Thursday June 23, 2016

At 1:49 a.m. the Fire Department announced that severe winds and thunder storms were tracking our way. A few people evacuated to the on-site buildings. Sue said she wasn’t moving, Ralf stayed in the tent. Although I was a little concerned, I went back to the tent and went straight to sleep. At 2:45 the thunderstorms started and really heavy winds blew all around us. The tent stayed upright and did not leak. By 3:13 the storm had blown over and we were safe and sound. I slept really well until the alarm went off at 5:30. We didn’t get up straight away as there was another small thunderstorm going through.

I was surprised to see that most of the tents were still standing, only one seemed to have broken poles. Incredibly the two tents that I assisted in erecting were still standing and the owners survived the night.

The five porta potties did not survive! As I was standing in line for the one loo, I wondered in my sleepy state why they had removed four potties in the night, when I realized I was looking at the upended bottoms of the potties.  I wanted to get a photo of the upended porta potties, but a couple of the guys stood them back up – yuck not sure that was a good idea.

After a very interesting night, we put away the wet tent and headed out later than usual at 7:35. We had a great breakfast provided by the “Pink Ribbon Girls” – supporting Breast Cancer Research. Five items for $5.00 choice of a piece of fruit, bagel or donut, boiled egg, yogurt, coffee or juice. They had so many bananas they were giving everyone two instead of one.

Today was a head down and go ride. How easy it is to fall back into the old habits of “racing” through a ride. It does feel good though to ride a light bike and just go.

The ride to the first rest stop was very nice.

To the second rest stop we had a few miles of “carreretta road” – Cuban style bumpy roads. These kinds of roads are hard on the bum and the hands and of course it was into a headwind.

After the lunch stop we had a tail-wind, a relatively flat smooth road and we motored. I knew the last three miles were going to be uphill. After we cycled through downtown Miamisburg, we headed uphill to the school and our place to camp for the next two nights. As we headed uphill, I told Ralf to meet me at the top and off he disappeared, leaving me in his dust. He is such a good climber there is no point in holding him back. I wasn’t too many minutes behind him, I am getting better.

After setting up the tent, showering and a quick chat with the folks we headed downtown.

Miamisburg is located on the Great Miami River and has some great bike trails. It has a nice waterfront park where we listened to some music.

We walked up and down the main street, there is some work being done to bring the downtown back to its former glory. They had a few empty shops, but they did have one really good outfitters shop, where we could have spent a small fortune. I bought a little black skirt to replace the one I lost in Charlottetown. The skirt is not Merino Wool but it hangs exactly the same as the skirt I lost and will probably wash and dry quicker than my lovely Merino wool skirt – it was on sale for $36.00.

We ate in a pub downtown – fish and chips and a couple of pints of beer.

We got back to the camp and chatted to Dick for a while. He is such a lovely man. We were hoping to meet Cindy, but she had other plans for tomorrow.

Sue asked if I was riding tomorrow. I told her I was planning to go up to the Indian Mound. Sue and Deb said that sounded like a good idea and we could all go together with Sue’s sister Pat who lives locally and will drive us. We are going out for breakfast, and then heading to the Indian Mound and back to the Outfitters Store.

Both Deb and Sue have climbed Kilimanjaro and I want to learn more about that. I am not sure I want to do it yet, but I might add it to my bucket list along with Macchu Picchu.

Wednesday June 22, 2016

I was awake at 4:30 making a dash to the Porta Potty clutching my tummy and butt cheeks. I felt awful. I was awake again at 5:00 and eventually got up at 5:15 with another visit to the Porta Potty. Fortunately, there were no line-ups as there usually is at the rest stops during the rides.

I managed to eat a muffin for breakfast and then asked Ralf not to do the Century Ride and ride with me for the day. He looked after me today, ensuring that I was eating enough to survive without throwing up.

Fortunately, it was an easier ride today. A couple of steeper climbs early on in the day, then rolling hills and the last 10 miles were flat with a tail wind. The weather was also much cooler today which helped with the cycling. We had a couple of rain showers, which cooled things down a little.

After we had set up the tent, Ralf went back out to the last rest stop (10 miles out) he added another 32 kms to his day. It didn’t give him an imperial century, but it did give him a metric century+. He met Dick at the last rest stop and cycled into camp with him.

After showering, Sue (one of the other GOBA riders) said she was going to set up her friends tents. They were doing the century loop and the forecast was for rain. I offered my assistance. We got the first one set up easily, but the second was a little more complicated. Various members of the group came over to offer their assistance and advice. We did get it up and hoped that it would stay there, at least until the owner got back from his ride.

Forecasts for severe thunder storms and strong winds had the Dayton Cycling Club in a bit of a tizzy. GOBA organizer came around and told people that buses would be available at 9:00 p.m. to take anyone who wanted to sleep in the gym for the night for an extra $10.00. Sue commented it was a “chicken little” scenario – “the sky is falling in”.

The Fire Department announced that they were monitoring the situation and if it was likely the storm would hit our area, they would advise evacuation from the tents into buildings on-site.

We opted to stay in the tent.

Tuesday June 21, 2016

I went back to sleep after Ralf left to do the optional loop of 81 ks today. I woke up at 7:40 and had a nice shower in the shower truck. The shower trucks are transport trailers set up with about 6 shower stalls and an area to get dressed. It can get quite hot in the shower trucks when all stalls are being used and very cosy as 6 women are trying to get undressed and dressed in a confined area. This morning I was the only one in the shower truck and it was very nice. I missed the breakfast set up in the school cafeteria. I had headed out to do the washing. I took the shuttle bus Uptown and headed to the Laundromat. I got misplaced a couple of times, therefore it took me about 30 minutes to find the Laundromat. I am not sure what it is about Laundromat dryers but, unless you have the heat set on “furnace” they never seem to dry your clothes properly. After $2.00 and sitting around for an hour or more, I headed back to the school with slightly damp clothes. I draped them over the tent awning and they dried very quickly.

I eventually ate “breakfast” at noon at a small café in Uptown. One of the nice things about GOBA, you never have to sit and eat on your own. Someone will always take the time to chat to you. I spoke to a lovely couple who had lived in North Bay! They arrived in North Bay in December on one of the coldest winters on record. Welcome to Canada.

I had a lovely spanekopita and a good cup of coffee.

Ralf had a good ride. When he is on his own he doesn’t take many photos and tends to put his head down and go.

Oxford is a nice little University Town – the Uptown area has some small boutiquey shops and lots of bars and restaurants that cater for the students. The evening entertainment was Square Dancing.

We ate at the Steinkeller German Restaurant again. Good food, and good beer.

We were in bed by 9:45 tonight and Dick did not get us into any more trouble.

Monday June 20, 2016

Happy Birthday Big Brother, love you.

It looks as if we are in England – Eaton to Oxford, but no we are in rural Ohio.

Not a good night’s sleep – too hot and sticky. The alarm went off at 5:30 and once again we were up and packed and on the road by 7:00 a.m. Breakfast was pancakes which were o.k. but no coffee.

Headwinds, hills and heat!! Although very tiring it was a nice ride.

Today was Covered Bridge Ride today. Three covered bridges, two historic and one built in 2012. We had to walk our bikes through all the bridges for safety.

There were some nice houses along the route but the area was mainly farming.

The rest stops were a little further apart – first stop at 24 ks, the second one was at 62ks. If the rest stop hadn’t been there I would have had to stop for a snack. I had pizza and a slice of homemade cherry pie, very nice pie. Not things that I usually eat on the road. Surprisingly, I digested it well, it didn’t sit there like a lead weight. The last rest stop was only 8 ks from the end. It seemed like a waste of time to stop, but it was a nice little spot and we enjoyed a freezee ice-pop to cool down.

The lunch stop was in a school that “sat” on the State line – Indiana/Ohio border. The school had two doors with signs above that read INDIANA and OHIO – established in 1860.

We cycled through Hueston Woods State Park which had some interesting switch back downhills.

The afternoon and last rest stop was at a pioneer museum, which was interesting. The buildings were used to help escaping slaves on the “Underground Railroad”.

Tomorrow is a rest day or an optional loop route. I will take the rest day and Ralf of course will cycle 43 miles tomorrow.

I will do the washing and have a wander around the downtown of Oxford, which is actually called Uptown because it is at the top of the hill!!

We surprised Dick in the Dayton Tent. His response to Ralf was “What are you doing here?” Then he gave me a big hug.

We found a German Restaurant in Uptown and had schnitzel, spaetzle and good dark German beer.

When we got back to the school we chatted to Dick until after 10:00, we could have chatted longer, but we were soundly told off by a fellow Dayton Rider. He came out of his tent wearing a headlight (almost blinded me!) “It is past 10:00 p.m., some people want to sleep, if you want to stay up Take It Off Campus”. We blamed the “noise” on Dick, we are quiet Canadians (lol).

Great Ohio Bike Adventure (GOBA)

As soon as I received confirmation that I could have the time off work, I booked GOBA, it is an organized ride in Ohio with approximately 1500 to 2500 other cyclists. We have done this ride three times before and met some great people. Most notably are Richard and Beverley, Richard commented regularly on our Grand Adventure. We didn’t tell them we would be at GOBA, we wanted to surprise them.

We headed south on Saturday June 18, 2016 and made really good time to Hamilton, Ohio. Ralf used his new GPS and it worked perfectly, it took us approximately 9 hours to get there. We join the Dayton Cycling Club and are able to enjoy their SAG wagon they provide shade awnings, cold drinks and snacks at the end of each days ride. We also enjoy the company of some really nice people and have some good discussions.

As the drive down took us 9 hours, and I wasn’t scheduled to work on the Sunday, Ralf suggested we stop and have a visit with his Dad and Margaret on the way back. They live in London and it would break the drive back. Fortunately, they were going to be home and we could have a nice visit with them before heading home on Sunday.

Beverley surprised us at the GOBA registration tent. We were picking up our information package when I was tapped on my shoulder, big hugs all around. Beverley is volunteering with the GOBA organization this week and may ride part of the ride, but not everyday.

Sunday June 19, 2016 – Hamilton to Eaton 77 kms

First day of GOBA, I hope I am ready for the distances. Although I have been cycling to work (12 kms return) the longest distance I have ridden is 70 ks! because of our weather and work schedule it has been difficult for me to get any time on the bike for the longer distances.

Of course while on the Grand Adventure we found that most campsites are located near train tracks. Although last night we were camping in a Fairground, we were located near train tracks. At 3:00 in the morning we were woken by two musical trains. Maybe it was Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends talking to each other.

We were awake at 5:30 and on the road by 7:00. We had breakfast of egg & cheese on a bun with coffee $8.00 for two.

We are back on our road bikes and trying not to go back to the “heads down and go” mentality, but the bikes just want to go.  We did stop and take some photos.

The route today was hilly leaving Hamilton with some good short steep climbs. The flatter section came at the right time, as I was getting a little tired from the hills. The weather was hot, but for the most part the roads were shaded.

GOBA organizes three rest stops – the local schools, fire departments, clubs stock and man the rest stops as fund raisers for their organizations. The nice thing is that the prices are reasonable – 0.50cents for a banana, pasta salad $1.50 for a small container, PB & J sandwiches for a dollar.

We finished the ride in Eaton at about 11:30. After setting up the tent we relaxed for a while under the Dayton shade awnings and had a cold iced tea. The High School allowed us to use the indoor showers, which were very “refreshing” – cool.

After my shower I was combing my hair in front of the only mirror in the changing rooms, when a taller woman stood behind me to comb her hair at the same time. I commented on the fact that she made me feel very small by doing that – she apologized and then realized I was joking and we had a laugh about the convenience of our height difference.

The schools/campsites are often located on the outskirts of the Town. GOBA puts on school bus shuttles to take us to local attractions and the downtown of the area where we are staying. We headed downtown, most of the stores were closed so we window-shopped for an hour or so. We saw a covered bridge which we will cycle past tomorrow. This bridge is the oldest double covered bridge in Ohio.

Are we crazy! We knew when we bought the condo that it needed some upgrades. The kitchen was one, the bathroom was another and a new entrance door was the third.

The kitchen reno was full of ups and downs and we were dreading getting the bathroom done. Then we managed to get hold of John Ridgwell!! John had renovated our basement and bathroom in our old house and did an excellent job. We spoke to him about the bathroom reno and he said he would be available to do it for us in June.

What an opportunity, if we could get time of work we could cycle GOBA and John could renovate the bathroom while we were away. We confirmed that he could get it done in a week. He said if we were out of the condo, he could work from dawn to dusk and get it done.

I was able to get the time off work, Ralf got fired from his job.  I booked GOBA the last week in May. We didn’t tell Dick or Beverley that we would be at GOBA, we wanted to surprise them.

We spent time with John picking tiles, cabinets, bath and surround etc and gave him the keys on Friday June 17, 2016.

What a difference having a great contractor makes to getting a job done.

We arrived home after a great weeks cycling and had a new bathroom, a few minor touch-ups to be completed the following week and it is done.

I don’t think I will be letting Ralf put his bike in the new tub.

“The Sound of a Car Door Opening in Front of You is Similar to the Sound of a Gun Being Cocked”– Amy Webster

We got a call last week (April 11, 2016) to say that the kitchen was being shipped from Winnipeg – yeah the new kitchen will be in shortly.

Of course that balloon was burst pretty quickly. Our kitchen is very small and the installers had scheduled for two days to install. One day for ripping out the floor and cabinets and laying the new floor and the second day for installation of cabinets. It didn’t quite work out that way.

“Best Laid Plans . . . .” The job was due to start on Monday April 18. We had to clear everything out of the \”tiny Kitchen into the tiny condo\”!

The floor tile guy didn’t show up until 10:00 am, went for a two hour lunch at 11:30 and left at 4:30. The kitchen was empty, the front foyer tile was laid but no grouting.

He came back on Tuesday and same deal late arriving and long lunch, I thought Ralf was going to lose it when he said he needed to come back on Wednesday to grout. Both of us were working on Wednesday. He came in at 7:00 a.m. to finish the grouting!!

The delivery guys for the cabinets could not deliver the cabinets until Thursday April 21, no worries the cabinet installers were rescheduled for Friday. The installers arrived on Friday and discovered that not all the pieces had been delivered and they could not install the kitchen without these two important pieces.

Ralf (not Lowes) arranged for the remaining pieces to be delivered on Saturday. Two o’clock came and went and no extra pieces. I would not have liked to have been on the other end of the phone when Ralf was calling the delivery company to find out where they were!! They had to make a second trip to Barrie, because they had forgotten to put our extra pieces on the first truck.

Installers returned on Monday to install the cabinets. They had to have the install done by Tuesday lunchtime as the counter top was being measured at 1:00.

Of course, because of the mistake with the deliveries they were now rescheduling other work to fit us in. It was very obvious that we were not happy customers and so they rescheduled their work.

Other fun problems! The cabinets had a plastic cover on them as they are European style high gloss cabinets. The installers hadn’t realized that the sides were covered in plastic and now we have pieces of plastic showing on some of the cabinets that have already been installed, we had to get an exacto knife to cut it level. Fortunately the counter tops will hide the plastic.

The sink cabinet was supposed to have a flip drawer for small items, that was not sent! We have two ‘fake’ drawer fronts.

The install of the microwave was supposed to include installing an outlet, the installers were not qualified electricians and needed to send another guy to do that.

The dishwasher didn’t fit in the space it came out of. For some strange reason the dishwasher grew and is now too tall for the space!

The installers had left two shelves in two of the cupboards and we couldn’t remove them, because of the door hinge and the screws attaching the cabinet to the wall. They had to remove the cabinet so that they could remove the shelves.

After the measure of the counter top it was supposed to take two to three weeks to be delivered. I knew it would take three weeks and penciled that date on the calendar (May 20, 2016). That date coincided with the Victoria Day long week-end. Ralf called Lowes on the Thursday to see if it was anywhere close to being ready. Once again he received no satisfaction from Lowes and called the company who was making the counter top directly. They were very helpful and informed him they were doing the final quality control and arranged with Ralf for delivery and install. Four weeks after the measure we received our new counter top.

The kitchen looks lovely, but we will never use Lowes again as the \”project managers\”. We have opted to use a different contractor for the back-splash, who has done work for us before.  I wish he had been available to do our kitchen.

The funny thing was that I work with a young man at the Greenhouse, whose parents were also redoing their kitchen at the same time – and I mean a major renovation – walls removed etc. Their kitchen was completed in the same amount of time as our tiny galley kitchen!!

“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle I no longer despair for the human race” – H.G. Wells

We had about 6 inches of snow on Sunday night. Where is spring, when can I get my bike out? Dick commented that he was glad that he was enjoying his winter in Ohio rather than ours in Barrie. Be very careful Dick, we might head south and move in with you until spring arrives in Canada.  A 30 miler sounds perfect at the moment. I think both Ralf and I are suffering from cabin fever.

As I said before this is really weird weather, Monday we had rain and there were flood warnings. All the snow disappeared. Then more snow and more rain and then cold, cold temperatures.

I started at the Greenhouse on Thursday April 7, 2016. Up and out of the house by 8:30 a.m. wow that is early!!

I love working at the Greenhouse, I have priced and set out mini baskets of succulents, I trimmed bonsai trees, unpacked stinky recycled rubber planters, moved tulips and bulbs from one table to another, and my favorite job set out pansies by the hundreds. Pansies are such happy looking plants and a greenhouse full of them makes me smile.

I also noticed the general public walking into the Greenhouse covered up in winter coats and boots,  shoulders raised up to their ears looking slightly glum and within seconds smiles on their faces. Plants are good for you.

My only concern with working at the greenhouse is – I could be handing my paycheck back to them. Thank-you for paying me, now I will buy one of these and two of those and a few of those.

“One of the Most Important Days of My Life was When I Learned to Ride a Bicycle” – Michael Palin

I have been trying to keep the winter weight of, but seem to be fighting a losing battle. I did reduce the food intake when we finished the Grand Adventure, but obviously not enough. The pounds keep creeping on.

I have been working out on the trainer, but it is not the same as being on the bike outside – going somewhere or cycling for the fun of it.

I start my new job next week and I am hoping the weather improves sufficiently enough for me to ride to work. As some Norwegian guy said “There is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing.” I know I can dress for the weather, but I really hate getting my bike dirty, especially after I have spent half the day cleaning it and making it look beautiful.

As I was feeling a little bit like a little porker, I decided I needed some other form of motivation. I bought a Vivo Fit – like the fitbit, only Garmin. I like Garmin products and the Vivofit has a watch as well. I can actually view the amount of steps I take as I take them. I also thought it would be fun to track how many miles I walk when I am working. The greenhouse is pretty big.

Anyway, I got it set up on Sunday and realized I could become a bit fanatical with this thing. After dinner I check how many steps I have taken and even if I have worked out on the trainer, I have to go out to make sure I reach my step goal. End of week one and I lost 1.5 lbs. Feeling good.

This week Ralf and I celebrated 31 years since we met. I know most people cannot pinpoint the exact day they met their husband but for us it was fairly easy. We met in Israel. Ralf returned to Canada on April 11, 1985 and we had met about two weeks prior to him leaving Israel. Amazing, we knew each other for about 10 days and were married less than 5 months later.

I joined him in Canada July 5, 1985 and we were married on August 14, 1985. We had only been together for about 7 weeks!! Thirty-one years later and I still fancy him.

Saturday we had a winter storm warning, snow squalls and white out conditions on the highway. We only got a dusting of snow but the temperature dropped to minus 14 over night.

“A Bicycle Ride Around the World Begins with a Single Pedal Stroke” – Scott Stoll

First day of Spring and it is +4 degrees, the sun is out, a slight breeze blowing. Ralf is working and I went for a 5 km walk. The walk was lovely, I could hear the birds singing it feels like spring.

What a tease Mother Nature is, Sunday was lovely, Monday March 21^st, it snowed! and the rest of the week the weather just got nastier each day. The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday was a “Winter Storm Watch” for Barrie and “Freezing Rain” for Toronto.

The freezing rain hit Barrie with a vengeance and our parking lot does not lot look like a winter wonderland, it looks like Jack Frost went insane. Trees and branches are down all over the property, so sad.

The tree on our patio has a thick layer of ice on its branches, you can see the buds encased in ice.

Thursday night the power went out and didn’t come back on until 1:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon!!

It was supposed to be in like a lion out like a lamb – it looks as though it is going to be in like a lion and out like a lion. Come on spring I want to ride my bike to work.

My first day at work will be April 4, fortunately I was not scheduled to work on Easter Sunday. Fortunate for the kids who attend the Easter Egg Hunt at Bradford