Day 19 - REST DAY!

miles today: 0 total miles: 1,165
km today: 0 total km: 1,874

After 5 days of riding, Mike’s executive decision to forego our campsite reservation in Sugarloaf and instead spring for an extra night at the AirBnB in Campbellton (which we had already reserved for tonight) turned out to be a wise (if somewhat expensive) decision as it rained fairly hard last night. It was lovely to be warm and cozy this morning with a full rest day ahead of us and very little to do. We lingered in bed with coffee in hand, streaming the second half of the Women’s World Cup final. Thanks Keiko for letting us borrow your tv credentials! After an aggressive and close game with Spain beating England 1-0, we motivated ourselves out of bed.

When I googled Campbellton attractions, the #1 thing that came up was their 28-foot metal salmon water fountain. Well, that would certainly certainly keep us busy all day (not). But rest days aren’t about “keeping busy” and sometimes you even get a rest day that isn’t all about logistics – bike repairs, laundry, groceries, etc. – or site-seeing. And although there would be some logistics, today was a true rest day. After making coffee with eggs and fried potatoes for breakfast, we walked (leisurely) to the pedestrian path along the water.

As we walked, we approached a young man with his toddler daughter, maybe 2 at the most. She had this adorable hat with two little ears from which her strawberry blonde hair was escaping. I waved and smiled at her, and she immediately came right between Mike and me, wrapped two of my fingers with her small hand, and tugged me in the direction that we were going (as in “goodbye dad, I’m taking her instead”). Her dad laughed and said, “she’s not shy.” I tried to lead her back to her dad, but she was insistant about taking me somewhere in the opposite direction! When we separated, she stood in the middle of the path looking backwards towards us with a plaintive wail. It was heartbreakingly adorable.

We continued along the path . . . finding campy things to take pictures of . . .

And of course, Campbellton’s big attraction.

And then, it was buy groceries and a bottle of wine, and head back to the house for logisitics and food.

I think that Mike and I were in bed by 9 pm.