edwards block

Day one of my trip, yesterday, brought me to the dumpy-but-sterile Howard Johnson’s in Jamaica, New York, chosen for the fact that it’s just a mile from Kennedy airport. Here’s the $125 view:

Today, I cycled north through Queens toward the Bronx. On the way, the bumpy Queens streets (rural Saskatchewan backroads are smoother) broke the bolting holding on one side of my rear rack. Because of the weight, the rack bent, and I had to unload the whole bike to fix it, putting me behind schedule. Then, having carried on, I discovered that the only bridge that crosses to the Bronx is a bicycle-forbidded freeway with no sidewalks. Thus, I was forced to cycle west to Manhattan to use the Triboro bridge. Unfortunately, I somehow confused west with east and ended up way the hell out in Little Neck, practically in the next state, before I realised my error. To make things worse, my left knee started to hurt again.

As I have to be in Easton (north of Albany) by Saturday afternoon, I no longer had time to make it cycling. So, I was forced to rent a car and drive to Albany. The nearest location? Kennedy airport. I rode all the way back down there, and by the time I arrived my knee was killing me. There’s nothing cheap about New York, and I’m paying an exorbitant rate for this stupid car, a Dodge Magnum that looks like the vehicle of choice of a gangster pimp.

As I write this, I am having dinner at a “Roy Rogers” at a truck stop on the I87 Thruway, where a portion of every large Coca-Cola is donated to “support our troops and their families”. I ordered water.

I’m not sure what the knee problem is. I like to think that it’s this bike, which isn’t ideally suited to long-distance touring. At least, that sounds a lot better than old age. I won’t be able to stick to my plan to ride to New Brunswick if the pain persists, so a change of plan may be in order. Maybe in the end it will be a Greyhound tour of the northeast. I’ll have to put some Simon and Garfunkel on the Ipod.

Better news to come. I hope!

Tuxford to Regina. DAY: 89.04km. ODO: 2,459km. AVS: 17.6km/h. MXS: 38.0km/h. ATM: 5:03.

I woke up at 5:00am, as all of those lovely birds that I am so fond of were all chattering up a storm. However, as I was awake, I did notice two White-tailed Deer standing twelve feet away from my tent. They hung around for about ten minutes before moving on. Then, I got more sleep.
However, I was up again at 8:00, and I got packing. Though I am constantly getting more efficient at packing up all my stuff, I’m not getting any faster at it, and I still wasn’t on the road until 10:00. There were still no park staff on site (must be a union shop), so I didn’t have to pay for the past two days.

I was heading southeast to Regina. Unfortunately, the wind was coming from the southeast, just my luck. The wind had much less strength than previous days, but once you et moving into it, it still seems pretty strong. On the way to the Trans-Canada junction, I spotted a Marbled Godwit looking for food on a stubbly field.

I was quite lucky with the rain once again. As I was slogging down the Trans-Canada, about 30km west of Regina (you can see downtown Regina from 35km away), there were sheets of rain coming down about a mile to the south, but it was still a mix of sun and cloud where I was. About 10km from Regina, I got hit with just a few drops, but it started pouring behind me (no doubt onto the other cyclists from BC that I had passed). I checked into my hostel at 5:00pm, just as it started to pour. Beat it again!

I stopped for lunch today at “Chubby’s Bar and Grill”, in the town of Belle Plaines. In these small towns, wherever I stop for lunch, they always have a TV playing, and they all seem to be tuned to the same channel – some CTV station. The show that is always on is some sort of talk show cum self-help program, hosted by a woman who looks vaguely like a young Marlo Thomas. Today’s topic was on sleeping problems, and they had some kind of expert on that was explaining sleep issues from all sorts of perspectives. At one point, he said that he was accustomed to seeing numerous patients who do not know that caffeine causes sleeplessness if consumed in the evening. What kind of moron can grow to adulthood without learning a thing like that? If these are the kind of twits that are sucking up the heath care dollars, maybe a little privatisation is a good idea. If they have to pay $35 to ask a doctor a stupid question, maybe they’ll use their brains a little.

And as long as I’m on a good rant – the commercials on daytime television! There was one ad, one of those ones that shows someone in some “lifestyle activity”, with a voiceover explaining why this product is perfect for his or her activity. This one showed a guy climbing a Kilimanjaro-like peak in burning noon-day sun, and his commentary was all about how he needed a good, strong antiperspirant that could handle the job. There were lots of camera shots up the guys’ armpit, etc. Who the hell cares what you smell like when you’re doing something like that? Need to smell nice just in case you run into Prince Charles and Camilla out on some precipice? Give me a break!

As long as I’m in complaining mode, let’s talk about these guys (I have yet to see a woman driving one, though I’m sure it must happen) in giant motorhomes that have every convenience of home. What kind of mileage do these things get? It can’t be very good if they can justify burning the extra fuel to tow their Grand Cherokee behind them! It’s this sort of resource wasting that really burns me. The parodist in me is tempted to continue my trip across the country with a small tricycle tied to the back of my bike.

Tuxford (Sightseeing). DAY: 37.26km. ODO: 2,370km. AVS: 22.0km/h. MXS: 51.0km/h. ATM: 1:41.

Since I’ve been here, I have seen: White Pelicans, Common Loon, Western Grebe, American Wigeon, Franklin’s Gull, Spruce Grouse, Grey Catbird, Rufous-sided Towhee (spotted western) and a Chipping Sparrow.

As I am staying another night, I wanted a little more food. The small store here in the park is only open weekends, so I had to ride into town. Tuxford, the nearest town, is about 15km away. I rode in with the wind at my back, only to find that Tuxford has no stores at all. Back through the wind I rode.

I went for a long walk up the lake, looking for the Buffalo (which are apparently kept somewhere nearby) as well as historical information – apparently this park is named after a place into which the Indians used to chase the buffalo, trapping them for slaughter. But I found nothing, other than a bunch of mosquitoes and a wood tick that tried to attach itself to my leg.

Tim’s legacy, coast to coast:

There are still no other campers here, but there are some people that come during the day with their boats, mainly to fish. However, there is a crew out there today water-skiing, with something that I’m sure they refer to as “music” blasting periodically over the water.

The squirrels here are a little annoying. They must be used to people feeding them, as there are several varieties that are forever running around my site. One kind, that makes a noise that sounds like a bad cell-phone ring, appeared under my picnic table suddenly this morning, as I was sitting at it reading Saturday’s Globe and Mail. He let loose his ear-splitting ring, startling me into smashing my knee against the top of the table and spilling my tea. I jumped up and threw a rock at him, but he only chased it to see if it was something edible. They need more birds of prey around here.

Local sightseing. DAY: 60.55km. ODO: 600km. AVS: 22.2km/h. MXS: 52.0km/h. ATM: 2:43

After a fabulous Flags breakfast, I departed for a “short ride into town” for a little sightseeing. The Flags is on the fringes of Kelowna, in the Glenmore area. I rode into town, had a cup of tea, and then rode out along the lake almost as far as Okanagan Mountain, an area that was heavily damaged by the forest fires last year. After that I rode back downtown and then back to the B&B. Total mileage: 60.2km. Some rest! It was, however, not a hilly ride, and I was carrying little luggage.

Two more birds: white-crested sparrow, and two pairs of orioles building nests. Could also hear, but not see, a western goldfinch.

I’ve decided to stay in Kelowna for an extra day, for extra soaking of my knee and shoulders in the hot tub. Expect to leave for Vernon on Wednesday. I still haven’t decided to go to Rogers Pass, or to Jasper via Kamloops. I’ll probably end up making the decision at the highway junction.

Okanagan Provincial Park to Kelowna. DAY: 51.13km. ODO: 539. AVS: 18.0. MXS: 65.0. ATM: 2:50.

It rained during the night, but stopped as soon as I got up, which made breaking camp easier, and I just packed up and left. I stopped at The Two Chefs restaurant for tea and breakfast. It seems that it was Mother’s Day today, but I got in just in time to snag the last table.

Headwind! Ever since I left Princeton I’ve been facing varying degrees of headwind, especially disconcerting when traveling uphill. It was worst passing through Westbank which, if you’re not familiar with it, might best be described as the Nanaimo of the Okanagan. Not pretty. To make matters worse, I ran over a staple and got my first flat. However, I had it fixed within 15 minutes and was back on the road.

Have I mentioned scrotal discomfort as a less pleasant aspect of this form of travel? As someone who normally prefers to maintain a minimalist and non-restrictive clothing style, I can say with some certainty that there are few pleasures in life as satisfying as removing ones spandex cycling shorts at the end of a long, hot day.

I arrived at Don & Bryan’s at about 2:30, and after leaping from the aforementioned shorts and having a shower, unpacked and had a bit of lunch. Don showed me the recent changes to the property, and then we took a walk up beyond the reservoir, where I was able to add three new birds to my list: Yellow Headed Blackbird, Western Bluebird, and a pair of Redheads.

Tomorrow will be a rest day, and I plan to lounge about by the pool and catch up on the adventures of Don Quixote (why I couldn’t have chosen a lighter-weight book to lug up mountains – like maybe Jonathon Livingstone Seagull – I don’t know).