August 17th and 18th Cornwall to Montreal
Our mobile porta potty
fresh bagels coming from the oven
owners of restaurant
Doug and Joy Lutke and Gerry Pols
bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon
We started with a spectacular day of cool temps and sunny
skies. What a glorious day it was. I
started riding with Jan and Ken but we were soon joined by Jerry Pols, Joy and
Doug Lutke. We rode along the St
Lawrence for most of the morning. The roads were great going into Quebec. Shortly after getting into Quebec we saw a
coffee shop and stopped. What a delight
it was. They made fresh bagels on the
spot. Jan and I shared a bagel with
cream cheese and smoked salmon- delicious.
The presentation was also neat. We enjoyed our time visiting with people in
the coffee shop and sharing our story.
Jan, Ken and I then headed out by ourselves and took a more
relaxed pace heading into Montreal. We
crossed under the St Lawrence river via a tunnel. We crossed lots of river with
rapids and passed by several power plants.
The roads were much rougher in Quebec especially in the town of
Kahnawake were Jan and I shared our third breakfast. We had eggs, bacon, toast
and home fries. We were both hungry as
we had ridden 60 miles. Our camp was
another 5 miles and we stayed at the Kahnawake Survival School on the Mohawk
reservation. Interesting that we have
had 3 native American Indians groups host us this trip, the Zuni’s, Navajo, and
Mohawks.
Jane and her dinner selection of rack of lamb.
Ken and his dinner selection. always interesting to see how restaurants present their food.
St Pauls street Montreal
Notre Dame Bascilica
Ken and Barb adjusting their headsets to listen to audio in the light show inside Notre Dame Bascilica
Organ and all the pipes
At 4 PM, Ken, Jane, Barb, and I headed downtown
Montreal. We did a partial walking tour,
had supper at a great restaurant downtown, sat outside, and enjoyed watching
people walk by. The dinner was delicious
and very enjoyable.
Later we went to see the Notre Dame Cathedral’s light
show. This gave us a brief history of
how the cathedral came to be, the significance of the cathedral in the life and
times of the early settlement in Montreal and the role the church played during
the early settlement. It is interesting
to note that the Catholic church today has a very diminished role due to the
corruption and abuse of young men for years by the priests. People have become very disillusion by the
church and what message it wants to spread. It appears priests actions speak
louder than words and people have turned their backs on what the churches
message of salvation and hope. Sad story.
Along this tour we are also very aware that our actions and how we
conduct ourselves speak much more loudly than what we say.
Sunday morning I woke up at 6 AM, which is a little later
than other days. It was nice not to rush
to get ready, pack up, eat, and get out
on the road.
bouquet of flowers in chaffing dish. Nice touch
Al Kramer and Steve Dykstra making pancakes for Sunday morning breakfast
I was able to take a shower
clean up, eat breakfast and do laundry before church. We all got on buses to go the St. Paul and St
Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. It was good to worship with another denomination
which is very much high church with more formal worship. In reviewing the
bulletin I realized I knew the Director of Music, Dr. Jonathan Oldengarm whose
parents I knew from Kitchener and who went to school with my kids at
Woodland. What a small world. I also ran into Harold and Elsbeth Kallemeyn
who I knew from GR and who works with the Timothy Institute and now lives in
Quebec.
The message was delivered by Dr
Glen Smith Director of Christian Directions here in Montreal and challenged us
in our attitudes and relationship with those in poverty. Poverty is not just economic but also social
and he invited us to get involved by volunteering, praying and knowing the poor
in our communities. It was a fitting message for us as we have tried to raise
awareness of poverty and now we need to put our own shoulders to the grindstone
to make a difference. Cycling across the
country is only part of the efforts, getting involved, knowing the needs and
desires of the poor is also a necessary part of our message and responsibility. Thank you Dr. Smith for your timely message.
After church we had some time to visit Montreal. Unfortunately we had to spend 2 hours on the
bus trying to get downtown to the pier where we could start walking in Old Town
Montreal. The traffic was so backup due
to a Gay Pride parade that went across all major roads down to the waterfront. We finally arrived at 2 PM. Jan wanted to see Notre Dame Bascilica which
I took her to but did not go in as I had seen it the night before. We than grabbed a small lunch at MacDonalds
and then walked the old streets of Montreal.
Lots of people walking downtown including sea to sea participants who
stood out with our lime green shirts.
It was interesting to visit Montreal to watch the people and
see the old town. Well worth the effort.
In the evening we welcome 8 new cyclists who are joining us
for the last week into NYC. At the
peloton meeting it is also interesting to hear all the stories about people
getting donations and under what circumstances people were given donations. Each night it seems people are getting over
100 each day, which is considerably more than we received in the previous
rides. I think tour participants are not
hesitant to share our story and to tell people we are still taking
donations.
Now off to bed.
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