Is that your tent???

Said my wife when she arrived to visit me at Rideau River Prov. Park yesterday. She had arrived, even though it had forecasted thunderstorms, thinking if it does rain we could just play cards in the tent. It was a lovely thought, but a trip on a bike means packing small and light, including the tent.

As you can probably figure out, I did a little bike trip to Rideau River Provincial Park this weekend. I biked here yesterday and will leave tomorrow, the trip is just over 50kms each way. It took me about 3 1/2 hours to get here, not including the break I took when I ran into Paul and his wife Penny in Manotick. They were on their way home cycling from Merrickville, the last leg of their train/bike trip home from Windsor. After Manotick I was in serious headwind which gave me some practice for the Prairies next year.

Full disclosure, I didn’t sleep here last night. After Sue arrived we went into Kemptville for dinner, checked the weather and made alternative plans about playing cards as the storm was approaching quickly. The best idea was we would go back to the site and put everything away, then head back to Kemptville, go to Tim Horton’s and play cards until the storm passed over. Somewhere in the conversation Sue mentioned she was coming back to the park today to enjoy the beach and perhaps we could go for a paddle, so I offered to drive back to Ottawa with her so she didn’t have drive through the storm and we could play cards at home, and return in the morning. She didn’t feel it was necessary but agreed because she didn’t want me sleeping in a tent during the impending storm. I didn’t like the idea of her driving back in the storm, and in the dark. So we finished dinner, headed back to the campsite to close everything up and went back to Ottawa together. I knew it wasn’t necessary but I felt better, although I would liked to have been there through the storm, there’s just something about being in a tent during a rainfall. This morning as we were eating breakfast we realized that we both didn’t want me staying here last night, not for ourselves but for each other.

So we returned today and as Sue enjoyed her time at the beach, I stayed at the campsite to test out my new gear and check the condition of my old gear. I practiced some old skills; like putting up a bear bag so the critters don’t get my food at night, and I checked out my bike cover which I was hoping would cover my bike and loaded bags (for weather and security reasons) since there is little room in the tent from my bags. Everything checked out. When Sue returned to the campsite we cooked up some dehydrated Pad Thai, which was actually pretty tasty and super easy to make and clean up. On my trip across Canada I plan on having a couple of packages of dehydrated food with me for the days when I get to a campsite and just do not have it in me to cook a meal.

All and all this was a pretty successful trip, barring any problems on the ride home tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a tail wind. My next trip is going to be an overnighter, probably to Lac Philippe in Gatineau Park. The purpose of that trip will be travelling consecutive days on a loaded bike, and with hills. I will also be cooking real food, more in line with what I would normally cook next year on my trip. Speaking of food… Kelly, I won’t be needing dad’s toaster for the trip.

Finally, thanks to all of you who reach out to me about my trip, and leave comments. It’s really nice to hear from you.

Safe ride

Bill