Toronto to Montreal 2003


"You only have so many summers in your entire life. Make the most of this one!"
Alan Doyle, Great Big Sea – Toronto

Having no desire to repeat the ride through Michigan, where I was constantly honked at and "flipped-off," or through the Toronto urban area, where I stopped for more than 200 red traffic lights, I decided to start off this year from Oshawa, an eastern suburb of Toronto, where I'll park my car at the VIA Rail train station. From there, I plan to bicycle to Montreal. It's about 600 Km or about 400 miles and moderately hilly, so it should take me 7-10 days. I'll return to Oshawa by train, retrieve my car and drive home. One train daily has a baggage car, so I can take the bike with me for only $15. It's quite a bargain.

Right now, I'm enjoying myself in Toronto. I attended a fantastic celtic rock concert. There were upwards of 10,000 fans at the Molson Amphitheater to see "Great Big Sea," a Newfoundland band that uses traditional Irish instruments like acoustic guitars, a penny whistle, a violin and even an accordion to make rock music. . Everybody was jumping to Irish music. Cool!

It is hard to imagine so much life as I experienced at the Great Big Sea concert. Not even the Beatles ever so energized their audience. It was jumping music. Absolutely every person there was jumping and waving their arms to the beat. It was the first day of Summer chronologically and emotionally.

Fear of SARS had clearly subsided. Celtic rock and sunny weather had wiped away any concerns about anything. Life is great!

My plan is to drive tomorrow to Oshawa and ride to Port Hope or Cobourg. It is expected to reach around 90° F tomorrow, so I'm a bit apprehensive.

Now lets see how well I do at posting my first Blog to the Web.
Ed




Posted: Mon - June 23, 2003 at 05:08 PM      

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