À 52km, nous nous sommes séparés. Comme mentionné hier, Kevin a continué par l'est et va rester au Canada et suivre le nord des lacs. Nous avons pris la route vers le sud pour passer par les É-U, pour avoir une route plus sécuritaire, et pour rencontrer des amis à Duluth, Minnesota. Nous allons suivre le sud des lacs. Les deux routes sont à peu près la même distance.
Depuis notre départ de Vancouver, nous avons toujours eu des chemins avec un bel accotement. En plus depuis quelque part en Alberta, nous sommes sur l'autoroute Canadienne qui est double et divisée. Après avoir laissé Kevin, nous avons pris la route 59 vers le sud. Ce chemin était divisé et double pour 20 km, mais 2 à 3 pouces d'accotement et des 'rumble lines'. Le prochain 15 km était un traffic à deux sens (une voie de chaque côté) et aucun accotement. Puis nous avons tourné sur la route 52, qui avait moins de traffic, un vent face/côté assez fort, mais un accotement raisonnable pour notre dernier 20 km.
Nous sommes arrivé à un hôtel de Steinbach vers 13:00h et contents de se reposer après ce dernier 20 km. Nous sommes tôt et avons du travail à faire pour planifier notre route des prochains jours. Nous n'avons plus Kevin pour nous aider!
Kevin à envoyé un message qu'il voulait qu'on ajoute à notre blog...vous pouvez le lire à la fin de la section en anglais.
un chemin moins en ligne droite - many turns today
we took the road around Winnipeg - still a lot of traffic, even early
Kevin took this picture of us with the rising sun between us.
another good breakfast
a break to get cold drinks
last small break before parting - notre dernier petit break avant de se séparer
au coin de la route 59 - point de séparation
taken by Kevin as we go on the other road
road 59 - 1st 20 km- divided hwy but no shoulder only rumble lines and gravel
next 15 km - no shoulder - single 2-way road
road 52 - finally a shoulder....but wind!!
presque arrivé - almost there
in town - nice bike lane
old car on display at mall
center of Canada - taken by Kevin in Ste Anne which is just above Steinbach
We got up at 5h this morning, as planned. But we did not eat breakfast before departure because there was too many mosquitos. They were eating us instead. We were on the road at 5:40h. After 12 km there was a Denny's restaurant, where we ate another great breakfast. This will be our last meal with Kevin, unless we meet again on the road later on.
At 52 km we went our separate ways. As mentioned yesterday, Kevin is going east and staying in Canada. He will go around the lakes on the north side. We are going south and will go by the USA, for a safer road and to see some good friends in Duluth, Minnesota. We will be going around the lakes but on the south side. Both routes are about the same distance.
Since we left Vancouver, we always had roads with a good shoulder. And also since somewhere in Alberta, we are on the Trans-Canada highway, which is a double lanes and divided. After we left Kevin, we took road 59, which is double lanes and divided for 20 km, but only 2 to 3 inches of shoulders and rumble lines! The next 15 km was on a two way road, not divided, with enough traffic and no shoulder at all. Then we turned on road 52, which has less traffic, with fairly strong head/side wind but with a nice shoulder, for our last 20 km.
We arrived at a hotel in Steinbach around 13:00h and glad to be able to rest after that last 20 km. We are early but have some work to do in our route planning for the next few days. We don't have Kevin to help us any more.
This is a message that Kevin sent us to add in our blog. Kevin says: " I've wanted to tour around Canada by bicycle since I was a teenager. Finally at 57 I'm doing it! The trip has been far more enjoyable than I had hoped for, and the best part has been the people I've met along the way. Marthe, Charles and I first met 23 days ago and after repeatedly passing each other on the road we finally got in sync and for the last ten days have ridden together. When I look back on this trip I'm sure those ten days will be the highlight of the whole year. I'm sure we'll meet again down the road, till then wishing you blue sky's and tailwinds."
It was also enjoyable for us to ride along Kevin. He is always prepared and had good advices and comments on things we would see on the road. It is not often that you find someone with similar tastes and also riding at about the same speed. We also had the same habits as far as getting up early and going to bed early and like us he liked to do both camping and hotels. Keep on riding and hope our paths meet again.
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