Around lake Erie - Day 8

Day 8 - Sunday August 24 2014.

From Pelee island to Blenheim, ON - 82 km.

Day-8 route

Manage a few hours of sleep. Had my instant oatmeal and salted boiled egg for breakfast. Paid my bill and said good bye to Mustaq. Wished him all the best with his project, and said that I would like to come back when his project "living of the grid" was completed.

Mustaq Ahmed, the proprietor.

Passed a small church on my way to the ferry terminal. Only one mass, 12:00 noon, on Sunday. Stopped, took picture and prayed a bit.

Small RC church - Sunday mass at noon,

Arrived on time at the ferry terminal, as they just started boarding. The ferry ride to Kingsville took about 1 3/4 hours long. Spent my time on the ferry studying cue sheets and map of todays ride.
More passengers on this ride to Kingsville then yesterday's ride from Sandusky. A number of Mexican migrant workers were on board; it was Sunday, must be their day off.
A local guy gave me directions to Tim Horton's near the terminal in Kingsville; I needed a good WiFi connection and could use some morning coffee.

Boarding the M V Pelee Islander to Kingsville.

Found Timmy, had my morning coffee but could not get the WiFi connection working. my brain was fuzzy. No WiFi, no phone; not good. Throughout the tour I communicated with Theresia several times a day; in the morning before I started my ride, at noon when I stopped for lunch and in the evening as soon as I checked in the hotel and just before going to bed. Without phone and WiFi, I felt isolated. There must be a problem with my Petro cell phone account, as I was denied service and told to call customer service (?).

Today's route was simple, it did not go through large city, so I should not have problem finding my way to my next destination.

Ben and his wife Nancy greeted me as I was taking a break and checking the cue sheets. They were cycling on a tandem. Ben had cycled across Canada with three others to raise funds for ALS. They managed to raise over $45K; that was awesome. Good job, Ben.

With Ben.

I followed Ben and Nancy for a while to Leamington, then I stopped for lunch at Subway and they continued with their ride.
Also met a group of students from Toronto with their fully loaded bicycles, they were headed the other directions and this was their second day on the road. One of the girls grew up in Brampton.

Pumping oil in Ontario?

Could not believe my eyes when I saw an oil pumping machine actively working in the middle of a field. Oil in Ontario? 

It was very windy today, and you guess it, it was in my face! This was not fair. I was cycling against the wind on the other side of the lake, it should be behind me now that I was cycling back towards Brampton.

As I struggled against the wind, a couple caught up to me on their road bikes, we chatted a bit. They were from Quebec and travelled really light. They only had one bag each on their light duty rear racks and carried only one water bottle each. Were they just on one day cycling trip?

Stopped at a Petro Canada gas station in Blenheim and tried to resolve my cell phone issue; the store clerk was helpful, but no luck.

Arrived at Silver Motel exhausted from cycling against strong wind almost the entire day. The motel had decent WiFi, talked to Theresia using Skype. Lydia and John, the motel managers, were friendly and helpful. With Edward's assistance, my cell phone issue was resolved.

The room was very small, but nice, clean, comfortable and quiet.
Today's ride was not far but it was difficult cycling against strong wind. In the end, I had a good day, met interesting people, my cell phone issue resolved and a nice place to rest. End.