Did sleep really good in the "jumping room" gym in the high school, called like that because kids practise gymnastic tumbling in there and it has padded walls. Chatted with Kobie long on ythe phone and he is enjoying the leadership conference in Chicago. Rained a lot there too.
When we got outside there was athreatening purple bank of clouds moving in, quite angry looking with rumblings. there was thunder during the night too, I heard it around midnight. Ate my oats and raisins very quickly and gulped down a cup of milk and jumped on the bike. It was dark outside because of the rain clouds. everyone felt nervous, especially so when an officer came to the school to warn us of the impending thunderstorm. We thanked him and rode on, praying for the best. On the main road 4 of us missed a turn because of the poor visibility.Doug and Joy Lutke and Jerry Pols. Kept on straight and just as the first fury of the rain started we saw....can you believe?...a Tim Hortons! In America..... We hightailed in there as quick as lightning just as the strong wind started in earnest. Waited the storm out for an hour enjoying great coffee & a donut - and chatting with locals, explaining the C2C initiative. Heard interesting stories ...to follow...:-)
It kept raining for a long time after we left and we all ended up with skunk tails on our backsides, sand in our hair and in our mouths because of the tire spray. Our bikes ended up looking even worse than yesterday, and required intense cleaning for the third day in a row. So much grit on the drivetrain that my derailler made horrible sounds and didn't want to work properly. Also encountered long stretches of road works, where the pavement was grated up and rough surface to ride on. Had to wait long for our turn as double direction traffic had to use one single lane.
Rode with this group all day. Took turns to pull at 30kmh. Nice people to ride with! The sun came out and shone quite warmly. Got a sunburn as I rushed away in the morning without putting on sunscreen. Battled a strongish headwind the last 20 km or so. At Marine City we waited for the ferry in a restaurant, enjoying Pepsi and fries (shared between us all). The water of Lake St Clair was turqoise blue, fabulous looking, similar to the mediteranian sea. It made for a real nice picture.
The border control went smoothly, and we were greeted enthusiastically by dozens of C2C supporters on the Canadian side. Flags and welcome banners greeted us warmly, with Timmies coffee, cookies and watermelon. It felt soooo awesome to be in Canada agian!!!!
The ride back up to Sarnia on the other side of Lake St Clair and the river was wonderful, because of the scenery as well as the strong tailwind< It was a happy ride, enjoyed by us all, after the scary start to the day. At Sarnia Christian School we encountered a feast! The gym was decorated festively with long strands of white net from the centre out to the corners, with enormous red ballons bunched in the centre of the ceiling and the corners. Tables were ready draped in red and white, with an absolutely gorgeous centre piece on a table - a bike decorated with red and white flowers, such that none of the bike's frame was visible.The lady behind the artwork is Doris, originally from Columbia. The volunteers hosting us put on a feast for us. First we got delicious cupcakes, that spelled out "Welcome to Canada" The dinner was a real feast with many salads, steaks, potatoes, beans and corn. Deserts to our heart's desire!! The effort put in to feed 150 cyclists and our volunteers// staff is so greatly appreciated by us all. Our hearts swelled with gratitude and pride in our generous Canadian supporters and how they welcomed us!! Sarnia is the home town of Cristeena Nienhuis, and dozens of family and friends went all out to give us the best! They made a lovely banner, to welcome us. Photo to be insertewd as soon as I get the technical problems sorted out. I even got a free haircut, like many others starting to look a bit shabby. :-)
On display were mats crotched from milk bags, and sent to poor countries for people to sleep on. Very nice thick and useful mats, made of materals we discard every day. Carry bags are also made out of bread bags, cut up in strips and weaved or loosely crotched. Most get sent to Haiti and Africa in big containers.
Sleeping inside again tonight as more huge clouds are threatening. I don't like the greenish look of them.....I will just pray and trust in the Lord to protect us all, like he does every day. Another cyclist had a bad fall today, hitting his head, but he is checked up and ok.
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