We made it into Canada today, but it wasn’t easy. The wind was against us the whole way. First, we had to ride the miles we didn’t ride yesterday since we cut our ride short at the Motel 6. That added 19 miles to today’s ride, for a total of about 75 miles. We rode Rt 2 north out onto the Hero Islands. The original plan was to take more minor roads along the west side of both islands, but with the wind roaring out of the NW we were more sheltered if we stayed on Rt 2 which stuck close to the east side of the islands, so we did that.

In North Hero we stopped at the general store / cafe / gas station and were greeted with a huge array of donuts and pastries and danish and scones, so we spent some time there filling our faces.

Crossing the bridge over Lake Champlain into Rouses Point NY was an interesting experience. The bridge is a construction zone and the surface has been stripped down to the original concrete. It is a tall bridge and we slowly climbed up towards the peak of the bridge straight into the roaring wind. Once we reached the top there was a red light and the western side of the bridge was reduced to a single lane due to the construction. Once the light changed we rode down off the bridge, then looked back and noticed the truck behind us was still way back up on the bridge. Once it got down to the bottom we noticed that he was towing a trailer that had lost an entire tire and was riding on the rim.

At the intersection where we were to turn north to cross into Canada we spotted a very busy diner on the corner s we stopped and had another full breakfast. As we approached the border there was a long line of vehicles entering the US from Canada and waiting to go through customs. Going our way, into Canada, there was no line and we rode right up to the customs station and were through in a minute.

The terrain north from the US border heading towards Montreal is a huge plain with farms stretching in all directions. Being flat and wide open the wind has free rein, and at times it nearly brought us to a standstill. Once in a while there would be a wind-break of trees which we surely appreciated. We made it into St-Jean about 2:30 along Route Verte 2. Coming into town we passed a classic car show. We spent a few minutes admiring the cars from outside the fence. Jodi checked about going in but there was a charge for entry and we hadn’t found an ATM yet so had no Canadian currency, so we pressed on until we reached our hotel.

We have a shortish day tomorrow into Montreal, where we have a room reserved at a hostel for two nights. We’ll see if we have any problems following the cycle route — Route Verte 1 — into the city.

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