Day 41 (Sat, July 30th) London to Brantford, Ontario (70 Miles)

Today we had a great ride across Ontario, Canada to the town of Brantford, which is the home of Wayne Gretzky (Canadian Hockey Star) and also the home of Alexander Graham Bell when he first arrived in America from Scotland.  The weather was just great, we had a nice tail wind, and took lots of pictures, some of them interesting.   Many commented later that this was one of our best rides to date.

Here are some of the pictures of the day:

Our route map shows our ride from London to Hamilton (just north of Brantford) between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.


Here is an Ontario farm in the early morning with wheatfield and wildflowers in the foreground

After seeing all the hayfield pictures of last week, Damien Dempster (from Dublin) wanted his own hay bale picture.   Here is the first attempt.

Here is the second attempt, this time with Damien standing up!  (This pic will soon be hanging in a Pub in Dublin with the banner "Damien conquers America")

The rest of us want in the action (Russell Goins, Barry Lucas, ME, Damien)

Local Ontario farmer Jim McIntire let us borrow his hayfield.  Here he is with his 1950 Ford tractor.

Here we are approaching a large farm enroute to Brantford (Damien and Barry Lucas in the lead)

I am just behind the leaders with another group behind me.

Here is a serious hayfield.   Look at all the bales!  There is no shortage of hay in Canada.

Here is me enroute to Brantford (we are out in the country, no port-a-potties here)

A little farther down the road, ME by lakeside (still no port-a-potties)

We come upon a strange field we have not seen before.   It looks like Maryland tobacco growing in Ontario, Canada

It is tobacco!   We asked these field hands from Mexico.   They say Ontario grows lots of tobacco for cigarettes.   We are wondering just what kind of hashish they are really growing (:-)

Just across the road, we see another strange field of crops growing under a canvas canopy.   "It's Ginseng!" says the field hands.

As we learned, Ontario has a mild climate, suitable for growing Tobacco (and Ginseng).   Here is the factory that exports Ginseng to Asia and other parts of the globe.

Russell and Barry looking over the Ginseng merchandise

I tried a couple of Ginseng tablets hoping they would help me climb the big hills.  They didn't work worth a darn.

We stop at the Windmill Country Store outside of Brantford for lunch.

Russell and I sit down in these great rocking chairs.  It was hard to get up.

This is Jim Willis from Brantford.   His grandson gave him this T-Shirt.   I tried to swap jersey's with him but he wouldn't have it.

We then went to Alexander Graham Bell's home in Brantford.  He lived in this house with his parents when he first immigrated  from Scotland.   Here he developed the early telephone and started the first telephone company of Canada.

Here is the first Telephone office in Canada (part of the museum)

And one of the first operators (with a brace of heavy phone equipment on her shoulders)

Here is an early telephone in the Bell Museum.  I am holding up my I-Phone IV, today's modern version.

We meet young Chris, also a biker, who gave us an interesting tour of the museum.  

Outside the museum, we ham it up with Bell's carriage.   Russell Goins (of Warrenton, VA) is pulling the carriage.  Barry Lucas is cracking the whip!

These old trees adorn the street adjacent to the Bell House

Butterflies are feeding on the sap from the tree above.   Here is one of them.

As we pull into Brantford, we pass the new Wayne Gretzky hockey rink.   This is year round hockey country.

Of course, it is on Wayne Gretzky Parkway!

Mary and Blythe take a shower in Brantford!

We are the last ones to arrive at the hotel.   The other cyclists are wondering where we have been.   "Site seeing, of course!"

We are invited to join them (which we did).  Lucy, Russell, Julie, Diane, Adrienne, Nancy, Doyle, Sharon)

Tonight we are resting up for a short 73 mile ride to Niagara Falls tomorrow.    We are all excited about seeing the falls and also having a day off on Monday before we make the final pull into New York, Vermont and then New Hampshire.

Love to All,

ME