As we pulled out of Middlebury this morning there sat this great old restored car . . . and what a color!!!

. . .for part of the day we would be on the Scenic Route 100 Byway . . . nice cycling!!!!

. . . typical Vermont Dairy farm. Looks like WI . . .looking for a Ben and Jerry’s Factory!!!

. . .this is one of the streams that had some water in it. Many of them are empty or just a trickle. They must be bank to bank in the spring!!!

. . . we passed through Ripton and right outside of the town was this sign.

. . .we also came upon a satellite campus of Middlebury College, located in Bread Loaf. In fact, the whole campus IS Bread Loaf. Many towns have a similar named smaller town close by. Middlebury ha East Middlebury. I looked on the map for a smaller version of Bread Loaf . . . say, Bread Crumb??? or how about another sister city, Meat Loaf!!!!! Actually, I believe Middlebury College is a Christian School, thus the name Bread Loaf. They also have their own ski hill up from the school. Open to the public too!!!!

. . .great buildings on campus . . .

. . . all painted the same

. . .the whole campus was VERY tidy!!!!

After a 2,000 foot climb up to Middlebury Gap (in the west they call them Passes, here in the east I guess they call them Gaps) we took a break before our BIGGGGGGGGGGGGG downhill into Hancock. It took over 2 hours for this climb and then we descended 1,000 feet into Hancock over 2 miles with a 12% grade!!!

. . .this was ort of an unusual house on the way down . . .

We left Hancock and headed for Rochester, our lunch stop. The USFS has some funny names for their trails!!!

A lot happening in Rochester, pop.1,245. . .they even had a bike shop!!!!

. . .and some nice colors . . .

As we rolled down the road to Sharon, the kickoff town for our second big climb of the day, I came upon what I thought was a new type of memorial for someone who died in a motorcycle accident . . .

. . . ends up it was just an add for a local bike shop!!!!

. . . here was a little water fountain along the way donated by General George Lamb . . . nice!!!

. . . and a local sculptor who donation of this piece of art to thank all those who helped out with the flooding after Hurricane Irene.

Joseph Smith is from around these parts. Dairy Hill was STRAIGHT up from this sign. I think I’ll pass. We will have had enough climbing for one day just to get to our home for the night, South Strafford.

Bethel had a great entrance to their town at this T intersection . . .

big fish . . . nice!!!

. . .and Tessie’s a REALLY nice looking restaurant. Maybe a stop there next trip!!

Right before we left Sharon for the last big climb, Allison’s rear shifter cable broke again right in the shifter handle.The same thing happened when we were in Hayward. The folks there talked her out of getting a new one . . . now she will for sure. But where? . . . maybe our layover day in Lincoln. Until them she may have three gears to use along the way.

Doc Mike and David on the first rise of our final climb . . .

This is what it looks like on the screen . . . gulp!!!! By the time we dropped into South Stratford we will have climbed over 4,100 feet. BIIGGG Day!!!!

Really quiet in Paradox State Park last night AND dark!!!! I think we were the only visitors left after the weekend!!!

It’s always amazing packing up in the morning . . . everything has it’s place and eventually Connie shoulders it all as we roll down the road . . .

. . . Paradox Lake reminded me a lot of the glass like lakes we passed in the morning as we biked out of St. Mary’s back near Glacier National Park.

. . . not sure what Gokey’s sells

. . . but not sure I would want to buy it from this guy.

We had a HUGE downhill out of the Adirondacks today dropping from 1,900ft down to Ticonderoga, lake level at 200ft. Here was our last descent out of the mountains . . .

. . . the big draw of Ticonderoga is the Fort. I rode in with my US Park Service ‘Golden Eagle’ pass expecting to get waved through. The attendant informed me the Fort was run by a a ‘private non-profit’ and even though it was ‘America’s Fort’ it would cost me $23.00 to get in to tour. I voted the American way with my pocketbook and left.

. . . near the ferry was a ‘Welcome to New York’ sign. There wasn’t one when  we entered New York from Ontario.

. . . Connie and my third, and last ferry, ride on this trip . . .

. . . the old girl appreciated the ride rather than swimming across.

Ed, from New Jersey, and I were the only passenger’s on the ride over to Vermont. Allison, the ferry owner, collected our $2.00 bike/passenger fee. Ed spent the last week camping with his family. They left for home with the gear and he is biking back to New Jersey. Nice!!! Have a great ride home Ed!!!

. . . another state border crossing for Connie and me!!!

. . . first sign I saw when I entered the state, And a good one!!!

Vermont has their own bikeway system, like New York, and we will be pedaling on it for the next several days.

. . . oh, and there is LOTS of fruit available in Vermont too . . .

. . . where you can pick your own!!!!

. . . saw more and more of this at the higher elevations. IT’S TOO EARLY IN THE YEAR. Where did the summer go????

. . . we may have left the Adirondack behind, but we have the White and Green mountains ahead of us!!! GULP!!!!

. . . looking back over my shoulder was one last look at the Adirondacks . . .

. . . oh, there is a feel of ‘New England’ in the air . . .

. . . nice wire sculpture along the way in someone’s front yard . . .

. . . the higher the steeple . . . the closer to God?????

. . . as we rode up to Middlebury we could see what laid ahead for us . . .

We are staying at the Unitarian Universal Church in Middlebury . . . where we have taken over the back yard. It is a ‘green’ church and you can see the pellet tower that feeds a boiler used to heat the sanctuary with during the colder seasons!!!

. . . lots of peoples laundry didn’t dry last night . . . so yesterdays, and todays, took up three lines . . .

Laura is the office manager of the church and a  bicycle advocated who commutes to work. She made sure we felt at home and was hoping to have dinner with us but has a bicycle advocacy meeting tonight!!!!

Bernie and Rod have dinner duty tonight . . . and it smells like rotisserie chicken!!!!

Noisy night in the campground last night, typical of a State owned campground on a weekend night. Mothers yelling at the top of their lungs for their kids to come and get cheeseburgers!!! We were deep in the forest and sun was at a minimum so I stopped at the laundermat in town to dry my gear that didn’t dry during the night . . .

. . . unfortunately the dryer was too hot and my favorite wiener socks MELTED!!!!

. . . heavy fog again this morning as we rolled through town but it burned off by 10:00am . . .

. . . as we turned away from the lake this is what we saw . . .straight up!!!!

We stopped into he first town we came to Newcomb, for some refreshments. Here is a unique Idea for an old satellite dish. . . instead of taking it down, make it into a garden!!!

. . . gee, do you think this guy heats with wood . . . must be a cold winter coming!!!

. . .t he SUNY college has it’s own wildlife forest . . . nice!!!

. . . as we ride through the mountains, it’s was one range after another . . . keep climbing. Most of the climbing  today averaged 8%!!!

. . . we stopped at Adirondack Buffalo Company for some buffalo meat for tonight’s meal . . .

. . . not too long ago, the frozen meat we bought was on the hoof out in this field along with these other critters!!! There were two calves among the herd too. (WRONG: the rest of the story is the herd are ‘pets’. All the buffalo meat for sale comes from Canada!!!)

55 miles and 2,750 feet of climbing today, so not a lot of time for photos when you are facing a new version of this type of scenario after every climb!!!

We are staying in a Adirondack Park near Paradox. Paradox is so named because there is a river that feeds into the lake but when the water is high the river reverses course and flows out of  the lake!!!!

Mark’s shifter cable on his Rollhoff hub snapped today. He has a 4mm and 6mm torx wrench but not the 5mm needed to install the new cable at the hub. That means when he goes up a hill he will need to get of the bike and shift to his gear of choice, at the hub,  with a wrench!!! Luckily there is a bike shop 12 miles down the road in Ticonderoga.

Nice night in the motel . . . but 43 degrees around the breakfast picnic table this morning!!!!

. . .I don’t know it seems a little early to me for this . . . but got to reach the tourists while they are here!!!

Very foggy this morning as we headed out of Old Forge. Mark, the Oarsman Boats owner, said we will probably have fog many mornings to come . . .

Lot of deer in Old Forge. In fact you can hand feed some of them but you will risk getting a ticket!!! Lot of bear in the area too. There have been two mother bears in town with their cubs. David, Denise and Ally have also seen bear while biking along . . .

. . . this was funny . . . a fairly new sign for this resort and they are advertising PHONES!!!!!

Eleven miles down the road we came to Inlet, at the head of the lake . . . make sense!!!!

Inlet is called a Hamlet . . . things are getting very CUTSEY in this area. Haven’t seen a mobile home for several days as we have biked deeper into the park. People are REALLY big on naming their cabin properties in this area (cutesy names too)!!

Next down the line was the small village of Raquette . . . very quiet there this morning . . .

. . . hey emJay, this one is for you!!!

. . . oh yeah, we are in the mountains but seem to stay between 1,800 and 2,000 feet. But we are biking up to 2,500 feet in gain each day. LOTS of ups and down only to end up 100 feet higher than the night before!!!

. . . nice riding along all the lakes.

. . . mmmmmmmmmmm . . . looks like a regular bog????

. . . lots of money in this area . . . even the beaver lodges have satellite TV!!!!

nice, these people had a totem rather than a cutesy sign!!!!

They are calling the little unincorporated villages in this area Hamlets . . . very quaint!!!

. . . a new firewood selling concept. . . . the mobile station

. . . this was a nice one . . .

. . . and they caught on camera some thievin’ going on in the middle of the night!!!!

We met Mark, owner of Oarsman Boats, who has about 400 hours into building this cedar strip Adirondack Guide Canoe. He also makes carbon and kevlar canoes. You can see one in the background.

The Adirondack State Park is 6.5 million acres equally divided between state and private ownership. There are land use rules  guiding the the private land activites. Evidently quite controversial!!!

Nice city beach on Blue Mountain Lake . . .

When we rode into Long Lake, after 54 mile sand 2.570 feet of climbing, I saw the owner of this plane working on the engine . . . mmmmmmmm . . .not sure if I would take a ride. Rhetorical question though because he was not flying today . . . too windy!!!

Tonight we are staying in one of the New York State Parks. Saturday night and the place is hopping!!!! Jim broke two spokes today and Bernie is having trouble with his hydraulic brakes again!!!!

Hey . . . it’s another layover day already!!!

Last night we caught a shuttle and headed to the Van Auken’s Restaurant for the weekly “All You Care to Eat’ fried chicken buffet (they lost money on our group). They have a Clucking Contest every Thursday night at 8:00pm for the best chicken impersonator. The winner gets their buffet for free that night. In September, all the weekly winners are invited back for a “Cluck Off’. The winner gets $200!!!! Ends up Wade does a pretty good chicken imitation, but we were gone by 8:00pm. Some were already getting ready for bed!!!!

A bright and  beautiful morning today in Old Forge. I actually slept in until 7:00am!!!! Old Forge is like any other tourist town we have been through though, mainly restaurants and shops. This one was very tidy though and not too tacky.

Some of ‘late risers’ headed down to Walt’s Diner  . . .

. . . voted the best breakfast for the last three years. Some went to the Pancake House which turned-out to not be so good . . .

Walt’s was a hopping place and similar to many other local diners we have passed through . . .

. . . we had a hungry group (and only 12 hours since we had eaten endless chicken) . . .

. . .and a three egg omelet with sausage, potatoes and provolone was only $8.00. (as you might expect, food is a BIG deal on a layover day).

Time for a little stroll up and down main street. Only two stops interested me. This kayak shop  . . .

. . . is the biggest in the northeast with over 1,000, kayaks and canoes on site for sale. Something for everyone!!!!

My favorite stop was the Mountain Man Outdoor shop. Foe those from MPLS who may remember Midwest Mountaineering or Eastern Mountain Sports, it was that kind of place. I wandered around for an hour. It’s a good thing the end of the trip is nearing or  I would have bought WAY more gear than I need to carry. Would have been nice to have been in a place like this BEFORE the trip . . .

They also had bikes including several electric mountain bikes. I had a discussion with Dan and mentioned ‘It just doesn’t seem right to me’. He said that a actually the ones they have sold have been to hunters who use them to get further back into the woods to find that ideal hunting spot. They sold one to a guy who went hunting in Utah and used it to skid out the carcass of an deer he shot!!!

Beside everything you needed for camping they also had a nice selection of ukuleles and banjoes for use around the camp fire FUN!!!

They also had 3 or 4 of these outside for sale . . .

. . .which  looks like this when ‘inflated’. We are trying to convince Mark to trade in his Topeak trailer for one of these to pull behind his bike. He  could haul all the group gear. At $8,900 it’s a steal!!!!!

As one reviewer commented, “The GO is the camper answer for the Apple tech set: innovative, user friendly, beautifully designed and painfully expensive. It’s an excellent compact alternative to standard pop-up campers, with the bonus of lots of gear towing and storage versatility, though the price is almost double what we’d expect.”

Tonight we ate right down the street at Frankie’s who has been serving it up for over 30 years!!!

The place was full upstairs so the ‘bourbon sipping group’ went downstairs to eat in the lounge area. Subdued lighting, Frank Sinatra singing in the background and a wall off 88 different bourbons (Frankie likes bourbon!) I felt like part of the ‘rat pack’!!!

Three of us had the Veal Parmesan Special . . . and it was AND huge . . .

. . . not only did we enjoy a flight of bourbon . . . but also an after dinner flight of cheesecake !!!!

 . . . a great thanks to our local bourbon expert, Debbie, who made our time in the lounge so special!!!! (not sure what the others upstairs in the main dining room had to eat AND drink).

Tomorrow it is on to Long Lake, back to sleeping on the ground and one pot meals. These layover days are killers!!!!!

It wasn’t supposed to rain last night but about 11:30pm I could hear drip drops starting to fall on the top of my tent. Everything was button down tight so I just rolled over and went back to sleep . . . however everything was wet in the morning. Only a 25 mile ride today to our home for the night, and our layover location, Old Forge, NY. Most of us didn’t get going until about 8:30am when the sky clouded over preventing us from further drying our tents and rainflys . . .

Dan, the owner of he Brown Barn Campground, is a great guy and spent time with us last night including giving us a tour of his old barn. Here was a slab from a tree someone had placed a horseshoe around it when it was a sapling. Time marches on and the tree eventually encompassed it!!!!

Today we will be continuing to climb. We’ve climbed about 3,000 feet each of the last two days as we have gone up and down riding through the mountains eventually only gaining about 600 feet of elevation at the end of the day. But  . . . we are going up into the Adirondacks’ . . . and today we rode on the parkway into Adirondack park.

. . . lots of nice locations and scenic viewing along the way . . . and then it started to rain again!!!!. One of those rains where is it going to stop . . . or should I stop and put on my raincoat? I chose the latter, because it was began to rain steady and it was only 52 degrees!!!!

Got to remember to look down . . . which I did this morning and saw this little fella, a red spotted newt,  walking across the road . . . beautiful!!!

Did you know:

The Eastern (red-spotted) newt is a widespread, native salamander of New York State and eastern North America that can live for 12-15 years!

Larvae live in water and use gills to breathe; however, juveniles (also known as “efts”), become land dwellers and develop lungs to breathe air. The adults also breathe air, but become aquatic once again.

The Eastern (red-spotted) newt secretes poisonous toxins, and the eft’s bright coloration serves as a warning to predators.

Eastern newts use specialized chemicals to find food and attract mates.

Newts help reduce mosquito populations by feeding on their larvae.

. . . some of his relatives were not as fortunate in their road crossing endeavors!!!

. . . talk out carving out your own little piece of heaven from the woods!!! Recreational land, with no water frontage, seems to be going for about $3,000/acre.

. . . as we got further into the park there were more and more fire wood stands. Because of invasive insect issues, most parks will not let you bring in firewood from an area greater than a 25-50 mile radius. Easy money for the local’s . . . good college fund project for junior!!!

The partners of the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program collaborate year-round to stop the spread of invasive species and mitigate their impacts in order to protect these precious natural resources and the human communities they support. Guess which nationwide environmental group is a member??? Click the ‘partners’ hotlink above to find out!!!

In the Old Forge/ Thendara area there is the Adirondack Scenic Railroad (sort of like the North Freedom train rides available NW of MSN) taking passengers’ through the woods on 1-2 hours trips.

. . . as I biked past they were just hooking up an engine to a string of passenger cars . . .”All Aboard!!”

We are staying at the Country Club Motel, so named because it’s across the street from a golf course. It stopped raining and those of us who were in, sat in the chairs (Adirondacks, of course) and soaked up the sun . . . then it clouded over again!!! However, the next five days are supposed to be sunny. We will use the one tomorrow to explore the Old Forge area.

After the rain ended last night, things cooled off and the high today is suppose to only be 72 degrees . . . and with a tailwind!!!

. . . and  on a scenic trail . . . nice!!!!

The first village we visited, Pulaski was very historic with lots of brick buildings. The inn above is from 1800’s . . . and the town is located right on the Salmon River. . .

For some reason folks in northern NY seem to display A LOT of Confederate flags . . . not sure what that is all about . . .

. . . and  there are a lot of gun dealers.

We’ve seen LOTS of signs to repeal the SAFE act, too. Not sure if it is a Federal or a State of New York issue but it has something to do with gun registration.

. . . and today we are back into Amish country . . .  (funny looking buggy on the sign)!!!

. . . but all you need to do is look at the ample production of goods from Mother Earth to know you are in Amish country . . .  and NO Sales on Sunday.

I got in a drag race today outside of Orwell, NY with an Amish buggy . . . I could see it going up a hill in front of me and poured on the coal . . .

. . . I started to gain on it . . .

. . . I think I can . . . I think I can

. . . I gave the buggy a wide berth because  I wasn’t sure if a bicycle passing a horse might spook it. Glad there was no traffic coming the other way!!!

. . . yippee . . . bicycle beats horse!!!

Great name . . . ‘Huff & Puff’!!!!

This was some type of spiritual retreat center, or something like that . . .

. . .  several large buildings with dorms. They were flying an American flag and a flag with Native American profile on it. Ended up it is Unity Acres is a House of Hospitality for men. Our mission is to provide a safe, caring and permanent home for men, and particularly those who have become chronically homeless due to alcohol or substance abuse, or other factors.

. . . along the way there have also been  a number of cobblestone exterior constructed homes which are unique to this area. Most are very tidy.

LOTS of trailer homes in northern NY state, many in disrepair. Here is one that looks like it blew up!!!!

We haven’t seen windmills since we left Canada, but here was one solitary windmill. Must have been privately owned!!!

. . . oh yeah, we are back in the hills and gaining elevation. Yesterday we climbed 2,750 feet. Been a while since we did that!!!

A great club . . . with a great clubhouse!!!!

As Corvin and I rolled through Osceola, here was the ‘World Famous’ Osceola Hotel!!!

. . . I might be related to this guy!!!!

. . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ten miles from Booneville, Corvin and I stopped for a snack. I ate my second sandwich and he had a second breakfast . . . at 2:00pm. I tell ya, the kid has some funny eating habits!!!!

. . . soon we were off for Booneville, our home for the night . . . with a preview ahead of what we will be climbing tomorrow!!!

We are staying at the Brown Barn Campground a REALLY nice layout . . .

. . . lots of mowed lawn, wide open spaces and . . .

. . . a kitchen and in the bottom of the barn,  Ally and Anne are working their magic tonight!!!

. . .Mark was our grillmeister for the burgers . . .

. . . after today’s ride, Ally was ready to eat her veggie burgers RAW!!! 

. . . all the fixins’ including corn on the cob!!!

YUM . . . ice cream and fresh baked cookies for dessert!!!

Tim, from Union Grove, IA, rolled in after dinner. He rode RAGBRAI, then headed to the Missouri River and is now heading east like us. He is traveling VERY LIGHT!!!

Today would be all about putting on the miles . . . before 2:00pm. Heavy rains and thunderstorms predicted in the Texas, NY area, our home for the night!!!

Hard to believe as we rolled out of Sodus Point. It was a BEAUTIFUL morning, calm seas and no wind. But VERY muggy . . . you could tell something was coming . . .

This was a funny entrance to Wellness Garden, Therapeutic Massage. The property was listed as ‘Keep Out’ and patrolled by the NYS (New York State???) Police. Didn’t know State police provided private property patrols!!!

Apples . . . apples and apples. Around every turn there is an orchard. AND some BIG storage facilities. Things look like they are starting to rival the Washington State operations . . .

. . . this is probably the WIDEST electric Right Of Way I have ever seen. Evidently everything out of NYCity proper is know as ‘Upstate New York’. This power from Upstate New York must be being pumped down to the ‘Big Apple’!!!

Tonight we are staying in a Jellystone Park Campground. It’s supposed to be in Texas, NY. The directions sent us right through Texas and to the campground . . . I was looking for a sign but missed it. Evidently there wasn’t one to mark the wide spot in the road that only had 3 houses!!! We did find Mexico, NY though. Right between Upper Mexico, Lower Mexico and Mexico Point!!!!

LOTS of VFW’s along the way today with a variety of armament sitting outside. Mostly small mortars or howitzers. New Haven must have some political pull. No bigger than any of the other little unincorporated villages we have passed through . . . they had a full size tank!!!

. . . as Doc Mike, Mark and I entered the campground the sky to the north was black and things were starting to rumble . . . VERY LOUD. David, Corvin and Rod were already in camp . . .

. . . considering the weather forecast, this morning Ally Gator tried to find us overnight lodging in a school, church or community center. No luck. BUT . . .Yogi did have some small cabins for rent . . . so she reserved three!!! Corvin, Mark, Allen Bernie and I are in one . . .

. . . Corvin arrived first and claimed the double bed . . .

. . . the rest of us are in the ‘back bunk room’ . . .  but the place does have a roof . . .

. . . which came in VERY useful. Within 20 minutes of our arrival the heavens opened wide and there WAS lots of lightning and thunder. For a while one could hardly see the shower building located next to us. Many branches and several trees came down in the  campground. Those still out on the road looked for shelter along the way and ducked in wherever they could find a place to stay dry.

The storm lasted about an hour and there is more of the same predicted for tonight . . . one benefit is the humidity and temp has gone down!!!

Nice sleeping at the Country Inn and Suites last night with a GREAT steak dinner at Delmonico’s Steakhouse, which was right next door!!!

Easy riding out of Rochester this morning and soon, we had the trail all to ourselves . . .

. . . Lock number 34, on the Erie Canal , on the way out of town . . . and at this point I exited the canal trail and got back on a road route that would take me 50 miles to our home for the night, Sodus Point.

There are over 592 miles of canal including the Erie, Champlain, Oswego and the Cayuga/Seneca.

Outside of Rochester was this BIG playhouse for the new rowhouse/townhouse development . . .

. . . of which there were only several built. Buy one and get in early!!!!

Fun name . . .

. . . and more fun!!!!

. . . this is probably the best name I have seen on the trip for an Ice Cream store . . . makes sense!!!!

Snaren, you have some competition!!!!

Just outside of Palmyra there was a TERRIBLE accident that had just happened. There was a detour around it for several miles but I was able to jump on the trail for a short ride into Palmyra.

UPDATE:

7 Month Old Baby Survives Car Big Rig Crash Near Macedon

Geneva, NY, United States / Finger Lakes Daily News

Joe Nittler

August 21, 2017 12:23 pm

As I put my camera back in my handlebar bag the zipper broke. This is the second time it has broken since I bought it. Last time I had to send it back to Arkel for them to ‘fix it’.  Now . . the same thing happened again. I sent them an email for repair advice and I’ll see what kind of response I get. I cannot zip the top closed.

As I pedaled on, in less than one mile I came upon this bungee on the shoulder of the road . . . a MIRACLE (or at least a temporary fix!!)!!!

We are starting to see lots of historical homes today. Here was a home that that was mortgaged in 1829  for $3,000 to print the first version of the ‘Book of Mormon’. Joseph Smith supposedly found the Golden Tablets, that started the Mormon religion, just four miles south of Palmyra!!!

mmmmm . . . might be a while before this sells!!!

. . . here was a project that is sponsored by the State of New York and the Fed’s. Doing the right thing!!!

. . . hey Smoochie, this one is for you!!!!

mmmm . . . not sure what this was about. Located in NoWhere, NY, Not a car or airplane engine in sight!!!!

. . . lots of B&B’s located in this part of New York. This was BEAUTY!!!!

. . . also LOTS of roadside veggie stands. Peaches are in season!!!!

. . . close to Sodus Point we came to this War Veteran’s Cemetery . . .

. . . lots of graves of folks who were born in the early 1800’s . . . very interesting and sobering.

. . . and many veterans.

Once in camp, we met the local scientist, 9 year old Dennis, who let us use his eclipse viewing box . . .

. . . and here was the eclipse, as I saw it. The little sun dot in the lower left that as about 1/4 covered!!!

Home Sweet Home in the Southside RV Park, right on Lake Ontario.

Nice sleeping in Middleport last night except for the fire siren that went of at 9:30pm and three groups of teenagers who ran through the camp around midnight . . .

. . . these structures we have been seeing are temporary dams that allow engineers to drain parts of the canal for maintenance. When it was first constructed it was only  four feet deep. Through the years, the depth was deepened to eight feet and then twelve. Sounds like it is a constant chore to keep the silt from building up in certain areas!!!

It wasn’t long before I met the Weaver’s, from Helena, MT.  Some flew and some drove to Lockport and they are heading east on the Canal Trail and moteling it. Nice . . . lighter loads, and no sleeping on the ground!!!

Corvin and I came upon this unusual situation where the Erie Canal was actually running over the top of river that had a nice waterfalls right where the two meet. Here he is checking for the key to his lock that he thought he had lost. He rode four miles back to camp to look for it but couldn’t find it. Ends up it was right in the last place he put it . . . his back jersey pocket!!!!

. . . the water was REALLY flowing  . . . a  mini Niagara Falls!!!!

Lot more boats on the canal today . . . here was ‘Tommy the Tug’, who thinks he can  . . . who thinks he can!!!!

. . . the beauty of the canal was marred by this prison on the other side of the river. Not sure where I have ever seen more barbed wire!!!

Next town down the canal was Albion, which had a nice bike shop advertising ice cream and cold drinks . . . but it was CLOSED!!!!

I did meet Matt and Jim from Brooklyn, NY. They were heading west on the trail, having stayed near Rochester last night. Fun guys . . . having a fun time for a few days!!!

Around the next corner was Holley, which had a nice canal front camping area, with electric  . . . just like we had in Middleport. Jason, who camped with us last night there, was thinking of staying here tonight.

The community sponsored a large apple sculpture celebrating the apple business and growers in the area . . .

. . . and we did see many apple orchards today but they could not rival the number we saw early on, in Washington State.

Just outside of Holley I met Boy Scout Troop Leader Laurie and some of her Eagle Scout candidates from Pack 375, sponsored by the Brockport Elks Club. They are all  working on getting their bicycling merit badge. Along for the ride were Alex, Corac, Sam and Casey, along with another chaperone, Mandy.  Laurie started with 11 bicycling badge candidates but lost four when they learned they could earn a similar badge by swimming!!!!

Comments sections seems to have stopped working, but here is a comment from Tammy, “My son was part of the boy scout troop that you met this weekend. My son could not stop talking about how cool your trip was and how interesting it was to meet you. Thank you for taking the time out to encourage this group of young men and the adult leaders that accompanied them”

. . .and my reply, “Hi Tammy, It was great to meet Laurie and the boys along the trail. Who knows, your son’s merit badge may plant the seed for future bicycle trips. It’s a GREAT way to see the USA at 12 mph! Safety first though . . . be sure he always wears a helmet!!!!”

Some of the draw bridges we are biking by are fancier than others. This one, along with it’s tower, was in good shape. The towers are manned by gate keepers during the  day. Not sure who controls the bridges at night????

. . .  there are newer bridges constructed along the way that are tall enough they do not need to open to allow boats to pass under. They don’t really have the same charm though as the drawbridges . . .

Soon I met Kelsey and Zoot. Zoot loves to go out into the kayak for rides and runs around in circles when Kelsey gets out the tiny doggy life jacket . . . boating time!!!

I stopped in Brockport, pop. 8,366 and a college town.  A lot going on with many murals, around town, painted on old brick buildings. Nice.

. . . there were also some Canal Commission work boats docked there for the weekend. This one looked like floating ‘motel’ for workers who were out on the job for several days . . .

At this point I had had enough of trail riding (did I mention I don’t like riding on trails) and headed out on Hwy 31, that parallel the Erie Canal., for the final 20 miles into Rochester . . .

. . . where I rejoined the trail for the last four miles to our motel. This was one of the better sections of canal as it wound it’s way through the city.

Rochester has a GREAT city trail system including many bridges with scenic views. Lots of kayakers out today . . .

We were supposed to camp at a school tonight in Pittsford, about 15 more miles down the trail but it didn’t work out. Ends up the woman Allison was dealing with regarding the arrangements really didn’t have the last word on the deal . . . which was NO!!!! So we are staying at a Country Inn and Suites in Rochester . . .

. . . Corvin and I are sharing a room . . .

. . . and yes, there is room for Connie too. No stable for her tonight!!!