7\/2\/26. 0922. NW Ontario; Sioux Lookout District, E of Hwy 599.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that ahead?\u201d I asked Jeromy point-ed-ly. We were driving out after a week\u2019s fishing in Palette Lake where the Rice Lake rooted Ouisconsin Club \u2014 planted in the 1950s by D.B. Mommsen \u2014 owns two cabins. Slowly driving out since that road much less traveled runs over the now extinct Canadian National Railway bed, delivering straight stretches as well as granite hewn curves.<\/p>\n
Continuing our slow crawl across the railroad trestle and past the Eva Lake cabin cluster owned by the Club as well as some quite neighborly Canadians, Jeromy\u2019s \u201cbicycle light\u201d guess grew into being.<\/p>\n
OK, thought I. Someone from the town of Ignace getting an early start to their weekend. Although still 35 miles distant it was certainly possible. And although warmly welcomed \u2014 as usual \u2014 at Ignace\u2019s Lone Pine Inn a week prior, I told Jeromy it was \u201cbiker\u2019s choice\u201d whether this Canadian wilderness by-passing would include more than a nod or a wink. But little did we expect, as six wheels rolled to a stop…<\/p>\n
To not only meet Paul Marcel Touzin but spend 25 minutes in a conversation that often dropped our jaws down farther than my open truck window! For far from starting in Ignace that morning Paul\u2019s ride began in April in WINNIPEG, some 300 miles (via drivable road, that is) to the northwest! That fact plus he\u2019s 70 years young STILL doesn\u2019t equal the most amazing aspect of his truly over hill, over dale pedalings because… he\u2019s crossed the entire COUNTRY of Canada more than ELEVEN times since 1976! \u201cCycling coast to coast to coast in Canada, Europe, Australia and Beyond\u201d as his business-like card reads, in French and English of coast; sorry, of… course!<\/p>\n
What a fascinating man! What an unexpected encounter on that much less traveled, formerly knowing rails\/road! Another of life\u2019s God-incidences as I call them! Indescribable! Especially as \u2014 several weeks ago \u2014 I began this summary Blog through the all-encompassing aura of our time together that morning.<\/p>\n
So, what to do? Why, open my MacBook muse and… toss out a search! Surely there must be something in the online ocean about Paul! But my first cast caught nothing, unlike our Canadian fishing foray. Seems even \u201cMarcel Touzin\u201d is a common name up north. Days later, after adding \u201ccross-country cyclist\u201d to my lure, I managed to catch two glimpses of Paul\u2019s life. One from 2010 is not only far \u201cago\u201d but about as far north in North America as one can… ride a bike; the Dempster Highway north of Dawson City, Yukon Territory! The other from 2018 splashed about his ride to Labrador of which I could actually picture part, having lived in Goose Bay, Labrador, in the 1960\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Consider these filets of note carved out of both our conversation and that 2010 article by Amy Nakaska. Amy reported Paul carries only one extra set of clothing, tent, sleeping bag\/pad, cooking fuel, first aid kit, map, journal, two water bottles, air pump, some food. And Paul pointed us to the inflatable dinghy he now carries that, should his pump fail, takes him 18 minutes to huff and puff… up!<\/p>\n
From the 2018 Facebook post by \u201cThe Bicycle Specialist,\u201d a repair shop in Nova Scotia, we learn Paul\u2019s the first Canadian to cycle coast to coast to coast (yep, three); BC to NFLD to Tuktoyaktuk via all the capital cities. That post ends with this mysterious splash not unlike a rock tossed into a lake: \u201cCongratulations Paul. We look forward to your book.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hmm… is that book still being written, kilometer by pedaled kilometer? Must be, since my inter-net keeps coming up empty. Hopefully you\u2019ll join in that net-casting, but for now I\u2019ll simply wrap up today\u2019s catch and send it home to fry in this farewell oil, a blend of words from Amy and Paul plus a dash of seasoning from two retired, truck\u2019in Air Force chaplains.<\/p>\n
After asking Paul why he bikes Amy delivered a most excellent resolution. \u201c\u2019It\u2019s such a wonderful way to meet people and see things,\u2019 comments Paul, which epitomizes the entirety of his travels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed. Whether across \u201cwell\u201d or less traveled roads, remember life\u2019s a journey not a destination. Take time along the way to let your wheels roll\u2014slowly, now \u2014 to a stop. There. Now you, too, can inhale the goodness of that which surrounds you. Even when you can\u2019t see it, it\u2019s out there; somewhere…<\/p>\n
A retired Air Force chaplain, Keith Muschinske (Rice Lake Class of \u201972) has spent much of his life on roads less-traveled. He hopes you enjoy reading about some as much as he enjoys blogging about them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"7\/2\/26. 0922. NW Ontario; Sioux Lookout District, E of Hwy 599. \u201cWhat\u2019s that ahead?\u201d I asked Jeromy point-ed-ly.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[52936,17,12429,7170,52937,22274,7778,52935],"class_list":["post-165079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-aerobic-exercise","tag-canada","tag-coast","tag-cycling","tag-human-powered-transport","tag-labrador","tag-land-transport","tag-micromobility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}