Cycling Trails and Off-trail

Cycling - How Great It Is!!!
New Friends, Cavendish, PEI

Behind this cyclist is a potato field about to be harvested. (Sept./03)
This is on the highlands near Charlottetown, PEI.

I dress simply when cycling. Cycling or stretch pants, t-shirt over a long-sleeved shirt, and a fleece jacket. Fleece is perfect for cool mornings as it's warm, yet it's light-weight for carrying and then just tuck it in your knapsack. Fleece seems to reflect your own heat back at you. Helmet, too. Sandals and socks. Watch. Gloves. Waist belt. That's about it.
A young 10 yr. old cyclist taught me to look for cycling pants that are seamless. I haven't purchased any yet, but one trick I've learned about irritating seams, is, if possible, to turn the article inside out and wear it that way.
Also, you can buy leggings from loungerie departments and sportswear dept.'s that are very comfortable - amazingly soft and stretchy. Lots of give - no resistence - no irritation, we hope.
Seams or no seams, cycling is great. You can ride slowly and lazily, or hard and fast...in the country or in the village, long or short outings.
Do it! You'll love it!
Karen

Treasured Memories September 2003 PEI

Rest Area, Confederation Trail, PEI.

To my wonderful cycling companion and daughter, Josie, who drove over from N.S. for one weekend to join me, encourage me, and help me pick blackberries along the way - Thank you for Treasured Memories.

To the Farmers of PEI - thank you so much for your 'rest stations', and for your relaxing long grasses, esp. here along the sides of your trail in the high country just past Charlottetown.

No wonder people come from around the world. It's a superb trail.
Thank you, all you Islanders. I was one of you from 1954 until 1959.
KIS

Dame's Rockets, old sheds, and Lake Consecon

Cycling: The delight of cycling is that you are going fast enough not to be bored, yet slow enough to see and to stop to photograph scenes such as these.
Photographing old barns and sheds is a passion of mine. I see their fleeting beauty because, more often than not, when you look for it next year, they are gone.

Dame's Rockets are often called Flox - a misnomer - Flox has 5 petals on the flowers whereas Dame's Rockets has 4. Although these beauties came over from European gardens, they thrive in the wild areas. They enhance many rugged places, like this one, although they, along with most of the wild flowers and nature today, are being mowed into obscurity, into endangerment, and into extinction.

The caterpillars are also being mowed into extintion. I see fewer and fewer butterflies. The naturalists and the nature photographers mention their decline, too.
Even the sides of the highways out in the boonies are being mowed, the mowers destroying cucoons and/or the caterpillars, leaving nature's critters with no place to hide and abide.
Insects, too, are disappearing, and some are exquisitely beautiful and useful.

Doesn't it tell us something - that we now dig up, poison, and destroy nature to plant crops such as sunflowers to feed birds that under normal conditions would have found food without any help from us.

Here's a remedy that works wonderfully. When you see a different greenery coming up on your lawn, mow around a patch of it and watch to see what it grows into. Serendipity becomes a prominent household word for you.
I did this around Colorado's state flower, the Columbine, and then transplanted it to where it could grow safely next year, and it did so, and every year thereafter.
I did this with a Queen Anne's Lace once, allowed it a 2 foot diameter patch, and it grew tall and lush and cascaded with hundreds of white flowers for months, returning year after year.
I did this with Milkweed, and, although it looked pretty scraggy in late summer, it gave Monarch butterflies/caterpillars some hope. I hope.
I did this in early spring with a patch of Pussytoes, a tiny rare beauty that most people wouldn't even notice and few have seen. It rewarded me with a delightful carpet of white annually. The flower does looks like a kitten's foot.
Likewise with hawkweed. After each species each went to seed, I mowed them, and they always came back next year.
Make your own story. Mow gently. See what wonders you receive as a gift from Mother Nature. She is truly wondrous.

Similarly, I gave all my perennials a spot in the lawn, 2 or 3 feet wide, mowed in a circle around them, and then I never had to weed. I planted some annuals around the base of some of the perennials so I could remember what colour was planted there and so that when the perennial was done flowering, I still had colour around the periphery.
The most successful was with the ever beautiful and hardy sedum live-forever; also with narcissus, flox, and every perennial that I had.
I would sit on my lawn swing in the center of the lawn, and water them from there. On one occasion, a hummingbird hovered above the crest of the water from the hose to take a drink on a hot day.

For the most part, cycling is only a changing scene of houses and mowed lawns.
Sad!!! Too sad. Gigantic stirile green deserts. Take a look! Is there anything alive on those lawns for the most part? Not that I can see.
Face it, folks. We have been brain-washed - brain-washed into believing that vast sterile green deserts are necessary and beautiful, that the world must be mowed or it is ugly.
Not so. Let's change it starting this spring.
Allow some wildflowers a place to grow naturally on your lawn.
Even just one for this year? Queen Anne's Lace? Tiger Lily around your trees? Transplant sumac and lilac to your property.
The benefits are serendipitous. Enjoy.

Ride on secondary roads today and you'll still see some wildflowers areas.
All you can do is voice your disappointment, your suggestions on how to make the world a little better, and then get on your bike and enjoy it anyway as long as it's still there to do so.
Get out your seed catalogues and your wildflower books and dream of warmer days.
It's -5 and a blizzard out there today, here in southern Ontario.

KIS ses and tears

Critters of the Trails

This is a CANADIAN 'American Toad'.
More information about toads at the bottom of the page.

If you are tired but cannot sleep,
picture a pasture that's full of sheep.
Over in a corner near the road
and under a mushroom sits a toad.
KIS aka Grandma K

This picture is of the ever enchanting Canadian 'American Toad', the common toad in Canada. It's quite the most beautiful and gentle creature with an orangish hue. It takes little hops rather than the long leaps of a frog, but this little Islander was quite content to stay put near Wellington, PEI, and let me photograph it.

Our Dear Friend, the Toad:
FAVOURITE ENTRES:
Flies, dragonflies and butterflies; grubs and worms and caterpillars; spiders; beatles, ants and most insects. The toad catches food with the sticky end of its tongue.
A toad's eyes help it to swallow food. The eyes are pulled down through the roof of the mouth to squash the insect before swallowing it. The toad looks like it is blinking or going to sleep.
PET TOADS:
Remember! Toads would rather live outdoors. However, as pets, your toad will also eat fruits and vegetables. As babies, especially boiled lettuce, although they are very vulnerable so an older toad has a better chance at survival.
You can catch grasshoppers in warm weather, or buy crickets at most pet stores.
You can dig up worms, and even keep a worm box in a cool place by throwing in table scraps daily. Then, of course, you have more pets.
Be sure to keep a little dish of water in your terrarium, and some sticks and leaves, and some sand for the toad to burrow in during day-light hours. Toads do not like bright sunshine. An upsidedown dish or margarine container with an opening for it to crawl easily into makes a good toad-home.
If you want to have a toad-friendly backyard - after all, toads eat a lot of insects (so don't use pesticides if you want to encourage them) - here is a wonderful and inexpensive addition. Dig a hole about 3' x 3' x 3' in a corner of your yard, and fill it with sand. You can use a cheap coarse sand. It will give toads an easy-to-dig-into refuge during the day, and a place to hibernate in winter. Plant flowers, perennials, or shrubs around the edges for shade.
The Ear Spot - the TYMPANUM. In the male toad or frog, the ear spot is bigger than its eye. In the female, the eye and the ear spot are about the same size.
The PAROTOID GLAND - a toad has a sac on its neck behind the eye and the ear called a parotoid gland. This gland contains a poison that either tastes very bad so that an animal or bird trying to eat it will spit it out, or will get very sick afterward and not eat another toad, or will get a sore throat right away, or it may even die, especially if it is a small predator.
Toads take short little hops, whereas frogs can leap fairly far, many times their own length.
WARTS on Toads: Toads have warts; they don't give them. People get warts from viruses, not from handling toads. The 'warts' that toads have are not really warts but are just normal thick places on their skin. If you do handle toads, frogs or other amphibians, remember to wash your hands first as substances from your hands, like sunscreen, can damage their delicate, sensitive skin.
Skin: Toads have thick bumpy skin while frogs have smooth skin.
The skin of a frog must be kept moist at all times because they also take in oxygen through it. They mustn't get very far away from water. If the skin of a frog dries out, the pores close up, and it can die because it breathes through its skin as well as its lungs.
The thicker skin of the toad helps them hold water in, and they don't breathe through their skin so they can survive in habitats further away from water and often travel quite far from sources of water, though they do require water for breeding.
EGG to TADPOLE to ADULT: Toads and frogs lay eggs in ponds. A toad's eggs are often laid in strings, and these strings of eggs are stuck to water plants such as cattails. The eggs will hatch into tiny black tadpoles which eat plants in the water, and grow bigger into a toad or frog. Legs start to grow on their body, and their tail gets smaller until finally it disappears altogether.
Toads and frogs call for mates in the spring and you can hear the different songs of each type of this delicate critter if you go out into the marsh in the spring, esp. evening.
Sparkles: A toad's eyes look like jewels. You can see this by going to a pond or wetland on a spring-warm night and quietly shining a flashlight across the water. You will see the reflection of their eyes as hundreds of sparkles across the pond.
Ramps for Toads: In Shaldon, Devon County, England, ramps were built to protect the toads, crossing by the hundreds to their regular mating pond, from being squashed by vehicles. The common toad is one of England's largest amphibians, and they value it.
AMPHIBIANS: Amphibians were the very first creatures to have a voice. Amphibian means that they have a 'double life'. An amphibian is a cold-blooded creature such as a toad, frog or salamander that hatches from an egg and becomes a larva or tadpole first, while still in the water. As a larva/tadpole, it has gills so that it can breathe in the water. Later, it changes from a tadpole into a toad or frog that now will have lungs and will breathe air.

Help frogs and toads by being a part of the Frog Watch every spring.
Get your kids, parents, friends, and grand-parents involved, too.
http://eqb-dqe.cciw.ca/emanops/frogwatch/ontario/intro.html Frogwatch Ontario
or
http://www.im.nbs.gov/amphibs.html North American Monitoring Program

Books for Children:
Tom E. Toad by Karen I. Smith fieldofcedars@hotmail.com
for exerpts view at www.smmirror.ca/tometoad.html
Loads of Toads Activity Book by Karen I. Smith with every activity having a related teaching
basis about toads, and nature in general. email me at fieldofcedars@hotmail.com
The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain
Old Mr. Toad by Thornton W. Burgess
Grandfather Frog by Thornton W. Burgess

My 1984 Vanagon Visits Family

These two old buddies were in the backyard of a home adjacent to The Confederation Trail where it crosses one of the sideroads.
I parked my Vanagon out front that day before heading out on my bicycle.

An old VW Vanagon makes a great travel companion.
You can cook in them. Eat at your own table.
Fill the sink with water from the taps and then wash the dishes.
You can sleep the best sleep you'll ever have, or the worst if it's too windy and you've pulled over on the expressway because you just can't go another mile. Then the big rigs rock you violently as they barrel past.
You can leave a pet in them as easily as you would if you left it in the house, and quite comfortably for them.
You are so high up when you drive that you look down on the cars, and on most mini-vans. It makes you feel so safe. Most other drivers respect you because you are relatively big.
They use a bit too much gas, though.
You can put your bike inside or on a bike rack.
The other Vanagon drivers wave, which helps to remove that feeling of aloneness on long trips across Canada. Gives one a sense of pride, like being in the same club.
They're relaxing to drive. Great seats. The passenger chair can turn around which is wonderful when you want to relax.
You can comfortably play solitaire in them at the little table that comes out from the side. They have good lighting for reading at night.
Mine had 'heavy privacy curtains'.
You can hook up to electricity. Some have a furnace.
Sorry to say, ours developed a hole in the oil line, the oil leaked out unbeknownst to us, and burned out the engine 2 years ago.
And you can raise the roof in them.
Haven't you always wanted to raise the roof in a campground?
It's fun. Try it. You'll like it. Don't forget to wave, eh?!
KIS

Museum and Lighthouse at Eastern Tip of PEI

This is the spot where one goes to view the Meeting of the Tides - those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and The Northumberland Strait.
It is about 2 miles east of where the Confederation Trail begins.
Such a friendly and helpful staff. Very interesting museum.
On a clear day, you can see forever - and possibly the western tip of Cape Breton.
The shores team with wild ducks so there must also be good eating.

Gates and Old Railroad Station of Confederation Trail , PEI

PEI Preserves Its Old Railroad Stations: Morel?

Most areas on the trail have these gates close to the trees of the woods so that 4-wheelers cannot pass. In some areas, this is not necessary, as in this area.
Most residents honour the rules governing The Confederation Trail that no motorized vehicles drive on it during the summer months.
In the winter, the opposite is true. The agreement is that it can be used for 3 months then by the snow mobiles, and hikers are excluded. I believe cross-country skiing is, too.
Only in western PEI did I have 4-wheelers pass me, and that maybe because it is more wide-open there. And then only 5 vehicles in the entire 2 weeks that I was cycling.
You can see how manicured the PEI trail is. It's wonderful.
The Trans Canada Trail allows motorized vehicles year round and I have heard of no problem over this so far. It is a much more rugged trail, and I wouldn't think a wheelchair would find it enjoyable for long. I say this, perhaps definsively, as I've been considering having a battery-operated power pack added to my bike, as I already mentioned, for use on the steep hills. To date, I have done no research on them yet. I understand they are relatively new. Anyone who has had experience with them is more than welcome to leave a comment. It sure would be appreciated.
Many trails in various provinces have local rules, so be sure to become aquainted with them before you head out on them. I live in southern Ont. and have done the trail from north of Belleville to Bancroft, and often see signs with phone #'s to call to join their organization, or to pay their fees. This would not include the TCT, of course, as it is free.
TCT - free-wheeling. Enjoy.
KIS

Meeting of the Tides

This is where the water of the Gulf of St. Lawrence meet the waters of the Strait of Northumberland, and close to shore you can actually see the swirling of that meeting. It is truly serene and high with a strong energy and feeling of power, yet powerlessness. I loved it there, and will go back one day just to sit in the sun for hours, instead of minutes as I did this time.
For a photographer, PEI is a delight. I watch my photos over and over.
In fact, this first day, I used up the entire memory card. I knew the trail was/is 275 km and so I allotted myself 140 pictures. That is, 140 pictures at low resolution. Digital cameras were relatively new at this time, and I didn't bring my computer so as to save pics.
Well, at the end of the day, I found myself trying to decide which pictures to delete. It was heart-wrenching as I loved them all. However, I had worked it out beforehand that I could take only one pic every 2 km at most, and my memory card was full.
As a consequence, too, I exhausted myself, stopping and starting all day long, both going and coming, and as a result, had only done 17 km for the entire day. At this rate, I would need 40 days and 40 nights.
Be sure to take a light-weight camera, though, or you will really rue the pictures you miss. Not too expensive a camera, if you can help it, just in case it gets stolen or broken. Use the same rule you would use if asked to loan a friend some money. Only as much as you can afford to lose is a good rule of thumb.
Hoping you all get to Meet the Tides in PEI. It's waiting for your visit.
KIS

First Light; First Day - Sept. 2/03

This is the shoreline close to the museum at the eastern tip of PEI. You go into there to let them know that you are starting the trail - biking or hiking.

Related Links, Resources, Contacting me:

1. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/promotion-of-cycling-in-canada.html
Promoting Cycling in Canada -

2. http://www.huntingtontour.ca/
Wayne's bike trip across Canada, east to west, to raise money for Huntington's disease in honour of his mother.

3. http://xcanada.roosmachine.com/
Cycling across Canada
Good sub-link through 'Canadian Resources'

4. http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=2366729#post2366729
Lots of good information of cycling

5. http://smmirror.ca/tometoad.html To view exerpts from Tom E. Toad, children's book,
by Karen I. Smith re: Jan. 26th's 'Critters of the Trail
How to get in touch with me fieldofcedars@hotmail.com not at Sprint

6. http://smmirror.ca The South Marysburgh Mirror

7. Vanc. Is.'s TCTrail site
http://www.explorevancouverisland.com/200km_Trans_Canada_Trail_Vancouver_Island_Section.htm

8. The Atlantic Pedaler - S'side, PEI - Ken Trenholm
http://www.atlanticpedaler.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=146&Itemid=69

Eating: Another Great Activity

For most days on my bike trip in PEI, I took with me only oranges, and granola bars, and mixed dried fruit and nuts, candies in my waistbelt, and, of course, water. I had an extra water in my backpack, too.
I kept a small amount of cash with me and occasionally stopped for lunch at a restaurant at one of the crossroads. I always carried my blood group card, name and address and one Visa with only a small limit on it in my waist belt, too.
At Morell, high school students were the major customers in a restaurant I stopped at, it being early Sept./03. After lunch, as I headed out, I passed 4 male students further down the trail sitting on their haunches. They called out a greeting and smiled and I waved and called back. When I returned later, the students had left, but the empty beer cartons that they had been squatting on (not their haunches) were still beside the trail. That made me smile. I had no room to carry their empties to a blue box, though.
At the beginning of my trip, at the eastern end of PEI, there were no restaurants near the trail, and the same was true of the western end of the Island. For the most part, one doesn't feel the need to stop for restaurants, anyway, until evening.
I try to start the day, before I head out, with yogurt and fruit and maple syrup, or to make a smoothie to which I add an egg, juice and ground flaxseed to the fruit and yogurt. It feeds me for the day, except for snack-breaks. Blueberry/pomagrant juice is the most delicious. Bananas are the main staple of a smoothie because of their potassium. Without potassium, the brain won't work. Makes me wonder if I am not cronically short of potassium!
Since I was in PEI, I decided I was going to eat seafood as often as possible, and did, and most evenings I looked for a good restaurant and ordered all sorts of wonderfully delicious seafood dinners.
However, watch for this condition: half-way through my trip, I began to get dizzy spells. It turns out that I was getting too low on iron. I ate no red meat at all. Be sure to take vitamin tablets on any trip. And eat eggs, cheese &/or meat as often as you can.
At St. Peter's Bay, I met a young woman who had flown over from Northern Ireland just to do the PEI trail. She bussed over from Halifax and rented a bike, and camped out or stayed at a
B & B each night. I always camped at a provincial park, and it turned out that we were in the same one the first night.
We had dinner together that evening after sitting on the deck of the old St. Peter's Bay railroad station talking for an hour first. PEI has preserved their old train stations. Several are museum's, and at least one is a day care - at the western end.
St. Peter's Bay is flecked with the bobbing bouys from the mussel farms. Yum! It is a very large and pretty bay.
There's a National Park just north of there with a long and wonderful shoreline on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, deserted mostly in Sept., when the gulf is at its warmest. For a regular Lake Ontario swimmer, cold yet bearable - but what the heck - a treat just the same.
When you're guaranteed immediate accommodation at night, as I was with my Vanagon camper, you can ride quite lightly. Keep it simple!

Equipment - A Bicycle Built For 2, Maybe?

This couple in the Milford Parade may not want to go much further than from the school to the fairground on their tandem bike, but you don't need to go far to have lots of fun cycling.
And you don't need to spend a lot of money to get into cycling, as I mentioned already...any old bike and simple equipment.
KIS

Equipment - Keep It Simple and Light

13 yr. old Raleigh and 19 yr. old Vanagon
You don't need to spend a lot of money to get into cycling, as I mentioned already. I used an old bike and simple equipment where ever I could.
I bought a bike rack and secured my backpack to it. In the backpack, I kept a very light rain jacket with breathing vents under the arms. I also kept a facecloth in a baggie with which to use when I needed to go pee in the woods.
I use bungee cords to secure the backpack.
It's usually quite cool in the early morning so I always start the day wearing, over my biking clothes, a pretty fleece jacket that I won in a contest at work. When it warms up later on, I tuck it under the bungees on the outside of the backpack. You never know when you might ride too long, right into a cold evening. The rain jacket over that makes you really snug. Fleece is so warm, it seems to reflect your own heat back into you.
One very important item I didn't have then, and will have for my next trip, was/is a bike light. I was too long at the restaurant at St. Peter's Bay, having met a Irish woman and our having dinner together, and, consequently, I was quite late getting back to the vehicle - riding in almost darkness. I could barely see to finish the day's ride, and had difficulty putting the bike onto the car-rack in the dark.
Another must-have item for my next trip is the very important cellphone in case I find myself in distress, although there may be places where you can't get reception such as deep in the mountains of B.C. and the wilds of northern Ontario. You can get small and very light-weight ones now, digital and long range.
I don't wear a cycling shirt, but instead use a man's long-sleeved white dress shirt which is ultra-soft (like the best percale sheets) so as to protect my arms from the rays of the sun. It's cotton so is very soft and cool. Cotton breathes well, and the white reflects the sun. I used a minimum of sunscreen. Then I put an old & roomy Wil-O-Lea t-shirt over the dress shirt and I'm very comfortable.
To keep the mosquitoes at bay, I mostly used Avon's 'Skin So Soft.'
Cycling gloves are very important. Your hands will burn in the sun and from the constant gripping and turning if you don't wear them. Gives you more control, too.
My pants are men's cycling pants. A 10 year old cyclist who did the Lake Ontario shoreline trail with his dad, going from Hamilton to Kingston, said on radio to be sure to buy only pants with no seams. It's so true. Seams dig in after a while and cause considerable discomfort. I'll look for those this year, too.
I still wear my sandals while cycling, although I carry light, comfortable hiking shoes in the backpack in case the bike breaks down and I have to hike out. However, I have only an old-fashion pedal and will change that in case I have to stand up to pedal one day.
In the backpack I have a full-sized garbage bag for a ground sheet for lunch times, (granola bar, water, dried fruit & oranges/apples) and a small plastic bag for any litter, which almost never happens.
Around my waist, I wear a water-bottle belt, with air-vented pockets where I keep my keys and candies.
Sometimes cycling too long results in what I have heard refered to on the west coast as a 'bonk' whereby your muscles suddenly won't work at all, and 'bonk' - you coast until you're going so slowly you topple over. A boost of sugar, or candy, will slowly bring you out of it while you re-coup in the prone position in the long grass or, if you're lucky, in someone's driveway. Relax! The ambulance drivers are very understanding, probably called by some worried home owner. Just ask for a sugar cube if they come out to stare.
I keep my camera bag on the belt, as well. More about picture taking next time.
If I do this trip, I wonder about the advisability of keeping bear-off (spray) in the water bottle pocket instead, and keeping the water bottle directly on the bike.
Time to go. Bonk!!!
KIS

Any Good Old Bike and an Odometer

As you can see by the picture, mine was an old bicycle, & it successfully and faithfully did the 275 km Confederation Trail of PEI, without incident, both ways, as I had to ride back to my van each day. You do not have to buy an expensive bike to start enjoying cycling.
Mine was a Raleigh hybrid, which means the tires were neither too thin nor too thick. The PEI trail is so manicured that a heavier bike is not needed. When I rode up some of the adjoining dirt and paved roads, then the tires were thin enough not to be cumbersome.
An odometer was my best investment for that bicycle. Now only did it lend interest to each trip by knowing how far I had gone, but I could compare daily distances.
I say 'WAS' because this bicycle was stolen from my home a year later. Do not live near a pub. We lived in a small village in Prince Edward County, Ont., next door to a pub, and the bike was stolen one night, probably by someone too drunk to drive home. Des Marcille said, "Look through the village for someone covered by scrapes & bruises because if he was too drunk to drive, he likely fell off a few times before arriving home". Always lock your bike or put it away.
However, now that I am in the market for a new bike to go across Canada with, I have to research which brand is best. It doesn't need to go fast, just fast enough to outrun the bears and cougars and rattlesnakes that might be about. It needs to be strong and yet light-weight, although I am neither. I may need to lift it over an obstacle someday so the old one I'm using right now is definitely too heavy and has to be replaced.
Any suggestions would be so appreciated.
I am thinking of buying an electric power pack for it. That would help me go up mountain roads and trails. Someone has suggested that the energy needed to pedal to restore the battery may be too much/too hard for an older person. Yes or No? Would this be a good buy? Considering that they are a relatively new item on bikes, there may not be many people with experience in using them.
With the energy crisis, I believe that as many people as possible should be investing in them. Especially in cities. Having a power pack on a bike might entice more people to cycle to work and for enjoyment in general.
My next item of purchase will be a mirror, since this trip will be a long distance. The mirror will be just for safety sake.
However, there really aren't many other items that are totally necessary to do a bike ride. You can keep it simple and just bike with what you've got.
As long as my health stays good, the trip still seems plasible.
KIS

13-yr. old silver and blue un-named Raleigh.

St. Peter's Bay, PEI
Thanks for the superb comment, Solo-Woman!
Interesting & beautifully written comment from a reader who wondered if I named my bicycle. Years ago I drove a previously owned & named car, Betsy, who was my dad's 1964 Ford Fairlane 500. Her big back window went down which was great at drive-in movies on rainy nights. To stop the irratation from the wipers, we would turn the car around & watch backwards.
Having a name indeed gave 'Betsy' character, & I talked to her, patted her, & thanked her for keeping me out of harm's way, avoiding accidents, & not breaking down very often.
I may name the bike I take with me on this trip, though, if I can think of an interesting one that fits her character. Any suggestions, folks?
I welcome those of you who wish to accompany me on the journey, if only in your area.
The Confederation Trail is perfectly manicured, mowed, & has these wonderful rest areas every km or 2. There is either a picnic table to lunch at or a nice bench such as this one to rest on. The only vehicles allowed on the trail 9 months of the year are the maintenance vehicles, & bicycles. Also, I saw it being used in Summerside by a wheelchair enthusiast, so well groomed the trail is. Families go walking side by side in the evenings on the wide trail of fine crushed gravel. If only the trail in my area, PEC, ON, was so groomed.
My faithful Raleigh bicycle has since been stolen - from my home a year later - but it never in 13 yrs. gave me any problems. An old bike seems as good as any new one which is why cycling can be such a friendly activity. Just grab your kid's bike as soon as they get on the bus to university. They wouldn't be caught dead with it by then, anyway.
The bike shop will upgrade the brakes for you, provide new tires, etc.
Enjoy your new freedom!

Solo-Old-Woman,
with KIS ses

Introduction

I have purchased the new book, 'Trans Canada Trail 18,000 KILOMETRE DREAM', the 2nd edition.
It's filled with beautiful photos, and a good run-down of many of the linking towns/cities along the way. The title itself is enough to discourage a person from attempting the trip...'18,000 km'...
However, just as we say 'One day at a time', so we can say '1 kilometre at a time'. And hope we get past the 1st kilometre.
I use 'we' generically. It's not likely I'll find a buddy to ride along with me because, for one reason, I'm too slow a rider and stop too often to rest and/or to take pictures.
For another reason, it's going to be quite expensive.
Another is that it will be quite repetitive, except for the surprises that Ms M. Nature would toss my/your/our way.
In my 3rd entry, I hope to tell you a bit about the cycling trip I did on the Confederation Trail in PEI, and give out a few of the tips that I learned along the way.
You are welcome to post comments or messages for me. I hope you will enjoy reading this blog.
KIS