Bykered

Wednesday 16. It seemed as if it rained most of the night. After a good hot oatmeal breakfast, Bible Reading, prayer, discussion, several hymns and a few senior citizen jokes the rain drops seemed scattered enough for the bikers to don their rain gear and shove off. On the TV this morning it called for showers off and on all day.
I finished journaling and then pulled up to near the office where the WiFi was quite strong. I sent and received a lot of email and published the journey.
It was about eleven when we began slowly driving across country. We went through mile after mile of vineyards. We passed an MB church and the Vineland Mennonite Church. Later we got on the QEW and finally arrived at the Ancaster street corner where we planned to meet, courtesy of the GPS.
As this is Archie & Ursula Harms home town we stopped at an auto repair shop and got their address and telephone number. We called them and they were overjoyed. They said that as soon as the plumber left they would come right over and they want us all for supper – no excuses. In about an hour after a brief nap they arrived. It is great to be so warmly welcomed. They stayed for about and hour and then went home to await our coming.
Ed and Rhoda arrived about four; put the horse in the stall and off we went for Harms home. It was only 1.2 miles and GPS directions were great. They had a nice driveway for the MH and electric and water hookups, which we hardly needed as we got our services in their house. Our four friends were delighted to meet each other and we all had a wonderful evening together. E&R showered and then we ate Ursula’s lovely beef dinner plus.
They took us to a house out in the country where a former slave family had settled. It is now a preserved historical site. Archie showed us other interesting things in the Ancaster community. Ursula stayed home and did the dishes as their little Saturn did not have room for all six.
They showed us their new B unit RoadTek MH they had just gotten from trading in their old one. It is nice and compact – almost too small. It was a nice evening to sit and conversate. A truly good time was had by all these dear friends of ours. They offered beds in the house but we chose to stay in our regular beds. It was ten when we hit the sack.

Thursday 18. It was a cold night and we should have had on the extra cover. The furnace ran a few times.
The Harms insisted that we have breakfast with them and we acquiesced. Ed cleaned up the muddy horse before breakfast and had it ready to go. They left about 7:30 as all four of us watched them go.
Archie gave us a tour of the area. He showed us the MacMaster University (huge) where he has taught in Hamilton, a large city of over 300,000 and their church, Hamilton Mennonite and other sights. Last evening we asked why Canadians make jokes about Tim Hortons. So we ended up having coffee and a bit of pastry at a nearby Tim Hortons. It is a cross between a Dunkin Donuts and a McDonalds. Archie says it is a sort of social experience.
Back at the house we soon unhooked and were on our way. We followed GPS which seemingly took us way out of the way. It seemed as if we were nearly in Toronto. Later on when we reviewed the tour, it was right.
We arrived at our meeting place in Orangeville, Ontario at 11:30, had our lunch and finished off the peanut butter. E&R need peanut butter to make a sandwich for each mid morning snack. So we went in search of a supermarket. We also got coffee. I tried to use the debit card and get cash but it would not work. They wanted to treat it as a credit card so I just used the credit card. I was hoping to get some change for the Laundromat which we then searched for fruitlessly.
Next we tried calling A Friesen couple here who are listed in the MYW directory. The number was incorrect so we let the GPS take us there. It was in a rather tight development where there did not seem to be room for a MH. We might have stayed at the curb. I knocked at the door but no one was home.
We returned to the meeting site to await the biker’s arrival. They called about four and said the hills are killers today and they may not arrive until 6:30. We assured them we would be here – no rush. They did arrive about 5:30. “We thought the hills of Kentucky were tough but this surpassed those,” Ed said. The Niagara Escarpment that Archie spoke of was repeatedly crossed and went up and up. We noticed the same thing in the MH. We thought the next hill was it and when we reached the top, there was more. All of it was farm land and straight roads. So the bikers came in beat tonight.
Ed put the horse in the stall and then we drove to the shopping mall where we were earlier today and asked permission to stay for the night. Welcome!
So we settled in for the night. Miriam made E&R’s daughter Cheryl’s Venison with Pasta plus the marble cake and Jello with pineapple that she had made earlier.
We talked some more about the tough hills. For tomorrow night we called a BIC couple in Collingwood several times who are in the MYW directory. But with several tries we assume they are away, so we nailed down the meeting site for tomorrow in a Provincial Campground.
After we had things settled for tomorrow it was popcorn and Rummikub. Miriam won 2 and Ed one. I guess we only played three. It sure has become our game for this trip. We crawled in bed at ten with double covers on what is projected to be a very cold night.