Alors, tu peut voire en haut que peut-être je suis dans la belle province du Québec. J’ai arrivé ici avec l’anticipation que je peut utilisé ma français après près-que neuf ans. Je suis fatigué. J’aime le poutine. Je m’appelle Jordan. Je suis fini! Bonjour. Au revoir!

As you can see I am in Québec now and I felt like expressing this french language I’ve had churning inside me for almost 9 years. I won’t translate the above, mostly because it’s more fun for me this way, but I’ll tell you that near the end there I kind of de-evolved into my kindergarten days and even used the dreaded “Je suis fini” which my french teachers always despised because you should always say “J’ai fini” which means “I’ve finished” instead of “Je suis fini” which means “I am finished” or essentially, “I am dead”.

It’s been a fun and interesting ride since my days in Peterborough and as I sit here in a cozy house provided by Troy and Lorilee Weisner in Pintendre, Québec (close to Québec City), I am stuffed from much food and chocolatey goodness and enjoyed a nice relaxing day in the old city of Québec.

So as per usual, sit back, put your feet up, grab a nice big cup of java, a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and snuggle into your favorite lumbar-supporting desk-chair… On y va!

Day 65: Peterborough to Actinolite:Woke up early. Ate glorious breakfast and chatted with Marilyn. Left late and said goodbye. Sent package full of stuff I was lugging around that I didn’t need anymore, home. Made gear lighter. Flew through the city and into the wild. Tried to see how far I could make it and ended up at Actinolite, nowhere near as far as I wanted to make it. A rather uneventful day, but beautiful greenery surrounded me and the sun was shining. The small and unremarkable town of Actinolite just happened to be close to a campground I decided to settle at because it was getting late and there wasn’t another spot to camp for miles. As I was leaving Peterborough, I was looking forward to Actinolite because the name reminded me of Aphrodite, the greek goddess of love. Actinolite is neither greek nor the goddess of anything. In fact I’m quite sure the closest thing to greek in that area is the “Opa!” at the mall in Peterborough. Anyways, I nervously tried to pay for my site as money has been tight for a while and I had just transferred some. Turns out my debit card was denied, but the family that runs the place there let me stay for free anyway. Set up tent. Cooked food. Slept to the sound of a bubbling brook boasting a bright and brilliant banner of beautification benefitting the betterment of my brain. Bob.

Day 66: Actinolite to Perth: Woke up to several spiders staring at me through the net of my tent. As I packed it up, I bid the spiders farewell with a gentle tapping. I ate oatmeal with raisins. I drank water. I slathered the sunscreen even though I could still see my breath. The sun came up and warmed the day quickly. Today was probably the most unexpected day in terms of terrain. I want you to imagine what it would be like to travel forward on an ever winding road and every time you turn the corner, there is another hill to climb. For basically the entire day I climbed hills. No descent. Just a gradual climb up and up and up. I think there is a greek myth based on this idea and relating it to Hades or hell. Well it was not hell, but it was terrible. It didn’t help that I accomplished all this against the wind. But after the day of up, I arrived in Perth and was greeted by the amazing Dairy Queen sign in all its glory and enjoyed a skor blizzard (which are much cheaper out here). I rode over to the campground and tried to pay for my site four times but nobody was there to take my money. There was also nowhere to leave my money. So I relaxed outside my tent until the sun went down and replaced my brake pads on my bike all by myself. I fell asleep to the sound of a barking dog.

Day 67: Perth to Ottawa: I woke up to a large glowing orange sphere penetrating the deep fog. As I hadn’t paid for my site yet, I also had not recieved the code for the washroom or the code for the padlock chained to the garbage bin. You’d think for a campgound so tight on security that I would be forced to pay somehow. But I never did. I found my own personal washroom in the woods, ate breakfast, got packed up, looked for someone to pay (to no avail) and left. I decided to take some back roads to Ottawa. The back roads were ripe with the smell of cattle, ringing with the sound of shotgun blasts and riddled with the the infestation of buzzing BMW’s careening around corners. Long story short: I made it through the back roads and through Ottawa to Parliament. As I snapped photo after photo of the beautiful buildings housing a rich heritage and ridiculousness we Canadians call government. Amidst the crowd of tourists was a group of Inuit persons attracting a crowd in celebration. As I approached I could hear a woman with a microphone at the center talking about her music career. Immediately I thought of Susan Aglukark but wasn’t sure it was her until she broke out in song with “O Siem”. (If you don’t know who I’m talking about, she was a big hit in Canada about 15 years ago, look her up!) Well I liked the song back then, and I liked it this time as it was sung live.

After I left Parliament I made my way towards East Gate Alliance Church (where Stephen Harper attends) and met Bill Buitenwerf, the pastor there. He greeted me and took me to his home and set me up for the night. I met his two young kids Jason and Aaron and then Bill came up with the awesome idea of taking out the boat on the river, do some BBQ and go tubing! I gladly accepted the unexpected and we were off. I ate four burgers, then Aaron convinced me to go tubing with him. I considered how good I look in a wet-suit and got set up. Well it didn’t take long for Bill to realize that he would have to push the speed right into the danger zone to get me off that tube. I think when I hit the water I was more surprised that I was still hitting the water, I must have skipped at least three times. Miraculously, as Aaron had also abandoned his tube (and is much younger and smaller than me) he apparently was flung off his own tube and on to the bottom of my overturned tube, staring straight into the sky with a look of confusion. Quite the sight. We laughed and decided to climb back into the boat and tour the river before the sun went down. We cruised down the coast and saw where the Prime Minister’s house was, saw Parliament from the coast view and then went towards the casino in Hull, Québec (the opposite shore of the river). Actually, there are some waterways leading towards the casino and we chanced the fading light to follow them. The casino is certainly a sight to behold, but at this point the light was gone. We blazed a trail across the dark water back to the dock with a giant flashlight in hand, attracting bugs and dodged a bat or two. I must say, what an enjoyable end to the day, I am greatful. As we went back to Bill’s house, I met his wife Jennifer, a kind and generous woman, and then went to bed.

Day 68: Still in Ottawa: All you need to know about this day is that I rested, enjoyed my time in our nation’s capital, ate three giant slices of pizza followed by a Dr. Pepper, tried to play X-Box with Jason and Aaron but failed miserably and accomplished some errands.

Day 69: Ottawa to Hawkesbury: I woke up and got packed up so I could meet Bill and many others at the church for the men’s breakfast. I arrived and explained my story to many of the gentlemen present as I loaded my plate with pancakes, fruit and syrop. Adorning the table was a platter of thick ham, which is where I loaded up on non-kosher goodness. I got to meet some good people that morning, including Jim Kahle, the father of a few good friends of mine and we discussed the woes of the Ottawa Senators. Jim and a man named Vic (Vic is notorious for speaches, which I remembered from a wedding three years back when I was in Ottawa the first time at this very same church… FYI -I made the wedding cake:) handed me a wad of cash as I left and refused to accept my humble refusal. So I loaded up on another generous helping of food (a vegetarian would starve here) which is where Bill came over to tell me he paid for me. After the look of embarassement with stuffed cheeks left my face, I said thank you and wondered why I ever thought the food was free. It turns out the men’s breakfast is technically free, but you have the option to throw money in the pot for future such breakfasts. I ate more slowly and thankfully.

I said my goodbyes to Bill and his kids and to all those that were there. I had one more errand in town. My grandfather, aunts and uncles and cousins had collaborated to transfer me some money which couldn’t have come at a better time. (If you guys are reading this, thanks again!) I zoomed out of Ottawa towards Hawkesbury, where the older parents of a man named Bob, whom I met at the breakfast that morning, awaited my arrival at their humble abode. The ride was uneventful but beautiful and I made it to Hawkesbury. As I pulled up to the street of Marie and Maurice, I stopped in a parking lot to get my bearings. Just then a man pulls up in his car and asks if I need some directions. Well then he describes that he is also an avid cyclist and tells me how to get into Québec with ease, which was a concern of mine. He then gives me his information and tells me he’s there if I need him and takes off. Cool but strange how things work out sometimes.

I arrive at Marie and Maurice’s condo and was warmly greeted by the older couple. They sat me down at their table where they had company (Jeff and Ruby- a nice and humble dutch couple) and a plethora of things to munch on. Then as Maurice sat comfortably on his sofa, Marie served me and served me. Food and more food. Then we had dinner. A home made pizza, an omelette and fresh tomatoes with a cup of hot lemon green tea. Marie is a french-canadian woman of 77 years of age and appreciated my “merci” even though it was pretty much the only french I spoke. Such an amazing woman, so vibrant and accomodating; she would offer to cook me lasagne from scratch if I asked. Well we all enjoyed some good conversation and I went to bed relatively early. Fell asleep to the sound of wind blowing through the trees outside.

To be continued!

It’s getting late here at Troy and Lorilee’s place and I need my sleep for a long day, but I promise I will try and continue my story-telling…

Thanks for all your support everyone!

By the way, I am terrible for remembering to take pictures, but the things my eyes have seen could never be fully expressed by a picture… There is such beauty in this country and I urge you to see it someday… I hope the pictures I HAVE taken are enough of a glimpse for you… And actually today I went a little crazy with the snapshots in Québec City, so I hope you enjoy that too…