Month: October 2022

We wake up and open the camper to walk outside. It is cold as we walk to the house. Eric is cooking breakfast, egg and French toast. We visit and relax after the morning meal.

I get myself and the bike ready to roll out the last 26 miles of our 8,159 mile 7 month tour.

Riding out the last mile was a double edged sword. I left for this tour with Nancy in a snow storm. We stopped at the Cummington Creamery for lunch and their oatmeal raisin cookies on March 26. Almost 7 months later the tour is over and I stop at the Creamery for an oatmeal raisin cookie.

As I eat the cookie I reflect. I really do not want the tour to end. Rationally, I know it’s time. The weather is turning towards winter. I can now settle in and enjoy the achievement. At 70 I left Delaware with my dear friend CK to bicycle down the coast to the Chesapeake Bay. From Yorktown, VA I rode the TransAm bicycle route across the country to Astoria, OR. Nancy and I then spent five days in Washington Park in Anacortes,WA. before cycling east on the Northern Tier Route to Buffalo, NY. I then rode the Erie Canal Trail to Waterford,NY. I crossed the Hudson River to ride familiar country roads to Massachusetts and back home in Ashfield.

I let it warm up a bit before riding.

I have 73 miles to get home late in the day and finish the tour. Or, I have 47 miles to Dalton, visit with friends and finish a day later.

Stopped in Dalton for the night. Tomorrow will be a short ride home.

A cold damp and raw start in the fog. Two hours later I could take off the heavy jacket and gloves.

I began riding on the Old Erie Canal Towpath within miles from town. Today I head toward Schenectady where my friends Ray and Deb lived before moving to Texas. I rode many miles with Ray in the area back in the early 2000.

The Old Erie Canal-way is rich with history. Lock 23

The Erie Canal Trail through Schenectady.

I arrived at the Visitor Center next to Lock E2 where the Mohawk River joins the Hudson River. Tonight the rain is coming and lasting through tomorrow. I will spend tomorrow here enjoying the town waiting for the rain to pass.

Today the high was 48° with wind. Two large cities are on today’s route, Rome and Utica. I got through Rome without problems.

In Utica I lost the marking for the Erie Canalways Trail. I got onto Route 5s. I have been following this route closely most of the day so after leaving the city limits I began looking for my route. Within five miles I began seeing my route on the gps screen and I could now get back on route.

Nancy is camping at the campground at Lock 15 in Fort Plain.

No rain today but it felt cold. Syracuse was slow going through with zig zag crossing for the Erie Trail bikeway so 2 crossings at every intersection.

Today is a 75 mile day to Lock 21 where Nancy is camping. The weather is changing, and cold weather is on the way.

Heavy cold rain and riding in a very muddy Erie Canal Trail.

Half way through today I came across a cyclist coming my way. We talked a bit and discovered that we met in Kansas when I was westbound and he was eastbound. Today we met on the Erie Canal Trail. I am eastbound and he is westbound. I wonder what are these odds?

The Erie Canal Trail on this section is a mix of maintain gravel around the towns and single track in the remote areas. The distance to Rivers Crossing Campground is 54 miles. Nancy and I are now meeting up every night.

I woke to a beautiful sunrise on the Erie Canal. 

Today started like many others have this past 6.5 months. I’m riding to my next sleep spot and this is where today becomes a treasure. Unknown to me, Ken and Joe of Team Eliminator had been planning a surprise.

They drove to Rochester and rode the Canal to meet me on route to Pittsford. This is the highlight of this tour, I can’t imagine what could top this! These two friends rode with me to Pittsford. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We ended the day at Jay Saylor’s home where I will stay an extra day with Nancy. The Saylors gave us a tour of Fairport that enclosed a whiskey tasting at the Ironsmoke Distillery.

Today I left as the sun lit the day. I will need to get through Buffalo to pick up the Erie Canal Trail.

Riding into Buffalo and then getting onto the local bike routes to get into the city to connect with the Erie Canal Trail was a clusterfuck of road construction. Multiply detours, some marked and some not, took all my concentration.

Once I found and began the Erie Trail I relaxed and left the city behind. I rode into Lockport and visited the Lock and met some cyclists that eagerly listened to my story.

A tour guide at the Lock offered a few suggestions as to where I might set up my tent for the night. I found a very nice quiet spot along the canal to end my 82 mile day.

My sleep last night was restless after trying to find a decent motel 70 miles away. All the parks are now closed in NY. All I could find was two sketchy motels.

I decided to stop in Dunkirk at the Clarion with fewer miles hoping to get a good night’s sleep.

I now have two long days, an 80-ish day to Lockport followed by a 75-ish mile day to Pittsford.

It rained last night and into the morning with wind and cold. The start wasn’t early and it wasn’t warm yet. It was never warm today but I did have wind at my back.

I’m making my way to the Erie Canal Trail through Buffalo, NY. All the State Parks are closed. The motel choices really suck. $500 a night for a decent room and $120 a night for a flea ridden rat infested dump. No Warmshower either. I hope when I get away from the city and get to Lockport  things will change for the better.