Eastward bound

Where we left off, it was the beginning of April and we had just returned to Canada following the death of Michèle's mother. After several months on familiar grounds, we are set to continue our journey around the world by bicycle. We will continue with our original plan: ride east ... and probably skip some sections by bus. This second leg of the trip will start in Istanbul on August 29. Once there, we will slowly make our way towards Iran, where we have been granted a 30 day visa. We are very excited to have the opportunity to visit this unique country. The post Iran journey is somewhat foggy, but we want to be in India by the beginning of December.

La dernière fois, nous étions début avril et nous venions juste de rentrer au Canada à cause du décès de la mère de Michèle. Après plusieurs mois sur notre territoire familier, nous sommes prêts à continuer notre tour du monde en vélo. Nous allons rester avec notre plan original: pédaler vers l'est. Cette deuxième partie du voyage débutera à Istanbul le 29 août. Une fois rendu là-bas, nous allons pédaler en direction de l'Iran où nous avons obtenu un visa pour 30 jours. Nous sommes très heureux d'avoir l'occasion de visiter ce pays unique. Après l'Iran nous ne sommes pas encore sûrs de notre direction mais nous voulons être en Indes début décembre.

Michèle writes: Many times while on the road I longed for a day of boredom, my mind freed of the daily strategizing: where would we sleep, how far could we get that day, what would we eat? It has been good for me to return home to Canada for awhile. Now I feel that I have the travel bug again. I am itching to get back on the saddle and ride.

My family threw a big party to celebrate our Mom's life as she had requested. We hope that we did her proud. At the house we rented in the country for the event, we almost had a noise complaint. A neighbouring farmer had called the owner of the house, and the conversation she recounted to us later went something like this:
- What is all that loud music?
- Oh, that's a funeral going on.
- (After a pause) THAT's the way I want to go out!
My sister Carole put together the obituary, which mentions our Mom and her bicycle. I remember her always riding to work. But sadly, I don't know of any photo showing my Mom with her bike. To honour her love of cycling (perhaps that is where I get it), I want to have some of my Mom's ashes in a pendant that I can attach to my handlebars.



Since returning to Canada, we have had three different homes. First, at our friends' place where they greeted us weary travellers with a table groaning with food. We stayed with them for three weeks. Thanks, Srinath and Marc for taking such great care of us! Then, we moved in with our friend Jacques who was ending the lease on his apartment : a huge space that was almost empty except for bicycles (you guessed it, Jacques is a cyclist). That brought us to the end of June, the big moving day for everyone in Montreal. For July and August, we found a furnished apartment to sublet. Our moving day was a snap: put everything we own on our bicycles and stop for a relaxing coffee and pastry along the way.