Let's start at the beginning. I always find this makes the most sense. 

Over 20 years ago when I was in high school, I heard about "The Great Canadian Bicycle Trail" that was being set up. I immediately sent away to the Canadian Cycling Association (CCA) for the maps. It had been my dream at the time to cycle from Vancouver to my hometown of Gravenhurst, just north of Toronto. I figured this would be a great way to spend the summer. Once reality set in and I looked at my finances,  I really couldn't afford to take that summer off, so  I put the plan off for the next year. As the next summer passed, so did my dream of cycling across Canada.

 I quenched my dream for a while with a trip up the coast of California. Well, at least that was the plan. Upon arriving in California, the coastal highway was closed due to mud slides and floods. It seemed like a bike tour was not to happen. I was all packed up in Los Angeles, with nowhere to go, so I caught a bus to Florida, where I knew it hardly rained and did a quick trip up the coast from Miami to Jacksonville. My actual dream of going across Canada slipped farther and farther as I went to University, got a job, a dog, a wife, a truck, a house and the assorted financial obligations that those entail. I was still a cyclist and my dream was still to ride across Canada.

 I finally did ride the coast of California (San Fran to L.A.), a trip around Southern B.C. and Northern Washington, a trip from Vancouver to San Francisco, a trip through France, several trips around the East Coast of Canada and lots of other smaller trips. I have posted up some of my reports as a link from my personal page.  However, my dream had not been realized. On one trip through Nova Scotia, I ran into some people who had the schedule for Tour du Canada with them. Their cousin was going to be on the trip and there was a chance they were going to meet up. Well, they didn't, but I did. I met the tour in PEI in Aug/94 and surprised the heck out of one of my friends who was on the trip. 

 They seemed like a good group and I thought one day I might try going with them. It did seem rather easy though, as they had a truck carry all their equipment and the whole trip was all pre-planned for them. These people were on a luxury tour!

 Several years later, I decided that unless I commit myself to it, my dream would always be just that, a dream. I found out more about Tour du Canada and made a commitment. I was going to do it. Now, how was I going to get the time off work? I approached my employer and asked for 10 weeks off, in two years time. The immediate answer was no, however, using reverse discrimination logic, I carefully pointed out that if I was a woman and got pregnant, I could take a year off, and the most advance notice I could give was nine months. My logic was airtight, and when I put it that way, having over a two year lead time really wasn't all that bad. Everything now was a go. I now had to break the news to my wife and the bank account.

 So, I basically saved most of  my vacation (I did have to take some time off to go skiing and vacationing with my wife) and worked nights and weekends in the six months leading up to the tour to get the time off.

 Well, now you know why I did it, and how I got the time off, let's get to the good stuff. How was the trip? What happened? Did you finish it? Why didn't you send more postcards?