A slow go in northern Ontario

I don't have photographs from Sunday, but you can easily recreate the scenery. Go to your closet, get some gray flannel and hold it about an arm's length from your nose. After looking at that gray view for a few minutes, go stand in your shower with it and turn on the cold water. That was the day.

My twin left me a voicemail to let me know that there were typos in the blog. He figured it was because I was tired. He was right.

I had a hard time getting under way Sunday. When I awoke it was foggy and raining. I probably should have gone back to bed, but I stayed up and went to The Bobber for breakfast. Since I was in Canada I had Canadian bacon with breakfast It was good, but bore little resemblence to that which McDonald's puts on its Egg McMuffin.

I was entertained at breakfast by a Canadian woman in a group sitting several tables away from mine handicapping the Democratic presidential race. According to her Hillary Clinton has already won. I wonder what Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico thinks about that.

The discussion turned to the president's lack of approval rating, and someone in the group related that some American co-workers had expressed unhappiness with some action of the administration. The handicapper exclaimed, "Well, they shouldn't complain, they voted for him." I resisted the urge to explain that actually fewer than half of us voted for the Mr. Bush.

My route called for me to go to Sudbury, but my misreading of a highway sign gave me an opportunity to see the town twice as I circled around looking for a way out. From the parts of town I saw, Sudbury is not a thriving city, at least as reflected in its downtown (or city centre as the signs say). Sudbury is famous in professional hockey circles for being the home of some very tough and talented players.

As I got closer to Ottawa I saw increasing signs of Stanley Cup fever. There were signs on many of the buildings saying, "Go Sens." The local team, the Senators, is the first Canadian team to be playing in the the Stanley Cup finals in several years. The opponent is from that hockey hot spot Anaheim, California where the team is named after a Disney movie, The Mighty Ducks.

My rain suit absorbed so much water that I was worried that I might exceed the recommended gross vehicle weight. I started riding at 10:00 a.m., and rode until I reached Ottawa about 8:30. Except for an hour starting at 4:30 it rained the entire ride. The road was in rough shape for most of the way, and with the rain and fog I was considering calling it quits about 50 miles west of Ottawa. Just as I started looking for a cheap motel the rain diminished and the road improved, so I rolled on to Ottawa. I can't tell you anything about the capital of Canada yet because the rain picked up greatly as I rode into the city. I took the first motel I found.

By my calculation I am about 400 miles away from Madawaska, Maine and the fourth corner. I'm going to make an effort to catch up with Ambassador Wilkins in the morning and then head for Maine by way of Montreal and Quebec.