We left the hotel near Montreal Airport on schedule to drive to the town where we will begin the Bike Tour tomorrow, Mont-Laurier. Our tour guides are Jim and Sandra. They load up our suitcases in the trailer and we load into the van. There is a couple from Ft. Collins Colorado who flew into Burlington to drive up with Jim and Sandra from Vermont. Another person from Tempe, AZ joined our group of 7, so the group will be 10 people and 2 guides – a nice ratio. Of course, there is a lot of traffic as we leave Montreal.

A first stop is at a shopping/restaurant center for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Yes, a bit strange eating Mexican food in Quebec.

Megan and Rebecca find a Wal-Mart that sells, guess what – wine!

The drive is quite pretty through the hilly/mountainous region north of Montreal. Lots of pine trees and some beautiful meadows.

Two hours later we arrive and unload at the Best Western Hotel in Mont-Laurier.

There is an A&W across the street – seems kind of American to me. Upon checking in we learn that the water is not drinkable in the hotel so we are issued bottles of water for drinking and brushing our teeth. The rooms are an attempt at upgrade but the window/wall air conditioner is quite retro.

The group gathers for a bit of a wine tasting and conversation before we pile back in the van to head to dinner at a local restaurant. Don’t forget the vitamin patches!

This dinner is the true kick off of the bike tour. Jim explains the schedule for the morning and when to be ready to board the van. Our dinner is included tonight as well as our hotel for the night. However, no bike fitting yet – we will do that in the morning.

The restaurant is lovely – “Lemarettes.” Good food and nice atmosphere; dessert – crème brûlée – the real deal.

At this point, you may be wondering, are we really going to ride bikes or just eat and drink in Canada?! Megan points out the hotel knows we are cyclists!

Really, we are riding bikes; tomorrow’s update with prove it!