Utoff Trail, Just Istra and Poppy

After much confusion (and disappointment on some sides) of what we were going to do on Friday (Aug 31), Istra and I ended up heading out on our own to check out the Uthoff Trail which stretches between

Orillia and Coldwater (linked map shows highway route, not the Trail). The eventual destination was Port Severn, though. The ride ended up being much shorter than I expected, because I noticed a short cut that ended up having me completely avoid Coldwater, and head straight to Port Severn. So the ride time for the trip was only 2 hours and 2 minutes, and 35 km.




The ride was somewhat experimental, in that it was uncertain if Istra would put up with it. She tends to get bored sitting in the Chariot. We load her up with books and some toys to keep her busy. This and occasional snacks works pretty well. She reads and talks and sings to herself happily for some time. But eventually she starts chanting: "Stop biking! Stop biking! Stop biking now!" I had a plan from the start of trying to bike a certain amount of time, then stop for rest break to let her get out and run a round for a bit. It was a good plan, except that I hate stopping once i get going... so I kept trying to stretch the time before we would take a break. I would chant with her, for example: "Stop biking! Stop biking!" as I kept on biking. Lots of fun!




We did eventually stop (after about an entire hour of riding) at the next bench I saw along the trail, as I'd promised at some point. (Was it my fault that when I promised no more benches appeared for so long?) Anyhow, when we finally stopped it was near a farm. We had cows in the distance, and some apple trees to look at. The apples, surprisingly, were actually not bad tasting. Istra ate most of one, which she had picked herself. We took a few more for the road.




I had big plans to stop at a chip truck I know is parked along a stretch of Big Chute Road. This was now going to be a bit out of our way, since I took the shortcut, but I was still game for it. But now Istra took her revenge. She fell asleep... so I rode on, not wanting to wake her. There's another place to get usually decent fries in Port Severn... we could stop when we got there for a treat. But Istra was not done with her revenge, and continued to sleep as we passed by Port Severn, and slept---head lolling---right up to our final stopping: we quietly rolled into the cottage property unnoticed by Gramma until we halted a few feet away from her.