Riding Day 51 and Layover - Seasonals

Saturday took us 83 miles from Madawaska to Renfrew, where we are ensconced in a nice KOA (on a lake, of course) for our layover today. The day started with a lot of ups and downs, and then at about 24 miles had a nice long drop into the Ottawa Valley, back into farmland after many days through mostly forests, lakes, and rivers. Near the top of the last hill we came upon a large church, St. Mary's, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Queen of Poland -- the oldest Polish Catholic Church in Canada, founded in 1875 (pictured). We had a light tailwind most of the day, and my legs are pretty well recovered form their weakness on Friday, so it was a good day. Overcast and muggy, but no rain.

Rich and I have been talking periodically throughout the ride about getting a massage, but yesterday we finally did something about it. At our lunch stop I made calls to a couple of massage places in Renfree, but could only leave messages. When we arrived at the KOA about 2:00 we asked if they could refer us somewhere local. They did better than that -- they contacted Joanne, a massage therapist who is a seasonal resident here. So she came over after our swim and Rich and I had massages on the picnic table at our campsite! Pretty amazing, and we were pretty aromatic aferward, given the mentholated "white oil" she used.

We have discovered that a lot of RV parks, especially those on lakes, have a large number of "seasonals." At many places, they represent the great majority of the users, particularly the trailers and 5th-wheels. For these folks, the RV is at the RV park for the whole summer, and is like a summer cottage, but with less expense and upkeep. Many of these RVs stay at the park year-round, but are just occupied in the summer. The retirees often spend their whole summers in them, while the working people come up for weekends and vacations. Many of them are older people, and they are periodically visited by their kids and grandkids, who stay in tents at their sites. You can tell the seasonals at a glance, because the RVs have various external accoutrements. The most common is a deck under the awning, but also included are such things as flowers, lattice skirts around the RV, signs saying things like "The Mulroneys Live Here," etc. One that is near us here in Renfrew even has a brick walkway and a hand-painted mailbox. Most of the seasonals seem to know each other and some places have community activities. They have invariably been friendly to us, providing good information about weather, roads, etc.

Tomorrow it's back in the saddle and on to Kemptville, our last stop in Ontario.