Niagara Falls - Delhi
"The 'I Don't Get It!' Trip"
"I don't get it!" That was the reaction I got when I proposed being driven out to Niagara Falls at the beginning of the trip and then biking back.
"I don't get it!" That was the reaction we got when we told people we were biking to Delhi from Niagara Falls. Everybody had Niagara Falls on their mental maps but almost no one has Delhi on their mental m ap. It would have been easier to say that we were biking home and then have them ask where home was.
"I don't get it!" That was the reaction when we tried to convince Tim that Lake Ontario was a lake.
"I don't get it!" How can you get teens to do something like that? You don't know our teens.
"Get it we did!" We got the advantage of a tailwind by being driven out west first. We got the advantage of the feeling of 'heading toward the barn', as we approached home territory. We got the freedom of rolling right into camp on our bikes without having to spend eight or ten or twelve hours in a van on the last day of the trip.
Thanks to all you parents for sending your young adults. They were great. I show people the journal and tell them about our journey. Some just can't believe it. Others wish that they have do something like it. Still others vow to attempt something like it 'in the future.' I hope that they do. My fellow travelers are way ahead of them all. They have done it.
This journal only represents a tiny slice of the sensations and sense of the trip. To get the whole story you have to live it. Be proud and glad that someone you know was able to make the trip.
Thanks to the Porters for taking us out to Niagara Falls and for lending us General Jed as a leader and Megan as a cyclist. Thanks to Jim Rice, 4H Camp Executive Director for supporting our far flung efforts and to Pam Conklin, 4H Camp Secretary for making all the connections between our travelers, their parents, our series of lists, the insurance companies, and all other involved parties. It was a trip to remember.
Finally, thanks to all you teenage cyclists! I'm happy to know such a great bunch of teens. Sit on a sofa all summer? We don't get it, we could be riding. See yo u on the roads. - Bicycle Bob
4H Camp Shankitunk
1997 Advanced Trip Itinerary
7/13 Sunday - Drive from camp to Four Mile Creek State Park, Youngstown NY
7/14 Monday - Tour Niagara Falls by bike from the Canadian side
7/15 Tuesday - Four Mile Creek State Park - Golden Hill State Park
7/16 Wednesday - Golden Hi ll State Park - Hamlin Beach State Park
7/17 Thursday - Hamlin Beach State Park - Webster Park
7/18 Friday - Tour George Eastman Estate in Rochester
7/19 Saturday - Webster Park - Wildwood Lake Campground, Fairhaven
7/20 Sunday - Sterling Renaissance Fair
7/21 Monday - Fairhaven NY - Selkirk Shores State Park
7/22 Tuesday - Selkirk Shores State Park - Verona Beach State Park
7/23 Wednesday - Verona Beach State Park - Lake Chalet Campground, Bridgewater
7/24 Thursday - Bridgewater - Glimmerglass State Park
7/25 Friday - Glimmerglass State Park - 4H Camp Shankitunk, Delhi
Sunday July 13th
Driving from the 4H Camp to Orchard Park - to Four Mile Creek State Park
Throughout the journal I will make some additions in order to add some information that may make our adventures and misadventures more clear to those not actually on the trip. People who were on the trip might want to make further additions and/or corrections in their own hand in their personal journals. I hope that each of you takes a few minutes to refine and embellish your own journal. If I am really way off please drop me a line and I'll correct the electronic version of the journal that I keep as an archive. Maybe at some future time we will have a WWW site with the 'last, best, standard version of the journal' available for reading or downloading. Reach me at thomasrl@oneonta.edu for the latest on such ventures. On with the tale!
8:50 am - 4H Camp on Sunday morning! What is this? We usually don't start until noon. Hmm, no wonder cars are parked outside the chained and locked gate.
We have to get inside or else all this early arrival time will be wasted. Mike says the key is supposed to be in the tree. We look in one tree and then the other. No key! Oh, my! Whatever will we do. Well, I always have said that getting out of camp is the hardest part of the trip. Now it seems as if getting 'into' camp may be harder still.
Megan comes up with an idea. She examines the lock. It ISN'T locked. So forget the k ey, just unhook the chain and Voila! Camp is open. Thanks Megan!
Next we got out the panniers and counted out some flags. We hooked the trailer to the van. The NEW VAN- with air conditioning!! What a treat!! It is so new that we will have to go on roads with 55 mph limits for part of the 'break in' period, but we sure are happy to have it.
Mike drove it around so it would be more level to load. We put panniers on the b ikes for padding and then transferred a mountain of tents, mess kits, tarps, and other necessary equipment into the van. We had to take everything we thought we might need. Our first night of camping would be in far western NY not just down the road in Grand Gorge as it has been in the past. Mike and Becki Porter would be with us for the drive out, for the first night, and for half of the second day. If we discovered anything lacking while they were with us they could use the van to obtain it. After that period of grace we would have to find it somewhere along the route, improvise or just plain do without. After leaving the Niagara Falls area we wouldn't see a mall, shopping center, or bike shop until far off Rochester.
Finally it looked as if all were ready. We climbed into the van and started off. We had nine who would be biking back and two who would be driving back. We could all ride out in one vehicle. That was great! In the past we have carried CB radios to communicate between vehicles on the road. They work OK, but I prefer to have all our 'eggs' in one basket and then 'watch that basket!'.
We did finally eat. We stopped at a Burger King in Elmira, just off NYS Route 17. Josh and I were leaving the Burger King when we agreed it already seemed as if last year's trip and the one before that had never ended. We were back in the 'bike trip zone', a very agreeable place that we like to spend a few weeks i n every year.
10:10 am - Here I am, in a van with a bunch of monkeys. We are trying to guess Bob's middle name. - Traveling Tim Briggs
10:47 am - Well, we're out of camp at last - and I have a pretty new bike! Toe clips an' everything. I'm moving up in the world. I guess it's been a while since I bought a bike - when I went in to get it they asked if I wanted pedals that clipped to my shoes or normal pedals. I said "pedals wi th toe clips" and he looked at me a little funny and said, "Yeah, normal pedals." I guess I've been riding without them while the rest of the world moved on - but now I'm up to date. It's a better investment, I feel, than buying a computer - in ten years no one's going to tell me that my bike's not compatible with the road - Well..... who knows? - Josh Loh
11:22 am - Bikers (and at least one commuter) are getting hungry... they are curious about lunch pl ans. Will it be road kill or do they forage in the forest? Yes, Josh tells Seamus, you are given a knife and we expect you to run down a bear. Or.... spam and animal crackers or.... peanut butter and jelly on rice or.... soggy bagel with jelly and tuna fish. - Becky Porter
11:27 am - Quote of the day by Bob
"Look at all the turkeys! No! Outside the van!"
- submitted by Gabe - recorded by Jed
Nicknames , Equipment, ST
Bicycle Bob PA
General Jed MA
Travelin' Tim CA
Marvelous Megan ME
Galactic Gabe RI
Flamin' Shaman NY
Jammin' Josh OK
Dual Derek NC
Psycho Scott DE
8:27 pm - Today we went to Burgwardt's Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park NY. They had lots of cool old bikes. The owner toured us through it and told us about the bikes. My legs started to get tired standing and I wanted to sit down. But I didn't. And after that we went to get pizza. (Just up the street at a place recommended by Mr. Burgwardt.) Now we're back on the road. - Dual Derek
Learned a new word - a guided tour is a 'docent' tour. The docent tour costs $15 more for groups of less than 15 but when you can get the owner of the museum to do the guiding it is certainly worth the dollar and change more per person. After the meal we drove on Four Mile Creek State Park and set up camp. It was a nice feeling to have the major drive of the trip out of the way first thing. After a short ride on Monday we would be bikes only all the way back to Delhi.
Monday July 14th</ SUP>
- Lewiston NY - Niagara Falls, Canada - Four Mile Creek State Park NY
We're on our own on our bikes, but then this is a bike trip. We said good bye to the Porter parents at a roadside stand near Lewiston. They were great to us. A BIG THANK YOU to the Porters for driving us out and camping with us. This is the third year in a row that they have stepped forward to take us out and/or bring us back from the Advanced Trip. The trip wouldn't be the same without them.
After we left the roadside stand... after almost buying some fruit... but balking because we thought customs would force us to eat them or juice them, a fear that turned out to be completely unfounded since we weren't asked anything about fruits or about much of anything except if we had the $.25 per bike toll for the bridge. We wound around a couple of ramps and then crossed the highway or a bike/pedestrian overpass and cro ssed a very high bridge over the Niagara River into Canada. We wanted to approach Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. On the Canadian side there is a bike path that goes along the Niagara River. There is also a new Butterfly Conservatory.
We biked south along the river until the bike path ended. It ended at least a mile before the falls, maybe two. Oh well, nothing is perfect! We stopped to go on the "Maid of the Mist", well everyone went e xcept for me. I was "the bike lock". There was no sure place to leave the bikes and losing a bike could really sour the trip for all of us. So eight of our nine bought tickets and took the elevator down to the river level to board the boats. I asked for comments about the adventure. - Bicycle Bob
While waiting for the group to return from the boat ride I spoke with a lot of people who wondered what all the bikes were orange flags were doing. One was a poli ceman who had met cyclist and one time Tour de France yellow jersey wearer Steve Bauer. Then there was a couple on bikes who had driven up from Pittsburgh and were using their bikes to get around the falls. I ended up seeing them 3 more times that day. Half of a family from Michigan who had two adopted children and wanted to walk across the Peace Bridge but had left some identification papers in the motel room.
About the ride on the "Maid of the Mist......&q uot;
Felt good - Derek
We really got close to the falls - Megan
It was wet - Gabe
Three Spanish speaking people were in front of me - It was fun. Another thing, I slipped and bumped my head. Good thing I had my helmet on. - Josh
Not worth $10.10 in Canadian currency. It was too crowded. - Jill
It was sweet. - Seamus
A canned adventure. - Jed
"A bord de bateau!" Instructions in French telling people to get on the boat. - Tim
We still have all the bikes. - Bob
After the Maid of the Mist we biked closer to the falls along the road. We parked the bikes and walked over to the rail. It was neat to look down and see the 'Maid of the Mist' boats struggling against the curr ent to the base of the falls. The boats are covered with tiny figures in blue plastic ponchos given to them by the boat operators. Gulls whirled around in the mist in an endless dance. The roar of the falling water is a constant and impressive backdrop.
About Niagara Falls in general comments went like this.
More developed than I expected. - Jed
They were wild. - Seamus
Water, water, water. - Tim
Next time in a barrel! - Josh
I could make it if I jumped off there. - Jill
Smaller than I expected. - Megan
The Canadian side was better. - Gabe
The mist from the falls is cool. - Bob
Around the falls there are lots of neat flowers and plantings. Strolling around are people of all sizes, shapes, and descriptions. Old, young, hot, tired, happy, family groups, couples and tour groups. Now we need to replenish our water and head out to the Butterfly Conservatory but first a quick cookie break! - Bob
4:58 pm - Today we visited the Botanical Museum - at least the Butterfly portion of it. First we watched a video on butterflies and laughed the whole way through it. Next we took a tour through a room full of (live) butterflies. I was scared to death. - signed, Seamus Howie
5:03 pm - The last time I was here, there was a lunar eclipse. Two great natural wonders in the same day! This time wasn't quite as impressive, maybe because I'm taller. But it was a refreshing shower after a hot day, and I'm glad for it. - Josh
Those butterflies are cool! They were fluttering everywhere and 2 landed on me!
"That branch you hit two minutes ago is sti ll there!" said Bob Thomas (I think someone had walked into the same branch a few times and was failing to take it into account - still walking into it again and again. I figured the tactile mode was making no impression and perhaps the auditory route would get through to the brain. But then again, these are teenagers you know, good ones, nah, great ones, but still teens.)
That was really neat. I was expecting a library - like a walk past a couple thousan d crucified Lepidoptera - but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd like to come back to Niagara in winter. I hear the ice builds up into really cool sculptures.
Hey, that customs guy dropped the barrier on me! Fortunately I only caught the end, which was rubber and snapped back so I wasn't knocked down. Still, I was really glad that I was wearing my helmet!
Why do I always have so much trouble with Canadian customs officers? - Josh Loh
5:32 pm - Our journey today started with a good breakfast and a ride with Mr. and Mrs. Porter. We unloaded our bikes at a fruit stand and thanked the Porters for all the help they gave us.
We biked to a toll bridge. We stopped in the middle of it where a line marking the international boundary was painted on the pavement. I was in two countries at the same time. That's real cool to me.
Then we biked to Niagara Falls for a good time on the 'Maid of the Mist'. Then we went to the Butterfly museum or whatever it is. After that we were biking again and Big Bad Bob used his brakes down a hill. I guess that he's getting old. Besides that he was riding down his first big hill with full packs on his new bike. Another thing about that hill, it was the last big hill for miles and miles. I don't think we saw another hill like that until we reached Rochester.
Ba ck in the USA, in Lewiston, I shopped for food for a late lunch while most of the gang went to a bike shop. Some cyclists needed additional water bottles. Strangely, the bike shop had no full size bottles, just the little ones. I was concerned that we would be passing through some areas without too much water available and the extreme heat made some extra capacity seem prudent. We ate lunch at some picnic tables in the shade by a baseball field. A very strong wind was blowing little spirals of dust across the infield. I particularly remember enjoying some grapes during this meal.
We went to a park (in Lewiston where we ate lunch) and I talked to some gull birds asking them to talk back. Then I called them stupid birds and they probably thought I was a stupid kid. Well, good bye, - Tim
Phrase of the day, "A bord de bateau!" - Tim Briggs
On the way back to Four Mile Creek St Campgro und Josh got his first flat of the trip. Jed and I helped him fix it while the rest of the crew rested on a guard rail. It is amazing how comfortable a guard rail can seem after enough time on a bike seat. I would guess that very few living rooms have sun warmed portions of guard rail in them, but if I ever walk into a livingroom and see a piece of guard rail used as a seat I will immediately suspect the occupants of having done some long distance cycling.
Fo r dinner we had tacos using 4 lbs of ground beef donated by the Porters. It had been slated for use Sunday night in some sort of stew or soup, but we spent so long at the bike museum that we had to feed the troops before leaving Orchard Park. During the night a 'dry' storm swept off the lake, roaring through the trees and shaking the tents but offering no rain. I was so convinced that it was going to rain that I gathered the clothes we had washed and hung out and put them under cover. We had one of those a few years ago on the second night of our trip to Bar Harbor. They are very strange.
8:49 pm - Today was mighty hot and I haven't yet reached what my arctic loving body calls a reasonable temp. I ate too much and am paying the price with a not so healthy dose of lethargy. - Jed
8:52 pm - Today I saw the Falls. I had expected a lot more. It was impressive to go on the Maid of the Mist. We got so near the Falls. Well, these bugs are driving me nuts. I saw these license plates. Indiana, Illinois, NY, NJ, Alberta, Ontario ,Quebec, Ohio. Oh yes, I like watching license plates. - Megan
9:03 pm - CLANK!!!! "Oh Shout!"
I turned around just in time to see Josh cursing at the curb. (This makes you wonder.)
Well, anyway, Tim is insane and Seamus is filled wit h an unlimited supply of energy. In fact a number of the cyclists, including Seamus, Josh, Derek, Gabe, Megan, Jill and sometimes Tim got up right after dinner and started playing Frisbee, a pattern that they repeated evening after evening during the trip. I learned exactly what type of flowers Seamus's mom has. He announced it to everyone at that butterfly place during the seven minute movie. - Jill
We walked down to the lake shore to watch the sunset. I t was fairly calm. The lake is huge. The water looked pretty clean. Last night Josh walked down here with Becki Porter and Josh jumped in the lake to cool off. Tonight some other people were taking a dip.
It took us days to convince Tim that it was a lake and not the ocean. He kept saying, "I don't get it. How can it be so big and not be the ocean? Look how big it is. You can't see across it. It must be the ocean. I don't get it!" The sunset was pre tty. A few freighters were visible on the horizon. We saw some chimneys left standing when the buildings surrounding them had burned. They looked to be very old.
9:15 pm - Josh got a flat. Megan did laundry. We ate tacos with 4 lbs of ground beef. - Tim
Cycling Statistics for Monday
- Lewiston NY - Niagara Falls, Canada - Four Mile Creek State Park NY
Distance - 29.8 miles
Cumulative Trip Distance - 29.8 miles
Time on road - 2 hrs 45 minutes 34 seconds
Average Speed - 10.8 mph
Tuesday July 15th
Four Mile Creek State Park - Golden Hill State Park
9:10 am - This morning it was hard getting up. Jed had to give the strap talk. That is, he explained to most people how the straps (that we use to fasten tents and sleeping bags to luggage carriers) work on the bikes. Tim went and bought food. We ate it. - Megan
Being our first day on the road we distributed the Group Equipment. Beyond the items listed below everyone got to carry some part of a tent.
Who What
Gabe stereo, tarps
Jed first aid kit, tools
Jill candle lanterns, juice jug
Seamus water jug, rope sack, toilet paper
Josh cargo net (?), frisbee
Megan kitchen sack, broom, sunscreen
Derek cooking pots, paper towels
Tim large monkey wrench, doubles as a hammer for tent stakes
Bob two stove s, gas bottle, paperwork, tools, spare parts, locks and cables
We rode Rte 18 along the lake shore. Every once in a while we would catch a cool breeze off the lake. We had a tailwind, which made things easier. In fact the reason we were brought out west and biking east was to take advantage of the tail winds. Along the shore were lots of cute summer camps and many year round homes. The homes were well kept and some people were out tending to their yards. We could see an occasional ship far out to 'sea' or should you say - 'Far out to lake'?
We stopped in Wilson to mail home post cards, some extra stuff sacks, tent bags, and perhaps the first of three or four books that Josh read on the trip. He read most of this one during the van ride Sunday. I think Tim got rid of some long underwear too. The danger of getting cold seemed pretty remote beneath that hot sun. We also had to get a nut and bolt for one of Josh's toe cli ps. The previous one had somehow vibrated loose and fallen off.
Somewhere between Wilson and Olcott we came upon a nursery/garden stand/vegetable stand. They had a sign - Fresh Cherries. That was enough to bring us to a halt. The young lady working there puts two quarts of cherries in plastic bags and rinsed them off for us. We ate them at our next break. They were great!
After Wilson the next stop was Olcott. There w e tried to buy some food for lunch. There is no super market proper there, just a few convenience stores. Not entirely convenient ones at that. They had not had bread delivered by 1 pm today and none yesterday. We used hamburger rolls to make our sandwiches. The woman running the store was so apologetic that she gave us a bag of ice for free.
We took the lunch stuff to Krull Park, a large town park in Olcott, which has a beach with lifeguards, picnic tables, and bathrooms. The picnic tables were up on big terraces like castle ramparts. We all changed and went for a swim before lunch. It felt great to cool off. I met a couple of electricians who said the part had once been the site of a big resort hotel with a huge dock. Now you can't even find a loaf of bread in town!
After leaving Olcott we didn't come to a place to get groceries until the Lyndonville Country store on Rte 18 in County Line. It was the store neare st Golden Hill State Park. We got dinner stuff there and then returned there the next morning to get breakfast stuff. We also bought a paper to follow the Tour de France, the tour was in the Alps and Ullrich was in the yellow jersey. They had two or three tables outside and a spigot where we cleaned up our cups and bowls.
Total Roadkill Count:
1. skunk
2. crow
3. raccoon
4. raccoon
5. bird
6. bird
7. squirrel
8. deer
9. fox
10. turtle
- Seamus Howie
6:30 pm - "Love at First Swipe"
Je d has now joined Bob and me under our tarp that has so far only kept out the sun. Everyone else seems to be fascinated with Josh and his new friend who just happens to be a GIRL! Well, glancing over my shoulder, I see that the two are jumping about on the lawn with a large audience. Weird! Well, as Jed said, "Love at first swipe." (Both Josh and his acquaintance have an interest in the martial arts and they were comparing ways to fall, ways to attack and parry, etc.)
Jed, Seamus, Tim, and Derek are all trying to do crunches. Unfortunately, Derek is the only one who is able to do so. Jed says he can appreciate another man's body. - Jill
8:27 pm - Rain via an impressive electrical storm, threatened and even put on a good show for us just offshore. It missed us and we dined on macaroni elbows, and tomato sauce with salad. Before we became worried about the rain we visited the Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse. My guess is that these places are named by distance from the mouth of the Niagara River, Four Mile Creek last night and Thirty Mile Point tonight.
Went for a swim past the lighthouse and it was nice. - Jed
Well, that rainstorm just missed us - Oh, well! I was looking forward to getting drenched after that long hot ride.
We met these really nice folks at the campsite tonight - Tracy and her mom. It was neat to meet another couple people out here that were into martial arts, and I got in a brief sparring session. I was surprised to hear she'd only been practicing for a few months - she's really good. That's really what I like about bike trips - meeting all new people. - Josh Loh
9:08 pm - I got dizzy watching Bob's wheel go around and around and around or was that just heat exhaustion? Who knows? At camp we almost got wet and nobody got hit by lightning. That would be a shocker. (We did see bolts of lightning that appeared to strike Lake Ontario.) We met a girl camped here named Tracy. She looked crazy when we all were watching her. (Before we realized she was practicing some martial arts.) Well, gotta go. - Dual Derek
9:11 pm - Howdy! How now bikers? Today was a HOT, HOT day. The sun set was beautiful today. Josh taught me and Shamu (a nickname for Seamus) to drop ourselves like Kung Fuey guys and we met a Kung Fuey girl we thought was insane at first, but then we got talking to her and she was pretty cool. So long, - Tim
In fact, other people think she is pretty cool. She has been in a some TV episodes of R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series. Josh knows the details. I'll email him today and hopefully he will answer before I make copies of this journal - thanks to Josh for the quick response!
Stats for Tuesday
Distance - 34.6 miles
Cumulative Distance - 64.4 miles
Average speed - 12.3 mph
Time on bikes - 2 hrs 48 min 15 sec
Wednesday July 16th
Golden Hill State Park - Hamlin Beach State Park
6:33 am - The Golden Hill State Park, at Thirty Mile Point was great in many ways. The weather improved after the storm passed us by. Our campsites were right on the lake shore. We got to see the lighthouse which was operational 1875 - 1958 - even going up the cast iron spiral stair case to the top of the tower - No lamp; lens or movement up there. People involved in the restoration thought it had been shipped off to Cleveland - possibly broke up and sold off for ash trays. When the government decides something is 'junk' there is no telling what may happen to it.
Currently there is a beacon at Thirty Mile Point. It is entirely automated and comes on when light levels are low enough. It flashes every so often and I thought the flashing might keep me awake but I had no trouble sleeping.
This campsite also had a very neat thing. It was a vertical pipe with chains hanging from the pipe at a distance of about 6 inches from the pipe. The neat thing about the device was that it could catch a frisbee and you could toss the frisbee at it from 9 stones set in the ground about 5 paces away and play 9 holes of frisbee golf.
Bob and Jane on campsite #18 are the current onsite caretakers of the lighthouse, if not the flame or bulb. They volunteer their time for the effort. They spent the day yesterday planting flowers around the place. Looked great. Normally they open the light house only on weekends but the park manager told us where they were staying and said that if we asked they might open up for us. They also told us of a good place to take a dip and cool off in the lake near the lighthouse. From the top of the light we could see how clean and inviting the water looked. After dinner we took a dip and it felt great.
Nice morning - even a little cool - with some dew on the grass.
Driving across this route I was afraid I would never like the Lake Ontario shore - now I could even begin to love it. - BLT</ P>
1:27 pm - When I get home I will turn up the air conditioning and drink iced tea and eat fried chicken and bagels with lox and cream cheese till it comes out my ears.
I would rather have one big hill and get it over with this climb and climb and climb.
Still it is a pretty day. - Josh
1:40 pm - I drank quite a bit of water and feel much better. Caffeine and sugar now run through my veins in large quantities, thanks to Seamus's goop, and the world now seems a much brighter place.
It is amazing what rings of carbons can do for you in the right combinations.
Not that my hand has steadied any, though. (Josh's handwriting can be remarkably hard to decipher, at times even he has trouble with it. When we read the journal in the evening everybody squints and stumbles when they come to Josh's insightful and entertain ing entries.) Wow! Bob is here and he has lots of good food. I'll stop now to make munching noises.
Life is good. - Josh
2:30 pm - Now I feel like a real biker. Today is hot. What is that peanut butter doing on the mailbox? - Gabe
It had been a long ride since breakfast at the Lyndonville Country Store. We did take a break near Kuckville where we had to get on the Lake Ontario State Parkway to use a bridge that crossed the Oak Orchard River. The Oak Orchard River should have been named the Orchard River. We rode for hour after hour with orchards on the right hand side of the road and sometimes on both sides of the road.
On the bridge over the Oak Orchard River we stopped to look down on a marina and let all the groups catch up. A tractor trailer crossed the bridge while we stood there. The weight of the truck caused the bridge to trembl e and sway for a long time. The swaying was enough to disorient you.
We got off the Parkway and used the bathrooms and filled our water bottles at a park at a boat ramp beneath the bridge. From there we biked out to the lake shore at Point Breeze and Jones Beach. After Jones Beach we left the lake shore because the Parkway was the only road along the lake. We followed a network of tiny roads with no stores to Hamlin. The roads were not well marked. At one poi nt rather than risk going the wrong way and having to backtrack I stopped to ask directions. The man I asked turned out to be one of the guards who patrols Hamlin Beach St Park. He told me about a short cut that would save us two miles when going from Hamlin to Hamlin Beach St Park.
The entries around 2:30 were made while we were getting lunch in Hamlin NY at the TOPS market. Our bikes were leaned against the building and near a mailbox. Tim had put the peanu t butter on the mailbox while he dug through his packs looking for some other stuff. A store employee came out and saw the peanut butter with no bag or receipt next to it. She wondered if Tim had 'borrowed' it from the store.
We had to go 7 miles each way from Lake Ontario to Hamlin Beach St Park to get groceries. .
2:35 pm - Heat, Heat, Heat, hungry, hungry, it's boot camp, or bike camp. The heat is killing me softly. My skin is peeling off.
We saw a chipmunk get hit by a car today. He was flipping around like a fish. Tim was going crazy over it. Well, gotta get back to burning. Heat can kill. Later - Dual Derek
The chipmunk incident occurred while I was talking with some bicycle tourists. We met two women from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area who were just about done biking around Lake Ontario. They had driven to Lewiston and left their car there. The n they had gone into Canada to Niagara Falls and around the lake in a clockwise direction. They too were using a guidebook written by Harvey Botzman about cycling around the lake. Camping was not for them, they were staying in motels or bed and breakfast places. It was neat to meet some other cyclists. They assured us that we would have a great ride!
2:43 pm - I wonder if Tim'll remember where he left the peanut butter - otherwise someone'll mail the thing. Oops - someone just asked him if he had a receipt for the peanut butter. We were able to convince her we'd got it previously.
2:47 - I'm at TOPS market sitting in the sun while Bob is getting food for din din. Today was the worst day of biking in my life. My legs were shaking like a monkey in an ice chest. Also today I buried a chipmunk that got run over by a car. We even gave him a burial service. Josh was our singer for the ceremony. (He sang 'Amazing Grace'.) Re st in peace chippie! Well, good bye - Tim
Stats for Wednesday
Distance - 49.1 miles
Cumulative Distance - 113.5 miles
Average Speed - 11.7 mph
Riding time - 4 hrs 10 min 16 sec
Thursday July 17th
Hamlin Beach State Park - Webster Park
We left Hamlin Beach St Park and headed back to Hamlin for breakfast at the TOPS market. It was uphill and into a headwind. That makes for a rough start.
After breakfast we headed due east to intercept the lake shore at Braddock Bay. We had to get on the Parkway to cross Braddock Bay. Fortunately they allow bikes on this little used Parkway or else we would have had some huge detours to find alternate bridges. We got off at the first exit and went out to t he lake shore at Braddock Heights. We followed the lake as we passed a zillion little cottages. They were a lot more interesting to look at than the shoulder of the Parkway. The wind had shifted and was giving us a boost. It was nice ride.
Finally we got into the greater Rochester area. At Ontario Beach/Charlotte there was a huge pavilion with lifeguards, a boardwalk, and even an ice cream stand. It looked like the perfect place for a swim so we stopped. After the swim we got ice cream. Then it was time to brave the streets of Rochester. We had to go about 14 miles inland to get to a bridge across the Irondequoit Bay that would allow bikes. As we had been since the first day of the trip we followed the signs of the Seaway Trail through the city streets. Fortunately we did not have to go through the heart of the city.
Some areas of the city were stifling hot where the buildings blocked the breeze. Finally we got to a ridge and a corner with a church. The church was casting a cool shadow on the front steps. Caretakers were trimming some hedges and I asked for permission to eat lunch on the steps. The supervisor said it would be OK and told us where the bathrooms were inside in case we needed them. We enjoyed a comfortable lunch in the breeze and in the shade as the traffic whizzed by across a wide sidewalk from us.
Eventually it was time to go again. We had to roll dow n a large hill to the level of the Irondequoit Bay and then climb up a hill on the other side. We got into a mall type area and found a Wegmans with a large picnic table. We stopped to buy dinner foods there and returned two more times in the next two days.
After Wegmans we biked out to Webster County Park. This is the park closest to Rochester. It lacks showers so we went for a swim in the lake. The first place we tried was not so nice. The second place was much better.
3:09 pm - Today was great. We only rode 40 miles and took 5 breaks. Bob stopped and bought us ice cream. That was after we took a swim. Then Gabe begged for lunch, so we could not let him down. Then we went up some very windy roads. Now we are buying dinner. - Peace! - Seamus
3:11 pm - I'm at Wegmans Super Market while Jill and Megan are getting food for supper. Seamus is putting sun screen on. Seamus went to a ask a w oman, a goooood loooooking wooooomaaaan where a bike shop might be in the area. (You should have seen Seamus strutting across the parking lot toward the woman. He was carrying his water bottle and squirted some water on his head as he walked and then tried to use his fingers to put his helmet squashed hair in order before he got up to her.) We were going to bike to it but the girls came out with the food. Oh, well. Gooood bye - Tim
We also learned from an other source that there was a good bike shop close to our destination in Rochester on Friday. Rather than make a side trip now, we will do the bike shop on the way tomorrow. Derek needs to replace his biking gloves. Gabe needs a new strap for his toe clip. It won't hurt for Josh to have another spare inner tube.
6:30 pm - That was the only time I can remember that I was the worse for taking a swim. I came out of the water with algae hanging off me and had to spen d a few minutes scraping it off. Thankfully Gabe found a better place for us to swim.
This day was good cycling for me. Gently rolling hills.
Seamus is dancing around killing bugs and mosquitos with sandals on his hands, while Megan tells us about her muscular Marine football playing boyfriend. From the description, I'm picturing Godzilla in shoulder pads.
We have Robusto salad dressing tonight - wonderfu l! It's been ages since I had any of that.
We're busting on President Clinton now - apparently his daughter, Chelsea, is ugly and Hilary has bad hair. I'm just jealous that Chelsea got into Stamford. I'll bet having your father as President's a good recommendation -
"My daughter wants to go to your college."
"YES, Mr. President!"
No, ignore that - just e nvious rambling. Your grades being in the public eye like that ought to give you some incentive for studying.
I miss playing frisbee every Friday though, that's a lot of fun. We have a Frisbee with us, but it's a little too light (175 grams - accept nothing less) - I'm gonna go eat now - Josh Loh
I was biking down the road and I suddenly heard, "Aaaaah! Aaaaaah!"
As I turned around bad thoughts were going through my head. I looked and Josh was saying, "I'm having the time of my life! Aaaaah! Aaaaaaah!"
Well, that was weird. - Gabe Z. Fersch
Today was extremely fun. Well, it was fun until I was put into the lead of the second group. You see, it isn't exactly easy to lead 5 people into the other lane when a car is coming. When Josh asked me what I was doing, I answered in a freaked out, extremely paranoid way, "I CAN'T DO THIS!!"
Today, as well, Megan and I were given the task of grocery shopping. Now, we are the only two of our group who have ever walked under an arch of potato chips.
When we were all taking turns getting changed in the porta potty to go swimming, I noticed a short saying on the wall.
"Don't put cigarette butts in the urinal, because they will be too wet and sticky to light." - Ji ll
8:40 pm - I am sorry we took so long in the grocery store. That place was so big that they needed a computer to tell the customers where certain products are located in the store. I looked up Cheez Wiz (don't ask why) and it told me where I was and where it was. I was absolutely fascinated.
Currently, some of the guys are taking dip baths. Since there is no shower, Bob suggested we bath at our campsite, by just dumping water over us. Actually just a couple of guys. It's funny because Josh was the first one and he had some very interesting facial expressions. - Megan
Webster County Park was a nice campsite. Wooded with a large grassy area where our gang played frisbee after dinner. Eventually all the guys got a bath. It felt great to be clean even if the water from the tap was very cold.
Stats for Thursday
Distance - 51.5 mil es
Cumulative Distance - 161.0 miles
Average speed - 12.7 mph
Riding time - 4 hrs 3 min 7 sec
Vertical climb - 880 ft
Friday July 18th
Webster Park - George Eastman Estate, Rochester - Webster Park
8:04 am - A beautiful morning - but a not too restful night. I scurrie d around once bundling and covering everything against a possible storm as lightning flickered and thunder rumbled in the distance. Happily no storm came - but then a couple of hours later in the middle of the night 2:20 am - a big thunk - pots and pans were knocked off the picnic table and the food bag (which this campsite does not allow you to hang from a tree) was gone. It was nearly empty, having only a pound of peanuts, a few plums, some caramels, some carrots and some potatoes. It was hauled o ff into the woods by some sort of beast - I jumped up and got out of the tent but the goods were gone - the fleeing thief dropped a sack of carrots and a few leftover potatoes in his path - might have been a big raccoon. Later some other beasties toured camp - this time I saw one in my flashlight beam - a young (yearling?) raccoon - but he came too late - our site had already been raided. Another annoyance that took away from my sleep was an air conditioner in a nearby trailer that kept cycling on an d off breaking the quiet and the stillness.
Rest day today - the troops are snoozing - the tents are largely in the shade and there is a nice air going.
The last stretch of road last night was very nice - rolling hills and shaded. Today we will visit a bike shop, the George Eastman Estate, maybe have some pizza and perhaps go to a municipal pool for a swim.
The heat was tough yesterday.
< FONT SIZE="-1">Almost 8:30 am, better wake them up before hunger pangs have them staggering from their tents like cereal starved werewolves. - BLT
On an old railway overpass over the road between the campsite and the Wegmans a message just as it was written: "I love you pumkin"
10:19 am - We are back at Wegmans, waiting for Bob to get breakfast. Sleeping in was good. I am disappointed that we lost the caramels. - Mega n
11:10 am - Gabe, Shamu, Derek, Jill, Megan, and I are at a Rochester Park, while Bob's on his way back to Jed and Josh. Josh has a flat tire. That is bad because we just went down a big big fun hill.
This morning we got to sleep in and last night Jed made Seamus move to another tent because all night Seamus and me is talking about skeeters, also known as mosquitos. I told Jed that I missed Seamus. Oh, well.
Last night a raccoon stole our food and our food bag. Must be he wanted it for home. Me and Seamus went to look for the food bag this morning. (The heavy underbrush at this campsite had a very neat series of trails, like something you might imagine after reading one of the Hobbit books.) I called the coon a fool. He is a fool. You fool! Well, bye - Tim
After breakfast we went to the bike shop on University Avenue. The Town Bike Shop as I recall. It was huge. They had lots of antiques bikes hanging from the ceiling. They even had Harley Bicycle made by the company that later made Harley motorcycles. We just missed meeting Harvey Botzman the author of the tour guide that we were using. The clerk at the bike shop recommended a deli for us to go to for lunch. The Park Place Deli on Park Place. They make great subs. We sat outside at the tables along the sidewalk and enjoyed our lunch as we passed around a paper and checked out the Tour de France n ews.
We never did locate a municipal pool, no one we asked seem to know about any. It must be that if you live in Rochester you go to Lake Ontario to cool off.
5:25 pm - The Eastman House... is the funniest place I have been in a long, long time. It's one of those places that is so incredibly lavish that it inspires laughter. After listening to the tour guide describe how Eastman spent $880,000 to enlarge his $330,000 hous e by 9 ft 4 in, and how he had his lawn landscaped to look like the rolling English countryside, I was overcome with a sudden fit of the giggles at the sheer extravagance.
Evidently money was no consideration for Mr. Eastman. Nor, apparently, did the phrase, "Deal with it!" mean much to him. I mean, when someone deals with the 'tricky' problem of backing out of a parking space by installing a ROTATING TURNTABLE to turn his cars to face out, you realize you ar e in the presence of someone who is slightly disoriented from cost.
Other things like this include:
- a bull elephant head 11 ft from ear to ear and 9 ft from wall to tip of the trunk mounted over the breakfast table
- light fixtures from Tiffany
-2 kinds of Italian marble on the floors
- an elevator for his live in mother
I could never live in a house like that - I'd die laughing - Every room would have something in it to set me off - I'd just walk into a room, look, and start giggling -
"TEAK! Hahahahaha!"
"RENOIR! Hahahahahaha!"
"SILK WALLPAPER! Hahahahahaha!"
"ELEPHANT! Hahahahahaha!"
and so on.
All in all, I suppose it's a good thing I don't have that much money to spend on a home - I'd h ave weird things like Velcro walls and mini-monorails. Anyway, I guess it is time to eat - Josh Loh
6:10 pm - After the guided tour of his house, I've determined that this Eastman guy was just a really rich red neck. He hung his trophy elephant up for all his guests to see just like any other good ole boy might do with a trophy buck, he's got the backyard set up for some pretty wild barbecues and the main parlor has a big pool table right in the middle to do a little shuck-n-jive on unsuspecting guests. Just like any self-respecting hillbilly, George kept quite a few cars on hand, only his were mounted on a turntable rather than strewn around the yard. - Jed
8:42 pm - After dinner at the "Chester Cab" pizza place we rode across the Irondequoit Bay and stopped at the same Wegmans we used for dinner last night and breakfast this morning. This time I got to shop. Gabe and Josh quickly volunteered to accompany me and we bold ly stepped in. After getting grapes and a lemon we quickly got lost in the underwear and Kleenex section. No, this isn't an ordinary grocery store.
As we wandered I spotted the book section. Knowing Josh was in severe literature withdrawal and that night could easily come and go before he left such a place, I tried to lead him off with talk of the famous "potato chip arch". It didn't work. His book sensing radar honed in and there was nothing Gabe and I coul d do to stop him. The two of us continued on through a very stressful search for cookies, crackers and paper towels.
The difficulties continued when we got to the checkout, the nice girl asked if plastic bags would be OK. Always thinking environmentally, I said we could go without bags. The poor girl couldn't understand such a preposterous idea.
After such a trying experience, I brought up the idea of a "quiet time". I wanted to enjoy the ride back on the rolling rode to camp. My idea was accepted reluctantly and the ride was everything I had hoped. Thank you to all who made it so nice - everyone should try it a few minutes of each ride. Just riding a bike. It's a beautiful thing. - Jed
9:14 pm - Beware of the sack stealers! They may be disguised as raccoons or they could be the tent next to you. Who knows?
Today we went to the Kodak (Eastman) plac e and Tim was dying to find out how the guy killed himself. He wanted to go to the room where he did it. I think that he thought he would see a ghost.
I feel dirty. I can't wait until we see showers again. I had to wash my socks in the sink with soap so I could have socks to wear. But I think they still stink.
Oh, I got new cycling gloves, fox gloves. I hope they are OK. Well, I better go and see. Later. - Dual Derek
Stats for Friday
Distance - 3 1.49 miles
Cumulative Distance - 196.49 miles
Average speed - 11.8 mph
Vertical climb - 720 ft
Cumulative vertical - 1600 ft
Saturday July 19th
Webster Park - Wildwood Lake Campground, Fairhaven NY
Put the Eastman House behind us. We are back on the road. Just a f ew miles down the road we found The Country Store in Webster. The woman running the place was really friendly and when she found out we were going to eat breakfast outside in the cool breeze she invited us in to sit in the break room. Fortunately they had an eight foot table and about 7 chairs. We grabbed a stool and a 5 gallon pail and got everyone seated. Then I went and started buying the foods for breakfast. We had some Raisin Bran and some Trix, milk, and orange juice and apple juice and donuts . Our hostess asked a bunch of questions and some of the regulars stopped by to talk to us.
Finally we had to get outside and get moving again. There was a big breeze snapping the flags. We were thankful that it was a tail wind. We rolled along full of energy after our easy day on Friday. We passed the Ginna Nuclear Power Plant glowing more than the workers from the chemicals in the Trix cereal. Just outside Pultneyville we saw another stand boasting fresh ch erries. I stopped and bought a few quarts and thinking we might lunch in Pultneyville I asked if the village had a laundromat. Nope. And you might even have trouble finding a place to park considering all the crowds flocking to the Homecoming.
What's this? A Homecoming Day, an antique show and a parade? Our lucky day. We rode into town and parked the bikes along a split rail fence at the Pultneyville Pickle Company - a newly opened convenience store. We ate th e cherries and cruised around looking at all the antiques. Josh found a fencing foil and toyed with the idea of buying it. Tim found some baseball cards for sale. Jill mailed home some Shirley Temple cutout dolls that she had bought at the Eastman House. At a church bake sale I found a strawberry rhubarb pie that our math wizards divided quite carefully into 9 pieces.
Then came the parade! Old tractors of all descriptions. One and two cylinder John Deere's al l clean and spiffy with new decals even though they were made in the 1920's and 1930's. Some driven by boys or girls and some driven by old men. Some tractors that looked to be still in use. A truck with a Firemen's Band playing went by. Some other trucks with some biplanes with the propellers turning went by. Some convertibles with Ms. Pultneyville and maybe the county Dairy Princess. They all went around the block and came back by again. It was almost more than we could stand!
< P>After the parade we got on our bikes and started out again. The energy from the pie lasted only so long so we decided to find a place for lunch. We got up to Sodus Point and saw signs for the Coast Guard Station and the Lighthouse. We had enjoyed the Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse so we decided to check out the Sodus Point Lighthouse. The people at the Lighthouse were great. They let us eat our lunch in their gazebo, which gave us shelter from a wind so strong that it was kicking up whitecaps on Lake Ontario and so cool that some people were biking with their windbreakers on. They let us use their bathrooms and tour their museum. Finally Jack Sherman, Museum Operations Manager, took a photo of us, had the film developed and sent it ahead to us. The photo was in my mail when I got home at the end of the trip! Now that is great hospitality!
After we left the lighthouse we had to head south to get around Sodus Bay. We could see the light house in the distance from a few other points before we left the bay.
The rest of the ride to Fairhaven was along back roads away from the lake. I did see a sign promoting a winery. I wasn't sure how far from our it route it was to the winery. I left Jed in charge and headed out following the sign. I road 3 miles up and down, sometimes against a strong wind and never even got to the winery. I did a little figuring time wise and decided to nix the winery, by t he time I got back to the gang and we all got out to the winery we would be really late getting to Fairhaven.
Some of the back roads we took were hilly but they were really pretty, too. The cool temperatures and the tailwinds pushed us along to Fairhaven. We shopped just as we got into town and then went to Wildwood Lakes Campground to set up camp for two nights. After dinner Jed organized one crew to do laundry and I took the rest of the gang to the state pa rk for a quick swim and showers. Getting out of the lake the breeze made us pretty cold. Some of the guys took cold showers before we located the hot ones.
3:18 pm - Old people. Hahahhahaahha! Make it stop. Hahahahaahah. - Dual Derek Ha ha ha
3:20 pm - OK, I gained control over myself. Hahahahaha! I'm going to tell you the story of the old man.
This morning I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Josh and Jed were in there and I was brushing my teeth when an old guy came up to us after he went number 2. He said, "Some water pressure here! Just put your hand under the faucet and it will blow your hand off!"
But he left without washing his hands and that's why I laughed when I saw the old men at the parade. They reminded me of him. I guess old stuff gets me laughing like fancy old houses make Josh laugh.
Old things. Haha haha!
Blow your hand off! Hahahaha!
He was older than dirt! Hahahaha!
He was God's younger brother! Hahahaha!
ps That was a hoot!
- Dual Derek
3:45 pm - Just to explain - at the homecoming parade in Pultneyville we saw a truck come by with a brass band of retired firemen on the truck bed. (No railing, just a flat bed, and the band members in flimsy folding chairs. They went through an intersection right in front of us, tipping and turning as they went.) Derek muttered how they could slip off the chairs they were sitting on and all go to slipping to the ground. The image struck me as amusing, even though it would be terrible were it actually to happen and we both burst into laughter.
The complete mystification of the others as to why we would burst into laughter at the mere mention of the word "old" would start us laughing again only made it funnier.
After that we attempted to visit a winery, an attempt foiled by the winery's great distance from the road and unfavorable winds.
Several dogs barked at us as we rolled along, but we told 'em to "go find Henry", a phrase which somehow sends dogs running off to look for the nonexistent Henry.
This mor ning we ate Trix for breakfast - I've never been blinded by a bowl of cereal before.
Now we're sitting around a table discussing the relative merits of boys vs girls. The conversation seems to be taking the same course as all the other conversations boys and girls have about each other. The conversations go like this, guys say, "Girls stink", girls reply, "No, boys stink!"
Oh well, gotta go join the argument - Josh Loh
4:08 pm - Y'know, I think this "Go find Henry" stuff really works. A dog was barking at the person in front so I said, "Go find Henry!" He turned and looked at me, so I said it again. He looked around and started walking. He stopped and looked around again and continued on. I think that Henry is some kind of dog god and dogs will jump at any chance to find him.
Oh, yes! I had an idea, too! The road crews should make all uphills more gradual and leave the downhills the same. I see no flaws in my plan. Hahahaha! - Gabe Z. Fersch
8:28 pm - Today was much fun. The lighthouse was a cool sight and an old man took my picture. I got yelled at, well, not really. Just I have to learn to think, think, think, before I did things. I also got to go to the girl's room today, 'cause I didn't read the sign! Oh well, it would have been nice if there was a blond in there. NOT! Oh well. - Tim
8:37 pm - Today was very hilly and windy, but I stayed Alive. Ha Ha Ha! - Seamus
Stats for Saturday
Distance - 50.8 miles
Cumulative Distance - 247.3 miles
Average - 12.8 mph
Time - 3 hr 58 min 22 sec
Vertical climb - 1580 ft
Cumulative climb - 3180 ft
Sunday July 20th
Fairhaven NY - Sterling Renaissance Fair - Fairhaven NY
Sunday we were going to the Sterling Renaissance Fair, but first we had a few details to take care of.... I led yesterday's laundry crew to the showers in the park before breakfast. They didn't mind getting up before the others knowing that there was a hot shower at the end of their 2 mile ride. We went down a nea t little trail on a gravel and wood chip path that led us to the park road. Then we cruised out to the cabin area and found the showers. Things were real quiet in the morning. Just a few walkers, joggers and fisherman were out. A gaggle of Canada geese was also walking across the road from the lake side to a bay.
We got done at the showers and went back to the campsite to get the rest of the gang up and going. Then it being a special Sunday with us going to th e Fair and all we went out to breakfast and got to order eggs or pancakes or whatever was wanted. I bought a Sunday paper and we divided it up. It was a neat change to eat a meal inside with table service.
After breakfast we biked up the fairly steep hills to the fair. Being on bicycles we were allowed to bike right up to the fair gate. Then I had to go from one ticket window to the next to go through the process of cashing traveler's checks for our group of 9. Finally we were in the Fair. In many ways it was like we were in a different world.
After the fair we had time for a swim, some dinner shopping and another bit of laundry. We bought wood and did some roasting of marshmallows and making of smores. It was a really good day on the trip.
5:20 pm - Today was cool and a wacky girl had a crush on me at the beach. Oh well. - Tim at the beach
5:55 pm - Still at the beach. The Sterling Renaissance Fair today - a wooded hillside with paths, booths and amphitheaters - little ponds and islands of sound and talk and music - polite people - not pushing or rushing or shoving, just watching and learning - a neat experience - under mostly sunny skies - BLT
6:00 pm - Today when I was going to the beach a bee flew into my shirt and stung me. Ouch! That hurt like a bee! Write later, - Dual Derek
7:24 pm - I was floating off the ground today - as luck would have it we were able to go to the fair on "Scottish Weekend", with a bagpipe and kilt extravaganza.
It was loads of fun, listening to the cleansing sound of bagpipes, watching people sling mud at each other, throwing knives and axes. Every five minutes I was dashing somewhere else, following the pipes.
I also got a jester's hat that fit's over my helmet, and I think that I'll wear it the rest of the trip. It is really neat. The bells on it jingle, and it keeps me happy. I'm easy to amuse, I guess.
Seems Jed and Megan tried their luck throwing tomatoes at a heckling guy in stocks - Jed smacked him right on top of the head.
The jousting match was all right, but I love the pipes. - Josh
Megan - "Oh....We forgot to do the other potatoes."
Megan found the older potatoes and pulled one out. Gabe smelled one.
Gabe - "Uuueeee! These are rotten!"
Bob - "Let me see."
Crunch. Bob took a giant bite out of the potato and handed it to Tim. Tim also took a bite out of it.
Bob - "They aren't rotten."
I then pulled a potato out of the bag an d smelled it. It wreaked!
I handed the potato to Gabe who announced how horrible the potato smelled.
Bob - "Did you ever smell a potato before? Let me see!"
Bob then smelled that potato.
Bob - "Uuuuueeee, that does smell."
We dumped the old potatoes.
- Recorded by Jill Scott</ P>
The Cheese Song - from Tim, aka Buck Tooth
Cheese, cheese
Limburger cheese
It always makes me sneeze
That's why I love
Limburger cheese.
9:58 pm - I think someone shopping for a bike trip is a grocery store cashier's worst nightmare. Today was the 2nd time I nearly drove a ni ce girl nuts.
It all started when Gabe, Josh, and I bought all the groceries we thought we needed at the Fairhaven Big M. It came to $18 and change and because I needed gasoline for the cookstove I gave the girl the dollar bill to cover what I would get. (At this station you have to pay before you pump.) As if this wasn't weird enough, the girl asked what pump I was on and I didn't know. To explain my ignorance, I told her we were on bikes. That threw her again. Why w ould we need gas for bicycles? I quickly realized that didn't make sense and explained that the gas was for our camp stove.
I went and pumped $.15 worth and went back for my change. By then the girl working the register had called for reinforcements. The new girl couldn't believe that someone would only take $.15 in gas. I had to explain all over again.
I went out to pack stuff up and someone said we needed bacon bits. We took a quick l ook around and then asked the girl. She said they probably had them but she didn't know where. She found a customer who knew and told us as we searched.
I waited in line and noticed that she was throwing away receipts. I happened to think that I didn't check for a receipt on the last purchase. She checked the top few inches of the garbage pail while Gabe checked my bags. He found it. We left.
We got back to the camp and realized we neede d butter. Jill and I went back but I figured it would be better if she went in this time. - Jed
By now you may be wondering what mystery food required all these ingredients. We had eaten heartily at the Fair so we thought we could get by with some Ramen noodles and baked potatoes garnished with cheese, bacon bits, butter, etc. Later I went back to the store to get the fixings for smores.
Monday July 21st
Fairhaven NY - Selkirk Shores State Park
8:36 am - Yesterday I forgot to mention Sven and Olaf, my two favorite mudslingers at the Renaissance Fair. For their performance of the muddy people (actors acting in a mud pit) they did a modified Grendel bit, playing Vikings battling a fierce ogre. During this performance they pulled a guy out of the audience, slapped a horned helmet on his head and made him compete in "tests of manhood," during which Sven, the actor was dunked in mud several times by Olav, the audience member. The audience really got into the spirit of things, screaming "O-lav! O-lav!" and "Yaaargh!" with raised clenched fists, like they told us real Vikings do.
Right now we are huddled under a bandstand taking shelter from the rain listening people talk about where they will be in 10 years - here are some predictions from the oldest to the youngest. - Josh
Jed - married, working in an outdoors job with lots of free time
Megan - teacher, teaching and working on her master's degree
Josh - (from most to least likely)
1.) Studying for the MCATS exam
2.) A struggling author, living in a hotel in Manhattan, feverishly attempting to get something other than a rejection notice from the New Yorker magazine, while w riting filler for The Daily News.
3.) Working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
4.) Working for the US Postal Service on the Earth <-> Moon shuttle run
Tim - clown or motorcross racer
Derek - something to do with law enforcement or mountain biker
Gabe - computer graphics designer or Central Intelligence Agency
Seamus - doctor, lawyer, computer scientist, technician
9:56 am - Today I got 4 pieces of mail, including my sunglasses. I love it. We are now sitting in a big gazebo and thinking of what we might be in 10 years, it's fun. -Seamus
4:15 pm - I saw a dog today that looked like the brain on that cartoon Pinky and the Brain. - Megan
6:31 - pm - Met Chuck Myer, twice today, actually saw him three times. He first passed us as we waited out the rain in Fairhaven. He didn't wait but just rode on through the rain wearing a bright yellow rain slicker. We saw him go by and wondered that he didn't stop to speak with us. Bicycle tourists are so rare that it is hard for me to pass one without stopping to speak, especially if I happen to be touring at the same time. His morning started down at the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge near I-90 close to Savannah NY. We caught up with him as he ate lunch in Hannibal and then we camped just a few sites away from him at Selkirk Shores State Park. He is a 72 year old former Boeing employee biking and camping solo from Illinois to Bar Harbor, then to Yorktown VA, and back to Illinois. I hope that I can be as healthy and motivated as he is when I reach his age.
6:51 pm - A few days back I had an experience that I told everyone about but never wrote down . I will do that now.
It was at the Pultneyville Homecoming and I was on guard duty for the bikes while the others walked around. A group of old men came up to me and asked about what we were doing. One man asked if we were camping and then proceeded to give me a talk.
He said, "I've got a good way to keep prowlers away."
I said, "Oh, yeah."
He said, & quot;You ever heard of fishin' line? Real lightweight? Comes on a spool about yay big," indicating the size with his hands.
I said, "Yeah, I've seen it before."
"Well you take coat hangers with a little loop on the end. Stick 'em in the ground around your camp. Then you poke that fishin' line through and all around the tents. Then you take like a soup can or cook pot and fill it with rocks and tie that to the string near your bed. That way you can tell if an intruder's comin'."
I said, "I don't think we're real worried about that."
He said, "Well, you'll be sorry when you wake up one night with someone standing there like this." He demonstrated standing up real tall, stuck his chest out and did his best to look threatening, with his thumb and forefinger shaped into a handgun.
I said, "W ell, thanks for the tip."
He said, "Don't tell anyone I told you. That's military information."
I said, "Thanks again."
He seemed serious, too! - Jed
8:02 pm - Just now we are trying to figure our how many cookies everyone gets. This is more complicated that you may think.
You see there are fifty four Oreos. Being tha t there are nine people everyone gets six Oreos. Then there are fifteen Fig Newtons. Everyone had one Fig Newton with six left over.
Now the tricky part is that Jed doesn't care for Fig Newtons and I don't care for Oreos. In the end I had seven Fig Newtons with one left over and Jed had twelve Oreos. This doesn't seem fair - Jill
8:17 pm - Hi! Today was fun and it rained hard, I guess. The angels were mad at us. They went number one on the world, but tonight was beautiful as Bob, Jill, and I watched the sunset and picked raspberries.
Today we got low on water and begged some from a 'bird' lady for water. Well, bye - Tim
The 'bird' lady was a woman who had a shop that sold bird feeders and bird houses. It was the only house for quite some distance that looked like someone was home so we tried it and got lucky. The lady was very nice and asked us a lot of question s about the trip. She had her teenage daughter come out and meet us, but the daughter and our group were tongue-tied like Novice bikers on the first day of a trip. They hardly said a word to each other.
10:35 pm - Writing by candlelight while lights glow in the distance around three electric generating nuclear reactors. What a strange world.
I wanted to mention that we heard owls and saw a pileated woodpecker at Wildwood Lake Campg round last night. Time to make a last garbage run and then go to bed. - BLT
Today started off with a little light rain before dawn. About 7 am or so I started waking people up. At 7:30 we had most people out of their tents and then real rain started to come down. Luckily we were able to get the tents down before they got wet and heavy.
We biked to Post Office and picked up our mail and then to the Fair Haven Big M grocery s tore. Across from the store was a park with a band stand. It had a generous roof and room for us and all our bikes out of the rain. The park also had a Port-a-John. We were all set to wait out the rain. Most of the time in the summer when it rains hard it doesn't last all day, so it is better to just let it pass.
It was a perfect morning for the delay. Almost everyone had mail to read and most wrote something back. We ate breakfast and read a newspaper. Final ly we got down to sharing plans for the future. When the rain thinned out to a mist we were ready to go if only to warm up.
Jed had a map of the Adventure Cycling Bike Route across NY. It went from Sterling to close to Selkirk Shores State Park so we decided to follow it. We bought lunch foods in Hannibal and spoke with Chuck Myer for the first time.
We ate our lunch foods under a pavilion behind a firehouse at Granby Center. Tim was doing an unsuccessful search for the mustard at that break. He finally found it a few days later.
We crossed the Oswego River in Minetto on a neat bridge that overlooked some locks on the canal that serves to connect the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario via the Oswego River.
Later in the day we took a break across Rte 104 from the New Haven Post Office. The postmistress was very nice, allowing our bikers to use the bathroom in the house portion of the post office. I went on a mile and a half detour down the road to get some ice and soda and on impulse bought some red licorice. Folks thought that was great and used the licorice as straws.
On the way to the park we saw a farm stand with fresh corn. We bought a dozen ears and broke them in two to make them small enough to fit in our packs. I should have bought 13 or 14 ears to get a result more easily divisible by 9 . The corn was great anyway!
Out campsite was nice. Our neighbors were a young couple from Germany on their second trip to the US. They thought it was neat that we were biking and camping.
Stats for Monday by Megan
Distance - 47.4 miles
Cumulative distance - 314.24 miles
Average 12.3 mph
Riding t ime - 3 hr 50 min 6 sec
Climb - 1200 ft
Cumulative climb - 4990 ft
Tuesday July 22nd
Selkirk Shores State Park - Verona Beach State Park
In the morning we learned the German couple locked their keys in the car, they did the same thing in California on their last trip to the US. I offered to lend the guy my bike so he could rid e out to the park office to get help, but he said he didn't mind the walk. Our 72 year old cyclist neighbor was up and gone before I got up at 6:30 am. On our way out of the park we took the bumpy road out to the swimming area on the lake shore to have a last look at Lake Ontario, our companion all the way from Four Mile Creek State Park on July 13th. It was a pretty day to leave the lake. One tern was mixed in with the gulls in the parking lot by the beach, I've never seen a tern so far from salt water before. Terns are so much more graceful in flight than gulls. Terns make gulls look like flying garbage trucks. Maybe Tim was right, Lake Ontario is the ocean.
We found a combination gas station, grocery, and ice cream stand just outside the park gate with a deck and tables. I asked to use the tables for our breakfast. The lady in charge said that we were welcome to them. We had breakfast in a cool breeze that had some people moving into the su n to warm up after breakfast.
We followed the Salmon River from Pulaski to Altmar. We were about to leave the river when Jed suggested that we make a few block detour to have a look at it, since it is such a famous fishing stream in NY. Jed has good intuitions. We came to a bridge and a launching ramp for the drift boats. The river was so low that the end of the ramp was high and dry. The telephone wires above the river were covered with fishing lures and le aders from people casting too high.
While we were looking around a family stopped and the man told us that if we wanted to see some really big steelhead trout he could tell us where to look. He gave us directions to a pool just a few blocks above the bridge. We biked over there, parked the bikes against a church and walked down the trail. From the back above the stream we could see some fish that were 30" to 36" long. This is not a fish story! It was neat to see such large fish living free in the pool. There were also signs stating that fishing at this pool was prohibited at all times!
As we walked back to the bikes the Met Life blimp floated over at a low altitude. It was really rocking in the breeze. Looked like a rough ride for the occupants. We had no idea what the blimp's destination might have been.
We had lunch in Williamstown on a church lawn across from a convenience store. We took the time to put some lube on our chains as our lunch digested. It was a real bright day with blue skies and fresh air. We left Williamstown on a tiny county road that took us down to Oneida Lake at Bernhard's Bay. The view south across Oneida Lake was stunning. People were so impressed that they asked to stop to take pictures.
Our next stop was for ice cream. The kindly proprietress opened the stand when she saw our hungry group of nine cyclists. We followed the lake shore around to Sylvan Beach State Park. From the bridge across the Erie Barge Canal to the park we followed suburban streets lined with well kept lakefront cottages.
We entered the park on a wood chip covered path and headed straight to the lake for a swim. The lake had a bit of algae in it and you had to walk over a hundred yards into the lake before it got neck deep. Life guard chairs were way out in the lake instead of only on the beach. The lifeguards rowed out to their chairs in boats so that they didn't have to sit up in the chair in the breeze soaking wet. I suggested people rinse the lake water off before they chnaged back into their clothes. Jed thought I meant for everybody to take their showers there, as I learned when I found him soap covered and bracing himself against the ice cold water coming out of the modified toilet flushing device showers. We all took our 'real' showers in the campsite area with h ot water. We also did another bit of laundry. It is better to stay ahead of things and have some clean clothes on hand.
The sunset looking west the length of Oneida Lake was beautiful. A nice breeze was blowing the length of the lake. Some boats entered the lake from the canal channel north of us and headed west to Syracuse.
Tim looked at me today and said, "Bob, are we ever going to get to Delhi? I am supposed to be in camp by 5 pm."
I said, "Tim, if you were going to worry about getting to Delhi you should have worried last week when we were way out near Buffalo. I have friends that ride their bikes from Syracuse to Oneonta in a single day. We'll get back just fine."
Sometimes there is no telling what our cyclists are thinking, but that is one of the things that keeps the trips interesting.
4:28 pm - We are outside the Ship N' Shore Grocery in Verona Beach NY- Happy National Ice Cream Month! (It really is - we saw it a few days ago at a grocery) We got shakes and ice cream at a place outside Cleveland NY along Oneida Lake.
Have you ever noted how many towns there are in the US named after other, more famous places? Like Rome, Cairo, Greece, Mexico, Texas, Cuba and of course, Delhi! This leads to some interesting situations, such as this imaginary conversation -
"Where did you go skiing last week?"
"Oh, Cuba."
"Cuba ??"
"So where are we?"
"Mexico."
"Ha, ha, if we're in Mexico, where's Texas?"
"That way." And so forth.
Not too much drastically amusing to report today - we're sitting around a grocery store comparing sunburns and peeling spots. - Josh
4:37 pm - Today was very fun and exciting. Jed led the front group along with Megan, Derek and I. Boy, were we flying. We had to stop a few times to wait up, but that's OK. One time we waited in the sun for five whole minutes because Gabe had to re-pack his saddle bags. We rode a whole 51 miles. Wow! - Seamus
7:30 pm - I just asked what time it was. Gabe told me 2:30 and I went to write it down before I realized what he said. Anyway, today w as OK riding. Jed sets a fast pace. We have just 3 nights and 3 days left. Most of us have some sunburn and very bad tan lines. I am done with my writing. - Megan
Stats for Tuesday - Selkirk Shores State Park to Verona Beach State Park
Distance - 52.53 miles
Cumulative Distance - 366.77 miles
Average Speed - 12.5 mph
Riding Time - 4 hrs 12 mi n 46 sec
Vertical climb - 1010 ft
Total vertical - 6000 ft
Wednesday July 23rd
Verona Beach State Park to Chalet Lake Camp/Bridgewater
6:50 am - Looks like another good morning. Verona Beach State Park was a very nice place - great sunset across the lake - with lots of colors in the clouds - Jed and I enjoyed it. Everybody else fol lowed Alice in Wonderland and fell through the Looking Glass of a TV screen - watching a fuzzy picture of a rerun movie. I've decided not to let that happen again - the bike trip is too short to sacrifice two hours to the boob tube. Well, time to share the news that it is morning!
Oops - the moisture from Monday's rain got into my bike computer and it needs to be reprogrammed. All the stats for my biking summer are gone. 1,376 miles and 70,000 feet of climbing... and the worst of it is I don't have the wheel calibration number memorized. I will have to phone Carol and have her bring it to Bridgewater tonight. - BLT
Today on our way to breakfast we saw an old guy, ha ha ha, and he yelled to us, "Where the heck are you going, Alaska?" He looked like an old army man. Ha ha ha ha! I wonder if he ever heard of fishing line and if he ever killed anyone.
Well, I gotta go and think of some ways to keep bad people out of my campsite.
Yesterday I saw some big steelhead. They were awesome. Oh, yes, I saw a Get Met blimp that looked like it was going to crash. - Dual Derek
We headed back to Sylvan Beach to buy breakfast and eat it outside the Ship'N Shore Grocery. Then we followed some tiny roads to get a look at the Erie Canal. At locks number 20 and 21 we came upon a tug boat. The crew was cleaning off the locks by squirting them with a powerful stream of water. The guys on the tug crew were friendly and told us about their work as they waited for the locks to drain a bit so they could begin cleaning. Their boat, the Franklin Roosevelt was built in 1929 or so. It looked real neat, NY state colors of blue and gold with wood trim.
We also watched a boat move through the locks and had a snack. As we were getting ready to leave a man came along the other side of the canal on a bicycle . Jed went over to see how long he had been biking along the canal. He had a map and told us that we could follow the canal almost all the way to Rome. That sounded good to us so we all went over a bridge and got on the tow path. The path followed the current Erie Barge Canal for few miles and then split off to follow the original Erie Canal almost all the way to the gates of the Erie Canal Village. People enjoyed the switch from road riding. At that point we got on the road and biked into Rome.
We followed the highway to the rebuilt Ft Stanwix, an important post during the Revolutionary War. The fort held out against a superior British and Indian force preventing that force from connecting with Burgoyne at Saratoga.
When we arrived at the fort there was a special exhibit out front. A traveling Vietnam Veteran's Memorial was on display out front. We toured the fort, taking in some exhibits and an interpretive vid eo. Then went across the street to eat on the steps of a convenience store.
We left and struggled through some construction areas before getting out on to a calm country road again. We had been through Greece and Rome, New York that is, and on a whim Jed thought we should pass through Paris. The only problem was that Paris is the top of one huge hill. The cyclists made some comments about that climb.
Before we reached the climb we had a soda break in Westmoreland after passing over the New York State Thruway. We crossed Rte 5 and started on Jed's ramble. At one point we came upon about a dozen hikers with full backpacks taking a break in the shade near an intersection. My curiosity was aroused. Hikers in farm country? What could it mean?
I stopped and spoke with their leader. The explanation for the hikers was that it was boy scout troop at the tag end of a 10 miles hike w ith full packs. They were preparing for a hiking trip to Rocky Mountains in Colorado later in the summer.
Going through Clinton we heard a young girl singing a single very high note for an almost impossibly long time. She was right on the town square playing with a brother. It was very eerie.
As we started up Paris Hill out of Clinton the road was marked Paris Hill Rd. Jill asked me if it was a 'real' hill. I told her that I thought people in that part of the state wouldn't name a road Paris Hill Rd unless there was a real hill on it. The late afternoon sun was very hot. The hill got tougher then there was a bit of almost flat road and then the hill went off the charts in difficulty. People were low on water so we stopped to find some water and have some cookies and to rest. We stopped in the shade of some very old maples near a very well to do house. I sent Seamus over with the water jug but no one answered the door. I asked him to check out back. No one home, but there was a spigot on the side of the house so we got water there.
After a rest we started biking again. The hill got even steeper. It didn't seem possible but it did. Seamus, who had never had trouble before dropped to a crawl and then stopped. I thought that his chain must have come off, but it was another problem. He wasn't using his 'granny' gear, his innermost chain ring, the one designed to get him u p the worst hills. It turns out he had been using it at the wrong time on flat roads and Jed had told him to 'never' use it. Jed had meant 'never' use it on a flat road. It was amazing the way that Seamus perked up and recovered once he got his bike in the right gear.
12:23 pm - Not being able to write yesterday, I decided to write about my terrible experience. It was a sunny, happy afternoon, and I was peacefully riding by a fence and then out of nowhere a giant German Shepherd leaped out from behind the fence and would have toppled onto me and my bike it the chain hadn't been attached to the dog.
As for today's news, Jed wants to die and Derek is naming his 6 pack. (Derek's '6 pack' is his impressive set of abdominal muscles.) - Jill
7:05 pm Hills. I love hills. Thank you Jed for taking me up big hills. What am I saying? I mean mountains.
Don't worry J ed. I'm not going to kill you. But everybody that hates hills is!
Jed, I have to tell you about my friend Bigfoot. He is almost 7 ft tall, weighs 200 some pounds, and wears a shoe size of 23. He always in the trees above me and he can get invisible. He pushes me on my bike and if he's good I let him ride. He watches over me. His real name is Q-tip and some times I call him Iggy.
In the laundromat it is a strange thing. The heat gets to my head and I go crazy. Real crazy, even nuts! I can't take it in there. The heat kills the brain cells that I have left, and that's not much. Well, my head is hurting. See you later, alligator - Dual Derek
At the top of Paris Hill we took a minute to catch our breath. Some contractors stopped in their pickup and asked about our tour. They were very enthusiastic and supportive.
7:13 pm near Bridgewater NY - So I'm sitting in th is convenience store, wolfing down my strawberry ice cream, when Jed turns to Tim, pokes him and says, "Hey! Your epidermis is showing!"
This look of absolute horror spreads over Tim's face, as he clutches at his face screaming, "Where? Where?!?"
When the confusion died down, Jed explained to him what an epidermis was, and why it was not the end of the earth if it was showing. Tim explained that he believed the epider mis was something like the gall bladder, which of course, if your gall bladder was hanging out of your mouth, would cause your heart to flop over.
Tim's heart was doing jumping jacks, if his face was any indication. I've seldom seen such a look of absolute dread and fear spread over someone's face like that. The last time I saw something like that, if I remember correctly, was shortly after Jordan realized he had left the top off of the blender.
< P>I laughed myself silly after that one, too - even though I was covered in strawberry pureé. - Josh
Just outside Bridgewater I stopped with Gabe to repair his rear tire, which was leaking due to a piece of glass. Jed's hill climb route left everyone pretty limp so I sent them ahead to get an ice cream cone to give them the energy to set up camp. The woman dipping ice cream didn't believe Jed when he said that he was paying. The cyclists look ed so tired that she was very generous with the ice cream. When she learned what our cyclists had done in biking from Niagara Falls she practically adopted them.
Recharged by the ice cream we cycled all of two hundred yards to the campsite, set up our tents and got into the manmade lake. It had a raft we could swim out to. The cyclists really enjoyed having something to swim out to.
That evening Carol and her father vi sited. Her father took Seamus and Tim and they caught some frogs along the lake shore. They also shared a dismal forecast of one or even two days of rain - remnants of Hurricane Dan. Our weather luck continued and we had only headwinds to contend with, not headwinds and rain. We camped right along the lake shore at a nice campsite. We also did another load of wash. This should be the last time we have to go through the ritual of collecting and sorting the clothes.
7:48 pm - Hey y'all! Howdy! Today we traveled 48 miles and General Jed made us go up Pike's Peak. Well, not actually but it sure was close. We stopped at a deserted rich house and got some water from the spigot because we was thirsty.
Right now Josh is playing his penny whistle. He's good at it.
Josh bought the penny whistle at the Fort Stanwix gift shop. While we were at Fort Stanwix they were repairing some logs at the base of the fort. It was a strange operation working on the very foundation. The old logs had rotted. They were putting in new logs, replacing the pine or spruce with tamarack, also called larch by some. One of the workers said they had heard that tamarack was less likely to rot than what had been there.
Yesterday we saw the Met Life blimp and today we saw Fort Stanwix. Jed locked me in guard house. It was fun. Well, see you later. - Tim
S tats for Wednesday - Verona Beach St Park to Lake Chalet - Bridgewater
Distance - 49.08 miles
Cumulative Distance - 415.85 miles
Riding time - 4 hrs 29 min 13 sec
Average speed - 10.8 mph
Climb - 1420 ft
Total Climb - 7420 ft
Thursday July 24th
Bridgewater to Glimmerlgass State park
We had breakfast where we had ice cream and bought dinner groceries the night before. They let us use the booths in the store to eat. They even let us use their big kitchen sink to clean up our dishes. We had US Rte 20 to contend with now. It is one of the hilliest and most difficult roads in New York. Fortunately we only had to go from Bridgewater to Springfield and for some parts of the trip we could take less trave led nearly parallel roads.
By the time we got to Richfield Springs it seemed like a good time for a break.
11:10 am - We're in Richfield Springs resting by the shady side of a convenience store, eating Fig Newtons and drinking soda, talking about screensavers. It never did rain like it was supposed to, a feat for which I am truly grateful - nothing makes a mess of a day like waking up in two inches of water and slime. It looks like we're going on the road again - write more later - Josh
4:11 pm - at the park on Cooperstown's Main St - We rolled into Glimmerglass State Park today via the back way. (It's the second time that we have avoided state park gates completely.) We came by a huge picnic and stopped near the bathrooms at the beach while Bob checked in and got us some campsites.
He came back with news. He said, "If you guys can contain yourselv es, Josh, there's old people with more food than they can use. If we don't get over there, they'll be throwing food out."
He and Josh took off and we ate some cookies. Josh came flying back, bells-a-bouncing on his jester's hat which fit quite well over his helmet, slammed up the curb and said, "They're square dancing, ha ha ha ha! (pause) and there are unlimited chicken legs over there if we can contain ourselves."
We we nt. It turned out the chicken legs were not unlimited (What ever is truly unlimited?) but they did have some dinners for us. (Chicken, baked beans, hot potato salad, fruit cups, donuts, rolls, butter, milk, cookies, and lemonade served on a styrofoam platter for $3.50)
All the old people (it was the Otsego Seniors Organization Annual Picnic, catered by Meals on Wheels) made quite a fuss over us and took pictures and got info for their " newsletter". The food was good. - Jed
5:00 pm - Cooperstown - I wandered around with Derek, Gabe, and Seamus. We weren't looking for anything in particular except that Seamus wanted a little bat so he could bop people. We get to have pizza tonight. Josh has spent an hour and a half in a book store. I asked how many books he had read in the store. He said, "Just one." - Megan
5:04 pm - Last day tomorrow! These two weeks we nt fast. I'm going to miss you all. I love you man. I'm not getting a Bud Light am I? But it's worth a try. It's been fun riding with you all. So my famous words are, "Ride on!" or Timmy's words, "I don't get it!" Ha! - Dual Derek
9:03 pm - I'm sitting by a campfire, listening to someone on the next campsite over play "Ashokan Farewell" on a violin - fitting music for the last night of our trip. We toured Cooperstown briefly, saw a few min utes of a baseball game, and had our last dinner together. I can't believe how the weeks flew by. - Josh
9:12 pm - Howdy!! It's the last night so I thought I would write. The trip this year was so much fun. Thanks a lot for putting up with me for 13 days Bob. Well, bye! - Tim
We got to Glimmerglass about 12:40 or so. Very good time considering the hills and headwinds. We also took time out for one cyclist at a time photos and I spen t some time consulting with people at the town of Springfield boat launch before we went down a private road to a remote gate of Glimmerglass State Park.
As I spoke with the woman minding the park admission booth I checked about the picnic we had passed on the way in. Otsego County Seniors and last summer the picnic ran out of food!!! Today it was so cool that most picnic goers wore light coats and jackets. My bet was that attendance this year was off and th e food supplies were more than adequate, ergo, a buyer's market. Things worked out well for us as Jed has described.
We made an afternoon trip into Cooperstown. I offered the group an uphill journey to a Russian Monastery but somehow Cooperstown had bit more cache with them. We got into town and let groups shop together while Jed and I tended the bikes. I did nip off for a few minutes to buy and mail a birthday card to my mother. It was good to have remembered that!
Josh bought a hardbound book from a used book stall. None of the new paperbacks he looked at met his criteria.
We had a final supper on the open air deck of a pizza place. Before going there Jed scoped out a safe, in sight location for bike parking. We enjoyed three or four large pies and made the acquaintance of some girls from North Carolina who had come up to Elmira with a church group. We laughed at their so uthern accents and idioms and they laughed at our northern ones.
Eventually we had to head back to the campsite. Along the way we made two stops to collect dead wood from the roadside ditch for a campfire. Those stops were not as smooth as they might have been and some bikes were bumped together. We did get some good wood and were able to build a nice fire. Josh got the last flat of the trip. I think it was his fourth of the trip about 2 miles from the park ga te.
Stats for Thursday - Bridgewater to Glimmerglass State Park - plus Cooperstown and back
Distance = 45.69 miles
Cumulative Distance - 461.54
Average speed - 11.0 mph
Riding time 3 hrs 33 min 5 sec
Climb - 1910 ft
Cumulative climb - 9330
Fr iday July 25th
Glimmerglass State Park - 4H Camp Shankitunk, Delhi NY
We got up and packed. I had to get Tim moving as usual. We ate a quick snack and quietly rolled out of camp toward breakfast seven miles away in Cooperstown. I left the bunch on the Otsego Lake shore and went to buy breakfast. We had a great breakfast on green benches in a park on the lake shore on a beautiful morning.
We made one more stop to view the oldest bike in Cooperstown, a Parisienne boneshaker on display in the Medical Arts building across the road from Bassett Hospital. Then we took the back river roads as far down as Milford. There we toured the Cooperstown Brewery. After that we biked along until a convenience store below Portlandville. We polished off some donuts and milk leaving lunch to be had at the Pine Lake camp. The manager of Pine Lake brought out some cold soda for us to have with our lunch. We didn't want the trip to be over or to attack those last hills after East Meredith but once we got rolling we did fine.
We got to camp about 10 minutes before our scheduled arrival time of 5 pm.
2:20 pm - at Hartwick College's Pine Lake Camp - LAST DAY - Wow, I'm hungry an we just went up some big hills. Soon I will be home to rest my legs for one night and then go to my next camp. But that's OK. My brother, Nick , was right, because being the youngest on the trip and not using the granny gear for a while make me feel like the most accomplished. - Seamus Howie
I just decided that since I haven't written in 1 or 2 or 10 days, I would write now. This has been fun. Niagara Falls, butterflies, George Eastman (Ha Ha!), Fort Stanwix, and everything else we did. I sure am gonna miss y'all and the biking. See you later - Gabe
It's the last day of the tr ip. (Where're ya goin', Alaska?) And again it's been a whole lotta fun. It's the nostalgia that brings me back, I guess, over time the mosquito bites and road rashes fade, and I just remember sunset over Lake Ontario, the Chateau Frontenac, Maine lobster. Isn't it better I remember I don't have a perfect memory? - Josh
2:26 pm - This trip has been fun. Yesterday we were all very silly. Especially at the pizza place. We were all giggly and then we started talking to so me North Carolina Baptist Mission girls. We were just kind of making fun of each other's conversations. After they were done eating they came over because Bob was insisting that they see the movie in the Baseball Hall of Fame even though they didn't like baseball and they had seen it before.
Then Seamus started sort of semi-fighting with one of the southerners. He was pretending that they were sort of pesky flies and he was trying to get rid of them by clapping his h ands above his head. Jed, trying to stop Seamus started asking about southern pronunciations of words. They said some words like hen, on, mom, etc. They also said that our accents were rubbing off like, instead of y'all they were saying 'you guys'. It was a very funny time.
We went to a brewery in Milford and it smelled very bad.
We are drawing our logo on the tent. All of us are very lethargic. Don't ask why because we don't know why.< /FONT>
Well, I will miss all my fellow riders. Hopefully, our paths will meet again later in life. Gotta go!
Also, riding today is nicer than usual. I say that because I felt at home. There was land above me (hills) for the first week and a half I felt like I was on top of the world. There were no hills. It felt weird. - Megan
2:33 pm - Where're y'all heading to, Alaska? No, Delhi! We're here some 500 odd miles from Canada to 4H Camp. See y'all next year. Dedicated to all bikers of the world. - Tim
5:10 pm - at 4H Camp Shankitunk - Now that this trip is affectionately over, I can now thank Bob for everything, Josh for making the trip fun, Jed for all the breath he wasted on telling me to change my gears, Megan for making nice conversation that doesn't involve girls, Tim for not driving me crazy, Derek for making my mind curious on how to play games with your head, Seamus for not giving me too many skeeter bites, and Gabe.... well, for something.
Love always
Jill Scott
I leave with a tear in my eye and a heavy heart. I'll miss all of you. See you next year. - Gabe
Another year, another trip.... It's been fun guys, see ya next year! - Josh
ps My comrade say, in a heavy Russian accent, "Nothing runs like a De ere!"
Stats for Friday - Glimmerglass State Park to 4H Camp Shankitunk
Distance - 55.2 miles
Cumulative Distance - 516.74 miles
Average speed - 13.0 mph
Riding Time - 4 hrs 14 min 13 sec
Climb - 2030 ft
Total climb - 11,360 ft