Sunday: We missed church because we had 308 miles to go and with the change to Daylight Savings Time, we were concerned about possibly getting to our Quebec resort after dark. It was a very enjoyable drive through very wide and deep valleys with straight roads going up and down steep hills at times, with mountains, forests, and rocks. In other areas, there were broad farmed plains. We drove our car on a 1.7 mile trail to an overlook on Ira Mountain – that satisfies Peggy’s off-route driving desires! At a gas station we learned that the interesting road and overlook had been constructed by a local retired contractor who does this as a hobby. He was working at the top of the overlook using a crane moving rocks. He has a second such place on Quill Mountain — Interesting.
We drove in traffic through Montreal and had trouble getting off the right exits, but were able to finally find our resort — and guess what — there are colorful deciduous trees here again!!!!! This is the only 1-bedroom of our whole trip (out of 6 resorts), but our unit is large and very comfortable — a Jacuzzi in our bedroom, a washing machine, and a fireplace that we can’t use unless we buy the eco-friendly wood for $3 a log.
Monday: The resort offered a reception for the week’s guests. The host started giving his presentation in French, but he was only teasing us and switched to English. He told us about the resort’s amenities, tours to Montreal and Quebec, and walking and riding trails nearby. Most interesting to us is the nearby 100 mile bike Rails-to-Trails “Little Train of the North Trail.” (French: Le P’tit Train du Nord.)
We spent the rest of the day enjoying our lovely “home,” and playing Boggle and Nurtz. Verle worked late into the evening familiarizing himself with the Trail. The weather for the week promises to be mild and sunny, so we may try to ride a lot.
Tuesday: Our highest priority for the week was riding the Little Train of the North Trail. This trail is widely lauded, and runs for 140 miles or so. We started riding north from Prevost, (“PrevO”), which is the closest town to our resort. The trail is lovely — and there were still some fall colors. We rode some slope up for most of the way, and came to a lovely lake area. The trail goes through railroad cuts and embankments and follows a large rocky “mountain stream.” There are many rocks and boulders.
It was not crowded, but we were surprised to meet so many bicyclers and hikers this late in the year, when the trail is officially closed. We enjoyed the trip up, and looked forward to a faster ride back down. However, riding fast made us very cold and we hadn’t dressed warmly enough. Peggy could hardly feel her hands and was so cold that the ride was no longer fun.
The further toward home we went, the more tired and slower we got, to the point that we could hardly ride. We stopped at a bike shop in a converted depot to warm up. Thirty miles was evidently too much for one day! With daylight savings time over, we have to plan more carefully in order to be back by dark. When we finally got back to our unit, we warmed up in our unit’s hot tub, and Peggy was so totally exhausted that she fell asleep in her chair and went to bed soon after supper.
Wednesday: We went to ride the section that continues north from the lake at Val Morin at mile marker 37 (kilometers). We brought plenty of warm clothes this time. It was an enjoyable ride. We knew that the first part of our ride north of Val Morin would be uphill, but it wasn’t too hard and continued to be lovely. We especially enjoyed the tumbling river beside us.
We continued north past Sainte Agathe until we reached the 10 mile mark. The peanut butter bars I’d brought along were a boost, as was the Power Gel that we remembered to eat when we started to feel weary. Much of the way back to the car was downhill and so enjoyable. We drove back to the resort, stopping to pick up a sandwich at the Subway in Prevost. The gal making the sandwiches could only speak French, so it was fun trying to communicate well enough to accomplish our sandwich!
Thursday: What a gorgeous day! Temperatures were in the upper 60’s in northern Quebec. We drove to Mont-Laurier, which is listed as the north end of the trail to ride from there.
We found the trail but couldn’t agree on which way to ride to go back toward our resort. Neither direction worked, so we gave up riding bikes for the day. We couldn’t ask for help because most people speak only French. When we tried to order a shake from the MacDonald’s (French only) menu, we walked back out without trying to order since there were no pictures for us to point to. (We were glad that we didn’t try to order by driving through the drive-through!)
On the Interstate back, we came to a traffic jam and sat in it for an hour or two. When we finally were able to drive through, it appeared that a logging truck had lost its logs and they had been loading them back on another truck. It happened at a sharp curve. 
Two ambulances and perhaps a helicopter had gone to the accident scene. We wish we could understand the news to see if they reported on the accident, but local reports are all in French. Oh, my! We were glad to get back to our resort before dark.
Friday/Saturday: It was rainy, as predicted — one of the few such days in our whole 6 weeks. We stayed at our comfy resort, engaged B&B’s for our home journey, played games, and just enjoyed ourselves. We repacked everything for our journey home including our “motel tote.” The big events on Saturday were the Nebraska football and volleyball games. We didn’t know if we would be able to get reception, because our phones haven’t worked in Canada. Happily, we were able to get the audio of the volleyball game on one computer and a play by play listing of the football game on another computer. The NU volleyballers swept Indiana easily. We were glad that Haggerty got to play. Then we switched to the NU/Michigan football game on the audio for the second half. NU football was soundly concerned after a series of late-game losses, and especially after our terrible loss last week to Purdue, a team we’d expected to beat rather easily. Michigan State was ranked 6th in the nation — we had laughed rather hysterically when we heard that the odds makers were predicting that Michigan would win by only a 6-point margin. They must have known something we didn’t know, because we played them fairly evenly and came to the end of the game with the ball and a chance to win if we could make another touchdown. We moved down the field and completed a pass to win the game. We screamed and yelled (hoping we weren’t bothering our neighbors)!