It seems like there’s been less free time ever since we hit Madison. It could be that there is actually less free time, but its more likely the realization at that point that there is only a short time left before the trip is over, leading me to try to do more things while I can.

The past week has been a time of adjusting to a new type of tour - I no longer no everyone’s name in camp. Sixty new cyclists have joined, and although I’ve got about 10 new names down its not going to be possible to really get to know everyone before the tour is done. Especially since we’re almost down to one week left now. New people has been good for us, however, since they come at the tour with fresh eyes and new energy and excitement.

I’ve had some decently long days recently, even though the distances through this part of the country are shorter than those we dealt with coming out of the plains. The day out of Grand Rapids I didn’t end up getting in to camp until 6:30 PM, since it was our turn to sweep and a cyclist had a few technical issues in the morning that slowed him down.

The crossing into Canada on Wednesday was pretty stellar. We took a ferry from Marine City, Michigan to Sombra, Ontario. We first assembled in a small park on the American side, a half block away from the ferry. At about 9:45 AM, once all cyclists and staff had checked in as present, the cyclists moved en mass to the docks where they proceeded to fill the next two and a half ferry trips.

I was driving the van again, and we managed to squeeze on the third ferry crossing over. On the Canadian side, everyone was rapidly being processed (we had been pre-approved to enter). Driving a vehicle, I got to skip past a whole bunch of cyclists. There was a welcoming crowd at the dock exit, and a small field there was covered with people, pavilions, white and red balloons, and lots of food and Tim Hortens coffee. Chathem treated us very well, and the following day cyclists got what is likely the flatest ride of the tour.

Today I’m sitting at home in Hamilton. I took the day of from being support and got a ride home with my sisters who had driven out to London to visit. Marika had actually told me earlier that they were coming, but I had completely forgotten, so it was a pleasant surprise. Tomorrow is a easy, and beautiful ride to St. Catherines.

It’s unlikely that I’ll manage to get back to daily posts, but I’ll try not let it be a whole week before I post again. =P

The days route took us through a number of small towns, and then on a fairly busy road that eventually took us down a fun descent toward a bridge over the river that marked the border between Iowa and Wisconsin. Fortunately it wasn’t a toll bridge this time, although this time we didn’t end up crossing it more than once. That was followed by a climb to regain the altitude that was lost, and a few more miles into Wisconsin to get to Fennimore.

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We stopped at a great park in town, which had a smal river running along one side, and waited there for the inevitable phone calls. I had time to do some stretches for my legs, and I started on a short walk, but then we got a phone call, so that was cut short.

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A few cyclists had some minor health issues and requested to be dropped further along the route in order to make the day shorter. We loaded up their bikes, and with Jonathan along for more pictures, we headed out. The first order of business was to go to the Dutch shop for coffee and pastries. From there we headed almost due east.

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My stop was right by a water tower, and a second water tower was under construction there. I talked to the foreman to get permission to set up my water stop there, and he told me about the project. If he had the proper number of workmen, the tower would take 80 work days to put up. Huge sections of shaped steel were on the ground, waiting to be lifted into position. A welder was at work on the scaffolding, securing the latest section. The current water tower was just for a few farms and for the ethanol plant down the road. These went through the full capacity of the current tower 6 times in a day, and the ethanol plant alone used 2 volumes worth of water.

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We missed one of the turns along the way, which worked out fine since we were planning to go to Decatur where there was a bridge across the river to Iowa and the wrong turn took us along faster roads. Later on a number of cyclists also didn’t turn where they were supposed to, but they don’t get quite the same advantage. A ways down the route we got a call from the first SAG stop since there was a cyclist who was having trouble. We headed back and picked up the cyclist and brought them across the bridge into Iowa and a ways further into the route.

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Celebration services were being held in two different churches in two different towns, both of which were 45 minutes to an hour by bus. The one was more of a traditional church, and the other was a newer plant that had a number of ex-prisoners that had come to Christ, if I recall correctly. They baptized two adults during the service there, which is really cool. I didn’t actually go to either, since they had asked for volunteers to stay and act as security at camp.

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On the route from York to Fremont, we were joined by Jonathan who is one of the media personnel on the tour. He joined us in order to get some nice new shiny pictures for the website and publications. I had driven the van to empty the day before so the first order of business was to fuel up and find some nice strong coffee. Once those needs were filled, we rejoined the route and set off to hunt cyclists.

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My sweep team loading the truck on day 25

The canyon we went through on day 26

Celebration service in Denver

The grain silos where we had our SAG stop on day 32