Oct. 22nd - Toronto, Zombies, and Traffic.

We awoke to another serene morning in Killarney Provincial Park with dew dripping from the trees and the lake steaming creating a foggy cloud which drifted over the top of the glassy waters. We packed quickly due to the fact that we had decided to take our chances with the pay as you go policy enacted when the parks are all but closed for the season. We felt like the money we had given up for the previous day was more then worth another night in a car without water, showers, or bathrooms, sorry Ontario Government. We were able to get on the road before 8:30 this morning and it was well worth it because we got to see (and almost hit) two big as heck mooses (yes I know that moose is plural but dialect is worth something as well). Our first non statue or stuffed moose and on such a nice morning with the fog rolling across the road trying to escape the sun's rays which were intent on burning all the moisture out of the air. With all this nature stored in our cabeza's we headed on down the road en route to Toronto. We were 2/3rds of the way there when our stomachs took the wheel and drove us off the main road towards a little restaurant in Cookstown called Hot Stacks (not the U.S. chain) where a heaping plates of chocolate chip banana pancakes and spinach eggs benedict were waiting for us. After devouring what we could (our first Canadian restaurant meal which we couldn't finish) we headed to the public library to play on the internet, charge our computers so we can watch more True Blood episodes, and rip a couple new cds into our collection, one of which is Leonard Cohen's Jukebox which is fantastic and I highly recommend you check it out. The library closed at three so we once again packed up the car and headed down the road to Toronto.

Coming into Toronto was quite the shock for us considering the biggest city we had seen since Duluth was Sudbury. The 2.5 million population sign put us in our place as we drove deeper into the metropolis splayed out before us. We picked and guessed our way towards downtown dealing with road closures and our general lack of knowledge of the city. Only to be pleasantly surprised when we got to a road covered in what else, but zombies! Yes, it was the annual Zombie Walk in Toronto and boy did they put on a good show - so many zombies marching the streets. Our favorites were the Occupy Brain Street Zombies adorned with blood, fake scars, and protest signs emblazoned with sayings such as "Hungry? Eat a Banker," and "Occupy the Living" among others. We were so intrigued we parked as soon as we could and pulled the bikes down in order to ride among the dead in search of the goriest and an art museum/gallery or two as well. We found gore, but alas, we were a couple minutes shy of making it to a gallery so we rode through downtown Toronto and Chinatown on a mission to find a nice pub, which we did.

A little, dark place called Squirly's where we had a beer each and a wonderful tapas sampler plate. When we were finishing up the bar started playing Mermaid Avenue Vol. II and since I misplaced my copy of this album a while ago I couldn't help but want to acquire it again so when we walked out and I realized there was a CD/Vinyl shop right next door we just had to go in. On entering I realized that what I really needed was Tom Waits' new album Bad As Me (full review over at www.fastcrusade.com) and was happy to buy the vinyl which came with a CD as well for under 20 bucks and was even happier when I realized the official release date was October 24th. Alas I made the mistake of asking for Mermaid Avenue Vol.1 which they didn't have but they had Vol. II and I had my albums mixed up in my head otherwise I would have had the album I came in in for as well as Bad As Me. (btw if you haven't heard Mermaid Ave. Vol. II you really should go pick it up - it's a collaboration with Billy Bragg and Wilco doing songs written by Woodie Guthrie on his deathbed)

We then biked back to car, packed up, and hit the road. We are now sitting in a fast-food rest stop from hell but they have Wi-Fi. Tomorrow we will be in Ottawa.

Fast-food hell.

The CN Tower through some chainlink construction fencing in Toronto.