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THE SENS MADE A LIAR OF ME
Well, the Ottawa Senators have made a liar of me. The departure date of May 15th was selected on the assumption that they would not make it out of the 2nd round of the playoffs. Now they are in the Eastern Conference Finals, against the Buffalo Sabres, so the departure date has been pushed ahead to May 29th. As I’d said earlier, we have our “priorities”.
As it is, it’s probably for the better. My conditioning has not been as consistent as I’d like - hard to get out on consecutive days, or for rides of any length, seems there’s always stuff to do, or errands to run, plus of course I feel badly when I leave Panna for any length of time if we’re going out that same night (as to a hockey game).
Using the silver bike (Silver - I tend to name my vehicles) I’ve done some decent speeds over 2-hour rides, trying to incorporate hills on the routes wherever possible, and there is a road near here which crosses a ridge, so when I’ve only got an hour or so, I’ll bike up and down the ridge (two hills each trip) two or three times. I can only assume the hills will be much worse - hence the walking back-up plan, and also the option of simply driving past those areas (but that’s kind of a cop-out to me). The blue bike, Blue, has just completed his spring tune-up and I will probably start using him from time to time - but Silver is heavier, more work to train with.
Casper, our van, has been returned to us, about 9" taller, and fitted up inside with a variety of “goodies”. A tiny sink, two-burner stove, mini-fridge, porta-potty (for emergencies), TV monitor with DVD player (for Bob when he’s waiting for me), tiny closet, and a very nice space at the rear to accommodate 2-3 bicycles (like, if anyone wants to join us - ha!). But we still have to obtain a cushion for the bench seat, which covers some storage space, plus determine where to put various tie-down hooks, plus determine how the heck we’re going to put our gear into the van - there really is NOT a lot of defined storage space and neither of us is in the habit of traveling lightly. Packing for this trip will really involve some difficult decisions as to what to bring and what to leave behind - may require doing laundry every 3-4 days! And forget about tons of snacks and drinks, etc - we’ll have to buy our beer (or cider) in 6-packs, forget the 2-4's.
But the logistical planning is taking shape. Have made a list of pet-friendly accommodations in Manitoba and Ontario (at least along the routes we’ll likely take), may not have to for Saskatchewan, as we don’t plan on too many different places to stop there. I’ve marked tentative itineraries on the maps and am starting to “learn” how to transfer that information to a GPS. The next thing will be marking on the maps the intended itinerary so I can download it to the GPS. One big problem I’ve discovered with the mapping software is that there are fairly serious errors in it. When I highlight the town I live in, Kanata, it calls it Kemptville, which is another town about 60 km from here - it’s actually where I had my cottage. Also, it calls a nearby small street, which is Casson Way, Carson Way - oops, what if I was looking for Casson, no such street exists? It kind of makes me hope the maps are accurate once we get to those areas where I don’t already know the names of the roads &/or the towns.
But the Sens have won their first game. Only 3 more wins and we will have another delay - not really desired, but going to the Stanley Cup Finals only happens once in a while, so it’s something I’m prepared to put up with.
Till next time....
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Allan E.
non-member comment
How's it giong
I guess your trip has started. It should be one of your adventures of a lifetime. i did not know that you were into cycling. We look forward to following your progress. Sharon and Allan