- Day 1 -1 Week
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- The End
- Retrospective
We woke up before the alarm, kind of surprising when we went to bed so late. We got Boston Pizza again! And watched The Goonies. It was pretty fun to watch such a childhood staple except with the knowledge that we are heading there. I have now played The Oregon Trail, Watched The Goonies, and spent all month riding bikes! I don’t know that childhood me would even believe me had I said this is 40.
We headed to breakfast. More of the same, except they had a make a pancake at the touch of a button machine! Honestly I’ve had better pancakes but it was kind of awesome to push a button and have a freshly made pancake pop out the side. 3-D breakfast printing. The future is now!
After breakfast, back to the room to finish getting ready. And soon enough we were ready to head out.
A few quick turns and we were on Route 3. It’s crazy that just a few weeks ago the west coast felt like a lifetime away, and now we just turned onto the road we’ll ride to Vancouver. I read an article about the notion that the second year of your life is doubling your first; it is equal. Where as you 30th year is only 1/30th of your life; it is a much smaller portion, even though it has the same 365 days. As we get closer and closer to the end the end gets closer and closer to us. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.
The road at first was fine, past the airport and some near by farms.
We stopped for some quick business. While on the phone I watched a farmer adjusting his watering system… I don’t even really know what to call it. A long pipe, with a sprinkler head in the center of each section, held up by large wheels. These sections stretched across the entire farm. The farmer aligned the section or two nearest us then headed toward the center. He rode a 4 wheel golf cart like machine out, then in the middle of the field he switched to something that looked to be part of the watering system that drove the entire pipe down the line. I would have thought the outsides would have lagged behind but the entire thing rolled together. By the time he was coming back and just about ready to reconnect, we were on our way.
The wind was strong… again.
We joked about why are we the only two going this way.
I wasn’t tired, but I felt like I never woke up, all day. Like when you need that second cup of coffee, except I had enough coffee, and I was out on the open road. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the heat of the hottest day in a while, or maybe it was the FUCKING WIND. No matter, just keep peddling.
We paused for a fruit break on a bridge, as it was one of the very few places there was to lean the bikes. After our fruit we got on our bikes only to find Jerry had a flat. I think that makes us 2/4 – Mike/Jerry. It was kind of hot, but quick work and off we go.
We saw many more irrigation systems, we questioned if it was a different location or timing or crops. I know my city kid lack of knowledge of how farming works is staggering but; Why wasn’t there more else where? We looked at the different types of systems, setups and technical levels of the different ways to water crops.
They were clearly growing mint here, as the wind filled our noses with mint fragrances. It was nice to have a pleasant scent, even if it was blasting us backwards. It also felt like something to actually know what all those crops were instead of just asking; what do you think that is? Does mint require this much water? Did they take the sprinklers down on past farms as they were closer to harvest?
We rode past the home of the automatic irrigator. Was this the first place in Canada to use them or is this where the automatic sprinkler was invented? I know these things help all of us, and new machines are what propel us into the future; however I never thought I would ride by the sign announcing that this is the spot where it happened!
We paused for another piece of fruit. There was so much in the air, water would not cut the grit in our mouths. As we pulled over we saw two teens on bikes. Once we had stopped they came over for a chat. They were riding BMX style trick bikes, though the one was wearing flip flops. I asked if he gets big air in those flip flops. I don’t think he got where I was going with that. We chatted about riding bikes and what’s its like for them around here, and what riding a bike across North America is like. After we chatted for a few they went their way and we went ours.
We continued toward our hotel, knowing the day was getting away from us. We left later and were not racing anywhere, and I myself had that sleepy feeling… but the day went by so fast. I was already showing signs of the setting sun. Luckily we pulled into town, and found our hotel was just a few doors down from a Boston Pizza. I would have never thought I would be excited about Boston Pizza (as a native New Yorker) but as far a Canadian delivery goes…
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