travel notes: day 4

the lighthouse beyond meldrum bay

i silenty cried today on our last 13 km on lighthouse road. my knee is a mess.
but we made it to the absolute west side of Manitoulin Island and the most beautiful campsite ever.
the shower building reminds me of Friday the 13th.
we rode in silence along a beautiful tree lined road, me secretly wishing we would be there around every bend.

i stink and have a serious butt rash.
but we have homemade tarts for dessert after our mountain chili and the lighthouse restaurant is open for breakfast. good thing too since we're almost out of camp fuel.

mostly the people on Manitoulin have been so nice and friendly but in Silverwater (the only place to stop on hwy 540 between Gore Bay and Meldrum Bay) we walked into the restaurant/gas station/general store only to be stared at but completely ignored amongst the locals. we got up and left after the waitress sat down at the table next to us to talk.
so we bought some bagels and p.b. and headed to Sheshegwaning First Nation reserve. This took us 10 kms out of our way to find the giant dreamcatcher, which we didn't see, but we found a lovely spot to eat our lunch on a beat up old dock.
i took this photo of the garbage can there because it made me laugh:

talking about our experience over lunch, Beebs thought maybe it was because they thought we were native because we're so darkly tanned from biking all day. i hope that's not true; that they wouldn't serve us if they thought we were native. beebs is part native and me, i always wished i was.

day 4 stats
~22˚; cloudy with sunny breaks
total riding time: 6 hrs 5 mins
total distance: 85.67 km (avg: 14 km/hr)
max speed: 46.5 km/hr