|
October 7 Friday Bicycle touring from Quebec City to a rest stop past Levis Quebec I slept in this morning. Or rather, I just didn't get up. I took a shower in the grungy basement hole. We should have cycled another couple of kilometres to the KOA. We learned later they even have discount rates for bicycle tourists. Who cares if it's American owned? At least they are clean. This place is such a rip-off. I can't believe it -- the toilets have single square sheet dispensers. I haven't seen that the entire trip, even in outhouses! I feel ripped off to have paid such an exorbitant fee for this. Your Honour, I plead temporary insanity. Nothing like bicycle touring camping in free spots. Sharon changed her tire -- the old one is beginning to fray along the whitewall. I have never seen a tire do that before. But, when on a long distance cycle tour, it is best not to tempt the tire gods. But, hey, come to think of it, she hasn't had a flat tire since I inserted my old tire inside. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, Sharon's new bicycle tire is narrower than the old bicycle tire she is replacing, so she can't fit my old bicycle tire inside. She is happy about this. We got over 3500 miles on that old Expedition bicycle tire. Not bad, considering it was the one that picked up a huge washer over a bridge in Maine and had a big chunk torn out of it. We put a boot over the hole and that did the trick. Plus it must have had close to 500 miles or so on it from our bicycle tour from Niagara Falls to Portland Maine. The bicycle tire on now is the Taber special. Hopefully, it will last six weeks until Vicky brings new ones when she and Susan meet us in Europe for an extended bicycle touring vacation -- Avocet Cross are our current favourite bicycle touring tire. I have been happy with the Specialized knobby on the front of my touring bike. My bike handles much better when I go onto gravel now. I have traction. The knobby bicycle tire doesn't dig in or skid sideways. My cheapie bike tire that I bought in the States is still holding up well on the rear. How many miles is that now? Also, the bicycle tire I took off the front when I put on the knobby tire is in reserve as a spare. So far I'm not convinced that high priced bicycle tires are any better than low ticket ones. They all have lasted about the same. I haven't had a flat since I changed to these bike tires and we have had lots of glass, sharp rocks, cracks and potholes. As well, I have Mr Tuffy tire liners inside both the front and rear. Sharon went into a grocery store in the town of Levis and came out with three bags of groceries containing a baguette, tomatoes, cucumber, milk, cheese, sub sandwich, muffins, and mini chocolate cakes with cream puff inside. She is hungry. We stuffed as much as we could inside our bicycle touring panniers and then bungeed the rest atop our rear bicycle touring racks and wobbled away. Thankfully, we found a park not too far away. The picnic tables have flown south for the winter, so we spread our ground sheet on the grass and settled in to enjoy our smorgasbord. A sailboat is hung up on a sandbar. I took a picture of it -- fall colours in the background across the St Lawrence River. Champlain Road can be seen across the river with its multitude of truck traffic. I am glad we are bicycle touring on route 132. Most of the trucks are on Hwy 20. The coast guard came by and sent out a pod to the stranded sailboat. They tied a rope to the sailboat's mast and pulled. This only succeeded in turning the sailboat 90º. It is still stuck on the sandbar. They tried a few more times and then gave up. Guess they will have to wait for high tide -- or spring. We cycled down the road until we came to a roadside picnic area. It is only 5:30 PM, but we decide to stop anyway once Sharon discovers it has clean washrooms. Sunset occurs around 6 PM now anyway. Can't be cycling on the road much later than that. We cook up fusilli pasta and add a can of mushroom soup -- which I have been carrying in my bicycle touring panniers since our cottage stop back at Maurice and Jacquiline's. Sharon is not too hungry. She is still digesting lunch. We wait until it is dark and then pitch our little bicycle touring tent over a bank, out of sight, in a shadow. We lay on the grass and try to figure out our star chart. We find the Big Dipper, but we are not sure of any of the others. The moon is the thinnest sliver. We see a long falling star that is meant just for us. Ah, the life of bicycle touring! |
