Day 60 July 5, 2011 Port Hope to Whitby 51km
5 Jul
Aggressive drivers
The morning was a bit delayed despite an early morning wake up by the need to find gas. It isn’t always the easiest thing to find, especially in these small towns. The first place our GPS suggested looks as though it hasn’t been functional in years. The second place we went to actually took us through probably the only traffic jam for 50km. The good news though is that while we were filling up with gas one of the other guys filling up his car came over to talk to us about his prostate and how he felt he had the symptoms I described to him and told me he was going to see his GP as soon as he could. That’s what my goal is all about and it made me feel pretty good.
Despite only being delayed by about an hour it was already really hot by the time I started running. I’m starting to sound like a broken record talking about the heat but it’s been flaming hot out recently. It was so hot that when I ran by an ice cream stand I was drawn off my run and over to its counter. We met the owner Nikki, who kindly gave me a chocolate milkshake and Mike a Nikflurry. Mine was so good I had to have another. The two milkshakes combined with the two hot dogs I ate would come back to haunt me later.
So I’ve managed to run over 2000km so far and have never had a problem with traffic. This all changed just outside of Oshawa. In the space of 20 minutes I had 3 cars honk at me and the drivers furiously motion for me to get out of their way (I wasn’t in their way), one of whom even dropped his two right wheels onto the gravel shoulder to force me down into the ditch. I had a fourth person actually stop and start yelling at me. At first I thought he wanted to talk with me but when I took out my earphones to talk to him I discovered he was unhappy with me and so I put my earphones back in and kept going. Needless to say I got off that road as soon as I could.
I made it to Whitby, which is only 40 or so km from my Aunt and Uncle’s house (the Grants) so we decided to drive into Toronto and spend the night there. It was one of the best decisions of the trip. It was great to catch up and get the chance to sleep in a real bed!
Tomorrow I enter Toronto!
The morning was a bit delayed despite an early morning wake up by the need to find gas. It isn’t always the easiest thing to find, especially in these small towns. The first place our GPS suggested looks as though it hasn’t been functional in years. The second place we went to actually took us through probably the only traffic jam for 50km. The good news though is that while we were filling up with gas one of the other guys filling up his car came over to talk to us about his prostate and how he felt he had the symptoms I described to him and told me he was going to see his GP as soon as he could. That’s what my goal is all about and it made me feel pretty good.
Despite only being delayed by about an hour it was already really hot by the time I started running. I’m starting to sound like a broken record talking about the heat but it’s been flaming hot out recently. It was so hot that when I ran by an ice cream stand I was drawn off my run and over to its counter. We met the owner Nikki, who kindly gave me a chocolate milkshake and Mike a Nikflurry. Mine was so good I had to have another. The two milkshakes combined with the two hot dogs I ate would come back to haunt me later.
So I’ve managed to run over 2000km so far and have never had a problem with traffic. This all changed just outside of Oshawa. In the space of 20 minutes I had 3 cars honk at me and the drivers furiously motion for me to get out of their way (I wasn’t in their way), one of whom even dropped his two right wheels onto the gravel shoulder to force me down into the ditch. I had a fourth person actually stop and start yelling at me. At first I thought he wanted to talk with me but when I took out my earphones to talk to him I discovered he was unhappy with me and so I put my earphones back in and kept going. Needless to say I got off that road as soon as I could.
I made it to Whitby, which is only 40 or so km from my Aunt and Uncle’s house (the Grants) so we decided to drive into Toronto and spend the night there. It was one of the best decisions of the trip. It was great to catch up and get the chance to sleep in a real bed!
Tomorrow I enter Toronto!
