few weeks back we met some local cycle tourists ending their journey, on their way home to a town called Montreal. They told us if we went through to call and stay with them. So we did! We made it from quebec city to montreal in two days, one of them involving another 100 mile day! woohoo! We pulled into town late thursday night and our new friends guided us along the bike paths to their place near downtown. Had pizza waiting. they really know how to host! They showed us the city, the shopping, the festivals and cathedrals, the bike paths and the fireworks, fed us amazing homecooked meals and made sure we stayed hydrated. It wasnt hard to stay longer than planned here! And our old friend Randy Blades, who is living in NY, drove up for a day to play with us. What a champ.

The city has a bike rental program where they have these Bixi  bike stations/docks all over town, and so you can pick one up one spot, ride it around, and drop it off wherever you end up. Pretty sweet, and even though we had our own rides, we picked some up to play around town with. 

found an alley ful of random games, now we can say we played hockey in canada!

randy, picking out the perfect Bixi.

Saturday night rode bikes to the bridge for fireworks and an awesome night ride around the island and across the bridge. Definitely the highlight of the weekend.

Our crew- Randy, mary and brad, and Jackie and Jesse, our hosts/ tour guides.

They called this mac and cheese, i call it gourmet home cookin!

Using a rest stop for what its intended for- resting!

the fuel of the gods- chocolate milk!!!

Well, we have had lots of fun and our pictures cant really even show it all, but now its time to get down to business and head west! Next stop, Ottawa, and then west west west!!!!

je me souviens

Due to some minor, yet time consuming difficulties with the mail, we ended up spending a fair amount of time in Quebec city.  However if you're stuck in one place for awhile this was a great place to do it.   Mary had a friend of hers from her mission in Guatemala who lives here.  Stébane and his wife Catherine played amazing hosts for us and made this break from the saddle very entertaining.  We toured old Quebec inside and out, and with the ongoing festivals there was something going on everywhere we looked.  We took a dip and cooled off a few times.  Picked and ate probably too many strawberries.  Wonderfully overfed by Stébane`s  family.  Ate all the local favorites.  Got our bikes all tuned up and ready for another 2500 miles. Took a side tour of Jacques Cartier national park. And slept in a bit too.  We loved everything about this city.  The history is rich.  The people are active and so helpful.  Bike paths, and other cyclists galore.  The only thing I would have changed is teaching Mary and I a little french before entering this region, but we got along ok.

If you notice anything about this photo, I want you to admire two things.
Well toned thighs, and well tanned lower thighs.

The oh so hospitable Gélinas family.

Old Quebec from the ferry.

The local secret chocolate shop, Chocolat favoris.  The line out the door into the street is an instant testament of how good this place is.  Dipped in the good stuff , these babies have a quarter inch thick shell.  

Pretty sure Mary ate more strawberries than she put in the box.

Poutine.  This Canadian treat consists of french fries, gravy, cheese curds, beef, and sausage.   

Who needs a tanning bed when you have bike shorts.

The Queens flag.

Mary obeys all the posted rules.

An amazing veiw after being completly drenched by the passing storm.  In Jacques Cartier National park.

Loving the summer wildflowers in the park

the Jacques Cartier river

Everyday Adventures in Quebec

Well, in case you were wondering how a day goes on our trip, here are a few examples of our favorite experiences the past few days. 

So we roll into a town about 7 pm and start asking around for a grocery store. We ask a guy who happens to own the store, and tells us its closed but he will let us in. Then, we ask where a good place to camp is, and he says he happens to own a vacant lot on the water down by the wharf, and we can camp there! awesome!

Then, we are riding through a little town, and a car pulls over to talk to us. Its an old man named Jerry who says he is a cyclist and is on his way to go sailing and do we want to come? Sure! So we bike to the marina and board the 16 foot sailboat, Mockingbird, and go out on the St. Lawrence for a couple hours. What a nice and random break! 

These are just a few of our ramdom adventures, and well, bike touring is by far the best way to travel!!

Quebec is famous for strawberries, and we happened to be here at the right time! YUM!

B-rad surprised me with wildflowers in my handlebar bag  for our `two month on the road` mark. awww :)

we met some awesome friends through warm showers (check out the side link) who let us camp in their yard and hang out with them- great people! Its always good to meet other bike tourist and swap stories and get advice!

our capsite in Kamouraska, where the grocer let us stay. 

The Mockingbird. B-rad even got to drive, and Jerry said he must have norwegian blood because he was a great helmsman.

Biking along HWY 132 along the St. Lawrence river... BEAUTIFUL!!!

Priceless

Well, two weeks after leaving Goose Bay, we finally made it back to civilization! It was a few weeks filled with mostly gravel road, lots of great wilderness campsites and sunsets, lots of dusty days and big trucks flying past us, and LOTS of steep steep hills. If we are not in shape for the rockies after this, we never will be. Our bikes held up great, with the exception of shredding only one tire, for which we had a spare. And the high prices of food and snacks and dealing with lots of dirt road construction was worth it for the priceless feeling of finishing what all the locals said we were crazy for trying. And now, we are happy to be on pavement and a place where there are POEPLE to talk to!  With nearly 2 months and 2300 miles under our tires, we are now headed west and on to the mainland of our cross canada adventure!

Paved Paradise

The dirt behind the grader is way to soft unless you follow in its foot steps

Dorkas works in the Scale shack weighing all the big dumptrucks that kept passing us.  She then dumped a truck load of food onto our bikes.

Safety is our number one goal here at churchill falls.... We toured the hydro electric plant 1000ft under ground...shocking

CBC news interviewed us in Labrador city

You don`t really begin to feel like your in a different country until you don`t speak the language.  This is the border of where English is no longer normal, and we are so helpless when it comes to french.

uhhh Canada is big. Spending our day hiding from the rain.

These guys are also hiding from the rain.

We biked 100 miles in one day just to end with this. Now thats a real century ride. Hopefully the bike computer is Y2K compliant.

Worn out after a 100 mile day. 45 miles of which, was dirt.

This is what it looks like everytime a truck passes you in either direction.

pedaling through the ``eye of Quebec``

Trail Showers

Sunset in Rimouski

The very small LDS branch in Rimouski, thanks again Elders for translating.