oooo-Wawa-we-wa!

2,700+ miles.

wow, where to start really? Canada is turning out to be quite a harsh mistress. allow me to give you a recap of our past week in the great north:

to begin with, the aforementioned border fiasco (2 posts ago). it turns out that rolling up to an international border smelly, dirty, and on a bicycle doesn't exactly scream "let me into your country for an undefined amount of time! i promise i'm not just trying to hop the border for a sweet job at tim horton's and a good health care system!" after answering the usual questions, we were told to come around inside, where we waited for nearly 1 1/2 hrs in front of a little window labelled "immigration" while the canadian customs guys literally sat on the other side of the glass eating bagels, joking around, and making occasional eyecontact with us. luckily they had one of those little toys with the wire loops and wooden beads which you can move around. you know, like at a doctors office... finally, a younger, female, more attractive, and apparently more senior officer came and questioned us individually about what we were doing and how much money we had. i was just within earshot to hear iain lay down some sweet lines about our big adventure, and even mention this blog! good man. well, we were finally released into canada, and just as rain started falling. a rain that pretty much didn't cease until yesterday.

speaking of which, let's break down the weather: the best way to describe Thunder Bay would be to imagine riding a bike inside the tropical rainforest exhibit at the zoo. just as hot, just as humid, and surprisingly also smelled like toucan poop. oh, you don't like 75 degress and 100% humidity?? well then, maybe the 'north shore' winter wonderlands of Marathon or Wawa, Ontario, where we were snowed on, and it got below freezing three nights this week would be more to your tastes.

now, with most of the complaining out of the way, i must say that i truly did not give the great lakes region its fair shake up to this point in my life. you know, 'it's a bunch of lakes, blah, blah.' this is actually one of the most beautful places i've seen in north america, reminiscent in many ways of the pacific northwest, the puget sound or wa and or coast. tall, majestic cliffs and other striking geology paired with some smooth sand beaches which actually looked quite nice.

other highlights: the giant canadian goose statue in Wawa, placed strategically next to the biggest canadian flag i've even seen in my life. and oh yeah, turns out that the bike mechanic in Thunder Bay didn't really do a very good job, and my rear wheel exploded while riding yesterday and was literally spilling out ball-bearings on the side of the road! luckily i managed to mcguyver-together a quick fix involving a screw driver, 5 or 6 plastic zip-ties, and copious amounts of chain lube. we screeched into the city of Sault Saint Marie, and now i will be purchasing a new wheel, hopefully the last of our mechanical woes.



Not nearly as amazing as it looks in real life.

other observations on our time in canada, including a summary of culinary delights coming some time in the next week, stay tuned!

~Tamaso

oh yeah, and we estimate that we are exactly 2 weeks away from NYC! for those who may be curious about our route from this point:


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