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Corky and I soon discovered that we could make the ride much easier by emulating Canadian geese, taking turns riding diagonally in front of each other. We quickly picked up speed and began passing other riders. Each time we'd pass someone, we'd say "Look, there's an American!" This seemed to get a laugh from everyone. We kept up this brisk pace for about 30 miles, until we reached the lunch stop. The Cycle America picnic trailer was set up in a small town, just outside of an old town hall that the local people had restored.
As we prepared to leave lunch, we found that the temperature was between jacket weather and shirtsleeve weather. I started with my cycling jacket on, but stopped after 25 yards and peeled it off. We continued across the wind for a few more miles. As we gradually curved to the southeast, the crosswind became a delightful tailwind. Stopping in a small town, we went into a bank to exchange our US dollars for Canadian currency. I exchanged $60 in US money for $85 in Canadian money.
Leaving town, the tailwind was so strong that we seemed to have motors on our bikes. The rolling hills that we encountered seemed to take very little effort to climb. We eventually cruised into the small town of Rodney, where Fr. Jim spotted a hardware store with a display of lawn chairs on the sidewalk. It was too tempted to pass up, so we circled back and stretched out in the comfortable chairs. Several other riders soon joined us, and we relaxed and chatted for about 15 minutes.
After ten more miles, we reached our destination of West Lorne, a small town located a few miles from Lake Erie's north shore. We set up our tents in the schoolyard, next to a cow pasture. After a quick shower, I walked downtown to find the library and e-mail home. As I walked, I passed an indoor hockey rink, a lawn bowling square, and baseball and soccer fields. Surrounding the lawn bowling square were small green trees with colorful orange berries, which piqued my curiosity. I continued to the library, where a friendly librarian quickly set me up with an Internet terminal. (After arriving home, I e-mailed the West Lorne library to ask what kind of trees I had seen at the lawn bowling square. They were mountain ash trees. I didn't think we had them in Ohio, but I have noticed many in the last few weeks.)
I headed back to camp for dinner, and then we relaxed by our tents. It was interesting to see how the campsite developed each day. Some of the more sociable riders, including us, pitched their tents in groups and often chatted with each other. Others preferred to be by themselves, and would go to the other side of the school to find a quiet location. Some of the campers became experts at figuring out which areas would be in the shade as the afternoon progressed, and would head promptly for these spots. Others were perfectly happy to stretch out on the gym floor, and didn't pitch a tent all week. One of my favorite campground scenes occurred when two of the riders gave each other haircuts. They seemed to do a very nice job.
After relaxing for a while, we decided to enjoy our nightly routine of walking into town for a cool drink. We walked for about 15 minutes to the Canadian Legion hall, where we found several of the Cycle America staff members. As we walked in, one of them kept signaling to me, lifting his hand in front of his face. I was totally confused, until he finally said, "Take your hat off!" I was wearing a ball cap, and didn't realize that it is bad manners to wear a cap in a Canadian Legion hall. I quickly doffed my cap, and the bartender nodded his approval and smiled. Several Legion members were present, and enjoyed telling us stories about their town. They were especially proud of the NHL hockey player who was from the area. Everything seemed different from Ohio, so we were very surprised when they told us that we were only 35 miles from Cleveland, Fr. Jim's hometown.
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