Day one is in the books. 179 kilometers in the end, hot and against the wind.

I think day one of any long journey is the hardest one. This is the one where you leave the familiar. Within 60K of leaving home I have entered unfamiliar roads and from this point on except for a few roads I have ridden on business travel I am on new territory all the way. That is what I am looking forward to.

John Steinbeck said in ‘Travels With Charley.’ “When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked.”

Nothing has worked with me either. I love the joy of discovery and the wonder of a new place and new roads. Fortunately, I married someone who has a similar itch, and supports me when I wander off; I think she always knows I’ll wander back. So far, she does! And I always will.

Tonight, I am at a park near to Sombra, on the edge of the river and a ferry that will take me into the US tomorrow on their Independence Day.

My first weeks stays look like this. Camping Sombra, $20; camping at a church (Cornerstone Highlands) that has graciously allowed me to use their yard, warmshowers.org host; free camp at a retreat center; Warren Dunes state park $12 cycling rate; Rising Sun campground $10 cycling rate; warmshowers.org hosts. I’ll spend $42 in my first week for accommodations. Sad because the Pinery cost me $38 a night. This is where I can say ‘wake up Canada?

My last thought of the day. Freshly graded gravel is soul sucking. A couple times today I turned corners and sighed. With the trailer and my pack on the bike I am probably pulling about 60 pounds. That does not move fast at all through soft soupy fresh gravel.