The Naive Homesteader: Day 4

Dolbeau-Mistassini to St. Felicien. This was our longest day of cycling. 70km. The weather was beautiful, the ride was beautiful and we were all in great spirits. We stopped along the way to pick some wild blueberries that are scattered along the trail. Can you get more local than that? We also stopped at a cheese making shop. A 'fromagerie'. Fresh curds and more blueberries were a welcome snack near the end of our ride.
Gage says his favourite part of the day was stopping at the St. Felicien Zoo. 'Zoo Sauvage'. We arrived around 5:30pm. The cashier was nice enough to give us a 50% discount since we were entering so late in the day. The zoo was separated into 5 sections. The 'Parc Des Sentiers De La Nature' (Buffalo, Moose/Meese?, Deer), 'Montagnes' (Mountain goats, Lynx, Cougars, Grizzly Bears, Turkeys, Wolf), "Asie' (Tigers and Monkeys), 'Mongolie' (Camels, Wild Horse, some other mountain goat-looking animal) and the 'Foret Mixte' (Beavers, Seals, Fox, Racoon, Rabbit, Porcupine, Polar Bears).
Gage's favourite animals were the seals. They had an underwater observatory as well as an above ground. The seals just kept swimming in circles and showing their bellies to everyone. Needless to say, we purchased a stuffed seal animal in the gift shop before we left.
My favourite were the polar bears. One was laying in the sun while the other played with a huge traffic cone in the water. At one point the cone ended up on the bear's head and it wasn't quite sure how to get it off. You couldn't ask for better entertainment! Hilarious.
After the zoo (we basically Olympic speed-walked through the whole thing) we headed back to the bikes to go to our next B&B. We should have known something was up with Gager when he refused to eat any dinner. We just thought he was too excited to be at the zoo and wanted to get back out there. Were we ever wrong! After I put him in the trailer, he vomitted all the fresh cheese curds and blueberries he had had 4 hours earlier. The smell.....uck.
After another hour of waiting for him to vomit everything out enough to get back on the bike, and we were off. I don't think I've ever biked that fast in my life. It was getting dark, I didn't have any lights on my bike and I had a sick kid towing behind me. Lance Armstrong, move over.
The B&B owners, who we had called saying we were on our way just before Gage got sick came looking for us in their car. How sweet is that? They showed us the way and we got Gage to bed asap.
It was a long day but it was great day (even with the vomit).