There Lies the Finish Line... September 29, 2012

To our faithful readers,
We apologize for our posting delay today.  We were so tired once home, and when word got out we were back, our day slipped away from us. 
After reading today's post, please be sure to check back in a couple days as well...the "Trip Finale" will be posted shortly.  We KNOW you didn't follow us this long only to NOT go all the way to the end with us!  As soon as all the data is in, we'll post one final time.  For sure by mid-week...so stay tuned!

Any idea how tiring driving can be?  Ask us, we know, now.

Myles and Tricia take one last dip in the
St. Lawrence River

We drove fairly leisurely from Lancaster to home on Saturday.  By Google maps, it would take us about 6.5 hours.  This time however, we KNEW what we are doing, and KNEW where we are going.  We've travelled the 401 corridor from home to Belleville often to get to Ottawa and Bon Echo Park.  Both of these destinations always kept us focused on point A to B with few distractions.  Today, a 6.5 hour drive didn't scare us, and we were going to see some of Lake Ontario along our way.

The day was much cooler than what we had become accustom to, but the cool nights and mornings were definitely contributing factors to the sideline scenery we were being treated to today.  The leaves are just turning here in Eastern Ontario, which is awesome, as we have just witnessed Autumn's start in the Maritime.  At this rate, we will likely experience fall a third time at home.  We LOVE this season!



Ken lost his 'lid' in Tin Cap, Ontario!

 Our first stop was a scheduled lunch stop in Brockville about 2.5 hours down the road from Lancaster.  Rather than aimlessly looking for a local diner, we pulled over in a largely "big boxed store" district and asked a few locals of a great diner.  The Tin Cap Diner was highly recommended by a couple passing by.  Who are we to argue so we head up the road, fuelled up at the gasoline corner they advised us about and headed into the small hamlet called Tin Cap, where low and behold, there was the restaurant!  Lunch was delicious, well actually, we capitolized on the fact breakfast was still being served and gobbled down a great tasting, perfectly priced breakfast.  It cost Ken more than me, as once we were well past our breakfast place and nicely established on the 401again, Ken realized he left his Juravinski Cancer Centre Cap I gave him for Christmas this year back in the Tin Cap...maybe that's why they call it the Tin "Cap".   Maybe they collect travellers caps?  If this is true, Ken made a donation.

So let's re-evaluate for one moment as to the articles left behind during our travels, shall we?  Ken left his Blundstone boots in Chezzetcook N.S., almost lost his iTouch in Evangeline N.S., and now his cap in Tin Cap Ontario.  Tricia lost...oh wait a minute, nothing!  Things that make you say, "Hhhhhmmmm".

Next stop would be simply for nostalgic sake, Belleville Ontario, more specifically, Quinty Mall.  The last time we headed to Bon Echo, we figure was about 4-5 years ago.   Back then, we stopped at Quinty Mall and we found it a little neglected and with numerous store fronts empty.  This time, the future of boxed stores caught up to our quaint Quinty Mall, and we hardly recognized the area.  None-the-less, we parked and ventured in only to be pleasantly surprised.  The pressure of boxed stores we believe put a positive spin on Quinty Mall.  She got a face lift, and although the building layout itself looked the same, she looked good and it turned out to be a nice "leg stretch".

Back in the car, we headed west on 401 a little more, then dropped down highway 2 to Colbourne, a place we have always said we wanted to see yet had not, up until today.   Colbourne was nice, but we didn't stop, it wasn't too far off our last leg stretch so we carried on along #2 to Coburg, another spot we always said we wanted to check out. 


Final 'dip' in Lake Ontario



Coburg Waterfront



In Coburg, a little waterfront town that doesn't believe in free parking ANY day of the week, was a bit on the quiet side, but I saw Lake Ontario, and needed to dip my foot into it.  We parked and headed towards the beach.  On our way we saw an ice cream shop, which with out much will power called our name and loured us in.  It was okay, but it wasn't Erin's Bailey ice cream.  When we reached the beach, we should have listened to our gut once again.  The stench was unbearable!  Beautiful white beaches may lour you here, but I was having a hard time convincing myself to bare a big tow, let a long consider swimming in this stuff.  I put on a brave face, posed Ken to be prepared for a quick snap of the camera shutter and remove my toe before the 3 second rule expired, just in case something started to eat away at my skin.  It was truly the most discussing toe dip I've experienced in 4 weeks, and we found it here, in our own backyard of Ontario.  Honestly, it was embarrassing after what we had experienced.  I dried my toes, walked the remainder of the Boardwalk with Ken back to our truck, not really caring that we didn't use up the money in the 2 meters it took to secure our vehicles while visiting the town.  Towns in the Maritime offer vouchers and free tokens for parking to visitors, and their waterfronts were appealing.  Just saying.

We headed to Port Hope, but we were discouraged along the way and likely could be charged with not giving this port a chance either.  We headed toward the 401 and continued on our way toward home.  This time, we were planning to go full steam ahead until we reached the finish line.



Dark and drizzling outside,
it's like the skies greeted us with
happy tears for our safe arrived
to the finish line at
7:00 p.m.

 We filled up the truck one last time on Gordon Street, headed to Bullfrog Library, the place of our start line picture 28 days previous, took our picture in the pouring rain and headed home to park, shower and go to bed.  Twenty-seven nights without television landed Ken in the Lazyboy chair, and me heading to bed, I was exhausted. 

Tomorrow we unpack, hopefully not in the pouring rain.  Our plan is to pull a few facts together as well and re-cap our trip to provide a bit of a factual, yet slightly tongue and cheek overview.  Why get serious now that we are home?  This may take a bit to pull together, but keep checking back, we promise to be as quick in posting as soon as possible.


Finale to be posted soon...stay tuned!
Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Cheers & Happy Trails,
Ken & Tricia