Experimental breakfast. I love coffee. I love it, but refrain from that enjoyment when I’m cycling because I try to minimize the number of times I have to search out a little bush, peel away 3 pant layers, (yes, three. My cycling shorts, my long underwear that I wear as light weight pants and usually, my MEC rain pants.) Everything’s usually a bit damp if not outright wet and resists removal so I like to limit that whole ordeal as much as possible. But I have an idea and I’m going to try it first thing this morning!
I bought a jar of Nescafe ground instant coffee! Not the regular instant coffee. No, this is soft, finely ground, like flour. I mixed it, two good sized dollops, into my instant milk powder, added water and vanilla yogurt and threw it all over my mound of raw large flaked oatmeal and chopped apple. .( Ohhh…..chocolate powder! That would be good too!) I know it probably doesn’t sound that appealing and if I invited you for breakfast you’d likely decline, but I thought it was pretty good! And put to the test, I was still buzzing along happily after 60 km. It is now a new staple to my morning diet.
What a beautiful, gorgeous fantastic day! We were headed into the heart of Winnipeg, to the MEC store where we have appointments to have our bikes checked and serviced as needed. We had to call them to let them know that we would not be there to drop off our bikes at 11am as Charlie, for some reason, had booked. We were going to be late because I chose to sleep in until 6am that morning.
We do like to start early in the morning and that is particularly important when the weather is stinking hot. We’ve been fortunate thus far. I’d way rather deal with these cool cloudy conditions. On we went, the wind from the north west ousting us along. A little group of red-winged blackbirds swooped and scolded me overhead, believing they were successful in driving me away from their nests where their young awaited, sheltered in the bulrushes, mouths agape, awaiting their next knat. I felt good, enlivened by my caffeine boost. Charlie felt good too. He just loves to ride!
We dropped our panniers off at the home of Ian and Sherry, our “Warm Showers” hosts for the night. They live just a little off of Portage, a roaring street heavy with traffic even on a Sunday afternoon. Two houses in from Portage it was quiet and green with trees lining each side of the road, their branches forming a canopy overhead. Sounds lovely, and it would be if not for the caterpillar infestation. As we ride towards their house, I hear myself shrieking like a girl when I come in contact with the many, many suspended, swaying insects. I don’t like them.
We got to MEC. I told them about Charlie’s wiggle wobble, how the whole back end of his bike fish tails. They will also be adjusting the angle of his handlebars and rewrapping themwith cushioning gel. I have opted to shorten my stem a bit. Both bikes need tune ups, maybe new chains. We’ve done over 2500 km now. In the meantime, we both felt great to be off our bikes and walking for a change.
There was a jazz festival going on and we sat and listened and people watched for a while. There seem to be a very large number of homeless and poor, at least downtown, and of course, a festival draws them out. Every few metres people were calling out to us, some quite aggressively, to give them money. Our host’s had warned us to never leave our bikes unattended, not even for an instant, as bike theft is rampant in this city. He said that bikes are taken to “chop shops” where they are taken apart, their components mixed and then reassembled back into functional bicycles. I’m sure that Winnipeg is a great city. Tomorrow is a rest day and we will explore a bit and try to see it’s positive aspects.
Sherry and Ian, 
both in their 50’s are warm, welcoming and full of energy and conversation. Sherry says she has been in the news a lot lately because as a Ph.D. toxicologist/pharmacologist working for the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, she has been trying to educate people about the lethal dangers of phentanyl and now, car-phentanyl. Ian is a teacher, an outdoor education specialist. He is a transplant from England and he is passionate about the kids he teaches and about the city he has adopted as his home. They are enthusiastic bicycle tourists and prefer cycling in Europe. Warm Showers hosts, they take regular advantage of the reciprocal hospitality when they are away as well. What a fantastic way to meet other interesting people! I have been bowled over again and again by the amazing generous people we’ve met on this journey! Charlie and I have hosted many, many couchsurfers, which opens the playing field considerably, as the only common thread you can count on then is that we all need shelter, sleep and food. We have only had 1 set of “Warm Showers” guests since we joined the site; two very thin, ravenously hungry Korean guys who had been subsisting on ramen noodles. They didn’t go to bed hungry that night!
Sherry and Ian had prepared us a delicious meal of guacamole and chips, salad with candied pecans and strawberries, homemade pizza and pavlova with lemon curd, whipped cream and fruit. After lots of conversation, they showed us to their “cottage”, a room high up in their house that they have redone with storage units underneath, cushions atop those units and windows all around. It’s a perfect little nest and we are very comfortable. 
They told us to feel welcome to stay more than 1 day so we will take our rest day here as well. Monday evening we will make them dinner. It is in no way repayment for their hospitality but at least it’s something we can do to attempt to express our gratitude.
Wendingourway:Across Canada by Bike 2017 
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