Day 40 (Fri, July 29th) Port Huron, MI to London, Ontario (83 miles)

Today we awoke again at 5:30 am to a second consecutive day of torrential rains.    But today we couldn't delay our start as we had an appointment with Canadian Customs to cross the St. Clair Bridge into Canada at 7:00 am.   We were escorted en masse (as a peloton of cyclists) by the Canadian Police (the Mounties) as we made the 3-mile trip from our hotel across the bridge into Canada.   As good fortune would have it, the rains stopped at 6:45 am and we were able to keep our appointment "sans rain".   The weather remained cloudy and humid for most of the day and we had a strong tailwind from the West that made for fast cycling and an early arrival at our lodging in the Travelodge in London, Canada.

We only took a few pictures today because of the weather.   Here they are:


In the early morning rain, we are getting ready for the ride into Canada.


We are forming up a peloton for an escorted ride across the St Clair Bridge


The peloton is off at 8:00am sharp...we will be in Canada shortly


The peloton heads over the bridge.  I'm wearing the yellow rain hat.


At the bottom of the bridge we approach Canadian Customs


Here we get out passports for our entry into Canada


We have crossed over the bridge into Canada (Anne, Leslie, Dan, Terry)


Here we are at the first SAG stop.   Is it going to rain?


Our first look at Canada.....a modern Canadian Farmhouse


...and a "green" barn.   This is the first green barn we've ever seen.


Most barns are red like this one, no?


Not in Canada, they've got green barns!


At first, Canada looked a little different than the USA.   We thought it might be the heavy clouds....


But then we saw a cornfield lined with flowers, like this.....


And more flowers adorn the corn fields.....like these!


And a Canadian tractor, hoisted in the air by our 3 strongest riders (Mike, Matt, and Dan)


And we met friendly people that like to chat, at places like this country market where we had lunch!

We arrive in London, Ontario by mid-afternoon.   Here you see this on a map where we are at the midle of the map the middle and north of Lake Erie


At our Hotel, the Maple Leaf hangs side by side with Old Glory


And our America by Bike van settles in for the evening in London, Ontario,

So this was our first day in Canada.   We will come to like Canada very much over the next few days.   Tomorrow, we are off to Brantford (home of Wayne Gretsky), then off to Niagara Falls on Sunday.  Both should be great!

Love to All,

ME