DAY 61: GRAFTON TO KINGSTON, 132 KM

1 August 2007

The alarm went off at 4:30 this morning, and we were out of bed by 5. I think the last time we got up so early was... Saskatchewan? It's definitely been a while since we'd been up before the sun. We managed to get things together fairly quickly, and hit the road by 6:20. This was a good call, as it made the first bit of our ride nice and cool. We had breakfast part two in Napanee, just over 90 km into our day.

We were glad to have cycled so much in the morning, as the afternoon was HOT. We were fortunate to meet a nice lady working in a convenience store just outside of Napanee, who gave us some ice cold bottled water for free. We made it to Kingston by 3:15! It's amazing to get to a place so early, and be able to relax. We're staying at Rhian's friend Ali's apartment tonight, which is really nice. Thanks to you both for hooking us up! We look forward to the frozen pizzas and wine that await us there.

DAY 60: DARLINGTON PROVINCIAL PARK TO GRAFTON, 76 KM

31 July 2007

In spite of the fiasco in White Lake, where our cooler was taken out of the bathroom by a concerned camper, we decided last night that we'd store it in there again, along with our toiletry bags. That was a stupid decision, as we discovered that all of our stuff had been removed, yet again. This time we weren't as lucky as we had been in White Lake--we went to the office, and were told that nobody had brought in our stuff. So, we were forced to move on and buy new everything. It was a huuuuge pain--I especially lamented the loss of a half-full bottle of mustard and my salt and pepper shaker--but we managed.

We had spent half the day buying new food and toiletries, and cycling in the heat was rough. Luckily, Highway 2 is beautiful. We passed all kinds of lovely little towns, including Port Hope, where we had our breakfast part two. We had ice cream--Dutch apple pie flavour!--and then used the internet for a bit. While we were inside the library, somebody stole a water bottle off of my bike. What's with all of these thieves? And why steal a dirty old water bottle, of all things? Surely, they could have taken something more valuable, or at least useful.

Since we were having such a slow, hot ride, we decided to call it a day early and stop at a campground in Grafton. We went swimming in the pool, had our delicious Sidekicks dinner, and called it a night.

DAY 59: MISSISSAUGA TO DARLINGTON PROVINCIAL PARK, 108 KM

30 July 2007

It took a while to get everything sorted out this morning. Apparently, four days off just isn't enough to do everything there is to do. It was well after 1 by the time we finally set off, and pretty hot. We rode into Toronto to meet Alex, who hooked us up with a solar-powered iPod charger that he had put together for us. Thanks, Alex, you rock!

We continued down Highway 2 to Darlington Provincial Park, just outside Oshawa. Dan was excited because this park was named after his hometown in England, but his excitement didn't last--we payed a whopping $27.75 for our site, which had ground so hard that we couldn't even peg our tent down! But we made do, and ate the sandwiches my mother had made us for dinner before getting to bed.