Tuesday, June 13. Rouse's Point, NY to St. Philippe de La Prairie, Quebec. Well, by the time we got on the road we had almost missed breakfast. I've decided to enjoy my sloth-filled mornings, though. Once I'm done with this ride, I'll probably have a 9-to-5 job again and will have to drag myself out of bed in the morning. I have always not been a morning person--in fact, I think I reach my peak around 2pm. But today, in Rouse's Point, NY, I had french toast at the Ole Tymes Cafe.
Matthew thought we had about a 50-mile ride to the KOA Kampground south of Montreal. The border crossing into Canada was uneventful, and in no time we were on country roads in a different country. The language immediately turned to French, and the roadway deteriorated immediatlely, too. We had been warned that Canada's secondary roads are poorly maintained and shoulders are non-existant. Kind of an understatement, actually. The roads look as though the road crew came through and chewed up the pavement, leaving deep ruts and crevices along the entire pavement. What would have been a shoulder was loose gravel--a safety feature during the winter months. The sky was partly cloudy, but the temperature was already about 60 (degrees Fahrenheit)--with a stiff headwind.
Still, we're in Canada, on our way to Montreal, which neither of us have visited. Both of us are grinning like fools, pedaling past southern Quebec's farms.
We stopped for a break in Napierville, in "un petit parc du village" where a memorial to Canadian rebels had been erected. A small band of citizens had tried (unsuccessfully) to form a separate French Canada (Bas-Canada) in 1837-38, but were supressed. And then exiled. And then celebrated with a park and granite marker.
Turned out that St. Philippe was only about a 32 mile ride. When we reached the crossroads in town we saw to our left the road to the kampground, and to our right the "Resto Bar du Village". Of course we turned right. The Resto Bar was pretty empty because it was late afternoon, and the hostess/waitress/bartender was all smiles. Her English was little better than our (Matthew's) French, but we pointed to items on the menu and said "poutin" a couple of times. She took our order and got the kitchen working on it. Truthfully, we had ordered a cheeseburger and hamburger, but it seemed like there were a lot of condiment options. I just kept nodding yes to all of them. The piece de resistance (in my mind, anyway) was the poutin.
Matthew had picked up a Nat'l Geographic Travel magazine in Philly, featuring a big article about Montreal. What to do, see, where to go and stay--all we remember is the poutin. This is something of a regional dish, consisting of French fries topped with gravy and cheese. I didn't even know how to respond to that description, and now here I was, ordering it.
The burger came, topped with cheese, onions and sweet relish. Good. There was no mistaking the poutin. A bowl of fries, topped with a beef gravy and curds of white cheese. The gravy is almost opaqe, and the cheese sort-of-melts-but-not-quite-melts completely as you work your way to the last fry. This dish is the next big Southern food sensation! Aldon Brown will be featuring it soon, I can guarantee it.
Across the street from the Resto Bar was the local Marche', where we picked up a few things for camp dinner and breakfast before we rode the last half-mile to the KOA. The owner came in while we were getting checked in, and we struck up a conversation with him about our trip. Tom was VERY sympathetic about Matthew riding 2000 miles on "that little bike seat", and before we could get our tent unpacked, he upgraded us to one of their Kottages!
This was great for us, because we'd be closer to the laundry room and showers, plus we wouldn't have to set up and take down the tent.
We had showers, threw all of our clothes into a washer, and then made the mistake of sitting down. On comfy couches. In front of a tv. I couldn't believe how tired I suddenly was! We had only ridden 32 miles, and on a pretty flat terrain, too. I guess the headwind and horrible roads had really taken the spandex out of my seat.
Once the laundry was done, we headed back to the kottage for dinner. Our kottage had a double bed platform with 2 single mattresses, and a bunk bed with 2 more singles. A built-in desk, 2 plastic chairs, and a ceiling fan and light complete the kottage. A covered porch outside had a built-in bench, with plenty of room left for my BOB. Matthew's BOB came inside, as it holds our clothes and sleeping bags.
Dinner was Kung Pao Chicken and cheese biscuits, and by the time everything was cleaned up, it was nearly dark. We covered the bikes in case of dew or rain, and retreated inside the kottage.
Around 4am, we both woke up to the sound of rain on the roof, and blessed Tom again for our kottage. Rain hadn't really been expected, but given the weather from the past 2 weeks, it didn't surprise me to hear it. We slept comfortably with the kottage windows open all night, and woke up to a sunny, clear morning. Our plan is to cycle to Montreal on Wednesday, and take our time in the city before heading out sometime on Thursday. We have found a route that will take us along the St. Lawrence Seaway, which should be great riding. Au Revoir!
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