Riding through Lackawanna and Buffalo was not fun. There was no traffic, a blessing, but the roads were abysmal. Lots of potholes still filled with rain water, so you had to go around them because we couldn’t tell how deep they were. We also passed through a slummy neighborhood in the outskirts of Buffalo. Then we got into a construction area and all the bike path signs were obscured and the route had been changed. Finally we found the Peace Bridge.

    Deb Riding Across the Peace Bridge to Canada

Mea culpa. Since I have been navigating our way across the country I should have taken the responsibility of checking the map more carefully. I didn’t realize there were so many bridges crossing back across the Niagara River. Prior to this error we had a very pleasant ride along the river in Canada. Most of it is a separate bike path paralleling the road. This is the third time in the last three years I have been to Niagara Falls after never having been there at all the first 45. There is a good view of the falls from the Rainbow Bridge, even though it was the wrong bridge to take. We didn’t enjoy the town of Niagara much, but maybe it was the impending threat of storm.

I left Bob in the parking lot holding the bikes while I went to check on rooms at the motel. Since it is Friday night (and a girls’ soccer tournament is in town for the weekend) they were booked. The clerk nicely phoned up the motels in nearby Lockport to check on availability for us. I found us a room 20 miles down the road and went back out to tell Bob, and he was having a fit. He thought I should have let him know what was going on! I left him for sooooo long in the parking lot. I thought I was doing good getting it all arranged and he was in a snit. She had been so helpful. Just then she pops out the door to announce there has been a cancellation and asked if would we still like the room. Duh! YES.

Lewiston was great. We walked down the main street into town, not like anything we saw in South Dakota. Coffeeshops, book shops, pubs, cafes. A magnificent 3-story high white limestone with ivy crawling up the side, quite a striking building, and it is a Macdonald’s. The only visible advertising from the street was a tiny golden arches outside the drive-up window. Later we strolled to the frozen custard stand on the corner. All the girls from the soccer tournament were there.

The man and his wife started in 1992 to ride across the country doing 1 or 2 states at a time. In the meantime they have had a family. They hauled a Burley Trailer until this year when they got a triple bicycle. He said he has to have it weighed on a grain elevator. With himself, the kids and the loaded bike he is hauling 400 #. He said the kids work sometimes; sometimes they decide they want to pass mom and they get a burst of energy and put him off balance. He is worried about the upcoming Allegheny Mountains. This year they are doing New York, then continue through New England another year. What a persistent endeavor!

One Very Loaded Bicycle - A Triple -  Two kids, One man    

At lunch in Albion the rain started. We weren’t surprised because our morning forecast had been for 90% chance of precipitation. We had at least made it through about half of our day. At first it was intermittent, then it became a light, steadier shower, and we were getting wet. We left the towpath at Albion since from there to Rochester it was largely gravel. We decided we would make better time and be less muddy on roads. Glad we did. At the outskirts of Rochester the clouds dumped on us. It was so heavy that we couldn’t see the road. We scooted across a large parking lot to an overhanging roof for shelter. We waited for a while for the rain to stop but it didn’t. I went inside to inquire how much further to our hotel and was told it was only another mile or so, so we decided to paddle on ahead through the torrent.

Since it was Saturday night, we had made a reservation at the Best Western. They were sold out by the time we arrived dripping in their lobby. I think if we had not made the reservation they would have told us they were sold out anyway. It is Saturday night at 5:30 and all the guests dressed in their party finery for a formal wedding reception are checking in. Picture this---2 drippy, soggy cyclists in our helmets and yellow Burleys squishing across the marble floors.

After a warm shower and clean clothes my morale improved. We called a cab to take us to a laundromat. Afterwards we carried our clean clothes and walked a bit down the road to a local favorite, Bosdyck’s, for dinner. Bob was so happy. It was the best martini in 3000 miles for only $2.50. The prime rib was excellent. I ate the whole thing and it was huge. I’m worried about the end of this ride and my eating habits. I will have to cut back again on portion size.

This is very sad. The further we go, the weaker we get. We have only gone 15 miles by noon today. It didn’t help that we stayed out till late last night eating and drinking. With the air conditioner on in our room we heard none of the motel’s morning noises, so we slept late. We didn’t leave the motel until 9:30 after morning coffee and muffins. We are so grateful that we had a room last night. It rained through most of the night.

We took off along the Erie Canal bicycle path through Rochester. The path was paved but tree roots bumped intrudingly up through the pavement. Quite a jarring section. We rode slowly over the humps. The path forked in a couple of sections and was not well marked, so we had to stop for map consultation and even ask for help a couple of times. One section reminded me of the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy was asking the scarecrow which road to take. Finally another knowledgeable looking cyclist rode by, and he told us which way to go. I had just decided that we should take the other path, so we were glad for his information. It took us forever. It is a nice park though in the middle of Rochester.

    Bob along the Erie Canal

There are more boats on the canal in this section. Maybe since it is Sunday. Lots of skaters and family riders out on the path. It passes through a couple of refurbished towns, one we had to get off and walk through. The towns on the canal have decided to take advantage of the tourism the canal path brings, so there were cafes and ice cream stands frequently. We can only ride 10-15 mph on the path of hard-packed gravel.

In Palmyra we met another cyclist. He loves in Brunswick, Maine. Guess what? He is going to be our new best friend! His name is Dick Smith. He is doing this trip solo, but he said his wife also rides. They are going to Provence, France later in August. They don’t know that we are going to invite ourselves along on that journey also. He gave us his address and we chatted a bit, but we didn’t ride with him since he needed to go to Fulton to get new bearings for his trailer and we wanted to follow the AC route. We were almost wishing we had followed him on the straight shot on Highway 104 since the route we took was hilly. How many corn fields can you go by? Can’t get too excited about them anymore.

We hit Lake Ontario. The last 10 miles to Sodus Point was up and down on a bumpy road. There are only B&Bs and fishing cottages, no motels. One hotel had a smoky bar downstairs and they wanted to charge us $25 each for a grungy room. Fisherman’s cabins on the lake would have gone for $100. One place had a sign of rooms to let but they weren’t home. Another looked very pricey. Another was booked up. I was getting discouraged. We had passed a campground 2-3 miles back down the road, but there were no restaurants close to it. As we rode down a back street we saw a family sitting on their screened porch and a small sign that said it was a B&B. The owner came out to us when she saw us looking at the sign. This room has 4 twin beds, a high pitched ceiling and a shared path (but only with her visiting aunt). We visited with the family while she made up our room upstairs. It is the same price as the hotel would have been. They were having a reunion—niece, her husband and baby from Rochester, Grandma from Florida, and other relatives. We enjoyed our talk with them downstairs. Then we rambled through town and had dinner, so we’re happy.

So after our poopy mood yesterday when we weren’t very energetic, today we decided to vary off the AC route. We headed off to Route 104 which had a 10 foot wide clean shoulder with graded ups and downs. We were flying compared to our previous day. Since we weren’t cutting in and out of country roads, we felt like we were making some distance. It turns out that it was almost exactly the same number of miles to get where we are tonight if we had followed the AC route, but we both felt that it was a lot easier riding. Part of our day was on the AC route. It was really nice to be riding along easily at 15mph. There were some cool downhills, too. I hit 32 by just coasting, and the shoulders were so clean that we didn’t have to worry about bumps and ridges. There were a lot of ups and downs and rollers today, but it was just a very nice day.

It started to rain. There were big black clouds. We pulled into a bar where they had food so we had the guy make us lunch. The rain never materialized so we got another rain-free day. So now we’re in Pulaski, and tomorrow we’ll start heading east across the mountains.

This Motel 8 had no laundry. We walked to the closest one and sat with the other customers for a fun-filled hour.

When we left Pulaski this morning, it was cold and overcast. After watching The Weather Channel we were assured that it was going to clear up, and so we were pretty excited about our day. It was going to be one of the first sunny days we had in a while. We headed into the foothills of the Adirondacks. It’s actually called the Tug Hill Region. Really nice riding. Gradual uphills through tiny towns and there were a couple steepy sections. There was one place where they were working on the roads. There are all backroads where there’s hardly any traffic. BUT it didn’t clear up.

We got to Boonville at lunchtime about 50 miles into our day. Another bicyclist eyeballing our bikes and he came in and had a piece of pie with us. We talked to him for a while. He has spent a lot of time in this area riding around. Then we headed across Moose River Road. It was a secondary road, not a county road or highway…up and down and up and down. Beautiful road, very remote. We can’t complain about the scenery. And then we reached Moose River, and what a gorgeous river! Except for the fact that it’s gray and overcast and you don’t get to see any blue in the sky. Just as we turned onto Route 28, which is a busy highway that has a great shoulder with only 10 more miles to Old Forge, it got really cold. We’re riding really hard so we could get here before it starts raining. It started drizzling on us, so we headed for the first motel that looked like it was close to dinner and also had TV cable and hot showers. It’s a nice place, but we can’t enjoy the Adirondack chairs in the yard because it’s too cold outside.

    Deb on Bridge over Moose River 

We had a really good dinner down the street at the Old Mill Restaurant. We walked back from dinner and saw two spotted fawns in the woods. And we’re happily ensconced in our room, and we’re not going anywhere.

Cold and dreary again this morning. The forecast is for cold and dreary, but with west winds. We couldn’t get started. It was beautiful country. We were wearing our jackets for the cold debating whether or not to don our long pants. Old Forge is a busy tourist area, so we were pleased the route directed us by the south side of the lake in a more remote, residential area of cabins. Much less traffic. They are creative with the names of this series of lakes---First Lake, Second Lake, Third Lake on through Eighth Lake.

The morning ride consisted of many rolling hills, none really long or steep, but a multitude of them as we passed through this lake basin. Only for a short section past the town of Inlet did we find a bad shoulder where the traffic was busier, so riding was not good there. The road has tire-sized grooves crisscrossing our path. We have to watch the pavement closely so we don’t take a header. Most of the shoulder was good, but occasionally it broke apart or had these cracks to watch for. We couldn’t cruise and just look at the scenery.

In the morning we saw quite a few deer and fawns. Knowing that they were out there also slowed the riding. Didn’t want us to be a road kill!

At lunch at Blue Mountain Lake we decided to shorten our planned day’s journey. Another 48 more miles did not seem like an acceptable option. We weren’t sure anyway that there was anywhere to stay in Newcomb, so we settled on Long Lake, which was only another 8 miles. The road leaving Blue Mountain was one steep mile… one really steep mile. The remaining miles were another series of rollers, but not as steep.

I se now why this area of the Adirondacks is one of America’s playlands. There are lots of places to canoe, kayak, fish and hike. It is very scenic with all the streams, rivers, lakes and ponds. I imagine the fall is pretty too.