Kenora, ON - 122km

Ontario! We finally made it! Even though we're still a long way from home, it feels like we're almost there. It feels great to have made it to our home province even though it's a beast of its own. It's actually been one of the most obvious transitions between provinces. Going from BC to Alberta and Saskatchewan to Manitoba, there was hardly any change in landscape. But coming into Ontario, we were immediately greeted with lakes, trees, rocks, and hills! Sadly we had the worst welcome sign when compared to the other provinces. It felt like the 17 took more turns today than the 1 did through the entire second half of Manitoba. It's actually such a refreshing change of scenery that we don't mind the hills that much. It's still that blasted sun that's draining our energy. We were lucky that most of the ride today was overcast, but the moment the clouds left us, the sun beat us down and our speeds dropped. (That could have been partially the fault of the hills, though.) So far the roads have been alright. One lane in each direction, but the shoulder hasn't disappeared completely except for a few times. Actually we were surprised to be able to ride in very our own bike lane into charming downtown Kenora! Our previous problem of trying to get a good night's sleep with trains running by several times a night has been replaced with trying to fall asleep in 30+ degree heat, lying in a pool of our own sweat. Also the bugs! My god, the bugs. There are massive, bloodthirsty and surprisingly quick flies that have been chasing us down even as we ride 25+km/h! They lock on and follow us around which makes it impossible to be still around camp. The moment we retreat into the tent, a flood of mosquitoes manage to squeeze their way in with us. Even just quickly exiting the tent and going back in can let in 10-15 of the bloodsuckers which takes a while to clear out!

That's all for now. Also, isn't it supposed to be "yours to discover", not "more"?

Edit: We were just debating whether or not to grab a frozen lemonade at Tim Hortons after commenting on how fast the day flew by when we realized that we actually crossed into Eastern Time today! Wow, it's hard to believe we've travelled across four time zones by just our own power!