New York New York

Today I'm in Burlington, Vermont anxiously awaiting Bev's arrival.

The Odometer says 3860

It's always nice to be in the States after traveling abroad.

Hey, what's that guy to the right doing, timing me?  If I knew this was a race I wouldn't have stopped for that second cup of coffee.

 

 

What, they named the whole state after one tall building?

 

YOUNGSTOWN.

Despite my best put on pitiful appearance, I couldn't wrangle an invitation to stay with the folks I met in Lewiston after crossing the Lewiston Queenstown bridge.  Instead, I got directions to the campground in Youngstown.  Good thing!

Before I could get off my bike I was adopted by Karen and Jean-Michel Patten.  Here's what happens when you get adopted by someone from Ontario:  You get fed supper, supplied with wine and fine cigars and great conversation peppered with laughter to the wee hours of the morning, fed breakfast, and driven into Buffalo to pick up your brother who is coming in by train to ride with you.  I'm looking forward to my adoptive family joining me in Maine next year.

In Youngstown I met Greg who is biking, no, wait, cycling from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine.

In Youngstown I met Peter and Deborah Mulcahy from Anchorage, Alaska (Is there another Anchorage?) who are riding Washington to Maine and whom I already knew by "road lore".

In Youngstown The Gang of Ten caught up with me and we had a chance to spend some time and laughs. 

In Youngstown I got a day off and a chance to call home and have a long leisurely phone conversation with Bev.

Youngstown, good thing.

BROTHER ED.

Did I mention that my brother Ed joined me for the ride across New York?  Well, he did.

Through rain, through hills, through cold, through lonely times, through boredom, the thought of joining my brother kept me peddling on.  And, despite the fact that I explained to him that for the first month I had a sore bum, and all through New York I had a pain in the, well, let's say "donkey", the experience was one of the highlights of my life.  It was wonderful to have an opportunity to share this experience with my big brother.  Despite not being a cyclist, Ed pedaled a loaded touring bike over 400 miles which included conquering the Adirondacks as well as enduring a thunder storm or two and at least one day of riding all day in a downpour.  I respect people who are not afraid to say "Yes" to life.  Once again my big brother gave me a reason to look up to him.

The balance of this post describes our experience.

 

 

Ed burning up the road.  Looks like a biker to me!

 

Hey Ed, time for a new pair of shoes, do you think?

THE ERIE CANAL.

The former tow path along the Erie Canal has been converted to a bike trail.  We rode 90 miles of it.  Despite being largely unpaved, the trail is flat and smooth and allows some easy biking away from the noise and distraction of traffic.  Miles of single gear, side by side conversations.  The trail goes through big cities like Rochester and a handful of smaller, delightful towns. 

In Holly, our first night's ride, we camped at a spot beside the canal.  Free camping.  Free use of the bathrooms.  Free use of the showers.  Greg camped with us, we lost track of him after that.

The Trail was a great way to get started. It was a unique experience, but after 90 miles we were ready to head back to the road.

 

Camped along the Erie.

I still don't get what's so spooky about it.

 

 

Boat on the Canal.

We waived, they waved.

RIDING IN THE RAIN.

We're riding in the rain. . . What a glorious feeling, we're soaked to the skin...So, Ed got a little taste of wet weather cycling.  Night one we got treated to a thunderstorm and a down-pour.  Day two we got treated to an all day steady rain.  Breakfast was cooked under the shelter of a gazebo. Tents and gear were packed up wet.  The coffee and "second breakfast" (we would have made a Hobbit proud) at the Café in Brockport tasted all the better for the adversity.  Errol, a fellow diner, sharing the shelter from the storm, offered to drive us, and our gear to our next destination.  "No", said we, we must soldier on.  And soldier on we did to Fairpoint and a hotel room to dry our stuff and ourselves.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the rain.  We certainly had our share of "tears from heaven" in New York (as well as some thunder, lightning and hail).

LAKE ONTARIO.

(Hey, wasn't that the name of that place in Canada?)  Our trip north from the Canal brought us to the southern shore of Lake Ontario.  Our first stop for ice cream (for the day, that is) on the Lake was at a shop selling Gifford's ice cream.  For those of you not in the know, Gifford's is made in Maine.

Sodus Point was a great place to camp, right on the shore of the Lake, with a site for $10.00.  We had a great supper in town at Captain Jacks, out on the pier. 

We eventually made our way to Port Ontario to camp on the east side of the Lake before we headed inland.  Time to go for a swim and complete my dip in each of the Great Lakes.  "What, the beach is closed?  I can't go in?  What if someone breaks the rules?"  Well, someone did.  All I'm sayin'.  (Oh, by the way Jack, thanks for giving this one away in your comment to my last post.  Last time I tell you a secret.)

 

Sodus Point

 



Lunch at Captain Jacks

 

 

There'd be a better view of the lake if these two clowns weren't in the way!

 

THE ADIRONDACKS.

I had forgotten what that little gear in the front was for.  Heck, I had forgotten that it was there, I hadn't used it in over a month.  Yes, there were some climbs in the Adirondacks.  Not as big as the climbs in the Cascades or the Rockies, but climbs never-the-less.  Memorable is the mile and one half climb out of Blue Mountain Lake of over 400 feet.  This area is peppered with tourist towns and washed up towns, not much else.  Cell phone reception was the poorest of the trip and camping and resupplying was difficult.  Our last day, into Ticonderoga, treated us to one last long hill.  Here we arrived early, ate breakfast, made a trip to the library, hung around on the porch of the café (Yes Alan, they have cinnamon buns in Ticonderoga) and enjoyed the falls in town.  Early afternoon Linda, Ed's wife, arrived to take him home.  Before they left we had lunch in the park and, of course, an ice cream.  (As we sat at the ice cream shop, Bill and Barb biked by.-How's that for alliteration?)

   

Linda (or is that Bat Woman?) comes to take my riding partner.

Those are the Ticonderoga falls in the background

Hello Blog Readers,

This is John's brother Ed.  After an 11 day trip with John I wanted to express my gratitude for one of the best adventures I have ever had.  When John asked me to join him on his trip I jumped at the chance in spite of the fact that I was out of shape, had no equipment and no idea what a 400 mile bicycle ride involved.  No problem.  John coached me on training for the ride and delivered his spare touring bike to my house in New Jersey so I could train on it.  He also brought all the camping equipment I would need.   He took me shopping for the proper biking attire and other supplies.  Once on the road he taught me all the ins and outs of tour biking.  It was a wonderful trip, full of new experiences, Interesting people and places, great conversations with strangers and each other, laughs and companionship.
So thank you John for one of the greatest times of my life!  I can't wait for the next one.
Ed
P.S. It doesn't get any better than this!