Day 63 Pt Ryerse, ON-Fort Erie, ON

Jo Day 63 (Oct2):  Wow! Amazing sunrise at the Norfolk Conservation Campground, Point Ryerse, Ontario.  I made sure everyone came outside to see it (Alan literally rolled out of his tent and John had a zen moment as he glowed in the warmth of the morning sun).  When the guys took off for their 84 mile ride today the weather was calm.  An hour later it started to pour...and then the lightening and thunder hit (see Kevin's post about lightening and huddling together).  The rain was off and on all day...in between, the blue sky and billowy clouds were beautiful. Janut, Bob and I stopped at the Port Dover lighthouse and watched a bird dive into the water and fly away carrying a big fish. Then we drove into the marina to see all the sailboats. We drove by a giant steel plant (Lake Erie Works U.S. Steel Canada) that looked like a tall black sand dune with a giant water slide that ran under the road and all the way into Lake Erie. It was not working, probably closed on Sunday ...it must be quite a sight when it's operating.  We could see two giant smoke stacks in the distance. As we got closer the smoke stacks were for the Nanticoke generating station (Ontario Power Generation)...a huge building with wires attached to rows and rows of giant robot looking power poles. Looked kind of cool. We passed by the guys somewhere after the village of Selkirk...it was raining (Kevin said they were dripping so much when they stopped for a break...that the cafe floors had to be mopped!). We continued along the shores of Lake Erie and stopped in Dunnville to see the Grand River diversion and it's scary undertow. We spotted the guys at the Trailside Bar and Grill (they were enjoying asian nachos) in Ridgeway, and I walked Bob on the trail.  Tomorrow we might cross over to the U.S. at the Canada side of Niagara Falls, so Janut and I went to a park in Fort Erie to view the Peace Bridge and the skyline of Buffalo, NewYork. We climbed on top of the van with the intention of taking pictures of the guys as they rode by on the trail...we waited and waited in the freezing wind...but no guys. Janut looked on find friends...they got off the trail too soon and missed riding through the park with the view of the peace bridge and the skyline of Buffalo, NY!  So we drove them to the park after dinner so they could see what they missed!  I did not like my dinner at Chuck's Roadhouse (Fort Erie, Ontario), the toasted bun on my cheeseburger was cold. Yuk! They gave me another bun, but it too had cold spots.  We are "camping" in the Comfort Inn parking lot (Fort Erie, Ontario) where John and Alan are sharing a room.  It's surprisingly quiet (we are next to a highway), except for the 15 minutes of yelping and snorting we heard outside...we think they were coyotes eating something. Oh, and we saw another stunning sunset.

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Kevin Day 63 Port Ryerse to Fort Erie, Ontario.  82 miles. We wanted to make it to Fort Erie on Sunday, so it meant that either Saturday or Sunday would be an 80+mile day. After looking at the weather forecast, we decided to make our long day Sunday, because the forecast said less rain, and the wind would shift to the west making a tailwind for us. The forecast was half right; the wind did shift to the west but the rain was something else.
The morning started calm with a brilliant sunrise over Lake Erie. Should have remembered the old adage "red sky at morning, sailor take warning...".  Soon the rain began to fall-no big deal, but after an hour or so, the skies opened up.  It was raining so hard we could barely see the road ahead, and by this time we were drenched completely.  We found a small clump of trees/bushes to shelter from the rain, in the hope that it might pass or let up a bit in a few minutes. Then,  simultaneously,CRAACK! KBOOM! A blinding flash of light,BOOM!  Just across the road, lightning struck either the ground or something, couldn't really tell as the flash was so bright. The first explosion with the lightning bolt was ear-splitting, and the thunder itself was immediate and powerful.  Quite exciting! I'm taking it as a sign to continue my regimen of clean livin! We wanted to check the weather radar to see if the storm was passing, but wet finger and iPhones don't work well together so we continued to wait under our little tree. It continued to dump rain, and we saw a waterspout just offshore on Lake Erie. Soon the rain lessened, and we continued on our way, looking for our second breakfast. We found a place, and warmed up a bit, got some food and dried some.  We dripped water all over the floor at the cafe, but the folks there were very gracious. At one point, they mopped up the water, and put out the"caution wet floor" sign.  We apologized profusely for making such a mess. Back on the road, the rain nearly stopped, the wind had made its shift, and we decided to deviate from the ACA route for a while to save a few miles. This turned out great, as not only did we save a few miles, the straight and flat road allowed us to average nearly 20mph for the next hour and a half or so, saving time, too. We continued to maintain a high average speed for the rest of the afternoon until we got to Port Colborne, and the Welland Canal. The Canal is part of the Saint Lawrence seaway, and it connects Lake Ontario with Lake Erie. When we arrived at the bridge, the gates has just dropped, and they began to lift the deck to allow a large ship to pass through. I recorded  a short video of each of those events. Just over the bridge, we found the Friendship Trail-20 miles of paved bike trail to Fort Erie. We welcomed the low-stress riding, and we were dry, except for our socks. About 8 miles from our day's destination, we found the Trailside Bar and Grill-of course we had to stop. We had a beer and snacked on what they called Asian Nachos-instead of tortilla chips, they used fried wontons;instead of salsa, wasabi and hoisin sauce. Really quite delicious!  For those wondering, when riding in rain like we have the last few days, no amount of goretex or rainwear will keep you dry-you're gonna get soaked. So, the challenge is to stay warm, and let your rain jacket offer some wind protection. Synthetic fabrics are good, but all of us have been wearing Ibex wool cycling knickers, I have been wearing wool jerseys and socks as well. Wind, rain, and temps in the low 50's is a perfect recipe for hypothermia, but we have managed to stay reasonably warm. I call my wool cycling gear a "dry land wetsuit"...it feels just like wearing a wetsuit. Haha!  Tomorrow we see Niagara Falls and back in the US. About 800 miles remain to Bar Harbor