Ash's mother picked up warm, fluffy croissants with blueberry jam and insisted I join them. Who am I to resist such an offer?

The three of us who had been out in the rain yesterday assessed our clothing: still wet. Mine smelled horrible by that point and I still had pools of water in the bottom of my pannier covers, but breakfast was tasty and the sun looked like it would show up sooner or later.

Ash searched his toolkit for a tiny screedriver for my shifters but had nothing. They were more successful getting Maggie's motorcycle jump started; the battery had died overnight.

I left them to their day of ATVing, feeling grateful for having met them and embarrassed that my clothes smelled so bad. I'm forever in awe of people who appear so fresh after anything from a half-day hike to a two-week offroad ride in the mud. I clean up nice, but my appearance succumbs rapidly and thoroughly to any and all environmental difficulties, starting with a slight breeze.

As nice as the weather was becoming, my legs didn't care. They were screaming for me to stop riding, which I did after a few more hills and a stop at a gas station for the most expensive groceries yet. I winced at every price tag, but it was my own fault for not going back into Dorset this morning, which had a real grocery store. The problem with Dorset was that it involved going back down a hill I had already climbed the previous evening. I think the pricy food was worth not climbing that hill again.

The only notable thing that happened during the ride was the first woman to approach me for a chat so far on this trip. She started with the usual origin-destination questions, then asked a question I was used to hearing but was a first for this tour: "Aren't you scared?" Closely followed by, "You're so brave." It was a bit disappointing to hear that.

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I finished the day early at Algonquin Bound Outfitters, who were willing to store my bicycle while I went canoeing in Algonquin Park. I had wanted to leave my bike at Canoe Lake but nobody there was willing or able to take it. It turned out to be a good thing for me because Jason, the boss, approached me as I was setting up my tent behind the store, introduced himself, then said, "This might sound bizarre, but..." and proceeded to offer me a free dinner.

They were cooking for a large American church group that was staying with them that night and had all sorts of deliciousness from moose stew to a dessert that consisted mostly of sugar and cinnamon.

Yes please!

One of the employees, Doug, had toured in New Zealand and we talked bikes and travel for a while. A group of his friends have started a tradition where they go on vacation together each year and take turns planning--but the planner is the only one who knows where they're going and what they're doing. It was Doug's year to plan.

It was a fun conversation even though he made fun of my basket, which, by the way, is holding up very well. After dinner, he decided he could procrastinate on the packing list for his trip and invited me to bike to Ragged Falls, a waterfall I had skipped on the way in because it looked uphill. It was a couple kilometres back down the road, and to my complete surprise I found myself saying, "Sure!"

The way there was downhill. The way back was up a hill I had already climbed and loathed. My legs, which I had assumed were dead, had no problem this time, so I started thinking I should tour without luggage. I could take my daypack and strap my peanut butter to the rear rack and it would be amazing.

It was dark by the time we got back, time for a fire, but unfortunately part of the large group had commandeered the firepit, so instead of gazing into a fire, we sat at the side of the building and gazed at a harsh, buzzing light that nobody could find a light switch for.

Later, as I was lying in my tent next to the pond, a soft glow coming through the fabric from the full moon and possibly also the buzzing light, I heard something large emerge from the bushes, plunge into the water, splash around, then leave. It took me a while to fall asleep after that.