July 3rd, 2017, Day 42 (wow, 6 weeks on the road!) Hearst to Kapuskasing, Ontario. 103km

Nice! Who could complain? 

The road before us was mostly level, the only hills, long but gentle.  We set off in the still of the morning on what promised to be a lovely day, with only 10% chance of precipitation and a high of 21 degrees Celsius. Not too cold and not too hot. Sunshine! We had forgotten how nice that can be. It wasn’t long before we had to stop and peel off a layer of insulation. I, of course left my bug suit on. I’m like the “boy in a bubble” except that I’m a girl and my bubble is permeable. I do, however,  feel protected and apart from the insects when I have it on. They are everywhere and I would be constantly distressed and distracted if I didn’t have it to wear. Nobody else wears one. (Well, Charlie wore his bug pants a few days ago, but his bug top is still neatly stowed in his pannier). And people look at me a little oddly. But I don’t care. We will never see each other again.  Here is a picture of a sprucebug.    I saw it floating in the air before me and was horrified when we collided. (Probably the bug was thinking the same thing.) Anyway, I did as instructed and peeled it away from my netting by its antenna. Neither of us was the worse for wear. It layed there, stunned and traumatized as I hovered above it equally immobilized until I snapped out of it and snapped this pic.  

The pavement was challenging. With all the frost and upheavals, the roadways have been paved, cracked and repaired numerous times. Bubump…..bubump……bubump.bubump, bubump………………..bubump, bubump……..      That’s what much of our ride was like today. There were also long stretches where road crews had scrapped off the top surface of pavement in preparation for repaving. That can make for challenging riding too. Shoulder widths were narrow, and in some sections  the rumble strips had been imprinted directly right of the white line, forcing us to ride to the left on the road. The shoulder to the far right was irregularity deep gravel and as every cyclist knows, when forced to ditch under those conditions, all control is surrendered. Nonetheless, we bailed to the right on many occasions today when there was oncoming traffic and trucks or other vehicles trying to pass us.                  

From Hearst  on there are many small communities and towns, spaced every 15-20 km apart. Some are just groupings of 3 or 4 houses, some more developed with corner stores, churches and schools. I’ve noticed that many of the houses up north have little huts at the end of the driveways. I have wondered what they are there for and I haven’t asked anyone yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to shelter children as they wait for the school bus. That’s only a guess.

There are a lot of lovely wild flowers on the sides of the road, like these. Everything is green and lush because of all the rain this year.  

Arriving in Kapuskasing mid-afternoon gave us the chance to do one of the things we seem to be enjoying more and more often lately and that is retreating to Tim Hortons. This time we both had steeped tea and chatted with some of the  locals. We also did a bit of blogging and were totally immersed in that when a man came by. He was wearing cycling gloves and was very excited to meet fellow cyclists. He told us that he had done some very long rides, like from Kapuskasing to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and all across the deserts in the USA in the summer. He, Omer,      said he never realized at the time that he,  travelling secondary highways and thus, often isolated, could have died. He left but returned about 20 min later with some newspaper articles he had photocopied for us. On his return from one of his long solo cycling trips where he rode for 15 hours a day, ate one meal and slept in a hammock, the local newspaper had interviewed him.  There are several other articles as well. We haven’t read them yet in full but we look forward to doing so.

Kapuskasing is heavily involved in the pulp and paper industry as well as mining. Here is a picture of water coming from the pulp and paper factory.  

Our home- away -from -home tonight is in a cheese factory on the far east aspect of Kapuskasing.  Francios,     our host is 28 years old and the proprietor of this business. He is originally from Kapuskasing, and his parents and siblings help him out at times and he also employs 2 full-time and 2 or 3 part time people. Francois travelled extensively in Europe and China and it was while he was in China and missing cheese, that he considered getting into cheese making himself. He told us that when he returned to Canada he went to about 30 different artisan cheese makers in Quebec to learn what he could from them and he also studied at Haute Savoie, near Geneva and then again in France to learn how to make goat cheese.  Not just a man with great hair and a cheesy smile, Francois has also played competitive chess and spent 2 years circulating amongst Ontario schools to teach chess.                        

When we arrived he had prepared a beautiful salad,  .    a large plate of his beautiful cheeses,     bread and grapes. Of course we dove into it, but neither of us could do it the justice it deserved. We had just had a picnic of sandwiches, kale and potato salad in front of the grocery store. About 2 years ago he bought the building he now lives in and converted most of it into the cheese factory. We asked if he would give us a tour but it involved a lot of gowning up and hair nets, foot coverings, etc, that we decided not to do it. Instead, he showed us what he could through windows      and showed us a book of photographs that depict the entire process and we listened with great interest as he spoke. The building is perfect for this business.    It has a wide circular driveway and plenty of room for parking. It’s Spanish in style, wide, spacious and artsy. And it’s right on the highway, which allows for great access. He has only been in business for a few years and already grocery chains are asking him to supply their stores. Each cheese is named for a local river or lake. This cheese factory is going to do very well. It has a young, educated, dedicated and inspired owner who is not afraid to put in the time and work to make it successful. (He’s up at 4am and in bed by 8pm every night and puts in up to 120 hours of work per week. Plus, and this is the bottom line really……. his cheeses are yummy!!!