Michael's Excellent Adventure

Day 22, 7-9-2002

Two

Like the first swallow at San Juan Capistrano foreshadowing the arrival of spring, leaving Lapeer I saw my first Tim Horton's of the trip, indicating that Canada was not far away.

It was a pretty grey, drizzly morning into Port Huron, but at least the roads were largely good. Extricating ourselves from Michigan was a slow, but steady and inevitable process. John and I finally got to Port Huron, I'm not sure of the time, and were ferried across the Blue Water Bridge by a nice (any other kind?) Canadian. We went through customs, oriented ourselves at the tourist office, and then bid each other good luck and good bye. I immediately set out straight for Strathroy, Sarnia being a nasty little border town; basically Canada showing its ass-end to the US to keep us from realizing just what a nice country it really is and all coming up there at once and ruining it. I got to Strathroy pretty early even with a crosswind; this part of Ontario is incredibly flat. Not entirely unlike North Dakota — just less desolate, and with more trees. The patches on the road pavement look like heads from Easter Island laid on their sides.

Not feeling like quitting just yet, and London being a scant 25 miles off, I decide to make a push for it. Carolyn had recommenced London as a nice town, but she didn't mention that it was 330,000 people! Getting into a town of that size turned out to be a bit of work, and harrowing at times. It was worth it, though. Even with the weakening US $, the exchange rate was favorable enough that I felt I could treat myself to a nice room and a tasty dinner. More importantly, it put me in an awesome position to make a run for Niagara the next day. London's a great town, and I'd love to look around more on another trip. There are rumors of a bike path which would have made getting in and out of the city much nicer. No more cycloputer, so all mileages from here out are estimates, but I figure this was around a 125-mile day.