Days 3 and 4

Day three started at 5:45am with the sunrise.  After another day of riding 100+ miles the day before, day 3 was looking pretty good.  I only had about 60 miles to Fort Erie where I was going to spend the night.  It was the end of my first set of Adventure Cycling Maps (Lake Erie Connector) and my first break from all day riding.  I arrived around 3pm to Fort Erie.  When I came up to the town I road around for a bit and found the historic Fort Erie.  The fort sat on top of a small hill with a road leading up to it.

As I rode up the road I noticed a guy about my age holding a musket, dressed in revolutionary war attire.  Naturally I was intrigued.  When I got to the top of the hill I started talking to the kid about the fort.  It turns out he had only been working there for about a month now and had just been able to shoot his musket with live ammo the day before.  He walked me through the procedure of how to load the musket and make sure it doesn't misfire or anything, which is exactly what happened twice in a row to him the day before, his first two times pulling the trigger.  The way it happened was this.  Four guys and himself got in a line to fire.  It was a sort of demonstration for a big group of people who came through.  He told me that when you load the musket and prepare to fire you look down and let the brim of your hat cover your eyes.  This is so when the back powder explodes and burns, the smoke won't get in your eyes.  (Explains a lot about those wars doesn't it?)  Anyway so when the commander or whomever gave the order to fire, everyone pulled the trigger, lots of bangs went off, and then you look back at your weapon to make sure everything went well.  Well, as for him, it didn't.  He still had a live round in the barrel with the possibility that it could explode the barrel, sending shrapnel at him and everyone else.  The weapons expert told him it would be okay and just load a little more powder in the hammer thing (I don't remember the name) and try again.  Ready.  Aim. Fire....Click.  Nothing a second time.  Everyone apparently back away except for the expert, they redid some stuff and it finally fired.  He was also given the privilege of firing a mortar, which is pretty bad-ass in my book.

After a while of talking to him about the war of 1812 I learned my favorite story of the day.  Apparently after the Americans took control of Fort Erie from the British they packed it full of powder kegs and blew it up, never to be used again.  What else could be more American?  If we can't use it, nobody can!  Reports from Buffalo across the river said that when the explosion happened it lit up the sky like it was daytime with flames reaching over 250 feet in the air.  THAT IS AWESOME!  They rebuilt the fort, then a pile of rubble, in the height of the depression as a public works program and have been adding onto it ever since to make it exactly the same as it was.  This is about the time where this kids shift was over and a red coat came out to guard the fort.  I wanted nothing to do with the red coat so I said my goodbye and road around the town for a bit.  I found a little motel to stay for the night and rest up.

When I woke up I was painfully sore from the past 260+ miles of riding and so I decided to take day 4 off.  It turned out not to be such a bad idea seeing as how it is currently thunder storming out side, or as Canadians call it thunder showering.  It will be good to have another day of rest.  Besides,  its not like I have to be anywhere.  Right?

Cheers