Truro-Maitland
Distance: 68 km
Elevation: 921 m
We landed at North Sydney, Nova Scotia, after a 17-hour ferry from Argentia, Newfoundland, on August 9. Riding a big loop of over 700 km from Cape Breton Island to Halifax to tomorrow’s destination, our last stop in Nova Scotia, Tatamagouche. The past three days, our 5 cyclists have been cycling along the northern coast, which has been challenging on our bodies and minds with endless steep rolling hills. Every now and then, we got to enjoy a peek of the incredible ocean view, shades of blue, red, pink, purple, and black. We are falling in love with the ocean again every day.
After a day of climbing, we walked in a local restaurant, Mud Slide Cafe, loving the cozy vibe; we met the owner of this place, Troy. He cares about what we are doing, grabbed a chair, and we started talking.
Seven years ago, Troy had a stroke. A fist-sized part of his brain was dead. He lost his sight , his speech, the capacity to walk, and major connections with his body.
Fortunately, he has friends and family members who are doctors. They didn’t give up on him and came up with a rehab plan for him after thorough testing. Troy then started his long journey of recovery.
Learning to speak a word took him a month. He spent countless hours on deliberate movement exercises to rebuild neuro connections between his brain and body parts. To regain his sight, he started with recognizing shades. For years, he spent 8 hours daily doing different rehab exercises, executing the recovery with discipline and strong will.
Today, he is still in recovery. What we see in front of us is a man with perfect speech and smooth movement. If he didn’t share what he had been through, we would never have guessed it.
Troy made his way back to life. Now, apart from running a restaurant, he also works with kids with disabilities.
Good food, great learning. The trip is the destination.
