Early during the morning, I past several trees covered in these huge web-like nests! Yuck!!

Further down the road I passed this Christian Camp, which brought back a slew of memories from my childhood when I attended Christian Camp. One memory was – every morning at 7:30 am for the whole week I was there, the camp Counsellors had a motorcycle gang ride their motor bikes up and down the little laneways where all our cabins were situated reving their engines. They did this to wake us up. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of all that at the tender age of 11 and after all the indoctrination I had already absorbed after being raised in the fundamentalist Pentecostal religion since birth. Ha!!!

It was close to noon and the heat was coming on. I had already passed a couple earlier who were cycling in the opposite direction, they appeared to be struggling with heat exhaustion. She was sitting on the ground near the shoulder of the highway and looked in distress. I stopped to ask if they needed help or water, but they both waved me on. It was shortly after that I started searching for a water source. I hadn’t been able to find a spigot at the cemetery that I’d had breakfast at the morning before. And it was looking like I was going to have to stop at one of the houses along the highway and ask to use their water hose to fill up my two, 4 liter jugs that I used mainly to keep Dax hydrated with.

I found what looked like a farm house with no sign of any dogs, but just in case I tied Dax up to the trailer and left my bike in the driveway near the road. This way, if a dog did show, I could run back quick and leave and if not, Dax wasn’t going to scare the home owner.

Just as I had finished securing Dax and started down the driveway, the owner popped her head out the front door, which gave me the chance to wave at her to get her attention. She was curious and friendly thankfully. I asked permission to come closer to speak with her after I greeted her with a big smile and a good morning!! She told me to bring Dax and my bike up to the house. When I got close enough that we could both hear each other(it was a long drive way)I introduced myself and Dax and explained that Dax and I were on a bike tour from London via Windsor and heading now to Port Burwell and that we were running dangerously low on water for Dax. I asked if she would allow me to use her garden hose to fill up Dax’s water jugs before getting back on the road.

She was very curious about our fundraising and was very gracious to us. She filled up all our water containers and told us about a rest area about 6 more kms down the highway that would be bike camping friendly for us to rest in the shade with picnic tables and washrooms for the rest of the day. And she was aware that every year the rest stop hosted huge bike camping events. So it shouldn’t be an issue pitching my tent overnight there. She recommended that I stop at the Blueberry Farm Market just a few kms down the road and have one of their homemade blueberry tarts. She also suggested that if for what ever reason, I didn’t feel safe at the rest stop to ride back to her farm and I could pitch my tent in her yard by the barn for the night. We had a great conversation about raising money for SickKids and that she was a regular donator. She was pretty impressed with Dax’s and my progress so far, both in donations and kms travelled. We thanked her for her kindness and wished her a great day and hit the road feeling much more secure with lots of water, enough for two days of wild camping if needed and feeling recharged with how kind human beings really are.

We did stop for a blueberry tart but they were all out so we settled for a homemade blueberry muffin. It was a delicious breakfast!!

We travelled on down the road till we came to the rest area she had spoken of. It was huge and well maintained with several different types of areas. In front were lovely pine trees and along the sides and back were maples with large grassy area that were nicely groomed. There were clean washrooms. The Johnie’s on the spot were washed and refreshed during the day. Dax and I found a nice shady spot to dry out our sleeping gear and use the solar panel to recharge our power bank and cell phone. We napped, read and ate – our favourite past time while on tour as we waited patiently for the sun to set. Sometime around 6 ish, our new friends from Rondeau Provincial Park, who had graciously invited us to pitch at their camp site two night previous pulled in. I heard someone yell it’s Kj and Dax!!! What a greating we got!! So nice to see them. We sat down for supper together and shared our adventures over the last few days and showed them some of the beautiful pics I had taken. They had heard that same boat chugging along near dawn the morning before.

They left me with all their extra food from their cooler. Along with extra bottles of water. This replenished my stores to help me through the next few days. It was great seeing them and catching up and Dax and I appreciated all their hospitality.

Just shortly After saying our goodbyes, another woman, who had driven in while we were having supper drove over to speak to me. She saw my rig and waited patiently to ask about my adventures with Dax. She then shared her adventures with her dog who had just passed away. She had taken her dog to walk the Camino Santiago. Just her and her dog. Well, I needed to hear every detail of that trip, since it’s been on my bucket list since 2014. I was very inspired by her and really touched when at the end of our visit she gave me a $20 bill and told me to use it for myself for food and water to help me get through the next few days. That was very kind of her and I greatly appreciated it.

After we said our goodbye to this woman, Dax and I began waiting for sunset to set up the tent. I took that time to walk the property to choose the best spot to pitch our tent – well away from the road, the parking lot and near the tree line. At dark, you couldn’t see us. It was about this time that I got a notification that said we had reached our $500 fundraising goal!!! We were over the moon!!! We did it Daxy, we did it!!!