Getting Settled

I'm home and it still hasn't sunk in yet. It still feels like I'm on a short break, like I'm stuck in a town because of weather or waiting for a repair. Since I've got back, people have been very complimentary on what I have done but it honestly does not feel like that big a deal. It felt like I just went for a ride around the block.... a very big block.

I was scrolling through photos of the trip and it's a weird sensation. I look at them and think it would be pretty cool to go there, not really feeling like I have been there and snapped those pics. A photo is not the experience, not even close. I guess to play on a cliche it's all so surreal of what I have experienced in the last little while. I know I have a different outlook on people and the world but as for how I feel now. It feels like I seriously just went around the block.

Now I'm back home and trying to figure out where to go next. I want to ride my bike everywhere and at the same time don't really feel like doing anything. Lethargy has taken over and you know what? I don't mind. It feels good just to sit around... But my body is twitching to get out and do something strenuous.

There is probably 4000 people I owe a special thanks too. So many people hearing me out on what I embarked to set off to do and helping me in anyway they could. I know some people probably didn't want to hear me out but saw the position I was in and maybe out of compassion for me, sat down to hear my stories. I pray that if I talked to someone with negative viewpoints on people with disabilities I was able to make them more accepting to integrating them into the community. Overall I feel I was successful in bringing awareness to some of the issues that people with disabilities encounter. Thanks so much for everyone following this trip and being supportive. I have said this numerous times... I would have never ever come close to finishing this trip if I havn't been blessed with so many positive great people. Your words were the strength in my pedalling and I will always remember the gracious support from friends I have never even met! Thank you.

ONE LAST IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!!

Well a lot of people have been asking how much have we raised in the last little while. The grand total is currently at $62,000. We are also having a BBQ for the Far and Wide Bike Trek. This will be held at Burl-Oak Canoe Club in Downtown Oakville (160 Water Street Oakville,ON). It will be held between 4-10pm on Sunday, August 24th. It will be a great evening of fun with lots of stories shared of the summer, lots of pictures, gifts, and games!!!!!!!! Tickets in advance are $12 per adult and $2 per child. At the door they are $15 per adult and $5 per child. For more info please contact biketrek@live.ca or you can contact Evelyn 905-330-9482 or Amy 905-617-2465.

GODSPEED!

Matthew

Trees.

Northern Ontario has offered alot of new adventures and opportunities. The landscape on the north shore of Lake Superior is one of the most beautiful places on this trip. Except the bugs and weather have been try to convince me otherwise.

Lots of tough days lately with hills and heavy rains. The rain seems to be relentless. It always adds so much more time when, putting your tent away ..... and it's just mentally draining. But nothing can really bring me down. I guess knowing that I'm only 3 days away is such motivation to push through anything.

I have had huge bike problems, and had to hitchhike to the next bike store. Hitchhiking is always interesting because of the dependency on trust on both parties. It took me two rides to get where I was going and I actually turned down one ride from someone that I didn't feel comfortable going with. It's amazing how many people drive by hitchhikers. I tried many different things to intice people to pick me up. The animated thumb (shaking it all around). Juggling and then dropping the balls and throwing the thumb out. The Journal thumb.... (writing in my journal and putting my thumb out) The sad thumb (thumbs down).

Anyhow, I'm in Sudbury and will be arriving in Hamilton on August 12th around 4ish. I will be be riding to the Lawson Ministries building where I started this trip. It will be great to see the building where so many of the amazing individuals with Developmental Disabilities that I'm blessed to work with have motivated me to do this journey. I hope I have accomplished in spreading the word about their abilities and that I have represented them in good form.

Well this is the last blog on the road and there has been sooooo much that has happened but I will do one more blog when it's all said and done. I guess it will be a kind of recap.

GODSPEED :)
Matthew

Tour De France.

Everyday I ride my bike there is something else to think about. Whether or not I made a significant contribution to the cause I'm trying to bring awareness too. Or whether I'm pushing myself hard enough to get home. All of these things constantly are brought up during the ride. People often ask me... "What do you think about all day?" I usually smile and think about the question. But then realize how can I really answer that. There is often 9 or 10 hours of thoughts going through my head. So, I guess it's kinda hard to generalize what I think about. The last thoughts coming into Winnipeg, were that of Tour De France and I even filled in for the colour commentary. I pretend its the halfway through the event and I'm on the 16th leg and that I'm chasing down the lead trying to make up seconds for my overall score. I spot a sign post a km down the road and do my best to chase it down pretending it's the lead of the pack.... It's amazing how your imagination takes over when you have no TV for months at a time.


One funny little anecdote from the last week was there was another crazy storm. That's not obviously very funny. But I was camped out in a park just on the Saskatchewan / Manitoba border and the storm came in fast and hard and stayed for the whole night. I tried to hold down the fort during the storm, the winds were so strong they were ripping my tent pegs out of the ground. I would have to run out side just in my shorts and try and re-peg the tent down into the ground. And then literally dive back into my tent. It was as if I was saving the sinking ship doing all I could to bail out the water as fast as I could. I could only imagine what people in the RVs watching me were thinking. Again, the Prairie thunderstorms have proven to be frightening. The thunder and lightening is spectacular, very bright and loud. Honestly, it's not the nicest type of storm to be camped in. But I would like to thank Evelyn and her parents Joan and Dermot Duffy for the rainjacket it has been one, if not the most important article of clothing on the trip. Especially in those harsh storms :)


I would really like to suggest bicycle touring as a way travelling or even promoting awareness for a certain cause. I have found alot of success in reaching individuals engaging them in conversation about disabilities. It's always interesting to see how people relate themselves to someone with a disability or share a story of someone they know. This is great to hear, it reminds me often of the crew back at Lawson Ministries and of others close to me. People often talk about how much people struggle with the disabilities at first. But usually always talk about how they have so much to offer and how much promise they have. It's great to see so many people recognizing the potential and teaching me about different situations they have encountered.

But as you can see travelling long routes cross country that there is tough days as you can see if you scroll through my blog. Especially in Canada, there is parts in the Prairies where there is no shoulder to ride on. For me to cope with the high stress environment of being on the road I try and block everything out except for the white line. The white line is like a string pulling me to my destination. I don't stray far from the white line and it's as if my bike is winding up the line on the wheels. The traffic is heavy with Semi-trucks, but the Semis are not the ones to worry because they are the "Professional" drivers. It's usually the rented RVs or people on cellphones. There has been a few close calls where I actually feel like I'm being hit with something because the cars flies so fast and only inches from a collision. The one thing I would like to do if you are a driver and see a cyclist is instead of just moving over... slow down. It only takes moments to slow down and give room to the cyclist. Because if you were in a public place like a mall, you wouldn't go up to a stranger and walk by him very closely and scream in his ear. Because that's what it feels like when a car blows by at fast speeds. I know I focused on the negatives of touring there.... but the positives outweigh the bad and you meet thousands of amazing people and see the landscape not through a small window but through a panoramic view with sounds and smells that you can't get from a car.

I have included here in the bottom of this blog my final push home. Some of the days are big and Northern Ontario is very hilly so it will be challenging but I hope I can persevere through it and get home by August. 13th. I will try and update this one last time in a weeks time.

August 1st - Kenora
August 2nd - Emo
August 3rd - Atikokan
August 4th - Thunder Bay
August 5th - Rossport
August 6th - White River
August 7th - Lake Superior Provincial Park
August 8th - Bruce Mines
August 9th - Sudbury
August 10th - REST DAY
August 11th - Parry Sound
August 12th - Barrie
August 13th - Hamilton!!!!!!!!

Godspeed :)
Matthew

The World is Flat.

Well the world is flat in the Prairies at least. It's interesting how flat they actually can be. You can see a grain elevator or water tower in the distance and be staring at it for a good hour before you reach it. It's funny to play mental games to see how many Km's it will take to get there. But those game soon get boring and I forget how far I got.

The long days are easier and not as tiring as they were in the mountains. But definitely very tiring mentally staring at the same landscape for hours. But I don't take this landscape for granted because it is the very important for agriculture and also brings beauty. It is serene in the mornings when the mists are rising from the crops early.

I can't write this very much longer but two things worth noting are; I am in Saskatoon and it took me four days to get here from Calgary. The city seems interesting, especially because I'm staying at a shelter. It's been awhile since I have stayed at one and the first thing that happened was a man approached me and asked if I snuck any booze in. I wasn't sure if he was joking but said I wouldn't make it very far if my water bottles had booze in them. He then lifted up his shirt and started slapping his over sized belly and said, "I'm a ladies man". We talked for awhile after and we shared our stories.

The second thing was I saw a little girl in a crowd with Down Syndrome. She was about 3 years and everyone was struck by her cuteness. I remember when my sister was this age and one boy who was in her grade came up to me and my mom and said "I wish I had Down Syndrome so I could be as popular as Erinn." I was really young when this happened and I still remember it to this day. I'm not sure what my point is here exactly. But the comparison came to me when watching the crowd and how they interacted with the child.

Godspeed.
Matthew

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES!!!

Glamis dunes..... Very sandy. South Arizona....


I think I can ... I think I can...(Canada)

Storm rolling in on Rogers Pass. (Canada)

My Bicycle posing against the rocks. (Canada)

A beautiful tributary near my campsite! (Canada)

Bountiful Beauty.

There has been alot to take in over these last days since Vancouver. It has been a good push through the Rockies that hasn't beat me down nearly as much as I thought it would. The difficulty of the climbs is easily replaced by the beauty of the landscape. I talk alot about the natural beauty of things throughout out this blog because it's something that means alot to me. I wish there was more I could do to protect it. The effects of global warming have hurt BC's forests more than I was aware of, and it was shocking to see it first hand.

The Carbon Emissions that are warming our annual temperatures seem to have a major effect on leaving a nasty bug alive through the warmer winters. If you already know this, I apologize in advance. But the lush forests in the National Parks and even on Logging lands are literally being eaten... and its not me resorting to chewing on bark either. It has been the evil Mountain Pine Beetle. This mass producing killing machine is eating all the pines. At first, I thought the discoloured trees were just an abnormal part of some of the forests. But when I saw the impact, the trees were completely brown. They are eating the forests at an alarming rate and moving into Alberta. They can travel about 100km a day... and can possibly move to Ontario to eat all our forests!! It's a scary thought but a good reason to educate ourselves on these issues.

When riding through B.C it's astonishing the beauty of the landscape along the roadside. There was hardly a moment where I felt bored riding through this province. The towns were usually quaint and well kept with nice people. Some were a little too touristy for me, but were still enjoyable. Riding in and out of the mountains has some awesome moments. Like riding along the great railway lines, these freight trains were incredibly long. I have seen long trains before around the city, but some of these trains were around 160 cars. The power of the locomotives moving up and around the mountains in engineering brilliance. These railway lines are a very interesting part of Canadian History. However, it's not good getting stuck at the crossing, waiting for close to half an hour for it to pass.

Also, riding along the famous TransCanada Hwy you get to see some of the most amazing river systems. Two that come to mind are the Columbia and Kicking Horse. The rivers are raging in spots and glistening in others, presenting the most spectacular blue I have ever seen. I wanted to jump in and drink it all in. But instead settled for just splashing my face to cool down.

The wildlife along the highways here in Canada I have seen more than I saw in the entire U.S.A. I saw a bunch of ram fighting by the side of the road. Then I saw some very white mountain goats making strange noises jumping up very steep cliffs. They made it look so effortless, I was extremely jealous. I saw a grizzly cub .... it could have been a black bear cub but it scurried very quickly away.

Matt!

*The previous blog was written 3 days ago*

HARD DAYS TO CALGARY

I was like the cowboy who first goes into the city. Staring up at the buildings in disbelief. Except I was looking at Mountains... I just couldn't believe the roughness and snow that still existed on them in July. But that would soon be understood as I packed from Lake Louise to get ready for the trek to Calgary. I knew it was 190km to Calgary but for some reason I was sad to leave the Rockies behind. The ground was wet and the there was a strip of clouds above my head but with bright blue sky on either side. I never prepared for rain because I thought this would pass.

It was cold in the mountains on this morning and the cold morning air felt like a late fall day. I was excited to make it to Calgary and see some familiar faces. After I put my camera away and got ready for the big push. I passed "Storm Mountain" and it didn't look good. The clouds were surrounding me and I could hear thunder in the distance. The clouds started to spit at me and I was still optimistic that it would pass. Then the clouds opened up and the most frightening thunder storm I had ever been in let loose very quickly. I got off my bike and hid among the trees. You might think going under a tree is a bad idea in a thunder storm. But you don't want to be on a bike in the middle of a flat area. It's better to be among the lots of trees if there is no alternative shelter. So, it eased up and I jumped back on my bike and started to ride fast hoping I could ride through the storm. I could see blue sky down the road and for some reason thought I could out ride it. But if you are familiar with the movie the Truman show this is how it felt with the cloud hovering above me. Moments later, I was being pelted with golf ball sized hail. The first couple I laughed at thinking that this was not real. But it was. They started coming down really hard and it hurt as they pelted my face and back.

I jumped back in the trees and found shelter. Again it stopped but the thunder storm rolled back in. The strikes seemed so close and flashing in several parts, the noises echoed through the mountains at a deafening volume.

This time I pushed hard down the road but now the rain was falling very hard. It seemed like basketball size rain drops were falling down. I had never felt so wet in my life. The speedometer was so saturated that it stopped working so I had no idea of the distance I was covering.

As I rounded down a hill I realized that my handling was becoming a little wobbly and making the sound I did not want to hear. It was a flat tire. I couldn't see shelter down the road and didn't want to change the tire in the forest so hiked back up 2 km to a rest stop and changed the tire in a Men's bathroom... Not the finest of Men's bathrooms either, the odour was less than pleasant.

I got the tire going quickly and jumped back on the road. I got to Canmore a couple hours later and ate at our national cuisine. Tim Horton's. The skies cleared almost completely when I got back on my bike and I was dry and feeling optimistic about making it to Calgary.

Forty minutes into the ride, those terrible clouds rolled back in with the thunder and lightening. This time aided by only marble size hail. This time I was closer to the foot hills to the Rockies and there was no shelter to seek out. The temperature dropped very quickly and now I was soaked to the bone and freezing. I had lost complete feeling in my hands and there was no real place to stop until Calgary, except to back track to Canmore. I decided to push to Calgary to meet my friend. It started to snow a couple of inches and people all looked at me as the drove by with puzzlement.

Now I made it to Calgary in one piece and got to meet some amazing people and see some family and friends. I would like specifically thank Colin and Lindsay for being more than generous. My Uncle Ken and Aunt Kathy for making the trek from Edmonton and there amazing contributions. Vicki and her two kids for discussing the trip with me and the great lunch. Chris Gardiner in Lake Louise for putting me up. Pierce Lang in Vancouver was more than accomodating aswell. THANKS THANKS THANKS !

Smiling and warm :)
till next time,

Matthew

Home sweet home... well almost.

Clicking and squeaking, my bike and I navigated through many side streets to get near the Canadian border. I didn't even notice the name of the town I was in, neither did I care to know it because of my focus to cross the border home. I had this really strange feeling swirling around my stomach. A mixture of disbelief and excitement. As I rounded the corner I could see the grey concrete structures where people are harassed daily on who they are or where they have been. As per usual there massive line ups of trucks and automobiles which filled the air with sitting exhaust. Looking at the massive Customs buildings was intimidating. I started to get nervous like I always do when crossing a border. It's not that I have been out of the country for years and years, I had been out for longer before. I guess it's the hard work and long days to get there that made me so emotional when seeing the great north.

Suddenly I thought came to mind, I remembered my lentils and my army knife, I always think of the smallest things that I could get in trouble for when crossing the border. The last memory when coming home from previous travels reminds me of coming off a plane from being over seas for a year and half. That time however I had a massive beard and was wearing the loose fitting Thai fisherman's pants. That time they gave me a hard time....

When I walked in this time, I was greeted kindly by the customs officer. I told him where I came from and where I had ridden too and he called over to his other friend to hear my story. 3 of them just hung around and asked semi-serious questions. But more along the lines of hearing the tales from the trip. It was great to have the ability to make a group of customs officers laugh and actually interested in what I'm doing. It made these hardened people seem human to me.

So, they let me go without an intense shakedown for my lentils. I rode hard for one or two more KM's giving a "Yaaaa WHOOOOOOOO" It was a great feeling to be back home.

It has been a great couple of weeks. I have really enjoyed alot of the people I have met and learned alot about hospitality and kindness. I will especially remember Seattle, It is a nice city with not that overwhelming size or rat race feel to it. But what made it really special were my friends Charlie and Marti. These two people are saints in my eyes I can't believe how generous they were. They met me at a picnic table practically in the middle of nowhere and loaded me with water and cookies. Then met up with them at the South Beach Newport campground in Oregon. The next day they chased me down on the road and gave me great maps to navigate through the safest and most beautiful route through the State of Oregon, which is priceless information for a cyclist. They offered me accommodation in Seattle and I couldn't say no. I had to get there in an allotted time but I'm always up for the challenge and pushed myself to get there. When arriving they made me feel like an old friend or relative. I have never felt so comfortable in the presence of strangers. The food was great and of course they had more cookies for me... Incredible. I will never forget that part of this trip, the kindness was unprecedented and I hope I can repay the favour one day. These acts of kindness are always so rejuvenating to push me and remind me why I am doing what I'm doing.

Finished with the United States it was a great time but very difficult at points. I can't believe I'm this far. It seems like I'm just a few blocks from home. I know I shouldn't think like that because this is a massive challenge that awaits. But since I'm home in Canada I feel like things are a little more familiar and warmer. I don't know if that makes sense. But being back in Canada definitely has brought a sense of ease and optimism finishing roughly 2/3 of the trip.

The last and most important thing in this blog is giving recognition to the support that I have received from friends in Hamilton, ON. The work alot of people have put forth on this trek has been phenomenal. My family is also there to help me through the hard times and help organize thing on the go with the ever changing route. So thanks everyone for making this trip so successful and helping push for the best support for the great individuals in our communities! The next big function to help fundraise, that everyone should try and attend for a good time and a great cause is the Lawson BBQ which will be held on July. 19th from 11:00 to 5:00 at Bayfront Park in Hamilton, ON. This will be a fun day with lots of amazing people attending. I wish I could be there but apparently I'm too slow :)

Happy to be home and Godspeed.
Matthew