This is Eco1...
Have reached Prescott and set camp in the tranquill beach park.
Twenty metres from the edge of the St. Lawrence River with dramatic sunlit view of a US town less than 2 kilometres on the far shore. The slate coloured clouds in the background with double rainbows is brilliant.
It was a wet one today as I either chased the thunder clouds or they chased me. They won and the downpour was so intense I had to pull onto the gravel shoulder abd pull the big orange tarp over the EcoRocket and wait it out inside. I was under the tarp in the pilot seat for some time as the many storms came and went. So, I read some of that gripping tale of the Roman Emperors, 'I, Claudius' by Robert Graves.
A funny thing happened....
Between storms, reading about Caligula declaring himself a living god to the Roman citizens and making his horse a senator...I heard voices approaching...
Boy: I don't know what's under it.
Mother: What's under it?
Boy: Let's take a look...
The woman lifted the tarp at the from of the velo...to reveal me sitting inside reading away. The poor woman gasped and jumped back as if she'd seen a ghost.
Major Dude: Heeellloooo, there!
Mother: Oh, my god.... I'm sorry....
Boy: He's inside!
Major Dude: Hey, dude. (To the mother) That's alright. Happens to me all the time.
Next thing I knew the whole Stafford Family clan of three boys, a girl and Mr. Stafford with beer in hand came out of their nearby house to ask me 20 questions. Am I cold? Yes. What are you doing? Crossing Canada. Do you want to come inside? No, thanks. I'm fine under the tarp with my book. Just waiting out the storms. The mother (Bonnie) and boy (Kyle) gave me some money to help me along and I thanked them.
At which point another downpour began and they dashed into the house and I jumped under the tarp again.
Then later the rain stopped for good, the clouds parted and, ah, the sun came out to dry cold, wet me. All in all, it could have been worse - a tornado touched down a few kilometres south in the US.
Tonight I'm going without my protein muscle recovery drink and will see how much pain I have tomorrow.
Skipper, I'm gonna shoot for Farr's End tomorrow. Requesting permission to land.
Eco1...Over.
-- Major Dude
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
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