Canada, here we come, en masse.....

Well - we were all up bright and early Wednesday morning - excitement was building in camp especially among the Canadians - friendly teasing taking place right up until we boarded the ferry. It took 3 ferry loads to get all the cyclists across the river and then a few more trips to get all the vehicles across that belong to us. I was on the 2nd ferry load crossing very excited to meet up with our daughter and her 3 children. Everything seems to take longer when you are waiting.....each passport had to be checked off, etc. etc. before we were allowed to cross the bridge to where the spectators were waiting for us and there was quite a crowd. We were treated to Tim Horton's coffee and lots of baked goodies and other wonderful treats. The welcome was overwhelming from the churches in that area.

All of a sudden, I saw them holding a big poster with "Welcome to Canada, Grandma, we are soooo proud of you! and then we met up, a few tears flowed, I'll admit. It had been over 4 weeks since we had seen each other. Now we had to wait for Grandpa who was coming on another ferry. It was exciting to say the least.

Cynthia and the kids went off to camp and were going to ride out to meet up with us so they could ride in with us. Rita, Dora, Joan and myself took off for the final 60 km. of our trip that day leaving the ferry in Sombra and heading off to Chatham along country side that I had never seen before.

About 5 km from camp I met up with Cynthia and the kids and we biked into camp together, first of all stopping at the local Tim Horton's for a drink - it's been a few weeks since my last Tim Horton's stop so I was having withdrawal.....after having supper with us, they headed back to Waterdown.

Today's ride from Chatham to London took longer than we had hoped it would - even though it's very flat countryside, the winds were not in our favour and it took us until 3:30 to get in this afternoon under clear blue skies.......124 km in total. The people here in London have treated us very well - supper is here at the high school and then we are off to the Beerda's to sleep in a real bed tonight. The computer lab was open in the school so I've made use of it even before taking a shower. Those sitting beside me haven't complained of the smell so obviously it's not too bad.
Tomorrow, Hamilton, here we come - that is to Redeemer College.