When I was planning my trip, I learned that many cyclists biking across the country believe it is far better to go from west to east, the same direction as prevailing winds. I decided to go the other way, recognizing that I might face more headwinds than tailwinds. I didn’t notice headwinds much until Tuesday (8/8), when I was fighting some strong winds, but this didn’t really bother me. Biking has been much easier on the flat terrain I’ve enjoyed around the Great Lakes, and my routes in Canada so far have not had much traffic on them. Wind seemed like the least of my worries. In any event, today the winds had died down, and there was a nice flat stretch where I found myself almost effortlessly cruising along at 15 mph for several miles. I was done with the day’s 40-mile ride by 2 p.m., when I pedaled into Port Dover, Ontario–and that was after I had stopped for an hour-long lunch in Selkirk, Ontario.

There was still just enough wind this morning to give you a view of the unfurled Canadian Maple Leaf flag on the shores of Lake Erie.

Like a number of rural areas across North America, I’ve seen a lot of windmill power generation across my route along the north shore of Lake Erie. I learned that 200 wind turbines are expected in Haldimand County, which includes a large chunk of the land along the lake between my two overnight stops (Port Colborne and Port Dover).

You all know the benefits of wind power generation–it is a clean and renewable energy source and reduces reliance on fossil fuels–but it is not without controversy. As the homemade sign below attests, there are those who do not like the turbines, I think mainly due to concerns about noise and aesthetics.

We’re hearing a lot these days about repurposing commercial real estate. The restaurant I stopped at in Selkirk, Ontario, is located in a structure built in 1875 and has amazingly been reborn at least six times over the years. It has been used as a restaurant/deli, butter factory, drug store, bake shop, billiard hall, post office, and barber shop–in addition to having the basement used for cold storage.

Here is a road sign you don’t see very often, “Watch for Seniors,” which was right across from my motel in Dunville. At first, I thought it might be a joke, but then I noticed it was adjacent to a pickleball court–a popular low-impact pastime among seniors.

And who is this clown? Doesn’t he know any better than to be standing next to the road?