July 4th, 2013.

Is 13 an unlucky number in Canada? Does Canada celebrate the independence of the USA? Can Al sleep now that I have posted?

A little secret inside our group is a game called "Bright Side". Anytime someone is, lets call it "grumpy"...or things are not going the best. You can point at someone and say "bright side". That person has to respond with something positive about what just happened. Roger did that this morning when checking out of our flea-bag motel. The bikes were still there! Good point rog!

Our hotel room had pre-dirtied towels in the bathroom that didn't even have a shower. We did not think to check that ahead of time. The Lakeshore was the worst hotel ever. Well, 2nd worst. At least there were no bed bugs and no blood on the floors (talking to you Country Hearth in Missouri).

We escaped as soon as we could, eager to get the hotel stench from our gear, and went for breakfast next door at The Lunch Box. It was great! One point Canada! The rain cleared up while we ate, and the wind began to change in our favor. Wahoo!

Katie had a Nutella and banana wrap, with dill pickles. Wow.

For a moment, we thought this was our road. I was going to send Rog first. Notice the windmill in the fog?

This picture is for Katies grandparents. Knee high by the fourth of July? Not back home. Here the corn looks great. This wasn't the tallest stuff, just the stuff closest to the road.

We biked a quick 20 miles and stopped for lunch at the Sunny something cafe in Port Rowan. Lunch was pretty darn good, and affordable. The mens room requires a labyrinth of downstairs, under, around, through, and up some other stairs. Very strange. If the lights went out while visiting the mens room, you would be a trapped miner having food and air pipes sent down. We lost Chuck for a good 20 minutes. Milkshakes, eggsalad, ham, and everything was great. Our plates had pickled cauliflower on them. I thought maybe someone finally found a use for cauliflower, but it was still terrible. If it was dill instead of sweet it might have been tolerable. They even made the egg salad fresh on the spot without onions for Laura and I. One point Canada. Mmm apple fritters.

Look mom, gluten free bread!

Ewwwww

Lots of fruit trees today.

We ran into Sarah again. She is touring along the same route as us. She is using Warm Showers and camping.....too bad we didn't catch her later in the day and she could have joined us. I think she stopped before us today since she started earlier. She moves pretty fast! Laura could keep up with her if the rest of us were not holding her back. Hopefully we see Sarah again tomorrow as she blows past us.

http://honoringmycompass.blogspot.com/2013/07/day-38-port-burwell-predat...

Crazy canadian signs.

Stopping to smell the flowers.....

Pink tractor.

I can't imagine this helping......poor turtles are dead everywhere. Maybe they should put the sign elsewhere so the turtles cross in a safer location.

Crazy tree-bike accident....i presume.

We had one crazy steep climb today. Luckily it didn't go on for very long.

Lots of anti-windmill signs around...

Nice views today of lake Erie.

We stopped for the night at Haldimand Conservation Campground near Peacock Point where we met Dave. Dave hooked us up with ice cold water when we pulled in, and invited us into his air conditioning. Soon he had us setup with the greatest camping spot in Canada..... an unofficial "site" right at the lakes edge. He said the normal tent sites were full of bugs and had no breeze, and since we were leaving early he would give us the best spot......did he ever. After he left, we setup, and Dave returned with some pizza, wings, and desert. Dave is going to be getting a postcard from us soon! 10 points Canada!

Thank you Dave!

After some of our food (not good compared to what Dave left us) and some nice showers, we are typing this as a group and going to fall asleep to the sound of the waves of lake Erie. This is the first grass we have camped on since Wisconsin.

Miss you all.