Thoughts at the Halfway Point

Nigel cycling into downtown Toronto

Having reached over 5,500 km, we've now found ourselves at the halfway(ish) point for the distance that we've set for our cross-Canada bicycle adventure.

It's been an amazing experience so far. I am as baffled as the strangers we talk to that we have made it to Southern Ontario from Newfoundland. I wouldn't believe it except that here we are in Ontario with two loaded bikes, achy knees and larger than normal quads!

Jaime enjoying the view
through binoculars provided
by Swarovski!

Everything has held up reasonably well: Our bikes, our bodies, and our minds. We're still getting along too!! We've learnt a lot of tricks for making things easier on ourselves and our wallets. Where to get free internet and where we can stealthily pitch a tent at night and not be found. We've learnt that strangers are generally good people, and that good old-fashioned hospitality has not entirely been squashed out by modern fear.

I can see this form of travel being very addictive. It's just so simple. Eat, sleep, eat, ride, eat, eat, eat. (We eat a LOT! We have to. We plugged our average daily amount of time spent on the bike into an online calorie counter and discovered that we are burning roughly 2,500 calories (over 10,000 joules) from biking alone.... which explains why I'm hungry nearly every hour!) Add to that all sorts of unexpected and amazing experiences in places you would never ever bother going if you were driving or flying, and you have what is arguably the ultimate form of travel. We'd love to do this in Central or South America.

Mist from Niagara Falls

Fundraising wise, we are doing ok. The number goes up with the more birds we see, and we are seeing more and more all the time. We are coming up with new ways of spreading the word. We are planning on printing some business cards to hand people, as we are stopped several times a day by curious folks with questions. We've also made a page on causes.com and, of course, are continuing to blog for bird-o.com. We're also hoping to be able to approach a few newspapers as we go along. We have been interviewed by Monday Magazine, and hopefully will get more opportunities for interviews as we get closer to the end. If you would like to help us in this respect, any suggestions or   connections for getting the word out there would be much appreciated! We're new to this.

Niagara Falls

We finished our final foray east in Niagara Falls, Ontario, yesterday. Now it's west! We are British Columbia bound and excited for the second half of our journey.