Expertly, he chopped up a large chunk of fresh ginger and several cloves of garlic. Then he sautéed the chicken and tofu, adding that garlic and ginger and the sauce he’d just whipped up. He put that aside and sautéed the mound of vegetables until they were tender, then added the meat mixture, gently stirring. The rice was ready too and he put several scoop fulls into each of the three dishes he’d set out on the counter. He swung around and placed a steaming aromatic dish before us, then sat down to eat his own meal.
Meet Thomas, our amazing 19 year old “Warm Showers” host! 
Last year Thomas rode his bike from his home in St Nicola, Quebec to Tofino, BC with 2 of his friends. They had an adventurous time and enjoyed the hospitality of “Warm Showers” hosts on their trip. When he got back he wanted to extend that same kind of warm hospitality to other travellers. Thomas still lives with his parents and while they were away, they were fine with him hosting us in their home.
The day didn’t start out as well as that. We awoke early at the hotel. “Oh, it can’t be morning. Noooo……I just want to lie here.” We got up anyway and once you’re up, it’s ok. This morning at the motel there was a continental breakfast included. Yay! Something other than raw oatmeal for breakfast! We had cereal and toast with peanut butter. I have a love/hate relationship with peanut butter. Sometimes just the thought of it flips my stomach and other times I love it. Right now peanut butter and I are in a very good relationship. 
We got going, watching Charlies tires initially, then forgetting about them and just churning through the kilometres. Unfortunately we got detoured again for about 10 km. Ahh…it’s all part of the adventure and it takes us to places off the route we’d never see otherwise. We passed 5500 km and Charlie had to take a picture. We also passed numerous ditches where we heard frogs croaking, sounding like badly tuned guitars. We got off our bikes and tried to get some pictures of them but those slippery little green guys never stayed still enough to get a pic. We saw them though. And they saw us! 
The villages are so pretty. The people really take care of their homes and gardens. St Croix is one such village and it’s main attraction is it’s magnificent Catholic Church. The grounds were well maintained and a woman was planting and trimming outside. I went over to talk with her and she had lots to say. She was a former biologist with the Quebec government and she studied predators. Now retired, she volunteered her time, like many others in the area, to maintaining the church flowers. She was a lively conversationist, and we learned a lot from her. I told her that I suspected that a church like that would have bled the parishioners dry back in the day, and she explained that the church was something that everyone was proud of. Too bad no one goes anymore. 
There are fruit stands enroute too and we stopped to enjoy the sweetest most flavourful strawberries we’d had in years! 
At the end of our ride today Thomas greeted us at his parents home. He was an exceptional host and treated us like welcome guests. He even made dessert! Plain Greek yogurt, harvest crunch cereal, maple syrup produced by his grandfather and blueberries. So, so good!
A little later his girlfriend came over and we went downstairs. I tried valiantly to stay awake, as I’m trying now, but it was impossible. I was down for the count!
Wendingourway:Across Canada by Bike 2017 
Leave a comment