On Thursday morning, August 29, I took the final ride of my
nearly two week trip. This one did not
allow me to check off a new state. But I
was able to check off my second Canadian province as I woke up in Windsor,
Ontario across the river from Detroit, Michigan. A couple of decades ago I did a bike tour
from Jasper to Banff, riding down the Icefields Parkway. So now with a morning ride in Windsor I’ve added Ontario,
joining my previous ride in Alberta as my two provinces north of the U.S.
border. No, I’m not attempting to get
all of the Canadian provinces! But I
figured that a ride in Canada would make for a much more interesting final ride
of the trip rather than staying, and riding, in Detroit where that afternoon I
went and got my 26th active major league ballpark when I saw the
Cleveland Indians play the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
The Waterfront Trail in Windsor begins at the Ambassador
Bridge and runs for about four miles through tranquil parkland, passing several monuments, sculptures, and
giving a view of the Detroit skyline across the river. In addition to many cyclists and runners, there are also a handful of fishermen who try their luck at catching something in the Detroit River. Others try their luck at the Caesar's Casino across the street from the park. When riding the Waterfront Trail you eventually have to go out
onto Riverside Drive, but in that short stretch there are bike lanes on each
side of the road. Drivers in Windsor
seemed very courteous to cyclists.
Here are some pictures from the Windsor Waterfront
ride.
I made one diversion off the trail to go over to the VIA
Rail Station to see the morning train that goes to Toronto. In the station there is a display with
several hockey goalie masks that notes that the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto
is right across from Union Station. As
someone who worked at Amtrak for years, and as a hockey fan, this little detour
a couple of blocks from the river struck a couple of chords for me.
Then it was through the Windsor-Detroit tunnel and over to
Comerica Park in Detroit for the ballgame.
Afterwards I drove to Columbus, Ohio (about four hours) to spend the
evening with my friend Frank who I know from my days at Amtrak, and his wife
Gail. And then Friday it was an all day
drive home, with a stop in Washington, PA for lunch with my wife’s cousin. At 7:45 p.m. my eight new state, two new ballparks, and 15th Hotter N Hell trip was over!
Thanks for reading my blog.
For those of you who want to see the data from this final ride of my trip you can go to:
I’ll send out an email when the final post for 2019 is
up. Enjoy the holiday weekend.
Bruce
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