Monday. Day 10.
Anne said breakfast was at 7:00 am. They have a policy, guests must leave by 8:30 am. So no sleep in for me (not that I'm much good at the whole sleeping in thing anyhow).
I had a real good breakfast; 3 scrambled farm fresh eggs, 3 pieces of toast with jam and a homegrown peach, nectarine and a handful of cherries (yay for fresh fruit!)
It didn't take me long to pack up my one pannier of things, fill up my bottles and put on sunscreen.
The morning was still cool and fresh.
It wasn't long before I passed a sign, cucumbers 25 cents each. So I stopped. Cucumbers are one of the few roadside veggies available I can eat on a bike trip, besides these homegrown cucumbers were massive!
On I rode into Newark, where I picked up the Erie Canalway Trail again.
I started noticing some unfamiliar noises coming from my bike bags so I stopped to check it out. I noticed a bolt was rattling itself loose so I got it tightened with my handy dandy multi tool. Decided to check the tightness of the other bolts as well and discovered, to my dismay, one of the essential bolts was simply gone and the rack was unsupported! That was a problem, but not one I haven't encountered before.
My zip ties were too big to be a quick fix.
Palmyra wasn't big enough a town to find anything useful in so I pressed on looks no for options on my Garmin.
I decided my best bet was to search "automotive repair", since most garages have bolts around.
The nearest place was just off the Canal path and was a wreckers (technically a fixer place for wrecked cars). I asked if they could help and the young man pulled out his bucket of assorted (rather large looking) bolts and quite magically it seemed, pulled out an exact fitting one. I was greatly relieved and thanked him profusely before continuing on my way. Made me think about how when a person prays coincidences happen...(or perhaps they're not so coincidental...)
What I failed to realize was how hilly my detour was... But what's a day without a good challenge? I had time and sufficient energy so it was no problem.
I made a quick stop at a pharmacy for a tube of diaper rash ointment for my rear end.
I love seeing Tim Hortons has made its presence felt in the area... And here I thought when I left Canada that was it for Timmies breaks!
I was sure glad to get back on the canal path after dealing with noisy traffic!
Dark rain clouds loomed threateningly. I really didn't like the idea of it raining since I was planning on camping that night beside the canal in a village called Holley.
It got hot. And I could tell I was getting dehydrated.
Popping an electrolyte tablet in my water and drinking helped me feel better, able to go on.
It wasn't too much further and I got to Holley. There was such a lovely park right next to the canal with washrooms, showers and drinking water and plenty of place to camp for free! The only thing missing was wifi... And I noticed I had missed an email from my folks (who were on their own road trip in the States) saying maybe we could meet up...
Went in to the village and found Sam's Diner where I got myself a proper bottle of wonderful empty calories, root beer! And wifi of course.
Sent my folks an email saying where I was, but doubted they'd get it in time since it was almost 4pm by then.
Then back to the park to shower and set up camp.
There was another touring cyclist camping as well. I liked that.
Turns out my parents did find me! Another crazy coincidence that really was a God-incident if you ask me!
So they fed me (more than my tuna/cracker/cucumber supper).
They even took me out on the town for an ice cream (and it was real tasty!)
It was lovely having someone else spoiling me as I'm not much good at treating myself out.
Then they were on their way to Hamilton again.
By grace the rain never did happen, at least not where I was camping :)
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