Day 40. Montreal River to Sault Ste Marie. June 6. 124 km.

Last night the weather forecast contained a weather alert. It warned that today would be stormy with rain, heavy at times. Our goal then became Batchawana Bay where we could stop and wait out the storms. That meant getting started early so that we could be there before the rain started.  We were peddling shortly after daybreak and pedalled to Batchawana Bay by shortly after 8:30. I had planned for us to have breakfast in the restaurant at the Voyageur. But that was not to be because they had converted the restaurant into a store with only a few food items. We each made do with a breakfast sandwich. By then some rain had started and we thought that we would be there for the remainder of the day. But then they told us that we couldn't check in until 3 PM and we had nothing to do but sit and wait. After an hour or so, the rain settled in to a light drizzle and Gramie suggested that we cancel our reservation and ride into the Sault. After a few hours we peddled into Sault Ste Marie where we stopped at the first fast food restaurant and had lunch while we decided where to stay for the night. A couple of the Burger King guys were really interested in our trip and took pictures with us to share with their parents and friends.

We settled on staying at the Howard Johnson's Hotel on the eastern exit road from the Sault, and booked a room. Gramie was cold and wet so we hustled over as quickly as possible and checked into a very nice clean and warm room. Needless to say we both soaked ourselves in hot baths before heading out for food. Distance today 124km.

Our first stop was a grocery store and then we went to the nearby restaurant, which was recommended to us by the hotel clerk. Unfortunately it was closed on Mondays so we tried another restaurant, which turned out to have their dining room closed due the pandemic. As there was a store with a deli next door, we picked up some food and and ate in the hotel. It's interesting to see how most businesses have moved on from COVID rules but a few still can't see a way forward.

Over the last two days we saw two cyclists from Gatineau headings for BC and two others who had started in Quebec City.  We had planned to stop and talk with James Topp today but passed by the motel where his group was staying early in the morning and weren't able to connect. He's the veteran we who is walking to Ottawa to protest the vaccine mandates and ask for our freedom to be re-instated. It's interesting to see the number of Canadian who question the approach taken by the government to address the pandemic.