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!

Ride Across the USA: 7/31/10 -- Normandale to Long Beach, ONT -- 61 mi/ 2847 total

Overcast all day with wind not much of a factor and just a few rain showers. Most of the day was spent riding along the coast which was nice. However, the roads were rough and curvy so it was hard to make any good time. A Chevy Classic group was out and about with their beautiful cars, just tooling around. There were probably 25 - 30 of them. The Canadians are really celebrating their Civic Day, where you don't work! At this CG you just park/pitch wherever you want, especially since you are dry-docking. And if you want a fire? Just have one anywhere it fits your location. One party with the blaring speakers was still going on @ 2:30. They are very proud of their lawns and we decided they must have a love affair with lawnmowers because they mow up everything in sight. My mother would love it! The one picture I took today was of Lake Erie and I posted it yesterday.

Ride Across the USA: 7/30/10 -- Port Stanley to Normandale, ONT -- 58 mi/ 2786 total

Another view from our Port Stanley stealth camping .... K kept trying to hitch a ride with any pleasure boat that went by. Funny guy....


Check out all the seagulls on the barrier

Tucked right back in there out of everyone's way. The opposite direction is where the beach was located.

Bart and Sarah from Belgium. What a funny couple and they were pretty loaded .... as she said, it is their home for a year.

One more look at Lake Erie

Cooler this morning and a beautiful sunrise. Just seemed like we couldn't make any progress and for me, the day was just tough. You have those, so just work through it. We didn't have much traffic which is always nice. We met Bart and Sarah from Belgium. They started in NY and have plans of seeing "the Americas" by going through the USA, then down through Mexico and Central America, bypassing Columbia by ship and ending up in Argentina. They will be gone for "however long it takes", probably a year. They roll their own cigarettes, were really interested in our maps and were quite a hoot. J and H begged their way into the last spot at the Hidden Valley CG. Monday is a national holiday for Canada, making for full everything! We plan to ride tomorrow, Sunday (K promised me we would stop for church) so we can get back to the USA and have Monday as our rest day. One party last night was still going at 1:30.

Ride Across the USA: 7/29/10 -- Walpole Island to Port Stanley, ONT -- 82 mi/ 2728 total

Migrant workers picking cucumbers. I visited with a boy of maybe 11, his little sister clinging to his side. She had on her dress and they both wore hats and were barefoot. This is the rest of their family at work but he stated he wasn't old enough yet. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of them and as we pedaled off, I couldn't help but think of the "Grapes of Wrath".....


The tobacco business is alive and well in Canada! This is flu tobacco, not to be confused with black tobacco, etc. We later saw workers removing the blooms off the plants.

Want a quiet place for lunch? This must be it!

Stealth camping along Lake Erie. I couldn't post all the pictures of this area, but it was a beautiful view looking out to the water.

Here's part of what we were looking at. It was oh, so peaceful.

Low 80's, unfavorable winds and it just seemed like a really long day. However ..... I nailed my first dog today with the spray which acts like mace does on humans. I called it the "across the body back-slant" shot. K was behind me and thought the whole thing was pretty humorous. I now feel confident that I can handle the next dog that might come after me. I'm sorry all you dog lovers, but I really hate being chased by them! We were all concerned with how we were going to connect with each other due to lack of cell service but we just asked J and H not to go any further than Port Stanley. We ended up stealth camping behind a maintenance area looking out to Lake Erie. It was an absolutely beautiful spot, not real hot and w/ gas we were able to cook our evening meal, sitting outside to eat, enjoying the good fortune we had.