Days 37-44

I'm compiling all of these last few days into one entry because I've kind of fallen behind on my daily journaling and can't remember which specific days certain events occurred.
Once we left Ludington someone turned on the furnace in Michigan and we had a stretch of really hot days mixed with good amounts of rain, which has made for some messy camping. Mark has done a good job of biking despite these less than ideal conditions. He cheated a little bit through Michigan and gave in to my tempting offers to give him a ride through certain stretches.:) Besides Ludington and the towns that border Lake Michigan, there's nothing too exciting about biking through this state. Mark was ready to be finished with it for sure.
On our last day in Michigan we noticed that one of the tires on our car was flat. Mark filled it with air at a gas station, but soon it was flat again. (Has this been the tour of flat tires or what??). So we made a stop at Discount Tires and the salesman told us that the tread on our front two tires was right at the borderline of being illegal for driving and we needed to replace them both. So, here we are two new tires later. After that we were even more ready to leave Michigan. (Wisconsin's beauty spoiled us!).
We crossed into Ontario, Canada 5 days ago. It was the first time for both of us being in this country, so that has been exciting! Our first night of camping here (was free!) we camped right next to another couple doing the same bike tour as us. They began in June and then the wife had an accident in eastern Montana and got a concussion, so she had to do the same thing for her husband that I'm doing now for Mark! She recovered midway through Minnesota though and is now biking again. It was fun running into them and swapping war stories from our travels.
The next night we found a campsite located right on Lake Erie. This section of it was cold and muddy and filled with seaweed though so it wasn't as difficult to leave as Lake Michigan was. We also think that we must've unknowingly pitched our tent on Spider Territory. When we awoke the following morning, there were 5 huge brown spiders on Mark's bike and countless other spiders that had spun their webs all throughout our tent poles! Even as we were trying to pack up, small spiders were literally dropping from the trees attaching their webs to any and everything. We sped out of that place and didn't look back.
We ended our Canadian adventure in Niagara Falls where we spent two days resting, looking at all the sights and and celebrating our second anniversary! Our anniversary isn't technically until September 6th, but who knows where we'll be on that day. We got to ride The Maid of the Mist, which took us right into the falls and the Journey Behind the Falls, which allowed us to go into a tunnel under the falls as well as get a closer look from the outside. It really was an amazing time and I can't wait to post the pictures!
This morning we crossed back into the U.S. and Mark picked up his biking in Lockport, New York. We're glad to be back in the country as Canada was very expensive, even in the small towns we rode through. It was a good visit though.
I have to say, once again, that we just feel so very blessed to be on this trip. The Lord continues to walk with us wherever we go and He constantly reveals His goodness and love.
You guys have all been so good to us as well. Thank you for patiently following along our journey with us and praying for us and encouraging us. We still need all of it even as we're nearing our last few weeks. Mark has another set of mountain climbing coming soon and will definitely need prayer for strength in his body and safety through the climbs and descents. Thanks again to RTC!!!!!!! We miss everyone!!!