Spanish to Sault Ste. Marie
Traditional territory of the Algonquin, Anishinabek, Haudenosaunee, Ojibway, Odawa and Cree
180 km
Cloud, sun, wind bits and bites, 23 ÂşC
We woke up in the horse shed that we called home last night, a little later than expected. I don’t know where the sense of tiredness came from. But we hit the road, stopped for breakfast, and met a cyclist from Vancouver headed in the opposite direction.
This stretch of the country is unique in that there are very few other options to be taking if you’re going across the country. As a result, we probably saw more cross-Canada cycle tourists headed in either direction than any other day.
But before we got to that point we ran into Harvey Trudeau, our host and guide from the previous day, who was driving by to feed his granddaughter’s dog. Strangeness.
We didn’t photograph all the cylists, just Bill, and also ran into our friend Song whom we hadn’t seen since we first encountered him between Moncton and Fredericton.
Had some technical issues with grounded us aways outside of the Soo (read: Sault Ste. Marie) so my adopted aunt who hosted me a few years ago, came out to rescue us. They had a great crew and an incredible spread ready for dinner. Stuffed. Many thanks to Marilyn who made us an incredible pie in anticipation of our arrival. Mmmmmm.
One of my favourite organizations, 4RS, is headed by an incredible person named Jessica Bolduc and we had a short window of time to try and catch her before she hit the road. So around midnight under the full moon, with empty streets, I made my way on a lighter-than-usual bicycle to have a very meaningful conversation around this work of reconciliation, decolonization, solidarity, unity, and community-building.
I slept very well after it all.