July 6th, 2017, Day 45, Iroquois Falls to Munro Lake. 89 km

“Are you a hippy?” This, from a young woman who was also waiting outside the liquor store in Cochrane, waiting for it to reopen. It is short staffed and had to close its doors whilst they unloaded a new order. There was a growing crowd gathering outside, all just eager to run in, pick up their 6-pack or bottles of wine and be off, off to better, more fun things. I had seen her eyeing me and my packed bicycle for a while now. She wanted to fit me into some slot, some preconceived notion of who and what I was. The thing is, I’d already slotted her into a category in my mind too. How wrong we can be!

Umm…. no, I wouldn’t call myself a hippie. I was telling Charlie about this and he said I should have told her that I was, that we are, bohemians. Well, if we are bohemians, we are pretty disciplined bohemians. “Get ‘er done” and then you can have fun.

We left Big Nellie Lake and Fran and Marc at around 7:10 because we had to take the dauntingly hilly trip in to the hospital at Iroquois Falls. We did it in record time and as I was waiting for Charlie to have his bloodwork, a woman came in and sat a short distance from me. She asked me what I was working on out in the bush and I explained that we were actually cycling across Canada. Marilyn Chircoski.  is from Timmons but moved to Iroquois Falls to work as an RN and stayed after meeting and marrying her husband, Marvin, (Chick).     When she heard we were from Calgary she excitedly told me that their 13 year old granddaughter was leaving for Calgary soon for 3 weeks of ballet training. She had been selected out of a large group of competitors. She then told me that she and her husband were staying at their cabin east of Matheson. I told her that she was exactly the person we needed to talk to! Could she tell us what the roads and traffic are like out that way, and was the Little Fox Resort open and was there a grocery store? “No, the Little Fox Resort is closed but we live right close to it so, come stay with us!” It was an offer we could not refuse!

This was what riding should be like! Once on the secondary roads we started to realize how stressful it had been on the main highway. Traffic was light, we had many stretches where we could ride side by side. Near Monteith, under the shadow of the correctional institute, we had to lift our bikes over 2 barriers and cross over an abandoned bridge.   Agriculture is returning to this region as some of the Mennonites from Elmira have come north, bought up vast quantities of land and are expanding their colonies.     The people welcome their presence and industry as Iroquois Falls has lost their main industry, pulp and paper recently.

Lunch was outside a grocery store in Matheson where we replenished our food supplies. We aren’t sure about grocery access for the next day or so. On we went afterwards, up and down hills,until we saw the turn off for Munro Lake. “Just go to the end and turn at E.  We’re on lot 14 on the lake.”

Great! We were there. Or almost there. The turnoff was not paved; instead it had been freshly graded with plenty of loose gravel. Immediately I stiffened up in trepidation but, we suspected it was a long way off so we pointed our bikes towards the lake and set off. Bam! I was just going down a small decline and my wheels skidded out. Down I went, hitting my left shoulder and left calf, still firmly clipped onto my bike. I lay there for a bit trying to assess the damage. Am I hurt? How badly? I got up and checked myself out. Head? Good. I didn’t whack it. Shoulder? Seems ok. Arm? Still moving. Elbow is a little scraped up. Hip, ok. Leg? Minor scrapes, but ok too. I checked out OK but there was no chance I was going to get back and ride. Charlie was slip-sliding everywhere too. Walk? Well, I guess we’ll have to, unless we can flag down someone with a truck.

Judy Desantos    from Timmons was at her summer home at Monroe Lake. When we met her she was driving her truck down a gravel road in northern Ontario, just back from a trip to the grocery store where she’d replenished her supplies for the week. The back of the truck was full and the back seat was full too; she had her constant companion with her, her big old dog. She heard our plight, drove home, emptied the truck and left the dog confused and alone and came back, picked us up and drove us to the home of Marilyn and Marvin (Chick) Chirposki. Judy has a son in Calgary, a pediatric urologist, and a daughter-in-law who is also a doctor. Dr Lindsay Miller and Dr ? Desantos. It’s a small, small world folks.

Marilyn and Chick met us on the lawn, undoubtedly wondering why we were arriving by truck.  The neighbors, both long residents of the area, had never met each other but had friends in common and were happy to meet each other. Our hosts gave us a tour of their property, including the lovely little cabin we were to stay in. They were having problems with their water supply so we went for a refreshing swim in the lake with a bar of soap, followed by about 20 minutes in the sauna and another dip to rinse off. We dressed and went to the house where Marilynn had prepared dinner for us all. Salad, rice, carrots, chicken and rhubarb cake.  Nice evening. Awesome hosts! They have a large family with 7 grandkids, (a dearly loved grandson and twin, Danny Wilson, had died 6 years ago in an unexplainable car accident.)  They mourn him still, of course.  All of them love to visit Grandma and Grandpa at the lake. The cabins and their main house is full of family pictures and kid’s drawings, knick -knacks and family treasures. You can feel the warmth, the love there. And they treated us just like family. Such surprises. We are aware and appreciative of all the blessings that keep coming our way. Thank you Marilyn and Chick!! And thank you Judy!