42   Saturday, October 11   Serpent River, ON

Last night, I saw the Northern Lights. For the first 
time? Maybe. For the first time I know of, anyway. 
Surprised I saw them this far south... I'm actually a 
good deal further south than Vancouver now. I am 
somewhat at a loss for words (a situation I seem to 
often find myself in). They're just like the pictures, 
of course, but they dance. I guess I'd never realized 
that. The lights dance. One of my few coherent memories 
of when I lived in Singapore is going to Sentosa and 
seeing the Musical Fountains. They are more or less what 
you'd expect. A fountain with coloured spotlights on it, 
all moving and dancing to the tune of music coming from 
speakers. This was like that, but on a grand scale, not 
just some puny fountain (and of course, without the 
music). To use the old cliché that "the sky was on fire" 
does it no justice. The sky was not merely on fire, it 
was a maelstrom of colour, swirling, dancing and 
tumbling in a giant cauldron above my head, as if strung 
along invisible wires led by some unseen puppeteer gone 
mad. It was literally awesome. I just stopped, got off 
my bike, sat down and watched. I went no further that 
night.

   Nor, I fear, have I gone much further this night. Or 
this day, for that matter. I fierce burst of energy 
leading me nearly 100 miles yesterday, and to such great 
reward, has been replaced by a lethargy permitting me no 
farther than 40km today. My goal had been to reach the 
South Baymouth/Tobermory ferry, and thus Southern 
Ontario on the holiday 13th, Thanksgiving (Canadian). At 
this rate, I fear that will be quite impossible.