Day 40, August 10, 2006

Julia and Greg have a lovely home on Frank St., downtown Ottawa, which they have rennovated. They gave us their room on the upper top floor.....large with a marvellous huge bathroom. We had a good sleep but I awoke early as did Bob. I guess the mixture of wake up times, anywhere from 4:15 to 6:00, has tuned our bodies. He made coffee and bagels, Julia went to work and Greg was in a fun golf tournament. Bob and I left after 9:30 and walked uptown. As we were crossing Laurier we came upon the "foot soldiers" for the changing of the guard as they were marching. Great photo. We walked up Bank St. where we found a bike store and Bob managed to get his cassette and new chain. He also got a new bike computer having left his old one at the Paas home, our billet in Kingston. It hadn't been functioning properly so he was pleased to get a new one. I bought a rear saddle bag. Originally I had purchased a bag for the front of the bike which I used driving through BC and Alberta. Honestly, I swear it added 25 pounds to the bike as it was like a woman's purse!! Stashed full of goodies. It also was the cause of my shifting woes as it pressed against the cables. I ditched it in Saskatchewan, along with the two extra water cages. I have been carrying anything extra in my jersey pockets so the rear bag will be handier!

Once we had our biking needs taken care of I called Ingrid who knew we were in town and had been waiting to hear from us. She said she would leave right away to pick us up. I figured it would take her 20 minutes or so, so Bob and I went to the drug store around the block. When we came out and wandered back I said to Bob "isn't that Doug?" (Ingrid's husband) who was getting into a car. I called his name and he greeted us. Ingrid had called him at work and he was finished his meeting so was there to pick us up. He took us to their home where we had lunch together before he had to head back to work. They also have a lovely home in the Napean area. Ingrid was so pleased to see us and offered to do anything for us. We opted to just sit and talk and spend the afternoon catching up on news about our children, families etc. Their dog, Kelly, was entertaining us as well. It was a great afternoon. She drove us baack uptown, first to meet Doug again to retrieve Bob's hat which I had left on the back seat of his car.

Then it was back to Julia's where I did laundry and we chatted and had dinner. Greg arrived back from his golf day and awhile later Linda, another guest of Julia's, and we had a great discussion about the world's woes. Mom had called earlier so I chatted with her and dad. Bob just dug his bike computer out of his shaving bag, so he didn'tleave it behind!