Ride Across the USA: 8/9/10 -- Old Forge to Long Lake, NY -- 57 mi/ 3269 total

Lake #2 in the Fulton Chain Lakes.....

The beauty of nature is everywhere

Lake #7 in the Fulton Chain Lakes

What a deal and way to multi-task: bathing and laundry both at the same time!

Did I mention that we are in bear country? So Saturday night we have this drunk going through the CG yelling "bear, I see bear" and then all the other campers start screaming. John Wayne once said: Life is hard; it's even harder if you are stupid. Figure that guy has had a rough life! Also had rain during the night.
Went to the UP church in OF Sunday and they really had a lively choir and the sermon was good!
Beautiful ride in the Adirondack mountains today. Between Inlet and Blue Mountain Lake we were often riding by lakes. The Fulton Chain Lakes make up most of the lakes in this area and there are 8 connected together. The 2 longest hills were coming out of OF and Blue Mountain Lake -- they were the real deal. The day was not too hot but very humid. We are staying at Eaton Lake CG which is north of Long Lake. We are sitting here looking across a lake at the mountains. Just a fantastic view. No hook-ups and we don't want to use our water as we might need it tomorrow, so the clear water of the lake provided us our clean-up. It was just a little nippy!

Ride Across the USA: 8/7/10 -- Osceola to Old Forge, NY -- 53 mi/ 3212 total

Can't you just hear the rushing of the water?


Pedaling along in NY -- looking at the mountains in the distance.

Lots of interesting cemetaries along the way, this one just outside of Boonville, NY on Moose River Road.

Black River ...... our favorite hike in the Colorado Rockies is to Black Lake ....... now we have this beautiful river to store in the memory bank.

What better place to have a lunch break than alongside the Moose River.

The first 15 miles to West Ledyard was about as perfect for bicycling as you could possibly have. Upper 70's, sunny, no wind, good roads and great scenery. Today we entered the Adirondack Mountains and it is nice to see clear water rivers and streams again. There was a tough stretch that we had to walk one hill, then on hwy 28 we had wide shoulders. Met John and Denise from Oregon, 79 and 77, who started cross-country 10 yrs. ago but had to quit. They picked it back up this year, starting in Fargo. Also, Brian Bush, a local biker who stopped because he likes to talk to touring cyclists. We needed a break and the grass was fairly short alongside the highway, so we pulled off the road and stretched out for a spell. This is the life! Old Forge is a real tourist town and boasts the state's largest water park. Staying at Old Forge CG and we are very conscious of bear activity in the area.

Ride Across the USA: 8/6/10 -- Fulton to Osceola, NY -- 56 mi/ 3159 total

Small view of the Salmon River Reservoir


Couldn't get the door open any further and you can't see the sink to the left but........ 3 steps up and there you are. This is, indeed, the throne!

And then to the next door you have the shower. This view is looking down at the boards that are covering the rotten floor so you had to be careful where you stepped. The other gray stand is not fastened down, so when you stepped on it, be careful. Bright side? There was a bench to sit on (who would want to?), 10 hooks to hang your clothes on and a shower that worked that you could control the temperature. What a deal!

We stayed on state highways today vs. AC route. I'm about brain-dead keeping all the roads straight as they don't normally go by numbers, just names if you can find the sign. Partly sunny to cloudy, good winds most of the time and great surfaces with shoulders except for the last 5 mi. to Osceola. We just really had a good ride today. Then it was 3 mi of hell to Cedar Pines CG, north of Osceola. We walked up 3 long hills and we thought it was worse than anything in the Cascades (I'm sure it was just the end of the day thinking). CG is interesting with mostly seasonal campers and I wish I had been taking more pictures of the bathroom facilities as this is probably the winner so far.

Ride Across the USA: 8/5/10, Thurs -- Pultneyville to Fulton, NY -- 55 mi/ 3103 total

This doesn't show it clear enough, but this house (which is a B and B) is made of cobblestone


There are actually 3 boys tending to their chores. Why don't I take pictures of taxpayers picking their own blueberries???

This is living ........ rural, central New York style ...... there was a wishing well off to the left.

And most places have a backyard pool, this one with its own platform to jump off. There was another smaller pool behind the house as well as a suana just sitting in the yard. Picture doesn't show it, but the house needed a lot of work. Oh well, they have the gazebo to relax in!

Woke up at 4:30 and it started to rain and it poured. We just waited it out and got on the road at 9:00. HUMID!! and we planned less miles today because of it. the AC route has you going every which direction and we're to the point, give me a road with shoulders and get us there sooner, please. Didn't take a picture but the apple trees are just loaded. This area is full of fruit and vegetable farms. Fresh peaches, blueberries, etc., then throw in the veggies and there are market stands everywhere -- we have been eating good!!! By the way, be sure to wash off anything before you eat it. We were riding by an apple orchard today and here comes the farmer with the pesticide spraying everywhere. All we could do was hold our breath, duck our heads and then use our drinking water to wash ourselves off. Ugh. Lots of hills today, one that went for over 5 miles. Stayed at Hughes RV Park where we had a glimpse of Lake Ontario and bathrooms full of spiders. If there was a plumbing hole in the floor, it was never covered and you just looked into the ground below. Plywood just doesn't hold up well with moisture.

Ride Across the USA: 8/4/10, Wed. -- Holley to Pultneyville, NY -- 73 mi/ 3048 total

Boating life along the Erie Canal .... brought back images of our boating trip in France


Watching life along the Erie. A mother and her 3 sons rented kayaks here and you should have heard one of them that whined/cried the whole time. Some entertainment we had.

This is what it looks like riding along the Erie Canal ..... actually pretty boring

Different look at the Erie Canal

Just another big body of water............this was at Pultneyville where you could read about the Brits attacking and a house that was hit with cannon was refurished and still standing. A really neat town.

Hot and sweaty by 7:15 as we are breaking camp. Sunny, 90 degree and humid with swirling wind, mostly out of south which we think is good as we have about 20 mi going north later in the day. We were going to ride the road for a while instead of the trail but a detour changed our minds real quick on that. So, we rode 50 miles on the limestone Erie Canal Trail, dirty and a lot harder than road riding. Stopped at Palmyra and we both drank a 32 oz bottle of Gatorade. Not a good idea for me. Out of town and at the top of a hill that I couldn't climb, a state trooper stopped to ask if we were OK. That's a first. Rode a little more, stretched out in someone's front yard and then limped on into Pultneyville. By the time we had gotten off the trail, the wind had ceased and the only comfort was to ride for a breeze. Pultneyville is a neat, historic town and had our first look at Lake Ontario. We went over the 3,000 mi mark today -- K says it is time for an oil change!

Ride Across the USA: 8/3/10 -- Lewiston to Holley, NY -- 58 mi/ 2975 total

This is what you do on a day off ....... lay around in your swimming trunks, & talk on phone!


J and H after their tour of Niagra Falls ...... they were really pooped

The Erie Canal-- trail is on the left side and this is where the mules used to pull the boats, guided by teenage boys

The lift bridge at Medina

Overcast early morning turned to sunny, 88 degrees and humid w/good wind. Took some time to get to Lockport and we hung around for quite a while. We have such a fascination with locks, how they work and even more interesting with these historic locks, on how they were constructed. We stopped at Middleport and the same cafe is still there, just wish it was breakfast time as we remember how good it was. Seven years ago we rode the Erie Canal trail so today we road Hwy 31, route 5 for bikes, as it is a historic byway. We hopped back on the trail at Albion -- huge, gorgeous old homes all along the way. I had just come up the bank from dipping my feet in the canal and saw the van -- good thing as we had missed the turn-off road which made us miss the CG for the night, Red Rock Pond. And forgot to mention, we were chased by a CAT on Sunday. No dogs, just a cat. Imagine that. Fresh peaches for supper tonight along with spaghetti.

Ride Across the USA: 8/1/10 -- Long Beach, ONT to Lewiston, NY -- 70 mi/ 2917 total

We were able to view the rivers flowing towards the Falls. You could see the mist from some distance back.

How do you describe all this beauty and power?

K with the Canadian Horseshoe Falls in the background

Can you find me in the crowd? This was after it had thinned out a bit but it was still crowded for manuevering bicycles.

When we first saw Niagra Falls we took the Maid of the Mist boat excursion which I would recommend everyone do. The boat is in the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. I thought the rainbow was a nice touch......

Most of day was spent on trails but you had to keep searching to find them, especially between Port Colbertson and Fort Erie. It was hot with a head wind but by riding trails we were able to be in the shade quite a bit. Great trail to Fort Erie, once we found it. Since we decided to ride on Sunday, K promised me that we would try to find a church which we did, right off the trail. The Grace Church of the Brethran had a guest speaker (we get to hear one more) and he made it last for 1 1/2 hrs., wanting to do even more. The rest of the trail was right along Niagra River and it was gorgeous. It took us right down by the Falls, right through the crowds, etc. We headed on north to the Lewiston-Queens Bridge to cross back over to the USA. Once we found our way onto the bridge it was pretty easy going and ONLY took 49 min to cross before we could get to customs. We thought we would have trouble with the route but it went pretty smooth. KOA CG was 3 mi off route. We got in by 7 and H ordered pizza. Can you believe it is August already?What a great day!