In yesterday’s post, I wrote about Brian and Joe, father and son cyclists going from the west to east coast on a route similar to mine but in the opposite direction. Today, near Port Bruce, Ontario, I met David, a 64-year-old retired high school chemistry teacher from California, who was also on that same west-to-east route. During the course of the conversation, he asked, “hey, you haven’t happened to run into a couple of guys on bikes named Brian and Joe, have you?” These were the very guys I had talked to yesterday afternoon! David said he and Brian were retired former colleagues–Brian taught biology at the same high school–and he was trying to catch up to them. The world of cross-country bike adventurers is a small one indeed. Here is David, ready to hit the road to chase after his pals. He was only about a day behind them, so maybe he’ll be able to do that.

David mentioned that he really enjoyed his time biking through Minnesota and was particularly impressed by a beautiful portion of the route that took him on the Lake Wobegon Trail, which is near St. Cloud, MN.

In case you thought I was making up what I said about having chickens in my backyard at the place I stayed in Clear Creek last night, here was a visitor at my back door this morning. I didn’t open the door for fear the chicken might walk in, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to get it to leave.

I had to ride 14 miles this morning before I got to a place that served breakfast, in Port Burwell, Ontario. I was surprised to find this Caribbean food restaurant, Beach Patties, and learned from John, the owner, that his wife is from Trinidad, and the restaurant was inspired by the cuisine of her homeland.

John mentioned he had seen a few cyclists coming through the town in the past month and mentioned that one biker he met was from Staples, Minnesota.

Here is John in front of a chalk board menu that he was in the process of updating. I am sorry to say that I ordered a conventional western-type breakfast (a western omelet, in fact), and didn’t venture to try their curry goat or oxtail platters. Maybe I’ll do that on my next trip through town. If you are ever in the area, I recommend you check them out.

The conditions for today’s ride, about 40 miles, were quite nice–fairly flat (with just a few exceptions), sunny but not too hot, and generally rather light traffic and a decent shoulder. I am staying in Port Stanley (pop. 2,229) tonight, a town founded in the early 1800s. I learned that in the early 1900s, Port Stanley was the main tourist attraction on Lake Erie and was called “The Coney Island of the Great Lakes.” I thought this mural a few blocks from my hotel on Main Street was interesting. It honors a “gallant Port Stanley life saving crew” that rescued sailors on an American three-masted schooner that ran aground in 1902. The schooner was breaking up on high clay bluffs east of the Port Stanley harbor in the “towering waves” of a vicious storm. For their bravery, the rescuers all received gold medals from U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

It’s time for me to get some rest in preparation for tomorrow’s planned 80-mile ride to Wallaceburg, Ontario, my last stop in Canada before returning to the U.S. on Monday.