Québec City, QC, to Oakville (Toronto), ON

Day Twenty Four - 518 miles

Awoke to appalling weather in Québec City. No problem - at least I could put the rain gear on BEFORE I head out into it. Glad I did.

Got the bike refueled, and after unpacking EVERYTHING from my camping case, I got the little BMW oil cap wrench thingy out. I needed a full bottle of oil. Not bad for 5,500 miles though.

Then it was off into the rain. The rain came and went for the first hour or two, then, as I was on the phone to Darragh back in San Francisco, I hit a monster thunderstorm. Now, I knew what they meant in the weather forecast, when they said, "Some of these thunderstorms may be severe." Holy mackerel! I've never seen, nor driven through anything like it. All the traffic slowed to about 40mph (65kmh). Some folks even pulled over. I pulled over for a a few moments too, until I realized there was lightning all around, and I was better off moving on two rubber tires, rather than sitting in the middle of the lightning with two leather boots on the ground! Off I went.

After Montreal, the rain cleared up. It never came back, but I left the rain gear on all day.

There was not much else to report. It was a "hammer it out" day, of over 500 miles. I needed to make some progress today, and I did.

My "mini-cousins," as I call them (my cousin's kids), were BESIDE THEMSELVES with excitement when I pulled onto their road. They had been tracking my progress since San Francisco. I drove by the house at first, as I couldn't make out the numbers on the houses. I was simultaneously on the phone through my helmet headset with my cousin Elizabeth, and at the same time could hear the screaming "Uncle Bryan! Uncle Bryan!" coming in a sort of quadraphonic sound, both through my headset, and somewhere in the dark out on the street. It was both funny and kind of exciting too. I'd made it!

I pulled into the driveway, and we all hugged and embraced. It was good to see familiar faces. And as my mother, their aunt and great-aunt, would say, "There's nothing like your own kind."

I was happy to be in Toronto.

Onwards!