Canada tour - Day 1 - Washago to Bracebridge
The day began with a rather crowded continental breakfast, followed by
a bus ride. I sat with Lisa from Rockville, MD, who works at the NIH.
This was my first picture and also my first impression of the ride: a
bunch of people I barely knew, heading out in ones and twos.
I rode with Sue for a while; she has a son who lives in Sterling, VA.
I also rode with Lisa and Nancy.
This sign reminded me of a Joni Mitchell song (Big Yellow Taxi "...they took
all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum..."). I'm still not sure
what a Tree Museum is.
We had a nice lunch on Gravenhurst with Lisa, Pat, Nancy, Dave, Sue and
Debi. Little did I know that I'd be hanging out with Dave, Debi and Pat
for most of the trip.
Pat (from Olney, MD) and Dave (from Denver).
Debi (from Atlanta), Sue and myself (Jonathan).
Nancy and Lisa.
I gathered from the conversation that Pat was
faster than her friends Nancy (also from Olney, MD) and Lisa, so I
decided to ride with Pat, just to see if I could keep up.
Pat's group was Nick (from southern Maryland), Pat, Debi and Dave.
At a turn onto a dirt road, Nick lost us by not taking a wrong turn.
The wrong turn took us a mile down a dirt road to a dead end and a beautiful
lake. That's Debi and Pat looking at the lake.
The lake at the dead-end.
Back at the correct turn, we went down the correct (and much
rougher) dirt road, hooking up with a bunch of others. Out of that,
Dave, Debi and I formed a bit of a breakaway. We stuck to the route until a
point where (we thought) Suzie had said to turn for a nice detour.
Actually, Suzie had explained it quickly and we hadn't taken
notes.
The route we followed took us past this alarming "Hill" sign. We rode up the hill...
.. to another dead end at another nice lake.
This is me by the lake.
Debi by the lake.
Dave by the lake (from Dave's camera).
After the ride (45 miles) I had some drinks with Suzie, Roger and some of the
other riders, and a nice conversation with Bob and Willi,
who hail from San Luis Obisbo, CA. I went to college at
(relatively) nearby U. C. Santa Barbara.
After dinner, Debi, Dave, Pat and I saw a movie (Red) in Bracebridge,
a lovely little town. After a post movie drink, Debi suggested that the
four of us ride together the next day, "like a team".
To get a quick start, we plan to arrive at breakfast the minute breakfast is served.
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Canada Tour / Jonathan Krall / revised September 2005