August 4, 2024. Montreal to Vaudreuil-Dorion

     A few miles from our motel was a church located a few doors off the route we would be taking. Rosemount Bible church had a website in English and 2 services with one at 9:30, which would work out great for us. The service began with a selected topic and a member of the congregation giving a brief mediation on it, then members of the congregation read Bible passages which came to mind or selected songs to sing. Afterwards there was a short fellowship time, and we found out that the 2nd service is more a continuation of the first than a separate service. It has a praise and worship time, then a sermon which is given by one of the members of the church. We were invited to that service as well—and to a picnic afterwards in the park across the street. So we took them up on their offer!
   It is a very diverse congregation, both in age and country of origin. There were at least 6 people from the Philippines. A woman from Myanmar met her husband from Africa in Dubai, who is currently in Europe as he hasn’t gotten papers to immigrate to Canada yet. We talked with a couple from Africa; she was an accountant from Cameroon, and he was a civil engineer from Benin. He also had a divinity degree and is currently working full time as a chaplain for the military. He explained he is still working in construction as he helps people rebuild their lives. We met an American from the Minnesota-North Dakota area whose parents were missionaries in Belgium and whose wife is Canadian. He works on visual effects in the film industry which is currently stronger in Canada than in the US. And these are just people that we met. Great group of believers to spend time with. (And great food as well, including an excellent Filipino noodle dish!)
                          Church Picnic
  Needless to say, this got us a much later start than what we had figured on, and it was another very hot day. There again was a heat warning, and temperatures were up to about 90 and the heat index much higher. We biked about 8 miles back through the city on the same separated bike lanes that we had taken yesterday, to get to the start of the Lachine Canal. Bike paths took us for miles along the canal, where many other people were out enjoying their Sunday afternoon.  
   Once we reached the other end where the canal began at the St Lawrence, we pedaled for miles and miles through prime waterfront communities with lots of fancy houses. When we reached the west end of the Île de Montréal, we crossed a channel of the Ottawa River, then an island, then another channel of the Ottawa River. We are staying across the road from this channel a ways downstream from the bridge.  
   It’s amazing the number of islands in the Montréal area and also how much water flows through here.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 Maine to Peoria, Illinois, Bicycle Trip through Canada--Epilogue. August 29 to September 14 2024

       After spending a few days with our son and family and getting to watch our oldest grandson run in a cross-country meet, we headed home. A few days later, Kay located the information about her stolen bike, found the serial number and called the Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Police Service to give them the number, as we didn't have it with us on the trip. When an officer called back, he put the number in their database and said there wasn't a match. Since we hadn't heard anything from them while on the trip, she asked what they had found when they had reviewed the security camera video, and other details of the case. He said the officer who was handling the case was out of the office and would call back on Monday. When Jim got home from work on Monday, we discovered they had called his phone instead of Kay's, The next morning while we were both at work, they tried calling again, so Kay called them back at lunch time. The officer reported, "We found your bike tod...
Read more

Wednesday May 25

Image
We had a great breakfast with Gary and Debbie and left about 8:30 in the morning.  Today was a day of beautiful flowers, a port with huge number of shipping containers  and downtown Seattle.  We even got to see part of Mt. Rainier when clouds lifted.   We discovered Seattle and surrounding communities have some impressive hills.Jim showed his lack of coordination and fell over on his bike when front wheel got just over edge of sidewalk. Dignity decreased, slight scrape to knee and word used that Grandpa shouldn't use. We are staying with Kit and Jan Flowers, friends from Christian Veterinary Mission, great food and fun conversation. Discovered that just putting in an address correctly and assuming it's a certain city can end  you up in the wrong town and add about 15 miles to your day.  So we discovered legs are in better shape than we thought because we ended up doing 76 miles today. Started in Puya...
Read more

Bike Trip East Coast to Midwest prelude June 2024

When we heard that our daughter Katie and her family were going to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Acadia National Park, we jumped at the opportunity to get a ride out to the east coast and pedal back.  First there were some prelude events: Camping at CranHill Ranch with our son John and family and our daughter from Panama.  Both had been on summer staff there years before.  This was a prelude to: A family reunion of Kay's family in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  All 4 of our children and 7 grandsons were there, and all of the rest of Kay's family except for one sister and one nephew and spouse.   A trip to Marinette, Wisconsin just across the Michigan border so that our son-in-law could work for a day--it was online, but it had to be on Wisconsin soil. A  road trip across Canada to Halifax, so Katie and her family could visit some friends (they were kind enough to take us in, too!) A multi-day visit to Acadia National Park. Then we could start our bike ride!
Read more