20th June 2026
Peggy Lou and myself have just returned from a 2 week whistle stop tour of Canada, from Toronto through Niagara Falls, Kingston,Ottawa and finishing off in Montreal. A real road trip completed in a Ford F150 pick up truck, no small feat when driving on the right hand side of the road.
American Truck Stop
We then flew to Chicago to stay with the Earl of Chicago (Peggy Lous cousin ) who was a really fantastic host , who looked after us extremely well as well showing us all the sights and more. We attended our first ever baseball game, saw the Home Alone house and Peggy Lou and myself rode on a huge train into the centre of Chicago for a solo adventure. Luckily we managed not to get lost.
On our last day The Earl suggested that we go on a bike ride around the suburb where he lives, Glenview. How could I refuse the opportunity to go for a bike ride on the wrong side of the road, I just wished my best buddy Graham had been there too.
We set off from The Earls home at around 7.00am in glorious sunshine. Riding with an American is a different experience for an extreme biker, everyone is so polite , the sidewalks (pavements) are so wide you hardly ever have to ride on the road. As we started our ride , not really an adventure today , we spotted some red and blue flashing lights ahead. On approaching we could see a cyclist lay in the road with paramedics and fire crew attending to him , I hoped this wasn’t an omen. The Earl said , in an American accent tinged with a little Bolton twang “ well not let this affect our physiology we’re just gonna plough and through there buddy “ and that’s just what we did.
The Earl took me around Gallery Park and beyond. I kept thinking to myself hope I don’t lose him, I’d be totally lost, thankfully he looked after me out there. There’s the little things that are different in USA, he kept saying things like “ we’ll swing a right here “ and asking the people we came across how they were doing plus the fact I had to remember to look left not right at the junctions .
We continued our ride with him leading the way , obviously me not knowing where we were heading. The area is so beautiful and peaceful as well as being extremely flat which is very unusual for what Graham and myself unusually encounter on our adventures in England.
As we rode around he pointed out some things that we don’t come across in the UK like storm drains and the different traffic lights, and crossing rules. The Americans don’t do things by halves the infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists is superb.
Sadly it was soon time to return to his home and continue packing for return home after an amazing 2 week adventure.
