Sunday August 16, 2015
A great rest day. We are staying with Doug Cuddy who is a warm and funny person. He has a great house and is hosting another couple who are cycling across the country, taking it one section at a time.
Doug allowed me to use his bike stand and some tools for cleaning the bikes. Both bikes are clean again and ready for the road, laundry is done and I am feeling very relaxed. Drinking Doug’s home-brewed beer helps.
Doug allowed Ralf to use his car so that Ralf could try and sort out the phone situation, we have not had cell service since Kenora and get resupplied.
Ralf spent over an hour on the phone trying to determine why we have not had cell service from Kenora. We may have to change carriers to Rogers, what a total waste of time. Ralf was surprisingly calm and polite with all the people he spoke to on the phone! Doug and I were in the kitchen laughing at Ralf being so calm.
Doug has had a problem with bears in the past, and has a bear skull in an alcove in his fireplace. The bear wanted to get into the house, possibly hoping to have a romantic encounter with Doug’s dog, Kali. Doug protecting the females of his household, shot it.
![\"Bear](\"http://winter-rides.ca/SweetCheeks/wp-content/uploads/Bear-Skull.jpg\")
The garden at this place is amazing and both nights we have had fresh veggies from the garden. Doug asked what veggies I like, I told him I wasn’t keen on beets, but Ralf really likes them. What a very astute man, he made a big pile of beets for dinner because he knew that Ralf didn’t get to eat beets very often!
We had a late night chatting, eventually getting to bed about midnight. Very bad, we have quite a long ride tomorrow and should have been in bed earlier. It was nice to have a good chat and put the world’s to rights with a funny, intelligent man.
I did Wawa OP in 83, Iron Bridge in 82, Blind River in late 80s and Espanola in 85. Tough, lonely country. Never really liked the north, too simple a landscape, too few people, too little certainty about the future. Exotic at first but I always felt like I, and every other human, was intruding, was only going to be there for a while. It was not “home” material.
Are you coming down highway 11? Would like to host you if we can. Prepared to pick you up and put bikes in our car to save you the detour. We are at 2889 South Portage Road, on Lake of Bays.
Ralf and I know what you mean about not “home” material, in Northern Ontario. Would love to have stopped in to see you, but we decided to head down to Tobermory through Manitoulin Island. We will be in Barrie on Monday, I need a quick “friend fix”, having lunch with Celeste on Wednesday and heading out via South Barrie towards Peterborough and on towards Montreal.
We see so much negativity about the world that it always warms my heart reading about all the wonderful people you have met!
Doug is definitely on my top ten of warmshowers hosts.