A Hot Ride And a BBQ

Despite the hot weather, Heather and I set off on another ride today. The plan was to again ride around southwestern Ontario for most of the day. However, the plan had to be slightly changed when my friend Remi called late last night to invite us for a BBQ at his parents' house. Remi and Lisa were in town housesitting. We agreed and told them we'd be there sometime late afternoon.

We left this morning at 9:30 and immediately spotted someone on a horse trotting through suburban Waterloo. A very rare sight. Anywyas, we took the back roads around Stratford to Exeter where we stopped for a quick bite to eat at Tim Hortons. The place was very busy and the GPS confirmed that the next closest Tim Hortons was some 40 km away.

From Exeter, I told Heather to put on her smile and we rode south Highway 4 looking for water towers. We quickly found them in Centralia as well as Lucan. The ride from Lucan was a bit bumpy as the GPS took us through a short stretch that was all gravel. Around noon we arrived in Strathroy where we would have lunch. We found a nice sports bar called Johnny Bucks where we both enjoyed our food. Heather made a comment that we seem to have good luck with sports bars after previously eating at Jerseys in Uxbridge.

In front of Johnny Bucks in Strathroy.

On the way out of town, we also filled up the tanks and rode continously, stopping only for pictures, to just outside of Brantford, where we had to pull over because Heather was getting very uncomfortable in the unbearable heat. She took a sip of iced tea and took of her Joe Rocket jacket, deciding to ride without the rest of the way to Cambridge which at this point was only 30 minutes away. During that stretch from Strathroy to Brantford we passed by an ice cream stand just outside of Tillsonburg that caught our eye. We will have to go there on our next ride.

We finally arrived in Cambridge at 4:15. Remi took us to the backyard where it was shaded from the sun. A nice change from our ride so far.

Remi flipping some burgers.

The food consisted of burgers, sausages and some vegetables. And of course the company of Lisa, Remi and their daughter Ava was great as always.

Enjoying the food.

All the fun had to stop as night approached and riding in the dark, Heather and I made it home at 10 pm. Aside from the scorching heat, the day turned out to be pretty much perfect.

SEASON STATS
Today's trip: 392 km - 244 miles
2009 to date: 7,242km - 4,500 miles (85.2%)
2009 goal: 8,500 km - 5,282 miles
To obtain goal: 1,258 km - 782 miles


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WATER TOWERS