Bykered

On completion of this journey we all hugged and thanked God. Since it was a nice shady spot we decided to have our lunch there. Ed wanted to see the Owen Sound so I directed him there. We had stopped there for information earlier. Then we hit the road heading south for the first time in over five weeks. It was a bright beautiful sunny day for traveling but on the cool side, 49 degrees.
Later Ed pulled into an A & W and to celebrate we all had Root Beer Floats. Miriam and I have not been in an A&W for perhaps forty years. We are all in a celebrative mood.
Much further south in the town of Caledonia we stopped at a nice little restaurant and had dinner. Earlier we had agreed that whenever we eat out we each pay our own. The Longeneckers insisted on paying ours this time as a thank you. Who should be thanking who? We are so blest to have had this opportunity to see so much more of God’s great universe and be with these two dear people. They insisted. Thanks Ed & Rhoda.
About eight we arrived at Maurice & Arlene Mellinger Yager’s lovely home near SelKirk, Ontario, about a mile from Lake Erie. It is a cold rainy evening but no match for the warmth of their friendship. Maurice helped us hook up the electric and then we had a lovely evening together. Yes, there were a lot of biking stories and laughs. Tired, we all hit the sack about 10:30. They offered us their beds but we all chose to stay in our MH beds again. There we have all our clothes etc.

Sunday 20. We were up at 6:45 to another cold, damp drizzly morning. We piled on the covers during the night. Arlene Had a delicious breakfast of more than any of us should have eaten.
We went with them to their little church, Rainham Mennonite. We made up 27 persons. It is one of the oldest congregations in Ontario but having a hard time. The farms grow larger and the population decreases and there have been struggles. It was a warm fellowship and the pastor had a good message.
During the announcement time before worship they had us sing our famous “I Owe The Lord A Morning Song.” I think we did it better this time than ever.
For Sunday school they had asked Ed and Rhoda and us to share our learnings from the bike trip. There was good interaction and interest with the 8-10 persons including the pastor.
For lunch the Yagers drove us through and by a lot of points of interest and finally to Port Dover some thirty miles west to a very nice restaurant where they treated, another part of the celebration. We and the Longeneckers agreed that there would be no better place for a celebration than with the Yagers. They know how to party.
On the way back we went past a huge power plant on Lake Erie where many freighter loads of coal daily arrive from Astubula, Ohio. We went through there about a week ago and saw many rail cars of coal and huge piles of coal. We did not know if the coal was coming in or going out.
Maurice took us to the farms he and his sons farm and also showed us the Maple Syrup operation his son Allen has. It is huge. We received delicious samples.
Back home Arlene showed her flower gardens. She is a master gardener and then some. I chatted with Maurice.
After a delicious snack and chatter catching up on old times we watched the DVD of Ed’s farewell Service at Landis Homes. What a joy it was, with a lot of good laughs. It was a cool rainy day and we went to bed about 10:30.

Monday 21. We were awake at our usual six. Again Arlene had a great breakfast of baked oatmeal with all the trimmings.
We got off at eight as planned on a beautiful sunny morning. Too bad it was not nice like that yesterday for Arlene to share her garden.
In about an hour and 15 minutes we crossed the Peace Bridge back into the USA again. US Customs only asked Ed a couple questions. We are not certain if they even saw Miriam or I. That was very smooth and we would not have needed out birth certificates. They did not even ask for our driver photo ID’s which we all had ready.
It was a beautiful day for traveling with the temperature staying in the high forties until we crossed the mountain south of Williamsport, then it began to warm up. The hills of New York State and northern Pennsylvania were so beautiful. Ed did need to stop at a DQ, a favorite that is hard for him to pass, especially when on the bike.
We pulled into Landis Homes at 5:10 and began sorting things out to unload. There were Azaleas, Rhododendren and other flowers booming which Ed and Rhoda walked around to see.
Again we warmly hugged and kissed goodbye. While it is nice to be home it was sad to see the motor home drive away. It had been our home for 40 days and 39 nights of a lot of fun and joy. How blest we have been to be allowed to have shared in the journey of these two delightful and faithful Christian friends.
While Miriam and I did nothing but sit and watch the scenery go by today we are more tired than we have been for a number of nights. It is a bit of a downer too for it all to have come to an end. But that is life. Ed and Rhoda agreed with us that Landis Homes is a beautiful place. We hope that some of these years they will be able to join us here.
Rhoda calculated that twelve nights we were not in campgrounds. Many time we parked in shopping mall parking lots. Other times we were at friends. Meeting people along the way was certainly one of the highlights.
What a big job it now is to go through the mail of the past 5 ½ weeks. It will take several days. Tomorrow we will need to go to Oregon Dairy to replenish our depleted food supply. We should have our own nice hot shower and be in bed by ten.
If I get the time and have the ambition I may try to do a summary of the trip.
Beginning mid June we are making a 5-6 week trip to the West Coast to attend Mennonite General Assembly and see the sights along the way. I may pick it up then. We’ll see.

Bikered

Friday 18. While we were cozy under two thick quilts, as expected it was very cold this morning. Frost was forecast for some areas. Where we were parked yesterday the corn was up about two inches. I wonder how it fared.
It was another good hot oatmeal morning, our frequently used morning hymn (I owe The Lord…) Bible Reading, Rejoice and prayer. Repeatedly we thank God for his preserving us both as we travel the highways – MH – and byways – Bicycle. We pray to be kept safe or given the strength to face the difficulties that could happen. God doesn’t owe us anything. So we just thank him for safety each day. We also lift our children and grandchildren to him and friends we know who are hurting.
E&R got themselves all ready to go and then we drove them back near to where we picked them up in a parking space at a little row mall. They got their horse out of the stall, oiled it up, etc. An employee came and chatted. He was quite a talker. He has been to Gettysburg a number of times and even though Canadian is a Civil War Buff. He also talked about Old Order Amish near by. That confirmed that I thought I saw Amish across the parking lot last evening where we were parked. E&R were on the road by 8:30.
At the parking lot where we parked last night there was several strong WiFi’s but all locked. Here at this little shopping lot there must have been ten and several were unlocked so I latched onto the strongest. There was a lot of email to download. I downloaded the past several days’ journeys.
We were on the road at 9:01. We had a nice easy drive today with excellent roads through lovely farm land, but except for the last ten of the 60 miles it was all up hill. That part was the same as yesterday. We would come to the crest of the hill believing that was it. There was perhaps half a mile of level road and then there was another up and up and up and up. But it was all nice straight smooth roads.
We felt so sorry for the bikers thinking they were having another tough day weaving around and up and down those hills.
However, we finally came to the crest of the last hill and were we ever high. It was a beautiful sight across the miles and in the distance was the Georgia Bay. Then it was a nice gentle down hill ride into the quaint and lovely Bay front town of Collingwood – 15,000. Orangeville where we were last night was close to 30,000.
The Provincial Park of Craigleith was about seven miles west of Collingwood immediately along our route right on the Georgian Bay. We arrived here at 11:30 and soon got our site and five loonies and two quarters for our five dollar bill.
We went for showers and to do the laundry. The showers shot out over our dressing area. Then we walked back and forth numerous times trying to locate the laundry. Finally we needed to ask because we did not have the camp map with us. Small wonder we could not find it. It was quite a walk, way out at the opposite end of this long narrow campground. After we had the laundry started – one Looney and three quarters – we sat by the bay. Later we discovered that the showers by the laundry were a great improvement over what we had used. They had a button to push and soon there was a nice warm shower – no temperature control – and the button was pushed again to stop it. And the water did not shoot all over the dressing area.
Back at the MH I made lunch while Miriam put away the wash. After that we sacked out until 3:30.
Miriam asked, “What time do you think E&R will arrive today?” I said it seemed like a day equally as hard as yesterday, certainly not before 4:30 and perhaps 5:30 or six. Half an hour later at four they came rolling in all smiles, “We had a wonderful day, nothing like yesterday.” There was one bummer, a construction area where Ed just wheeled the bike through the mud for quite a distance while Rhoda followed. Yes, he weather was cool, but otherwise wonderful, bright and sunny, just great for biking.
For a first, E&R headed off for the showers and laundry we suggested – on their bike. It made good photos with the laundry mounted on the back instead of the regular bike gear.
We soon had a supper of tasty chicken breast, mixed vegetables, baked potato, cake with Jello & pineapple. We tried to finish a few leftovers.
Ed & Rhoda talked about their day. The roads were confusing and once they needed to walk the bike quite a distance through mud and then grass around a construction site. It is tough for bicycles when there is a construction project. What is not far out around for a car can be a looooong way for a bike. The met some interesting persons
We worked out our final meeting place. That sounds so sad. It will be in Harrison Park in Owen Sound.
And then, yes, likely the last night of Rummikub together. Miriam won two, a Longenecker had one and unbelievable I won a game. Miriam was declared the champion of this tour having won more games than anyone else. It was about 10:30 when we hung it up and went to bed.

Saturday 19. I was awake at five but stayed in bed until E&R got up at six. It was 7:45 until they pulled out and we took photos of the final departure. We left camp at nine after doing a more thorough cleanup of the house, filling the water tank and dumping the sewer.
We had a nice drive to Ownen Sound much of it along the bay. It is a beautiful morning with the temperatures in the high 40’s but bright warm sun.
In Owen Sound we found the tourist information office and the nice young man told us how with a nice map to get to our meeting place. We also purchased post cards and stamps to sent to each of our kids. He also told us how to get to the post office.
We arrived at the meeting place at eleven an 15 minutes later Ed and Rhoda arrived with shouts of joy. We joined them for joyous photos, the conclusion of a wonderful and safe 2100 mile journey. Thank you Lord Jesus.