Sudbury to Petawawa

We left Lori and Eric's after a great two day rest.  Of course the highlight was Mila.  She was very cute and entertaining.  Gordon and I left at about 7:00 with  nice weather and a SW wind.  Not bad.  We went out through Coniston and then entered Hwy 17.  The shoulder was not too bad but not great.  However in some parts there was no shoulder so a bit of a challenge.  We went through all of the little towns: Hagar, Werner etc.  We had some good runs with a trailing wind.  We met up with Madge in Sturgeon Falls and had some great hamburgers and chips.  Nothing like a nutritious meal.  We then went on to have a good view of Nipissing and then Hwy 17b through North Bay.  Then off to Bonfield.  Not a bad 165 KM run except for the crumby shoulders.  Then Roz and Tony showed up and we had a great time getting caught up.  soon after that Souhaila and Olin arrived.  Yahoo.  It started to rain which made it a little hard for Olin to run off some steam.  We had a great dinner and in bed early.  The next morning we left at 7:00 with rain.  It left off for a bit and then really hit us.  The good news is that it was warm and the wind out of the SW.  We stopped at a Timmy's for coffee and a bagel.  The locals were amused/bewildered by our trip.  The rain then eased off.  The shoulder was crap.  For 25KM the 18 inch shoulder had a rumble strip which forced us on to the road.  No fun and it slows you down as we really have to watch the traffic.  We met up with Olin and Madge and had a nice picnic.  The rest of the run into Petawawa was fairly fast and in some places there was not a bad shoulder.  Whine whine.  Anyway we are cleaned up and ready for the next challenge.  I will be glad to leave Hwy 17.