Thursday September 29th – Friday September 30th
Even the weatherman gets it right sometimes, and on Thursday we awoke to pouring raining as they had predicted, and it would continue to shower on and off throughout the entire day. With some big events set for Ottawa this weekend, we had no time to spare so we donned our rain gear and made the trek from just inside Hawkesbury to Orleans –Ottawa’s eastern most suburb and Matt’s hometown.
The skate was wet and slippery, but it was actually quite warm out which made it easier to bear. We travelled along the Ottawa River, through Rockland where we stopped for Tim Horton’s for lunch, and then on through Cumberland to Matt’s parents place in Orleans where we spent the night.
It was a surreal feeling for Matt, after 46 days skating through the eastern half of the country suddenly we popped out of the woods and were skating by the movie theatre, shopping mall, restaurants and stores of his childhood, past his parents place and through his community. Despite having already completed one cross Canada voyage to Vancouver, Matt assures the rest of the team October 15th will be a very strange feeling as we will be skating through the Weston streets that Mark, Cam and Phil all call home.
After the days skate we had a bbq’ed dinner, and then we worked on various projects including cleaning the RV before turning in early as we have several big days ahead of us.
On Friday morning we awoke and prepared for our skate along the Ottawa River Bank, passed the Governor Generals Residence, passed the Prime Minister’s Residence, through the streets of downtown Ottawa and to the front steps of City Hall.
Mark and Matt skated the trip, and we met our police escorts directly in front of 24 Sussex Drive – the residence of the Prime Minister of Canada. With our escorts we were able to skate through the streets where dozens of people honked, cheered, and took pictures supporting us as we wound our way through the downtown core. When we finally turned the last corner we could see dozens of people waiting to welcome us to Ottawa including Mark’s family, some friends, and of course Councillor Scott Moffatt and his office who had set the whole thing up – thank you very much!
Mark was formally welcomed to the city and presented with a signed Ottawa 67’s Jersey as well as an Ottawa rugby jersey. After giving a half dozen interviews in both official languages, the media dispersed and the team, family, and friends were treated by Councillor Moffatt to a tour of Ottawa City Hall including a sneak peak into the revamped Ottawa sports Hall of Fame. A highlight of the tour, we were welcomed by Mayor Jim Watson and were able to tour his impressive office - thanks for the hospitality!
With our days events over we all retired to our various accommodations, and will be having an early night as tomorrow we will
be at Scotia Bank Place for the Ottawa Senators Puck Drop 2011 – 2012 where they will be featuring Mark and Courage Canada. We have already had a fantastic time in the Nation’s Capital and have many other major events planned for the weekend so as always…
Stay tuned…
