Day 42 – Orford, NH North Woodstock, NH – 9/30/19

Today’s Miles: 36

Total: 1,921

We woke to a cold morning.  I understand all you at home are doing the same.  It was 37 degrees and kind of foggy and we were out camping.  The sun was having a hard time breaking through the fog, so we waited until 9 or so to get going.

Cold morning.

We had about 15 miles of relatively flat riding and then we started climbing.  It was a good climb at a reasonable grade but it went on for about 12 miles.  It didn’t end up too badly.  I feel like I like climbs like that much more than the short steep climbs.  We were rewarded with a great downhill afterwards!!

We met up with Dave tonight.  Dave was the tour leader on the Atlantic Coast trip we took in 2011.  That is actually the trip I took when I met with Tim and Nancy. Dave’s girlfriend brought him here and we all went to dinner and are now planning the next few days of riding.  We will end up at Dave’s home Wednesday to finish the trip.

The leaf watchers are showing up.  It is quite pretty.

 Crossed the Appalachian trail today.

Day 41 – Bethel, VA to Orford, NH – 9/29/19

Today’s Miles: 41

Total: 1,885

It seems that these Sundays just keep rolling around rather quickly.  There were a bunch of churches that had 9:30 services around the bed & breakfast that we stayed at last night, so I picked one right across the street and went to it.  It was kind of a non-denominational church and they were very welcoming.  I think I was close to the youngest person here.  They had this lady come that travels around to many different churches and performs these personifications of women in the Old and New Testaments.  She did Ester of the Old Testament and it was really good.  She dresses in character and talks 1^st person and I learned a lot about Ester.  They had a pot luck brunch after and invited me, but I felt I better hit the road.  I told them I was LDS and they told me about Joseph Smith’s birthplace that was really close and a few details about the place.  I was already planning on going there, but thought it was neat that they would let me know.

Ester at church.

I did ride to the Joseph Smith Memorial.  It was up quite a hill.  I ditched my panniers and hid them behind a building and then made the climb, but still!!  We were thinking of camping at Camp Joseph up there.  That would have killed us with our panniers.  It was a great experience to be there and I am glad I was able to go.  Great spirit there and enjoyed seeing the rock foundation where the house was and the monument that was erected in 1905.  The downhill was great except I had to brake so much.

The foundation of the home Joseph Smith was born into.

The rest of the day was a nice ride.  Again riding by rivers and streams and beautiful hills.  We did ride through some covered bridges today.  That was a first.  Quite a bit of climbing today.  Some of these climbs are steep!!  Our last climb today was actually nice.  It was a decent climb, but the grade was good. That makes all the difference.  Hoping in the next few days we see more good engineered grades.  I am sounding pretty pathetic, I know.

New State, New Hampshire!!

Day 40 – Lake Dunmore, VA to Bethel, VT – 9/28/19

Today’s Miles: 41

Total: 1,844

Had a good night last night.  I think I nearly prefer the tent if the weather is good.  Last night was just the right temperature and so I slept well.

We had a nice ride today; even considering the 1,500 ft climb that we had to make first thing in the morning. And, yes, I pushed my bike at times.  I just get really tired of breathing like a maniac, so when that happens, I just get off and walk the bike for a bit.  I know bicycle purists are never supposed to walk their bike and I agree, I am not a purist.

Went through many small Vermont towns today.  What is neat about riding in the states we have been going through is just looking at the old buildings and all the history that has taken place here.  We are in Bethel, VT tonight and this particular town has been around since 1797.  There was monument in Randolph, VT that we rode through today that had a listing of the men who were killed in the Civil War from that town. There is just so much more history here.

These two pictures are from a store that we stopped by today.  There was just a bunch old old stuff in their that looked very cool. The old cash register is still used.

I did make a stop at a bicycle shop today.  I noticed the other day that my rear wheel had a slight wobble in it.  I stopped at the shop to see if they had the time to true the wheel which the repair man just said to bring it in and he had it done in about 20 minutes. I think it would have been fine through the trip, but it is something that would have needed to be anyway.

We are in a bed and breakfast tonight.  We couldn’t find any other accommodations in the area for tonight.  It is kind of an older B&B and smells a little old as well.  We do have a roof over our head and a soft bed, so all is good.

To me not quite as colorful as NY.

Bethel, VT

Day 39 – Westport, NY to Lake Dunmore, VT – 9/27/19

Today’s Miles: 47

Total: 1,803

I woke today with a bit of a bad attitude.  It was a beautiful morning, but I was just feeling like I have had enough. It could have been some of the steep climbs that we started the day with.

It really was a nice day of riding.  It is a bit hilly, but we knew that is the way things would end up on this ride.  Each day from here on out will be at least 2,500 feet of climbing.  I just need to correct my attitude and enjoy the day.

We did cross Lake Champlain into Vermont today.  Down lower in the lake is a bridge that crosses over and that is where we made the crossing.  We passed through Middlebury and Tim wasn’t feeling too well and we were looking for a motel to end the ride there.  There is a college in that town and it was parent’s day and there is not a motel to be found, so we were forced to ride the extra 9 miles to the campground.  I hope he is feeling better tomorrow.

Lake Champlain.  See that bridge in the distance.  That is what we crossed.

Selfie???

We had tortellini, bread and salad for dinner tonight.  We have had that quite often. It is easy to carry and easy and quick to cook.  I guess that is why it is a favorite.

It is going to be a bit cold tonight.  I understand that at home in Burley, Idaho, they are expecting snow in the next couple days, so I am not complaining.

Just some of the sights today.

Day 38 – Saranac Lake, NY to Westport, NY – 9/26/19

Today’s Miles: 47

Total: 1,756

We woke to nice skies, but the weather was promising rain by the 11:00 hour.  We got some breakfast of bagels and hot chocolate and tried to get on the road early to get miles behind us before the weather hit.  We rode the 10 miles into Lake Placid and had our second breakfast at McDonald’s and then hit the road again.  It started raining on us as we left and not too far out of town it started coming down pretty hard.

There was a downhill we arrived at and we reached speeds of 35 mph or so with the rain and it didn’t take long to soak us.  Not only soaked, but that rain kind of hurts when you are moving at 30 mph.  We took some cover at a house and then the owner said a nice restaurant was only a quarter mile down the hill further.  We rode to the restaurant at the bottom of the hill and by then we were chilled and spent a few hours in the restaurant warming up and ended up getting some lunch there. Gotta buy some food if you want to use the restaurant as shelter.

The weather broke and we were in this pocket with rain all around and we made another effort to get to our destination.  We were actually quite lucky it didn’t get us again. During the day we climbed about 2,000 feet, but dropped 3,855 feet.  We did have some great down hills today. We are on the shores of Lake Champlain tonight.  Again, we are in a motel due to the weather.  It started raining again tonight and we just felt that we would never get warm if we tried camping.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a decent day, but it does look like this last week may be challenging weather.

The downhill ski jumps at Lake Placid.

Always nice to see this sign on a bike. This was right before the heavens opened with the rain.

Pretty sights.

Us in the middle of the rain.  See the blue pin close to the bottom?

All decked out in rain gear. 😊

Lake Champlain.

Day 37 – Saranac Lake, NY – 9/25/19

Today’s Miles: 0

Total: 1,709

Today was a rest day.  It was nice to take the day off, but in some ways we wondered if we should keep moving because tomorrow we are supposed to get rain again.  We didn’t think too much about that because the body was screaming for some rest as well.

I used the morning on catching up on work from the office.  There are a few things that I need to take care of for clients and when we are not riding and I have a good wifi connection, it makes it nice to get it done.  Dean & Jepper offered us the use of one of their cars, so we took that offer and visited Lake Placid, where the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics were held.  We will end up riding through there on our bikes tomorrow, but wanted a little extra time to look around.  It was nice to ride in a car.  Didn’t have to work and breathe hard climbing hills or anything. We did get caught in some construction on the way back and it took us 1 & ½ hours to get 10 miles.  We rode that same mileage on the bikes the next day in an hour.

Hockey rink where the "Miracle on Ice" was played in 1980 that US beat Russia 4/3.  Do any of you remember that? I was on my church mission in Seoul, Korea, so I completely missed it.

The part of the oval that you see down below was the place that they had speed skating races and such in 1932.  In those early years much was held outside.  They did still have the 1932 rink inside the same building as the above rink was in.  It is still being used.

Dean & Jepper made us a nice meal of stew over potatoes for dinner and we spent the night talking about various things.  It got so late that I didn’t finish this post, so finishing the next day.  I slept on the couch for the two days and enjoyed their hospitality.  They were great hosts and I am amazed at how much they offered us.

Some view off the hill Olympic Park is on. Big hill clear in the background, Whiteface Mountain, is where the ski racing was.

Day 36 – Long Lake, NY to Saranac Lake, NY – 9/24/19

Today’s Miles: 44

Total: 1,709

Again, we were very lucky to have had the motel last night.  It rained periodically through the night and even this morning it rained.  We just kind of waited it out and left about 9:30.  It was a beautiful ride today, but the weather was not on our side.  It wasn’t terrible, but there was just a mist in the air all day.  It would actually start raining at times; not hard, but enough that we wore our rain jackets all day and was not a great day to take pictures. Sorry.

We are riding the Adirondacks right now.  The park is 6.1 million acres and includes 10,000 lakes and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams.  We are in Saranac Lake, which is considered the capital of the Adirondacks.  I really can’t tell you what that means, but we do have a day off tomorrow and maybe will find out a little more about it.

We are staying with some friends of Tim and Nancy tonight.  They are Jepper & Dean and have been great hosts.  We met Jepper about 25 miles before the end of our ride in Tupper Lake at the hospital where she works. She offered to carry our bags and we would ride the rest of the way.  I did unload 3 of my 4 panniers and that made for a great 25 miles.  I do have to figure out how to lighten things up a bit. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but am probably carrying 60 pounds of stuff.

We ate dinner with our hosts and had a great night talking with them.  Jepper is a nurse and Dean spent 30 years as a Presbyterian minister and then decided to go to medical school and has spent the last 9 years as a doctor.  He still acts as a minister for a small congregation nearby. It has been interesting to talk with them this evening about their church, medicine and their family.

I am sleeping on their couch tonight and have a nice fire burning right beside me.  It will be nice.  Goodnight.

Day 35 – Old Forge, NY to Long Lake, NY – 9/23/19

Today’s Miles: 48

Total: 1,665

Ok, I know you are all getting tired of these posts that are not changing much from day to day. It was a much better day of riding today from yesterday.  Just not so many steep climbs.  However, we did have one doozy.  It was in the last 12 miles of riding but a climb of 500 ft at once.  It was steep.  Had to stop midway and take a rest.

Pretty quiet riding today.  The roads were great.  We did ride one stretch that there was quite a bit of construction going on, but the tarmac was new and smooth.  In fact, I think cars were not on that particular stretch due to the construction which made it very quiet; except for the occasional asphalt truck.

The colors in the hills are spectacular and we haven’t seen the best yet. The photos that I post do not give it justice.  I am excited to see if the change will continue as we do.

We are staying at the Shamrock Motel in Long Lake, NY. We thought we might end up riding in the rain today, but the storm just skirted right over the top of us.  However, the evening was forecast to have more storms so we decided to get the motel.  It was a good thing we did.  About 4:00 it just poured and has continued to rain hard all evening.  We have been pretty fortunate to guess the times needed for a motel.  Tomorrow morning rain is still forecast.  Hoping it doesn’t delay us too much.

I liked the way this menu worked.

Day 34 – Osceola, NY Old Forge, NY – 9/22/19

Today’s Miles: 56

Total: 1,617

We started the day with a great downhill.  It was steep and a little too much loose gravel, but I did hit 38 mph.  There wasn’t going to be many places to eat through the day, plus we ran short of oatmeal so we stopped and had an early breakfast after riding for 2 miles.  It was a great breakfast of hash, eggs and toast, but it took them forever to get things done.  We knew we had many miles to travel and some hard hills as well, so we were anxious (at least I was).

We had nice quiet roads today, but it was hilly.  All through the day we were up and down.  In fact a few times I just got off the bike and pushed.  I think I could have made it with the gears I have, but I just didn’t want to. The temperature was really close to 80 degrees and the humidity was high which didn’t help things either.  The sweat would run down into your eyes and actually sting the eye.  Anyway, enough complaining.  All I can say is I am beat.

I got separated from Tim and Nancy and there were no eating places, so had a lunch of granola bars and water. It seemed to do the trick.  I was hungry for dinner. We again had tacos that we cooked in camp.  You can’t go wrong there.

We are staying in a campground again tonight.  I think I am breaking a record for consecutive campground stays.  This is number 6.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain.  I am hoping it will go around, but it looks to long going across the country to miss us.  I need to get a little Sunday School in my day, so I am heading to the tent to read a little. Church was just too far away to make it.

A river we rode along.  You can see the colors coming.

Again, just so you can see the colors coming.

An old railroad hotel that is currently  a bed & breakfast type place.

Day 33 – Port Ontario, NY Osceola, NY – 9/21/19

Today’s Miles: 29

Total: 1,561

We had a nice surprise today.  We had written on our planning sheets that today would be a 51 mile ride and it turned out, as you can see, only 29 miles.  I don’t know how we got things messed up, but a nice surprise. 

We have left the lakes behind.  Lake Ontario is the last of the Great Lakes that we will see.  We had a pretty steady climb today heading toward the Appalachian Mountains.  It was up and down, but we gained about 1,300 feet today.  It was a good climb in that there were not that many downhills and the elevation gained remained a gain, if you know what I mean.

I saw the funniest thing today.  We were climbing a hill and going rather slow in doing it, but we passed this kid, maybe 7 or 8, that looked like he had been playing in the mud.  He was covered in mud or moss or something and was buck naked.  He was holding up this big frog and said to me as I passed, “I caught a frog!”.  I said back to him, “You caught a frog?”, and then his sister comes out and yells at him to get in the house.  Anyway, it was funny how proud he was of his catch.  He probably stripped and headed into the creek by his house and had the time of his life.

Wish I had a picture!!

We also passed this river with people standing shoulder to shoulder fishing for the returning salmon.  It looked crazy.  It looked like a good way to get a hook in the back of your head as others were casting.

I think you can see all the fishermen in this photo.

Since we had a short day, we did stop and do laundry.  I was in deep need of it, so that was a good thing to do with our new found time.  We also planned the days left in our trip so that we could look into return tickets home. Kind of weird to be planning and knowing the trip is coming to an end.  I do think I am ready.  Miss my Carey Ann.

We have been seeing Amish since the start of this trip.  Yesterday I saw a farmer planting fall wheat with his horse team.  Kind of neat.

Day 32 – Sodas Point, NY to Port Ontario, NY – 9/20/19

Today’s Miles: 68

Total: 1,532

There is not much to report today.  I was worried about the hills that we would encounter today, but they seemed not to big of a problem.  There were hills, but I was just patient with them and tried to not make them an issue.

Passed many apple orchards.  It was tempting to just walk over to them and grab an apple, but I thought better of the idea. Many of them are honeycrisp apples.  I love those.

Today, Nancy had a breakdown with her bike.  The shifting cable broke.  Tim and Nancy were behind me so we just communicated about it through texting.  She ended up getting an Uber X and took her to Oswego that had a bike shop.  Tim rode to that city, they met up and then rode to our campground tonight.

We are at the Selkirk Shores State Park.  We are staying in the group camping area.  No one else is here, but the park is completely full.  I guess it is the weekend and everyone is trying to get one more camping trip in.

Lighthouse at Sodas Point

A view of Lake Ontario and another lighthouse in the distance.

Some really nice homes in this area.

Kind of pretty, but things just always get old, don't they?

The sunset tonight.

Day 31 – Bushnell’s Basin, NY to Sodas Point, NY – 9/19/19

Today’s Miles: 48

Total: 1,464

Wow, I have been out one whole month.  In some ways it seems to have gone fast and in others it seems I am living the same day over and over again.

Ended up feeling kind of weird last night without Tin & Nancy there.  All these thoughts of what if this and what if that.  Anyway, woke and all was fine.  Didn’t have any of the cooking stuff so ended up going to Tim Horton’s for breakfast.  I’m kind of liking their breakfast egg, bacon & cheese biscuit with a chocolate doughnut and orange juice.

It was a 16 mile ride on the Erie to get to Palmyra.  Wow. It has been wonderful to ride the Canal.  I kind of wish I was riding it all the way to Albany.  It is just so pretty and relaxed without dealing with traffic and hills.  Palmyra is the turnoff point, however and we headed north to meet up with Lake Ontario.

I enjoyed my stay in Palmyra.  I always wanted to go to an LDS temple on the bike and do some work there.  I showed up and the temple was closed for two weeks cleaning.  I guess I will have to see at a later time if they will accept someone who comes in on a bicycle.  I know they would, but I wouldn’t be able to dress like you normally do going to the temple.  I enjoyed being there and then went to the Sacred Grove which is right there.  I enjoyed my walk through there as well.  It seems I always enjoy that place.  Just the quiet, peaceful, spiritual feel to it.  I ended up thinking of Morgan and her mission here and my Mom & Dad and their mission here as well.

The LDS temple in Palmyra.

The Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith's vision took place.

The recreation of the log home the Smith family lived in in 1820 when Joseph had his experience.

Can't see it real well, but Church and Main Street in Palmyra.  There is a different denomination church on each of the four corners.

A home in Palmyra.

I said it on Instagram, but I just want you all to know that I have a testimony of what took place in these woods.  I really believe that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.  I do believe we have a Heavenly Father and a Savior who love us and cares for us. I believe Christ has restored His gospel on the earth again.  If you want to know about it, I would love to talk with you.

Met back with Tim and Nancy in Palmyra and we were off.  It felt kind of good to be on the road again.  That is one thing about the Erie Canal is that the riding is a little dusty with the dirt tract.  It doesn’t seem to be kicking up dirt, but it is.  We rode along some beautiful orchards and homes and are on the shores of Lake Ontario tonight.  We are at an RV Park where the people are so nice here.  We had people talking to us like crazy and bringing us food.  They are just extraordinarily kind here.

Another house we passed.

The sunset tonight over Lake Ontario!!

After the sunset, pie for desert. 👌