Today we rode 47 miles from Hamilton to St. Catherines, Ontario. Last night after peleton Peter took a group of us college students on Sea to Sea to his friends' house for a bonfire for an hour. It was fun to hang out with some kids from Hamilton and here about Redeemer College and their lives here. That would be our normal lifestyle over the summer - working and hanging out on the weekends - but we are on this bike tour that I have no problem trading a summer for. In fact, I would gladly do it again but it would be nice to have a break too. Only one week left. So weird and crazy to think of. It will be so hard to say goodbye to all the friends I have made on this tour. It has been such a blessing and I greatly thank God for this opportunity. Life will turn around so quickly after the tour is done though with classes starting up again in a week for me (Eric) for my senior year, my dad going back to work, family, and soccer practice, and my brother Mark starting his first year at Calvin College right away on the Monday that we get back. After an hour at the campfire Peter took us to the Niagara Escarpment, a 500 km long cliff that that gives way to Niagara Falls at one point, that looks over the city of Hamilton at about 11:30 pm so it was pitch black except for the city lights below. We got into camp a little after midnight, the latest that I have been out yet but I knew that we had a short ride today so no worries.
I woke up this morning at 6:40 am. The night before I had heard some rumors about Brad taking a group of kids to a Blue Jays game. He had mentioned last night that they still had one more spot and encouraged me to go, but they were leaving at 7 am to get into camp today and be ready to go to the baseball game at 11:45 am. The baseball game was to start at 1 pm. This morning as I was climbing out of the tent I saw Brad and he asked me again if I wanted to go. After some quick deciding and second guessing and...yup...sure...I'll go. I left camp at 8 am with Theo to hit the road hard to be ready to leave for the game by 11:45 am. There were 5 planned stops along the way today with Tim Hourton's muffins and coffee and donuts, sandwiches, tons of homemade bread, cookies, and bars, and even vanilla ice cream with peaches in Grimsby because of a peach festival I think that was going on now. So amazingly, spectacularily scrumpuous. What a bad day to have to race to camp, but we squeezed in all the stops in excellent style and even packed some in our bike bags for later because we could not eat it right then on the road. We thank everyone along the route to day for all their preparation, planning, cooking, baking, and cheering. I thoroughly apologize however that we had to rush through the stops to get to the baseball game. I especially apologize too for trying to grab a freezie pop from a supporter on the run who was braced and ready to hand out freezie pops to riders on the go but missed it and had it splatter on myself and on the road. I felt so bad. But we had so much fun on our ride today pushing hard and eating hearty. It really made the ride fly by. We quick showered at Beacon Christian School and the headed off to the Toronto Blue Jays baseball game. We ended up arriving at 2 pm because of busy traffic but had a blast at the game anyway. It was so neat to drive into Toronto. It is such an exciting experience now to even ride in a car because we have been biking so much. You can go so fast in suc a short period of time with little to no effort. After the game we went Brad's house for dinner in Georgetown for hamburgers and salads and played so street hockey until it was dark. Again I was the only American out there playing hockey. I thank Brad's family so much for all their hositality - for taking us to the baseball game, serving us dinner, and putting us up for the night, and taking us to the celebration service in St. Catherines tomorrow which I encourage everyone in the area to attend. Georgetown is quite a beautiful small, hilly town. I kind of feel like hanging out with all these Canadian college students is kind of a cross-culture experience, but it is also so similar. Playing hockey is really just the thing to do around here. It is quite a family affair. Brad's sisters even came out to play with us. It has been such a joy traveling trough Canada with warm welcomes and cheering all along our routes. It will be a bummer to leave Canada. Thanks so much again! I don't know how to show my appreciation other than just to enjoy your hospitality and say thanks and God bless you for being such a blessing to us. I this trip I have seen and experienced God pouring out so many blessings on us to overflowing support and desserts.
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