"On the Trail"
Friday, August 10, 2001: Linkletter to Victoria West - 40km then to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada by car
Frank here…
The day started with by visiting Union Corner's one room school house that was in operation from 1862 to 1961. We met George Brooker who was one of the former students there and now is the owner (I believe) of the little museum. Then we stopped at house made of bottles. From there I took off north on the west side of the island pushed by a great southwest tail wind. It was so nice to ride without any panniers. My bike felt very flimsy for the first half hour of my ride. The landscape had lot of rolling hills and potato farmland, dotted with quaint east coast homes. I was hoping that the road would be closer to the ocean, but I was rarely within a half kilometre from the water. I was also hoping to see big crashing waves, but that was not part of the day's experience either. The temperatures got pretty high and my one water bottle quickly ran out. Louise and I got a bit separated but after circling around for a short while we met again. She was concerned about the heat, but I assured her that even though it was hot, I recently went through much hotter times in New York and Italy.
We visited the light house at the north end of the west side then planned on cycling together. The west section loop was our plan, but just after lunch we got caught in a very heavy rain storm which cooled us down from the stifling high temperatures. This torrent of rain also gave PEI some of its much needed moisture to help it out of a drought. So, needless to say, we stayed in the car.
Dinner in a restaurant/pub was my first of such a feast in a very very long time. We were treated to very good traditional east coast and pop music by the young and lively band. We watched a movie in the budget hotel that we visited. Another first in a long time.
-Everyone has their limits of what would be considered stressful. I think that, generally speaking, we tend to adjust, adapt and cope with what we are used to. A fashion model can be as stressed about wearing correct matching colours as a poor South American who might be trying to obtain his/her next meal.
-Frank Pollari
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