Day 47: Atikokan - Shabaqua

km today: 142.3
total km: 3452.7

This was our most poorly planned day yet. We had to do about 140 km in order to reach some amenities. One would assume that we would have left early in lieu of such a long day, especially after the previous long day. We however, failed to leave Atikokan until 11:30 am. What were we thinking? We don't know. Part of the reason we were so delayed was because we met Santa Clause. Seriously. Even his driver's licence shows it via name and photo.

He was a pretty cool guy though, and once an avid biker himself. He also completed a cross country tour, in 1952, and averaged "206 miles per day!" We think he might be telling some tall tales as well, but they definitely kept us entertained. He built and rode the world's largest bicycle (the wheels alone were 13 feet high). When he wasn't biking, he was setting other abstract world records. We're not sure what exactly this record broke, but it involved pushing a wheelbarrow leaden with 301 pounds for 22 miles in 7 hours, 1 of which was taken up by dinner. The weights of choice: a monkey wrench, a brick, a man playing an accordion and a small rock.

There was very little time for pictures as our sole focus was getting to Shabaqua before dark, hence the lack of photos. This was pretty cool though. The other side informed us that we had just ridden out of the Arctic water shed.

We finally arrived in Shabaqua to discover that there was really not much there. This would have left us stuck in the mud seeing as how we had absolutely no food or a stove to cook with (ours just died). Luckily for us, there was this: After setting up our tent in their yard, Mary fulfilled our dreams we'd been having for the last 40 km of our ride by providing a table with a bottomless vat of spaghetti and meatballs alongside equal portions of bread, salad and juices. And she surprised us with a choice of dessert. Apple pie a la mode or brownie a la mode. It was heaven. Especially when we had no idea where we going to stay or what we were going to eat. Did we mention we were ill prepared?

B&K