Saturday, August 19. Day 49
Mt. Joli to Campbellton 178.46 km
Went to bed in the small room...with about 25 others. I did manage to get some sleep, although with the cold, I woke up with the sweats, snotty nose...the whole nine yards. There was one bathroom for us....a one seater. Needless to say I was up at 4:30 to make sure I took care of business. I figured if there were 25 of us and we each took 5 minutes then it would tie up the room for almost 2 hours!! I did doze until 5:30 wake up and pack up. We had a great breakfast of french toast and fruit and coffee before hitting the road at 7:30. Weather was cloudy, and a tad cool, but good for cycling. Scenery again lovely but you could see the changes coming from rolling farmland to hillier country and away from the water. We had a break at Sagusay (or something like that) and then on to Amqui for lunch. The people of the town along with merchants had provided the lunch break. It was nice to be greeted by them and the mayor. We ended up signing a covered bridge that the mayor had saved from destruction and had moved to this park location. As well two trees were planted; one being a maple in our honour and the other an oak for the people of the town. It was nice to be honoured but unfortunately we were 2 hours at this stay and it was already 1 o'clock (2 o'clock New Brunswick time to come) and we still had 125 km to cover!! We were all getting anxious. We hit the road again and were only out about 15 km when we were hit with heavy rain. Just enough to soak us. WE stopped briefly for cover and to remove socks. It became a stressful ride afterwards as we knew we were under pressure for time. It was a neat ride along the Matapedia River, seeing the private salmon pools and watching the fishermen. Very scenic but seemed to be a long ride of nothing but river and wilderness. Much like cycling in British Columbia, through the mountains (only hills here) and trees. We had drizzle and the spray from Berndt's tire kept spraying my glasses. We pushed onward, feeling tired. One of the new riders, Bruce, drafted behind me and then we saw Robert come up beside and then dropped back to talk to Bob who was at the rear of our group. As we came closer to Campbellton and faced some good hills I noticed that Bob wasn't in my mirror sight. I could see the bridge that crossed the Restigouche off in the distance and I felt a little sense of pride to be coming into New Brunswick. It seemed to take forever to reach the bridge and when I did, I could see most of the rest of our group mustering up ahead to be led by a police vehicle across the bridge and on to the church where we would be having supper. I was most disappointed that Bob wasn't with me to cross over into NB as that is how I envisioned it would happen. I came to discover that Robert had a flat tire and Bob had stopped to help him and then tried to be the engine and pull a few more along. Unfortnately the Grim Reaper had picked that group up as they needed to be brought to the bridge. I was so disappointed!! and angry....I feel that Bob always stops to help everyone else and that he should have had the opportunity to finish the day's ride. I couldn't find him anywhere during the ride across the bridge or to the church. Apparently he stayed in the van. I lost it at that point....he comforted me by stating that getting to the end of the day by cycling across the line isn't what this trip is about for him. It is to help those that need it. Certainly brings light to the message that Len is always saying '´it's not about me´'. I wish I could be as gracious and kind!! We had a roast beef dinner, but I was feeling miserable. My nose so stuffed up. We were to be bussed out to a camp for the night. We were told that we would like it.... well a big coach bus came to take us and we rode for 45 minutes, out to the end of nowhere, it seemed. Then the bus tried to make it up this tiny path for a road....just like it was an ATV. Of course it got stuck going up so we had to unload and we wandered up further to this camp. Well, put it this way, it wasn't what I had envisioned on the trip out!! Small, one shower (for 80 people) and one bathroom for males and one for females. It was 9 and getting dark. Temperaments flared, people were in a state of disbelief. How was everyone going to fit. The gals had a bunk house that seemed to be comfortable. Bob and I had a small shed like building as I was going into quarantine....it had two single beds. I offered the spare bed to Kim if she didn't mind being around germs; while Bob and I shared the other single. This hut was not larger than 8 by 6 feet. We put our air mattress and sleeping bags on the bed, hoping that no body parts touched the mattress....there wasn't room for our bags, so we had to arrange a path to the door. We opened windows and settled down, but not before we had a giggling fit. I guess that is good to relieve tension from the day. I started to hum the banjo tune to Deliverence....as we were way out in the middle of nowhere...and I mean nowhere!! The roadies, leaders and support crew all high tailed it back to civilization for the night. I figured Bruce was trying to teach us a lesson!!
Went to bed in the small room...with about 25 others. I did manage to get some sleep, although with the cold, I woke up with the sweats, snotty nose...the whole nine yards. There was one bathroom for us....a one seater. Needless to say I was up at 4:30 to make sure I took care of business. I figured if there were 25 of us and we each took 5 minutes then it would tie up the room for almost 2 hours!! I did doze until 5:30 wake up and pack up. We had a great breakfast of french toast and fruit and coffee before hitting the road at 7:30. Weather was cloudy, and a tad cool, but good for cycling. Scenery again lovely but you could see the changes coming from rolling farmland to hillier country and away from the water. We had a break at Sagusay (or something like that) and then on to Amqui for lunch. The people of the town along with merchants had provided the lunch break. It was nice to be greeted by them and the mayor. We ended up signing a covered bridge that the mayor had saved from destruction and had moved to this park location. As well two trees were planted; one being a maple in our honour and the other an oak for the people of the town. It was nice to be honoured but unfortunately we were 2 hours at this stay and it was already 1 o'clock (2 o'clock New Brunswick time to come) and we still had 125 km to cover!! We were all getting anxious. We hit the road again and were only out about 15 km when we were hit with heavy rain. Just enough to soak us. WE stopped briefly for cover and to remove socks. It became a stressful ride afterwards as we knew we were under pressure for time. It was a neat ride along the Matapedia River, seeing the private salmon pools and watching the fishermen. Very scenic but seemed to be a long ride of nothing but river and wilderness. Much like cycling in British Columbia, through the mountains (only hills here) and trees. We had drizzle and the spray from Berndt's tire kept spraying my glasses. We pushed onward, feeling tired. One of the new riders, Bruce, drafted behind me and then we saw Robert come up beside and then dropped back to talk to Bob who was at the rear of our group. As we came closer to Campbellton and faced some good hills I noticed that Bob wasn't in my mirror sight. I could see the bridge that crossed the Restigouche off in the distance and I felt a little sense of pride to be coming into New Brunswick. It seemed to take forever to reach the bridge and when I did, I could see most of the rest of our group mustering up ahead to be led by a police vehicle across the bridge and on to the church where we would be having supper. I was most disappointed that Bob wasn't with me to cross over into NB as that is how I envisioned it would happen. I came to discover that Robert had a flat tire and Bob had stopped to help him and then tried to be the engine and pull a few more along. Unfortnately the Grim Reaper had picked that group up as they needed to be brought to the bridge. I was so disappointed!! and angry....I feel that Bob always stops to help everyone else and that he should have had the opportunity to finish the day's ride. I couldn't find him anywhere during the ride across the bridge or to the church. Apparently he stayed in the van. I lost it at that point....he comforted me by stating that getting to the end of the day by cycling across the line isn't what this trip is about for him. It is to help those that need it. Certainly brings light to the message that Len is always saying '´it's not about me´'. I wish I could be as gracious and kind!! We had a roast beef dinner, but I was feeling miserable. My nose so stuffed up. We were to be bussed out to a camp for the night. We were told that we would like it.... well a big coach bus came to take us and we rode for 45 minutes, out to the end of nowhere, it seemed. Then the bus tried to make it up this tiny path for a road....just like it was an ATV. Of course it got stuck going up so we had to unload and we wandered up further to this camp. Well, put it this way, it wasn't what I had envisioned on the trip out!! Small, one shower (for 80 people) and one bathroom for males and one for females. It was 9 and getting dark. Temperaments flared, people were in a state of disbelief. How was everyone going to fit. The gals had a bunk house that seemed to be comfortable. Bob and I had a small shed like building as I was going into quarantine....it had two single beds. I offered the spare bed to Kim if she didn't mind being around germs; while Bob and I shared the other single. This hut was not larger than 8 by 6 feet. We put our air mattress and sleeping bags on the bed, hoping that no body parts touched the mattress....there wasn't room for our bags, so we had to arrange a path to the door. We opened windows and settled down, but not before we had a giggling fit. I guess that is good to relieve tension from the day. I started to hum the banjo tune to Deliverence....as we were way out in the middle of nowhere...and I mean nowhere!! The roadies, leaders and support crew all high tailed it back to civilization for the night. I figured Bruce was trying to teach us a lesson!!
posted by Unknown at 10:21 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Jill! Scott here...I agree that it seems so wrong that those who stop to help others then have to suffer being picked up for doing so. Especially for riders like Warren and Bob. I know several times where Jack and I have been riding at the back of the pack, pulling people along when we've been told we need to high-tail it to make it in...I, also, am not as gracious as your dear husband!
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