Marathon to Wawa, Ontario

Despite all my worries from last night, I managed today's 186 kilometres, and stayed well-hydrated, although did end up drinking a some of that no-good water from the Marathon motel.

Although there is nothing to speak of between Marathon and White River (except gorgeous landscape!), White River had a nice rest stop, including an A&W where I could get lunch.  Besides a place to get lunch, White River is also the "birthplace" of Winnie the Pooh.

White River was almost halfway to Wawa, so I still had a lot of kilometres to ride after lunch.  There is a lot of construction happening south of White River, and they are making what will be a very nice road.  

They even have signs up identifying it as a bike route!  Perhaps I should have waited a year or two to be able to enjoy this for longer.  Now I understood how the White River (and Wawa) motels were all full--the construction crews needed the rooms!

As nice as much of the road was, I was suffering pretty badly.  The weather was good, and the climbs not unreasonable on this stretch, but I still was not feeling 100% myself.  I was hoping to "ration" some of my food for tomorrow, but at some point could not anymore, and ate one, then two, then the last of my remaining carrot muffins (which meant I ate all six today!).

Between not feeling great and 186 kilometres of riding, I was not thinking very well as I got to Wawa.  I had booked a motel about 8 kilometers (and a lot downhill) south of the town, in a place called Michipicoten, so as to set myself up for less riding tomorrow (and, again, because I had expected to be coming from White River, not Marathon).  The problem is that there are limited services in the vicinity of Michipicoten.  I was somewhat aware of this, which is why I was carrying muffins and orange juice and some other snacks, but having eaten most of that this afternoon, I was down to three granola bars and two tiny packs of fruit snacks.  I could have gone into Wawa as I cycled past, but it was 18:00, and I was too set on finishing the day and not thinking enough about the consequences of running out of food.  I was also starting to (probably irrationally) worry that my reservation at the Mystic Isle Motel might not be there when I arrived--which would have been a real blow given how full all accommodations in the area were.  I suppose I think more rationally when I am clean, well-rested, well-fed, etc. . . .

There are two restaurants across the highway from my motel, so was able to enjoy a good dinner, but neither are open for breakfast.  I asked one of the restaurants if they would make me sandwiches to take for lunch tomorrow--because I am now realizing that there may not be any food options for all 150+ kilometres tomorrow.  They said they were too busy, but the other restaurant suggested a rice dish to take out, which I agreed would be good, so that is now in my mini fridge.  As I think about it now, though, I should have gotten two of those dishes.