Day 5 – Blenheim to Kingsville

July 22, 2018

I had checked the weather on my route the night before and there was no rain forecast for the area, however, after I woke up and checked my bike, I noticed the it was drizzling. I re-checked the forecast and it showed rain along the route until mid-afternoon, so I put the rain covers over the bags, and rode 3 km into Blenheim for breakfast at the Tim Horton’s. A good nights rest had appeased my body parts that had mutinied the night before and everything was working as a cohesive unit again. In fact it was starting to feel comfortable on the bike.

A man sitting next to me, commented that he hoped it would rain all week because he needed it for the crops. From what I had seen so far, the rain is definitely needed in the farming communities.

I left Blenheim at 8:20 and rode down highway 3 towards Leamington. The rain drizzled on and off the entire time I rode to Kingsville, however the wind was in my favour most of the ride and I was able to keep up a good pace with little effort. There was never a heavy rain, just varying degrees of drizzle, however it was a little cool.

I had decided to stop if I found a church that was having a service and at 9:40 I saw a United Church along the way whose service started at 9:30 so I pulled over and went into the church. I came just in time for the message which was about Paul’s letters to the Ephesians about reconciliation and tolerance. During the pastoral prayer, the pastor prayed for members of the church and some special requests, as well as a request for more rain for the farmers.

The service ended at 10:15 after which, I continued my ride until I reached Wheatley , where I stopped for lunch at restaurant called Lil Hill’s Coffee Shop. It was a quaint little restaurant, with a lot of customers and good food. When I left the restaurant, I headed north on highway 1 and then west on Road 8 shortly thereafter.

By 1:30 pm I arrived at my destination in Kingsville area, the home of Peter and Lou Trepanier. I had sold my motorcycle to Peter in the Spring and he had offered to show me the area if I came back so I took him up on the offer. I also gave him and adapter for the BMW battery charger that I had forgotten to give him.

Peter and Lou invited me to stay overnight with them so I accepted the offer. I took a nice warm shower and we talked for a bit before Peter took me on and extensive tour of the area. I wasn’t aware of the immense greenhouses that were in the area, the many wineries ( one of which was the Pelee Island winery ) and the diverse crops that are in the area. Peter grew up in the area but he has also traveled around the world when he worked for Bell as an IT manager. His knowledge of the area is quite extensive. After our tour we had a wonderful steak BBQ at their house, followed by home made tarts, ice-cream fruit and a Cappuccino. It still makes me hungry just thinking about the food.

After supper, Peter took me for a tour in Windsor of the water front where we saw the portable fountain ( which gets removed and maintained very winter ),

the tour boat that cruises up and down the Detroit River

and a view of the Ambassador Bridge from the waterfront.

We also saw Windsor University, the distilleries for Wisers, Canadian Club and Hiram Walker, as well one of the original Ford assembly plants, the Dainty Rice plant, and the Windsor Salt plant. We saw so much that I couldn’t possibly write about all of them. It was 9:30 by the time we returned to the house so wrote the bulk of my journal and went to bed.

I have now ridden my bike 448 km in past 5 days. I have a couple of things I want to see in this area and then I will be riding to Sarnia, before I slowly work my way back home.

Day 5 – Blenheim to Kingsville