Shelburne to Richmond Hill

July 16

It was a big day. We were so excited to be going home, our destination the Richmond Hill Curling Club. Our daughter Caitlin was driving our son Ben and another rider, Brad, up to meet us. We arrived at the appointed meeting place, appropriately, in the parking lot of the Shelburne Curling Club to find brother Rob and his support team novice, wife Deb. Little did she know she would be pressed into service early. Also waiting for us was Rick Casey and Stacey Persia and their unique tandem bike. These two guys have tons of experience in long distance rides. You should see them on hills - a little slow on the up but a rocket on the way down. One more rider, Rich, was to ride out from Richmond Hill to meet us and ride back.

Off they went more or less on time. Caitlin, Deb and I talked for a bit in the parking lot and when it was time for the support team to jump into action and follow the riders I discovered I didn't have the keys to the RV. They were in Mel's pocket. Was that his way of telling me I'm too dangerous to be driving? Luckily Deb was there to back me up - she raced off after the riders to retrieve the keys.

Back on the road, it soon became apparent that we weren't in Kansas anymore. The roads in southern Ontario, even secondary and tertiary roads, are very busy with fast moving traffic and that spells danger for a pack of bikers. So at the first stop we had a little huddle, took all the variables into consideration, weighed the pros and cons, and came up with a detailed, new plan. "Let's just get off this highway at the first road we come to and see where it takes us."

Actually several of our riders knew the area well enough to lead us on a safe and scenic route. It was a little tricky meeting up with Rich - he did a lot of backtracking and zigzagging, but we finally got together and the group of seven rode into the Richmond Hill Curling Club.