Day 36

The Trial is officially ended and the memory begins. I woke up on the train to a sunrise that filtered through the Ontario evergreens, reflecting off the dark, still water of the Shield. It’s a landscape that feels like home, yet seeing it after cycling through the Rockies and the Prairies gave it a weight I’d never felt before. I’d crossed nearly half of Canada, and that quick glimpse of the wild was enough to make me incredibly proud of where we live.

The train was late—nearly three and a half hours by the time we hit Union Station at 11:30 PM—but the delay almost felt necessary to prepare us for the return to reality. Stepping off that train into the trademark humid air of southwestern Ontario was a physical shock. I’d completely forgotten how oppressive that humidity feels after weeks of dry Prairie winds and mountain air.

Seeing our parents waiting for us on the platform was the final punctuation mark. We stood there amidst the reassembled bikes and trailers, exhausted and smelling of a month on the road, while the Toronto skyline glittered above us. I got a ride home that night, watching the city streets blur past the car window, thinking about how only a few days ago I was dodging biplanes in a Manitoba field. The journey was over, but the sense of scale—of just how big this country really is—has never left me.

I wake up. The observation deck is quiet and empty. It is 3:30a so I must have only been asleep for an hour. On the eastern horizon, there is the faintest glow of the sunrise beginning. The light filters through the evergreens and reflects off of the dark, still water of marshes and lakes. It astounds me how much detail there is in nature and how easy it is to overlook most of it. I have cycled nearly halfway across Canada and have only caught the quickest glimpse of what there is to see. But what I have seen has made me very happy and very proud to live here.

I continue to track the train stations we pass through. We are once again three hours behind schedule. Just south of Parry Sound the train comes to a complete stop and actually goes in reverse for a long stretch; we are so late that we are affecting the schedules of other trains. We finally arrive at Union Station at 11:30p, three and a half hours late. Getting off the train we are welcomed by a blast of the trademark humid summer air of southwestern Ontario. I had completely forgotten how oppressive it feels.

Our friend and parents are here to welcome us. Blue and Wendy are getting rides home but I have chosen to ride home as I had originally hoped I would. After the long wait for our belongings, Wendy and I reassemble my bike and trailer. It is past midnight. I soon discover the batteries in my headlight are almost dead. I take the lakeshore trail home, climb through the hills of High Park, and before long I am back in my home. It almost feels like I never left.