Wolcott, New York to Conway, New Hampshire
Thursday, August 6, 1998 - Day 56 - 102.6 miles - to Wolcott, New York.
Again we had rain during and night and woke to dripping of rain from the trees above. It was foggy and cool. We stopped at Geneseo for breakfast. At breakfast David grumbled at me for being slow into town. I did not take it to heart as I know he was having a bad morning, his glasses needed repairing (loose screw) and he had already bought one repair kit earlier in the tour and left it at home, when we passed through. Any case the best I could do was to stay calm and just let him grumble. I asked him were he wanted to camp tonight and I would ride at my own pace and meet him there. After breakfast and a few miles down the road we were as one again.
Being poky, especially into a town, has to do with lots of things:
- The person in front making a traffic signal while the second person missed it.
- The person in front knowing that they are going to turn left and seeing that it is safe, makes the turn while the second person still has to look for traffic.
- For me, entering a town was a wonderful part of the tour, since I had not ever been off the West Coast this was all new to me. The houses, gardens, businesses and people were all worth a look.
- Of course I had more games that I played each day, such and finding a coin and my bandana hunt. This was all part of the fun for me.
- I was generally slower than David.
After breakfast we continued north to the vicinity of Rochester, NY where we picked up Hwy 31 along the Erie Canal. David was ahead of me and I could not see him. Off to my left was what looked like a bike path and I knew how much he like them so I got on it. This path was running along side the famous Eire Canal, famous when I was in high school, as we studied it, why I don’t know. There were other riders coming towards me and they said David was ahead. I rode on and no David. When I reached the next town and there was no David, I rode on, but much slower as we have never gone this long without regrouping. Soon he caught up from behind, I still don’t know where he was or how I missed him.
I found my first bandanna today, it was a blue one. I started the bandanna collection in 1979 while I was working in Burghausen, Germany. One day as I was riding my bike home from work, I saw this thing on the side of the road, it looked like the Bavarian flag. It was a blue and white bandanna, so I picked it up. Some 19 years later I have over 155 in my collection, mostly red. I would not have believed that it would have taken 56 days to find one. On my West Coast tours, which are between 7 and 18 days I always find 3 to 6 bandannas.
We stopped for a snack about mid-afternoon, I had a large Flurry and a drink of their water. About 45 minutes later I was sick. I could not focus my eyes and my stomach said “I’m not happy.” We had just entered the town of Lyons, NY. I yelled to David that I need to stop. We stopped and I sat on the steps of a building for a short time. Soon I felt good enough to continue. The stomach was still unhappy but I could focus my eyes. I don’t know what caused this problem. David said that he felt the same way several days ago, himself. The next morning I was ok.
Somewhere around this time of our tour we had a couple of funny dog experiences. We were cruising in our usual formation, David up front and me a about 20 bike-lengths behind. I could see a tiny dog running across his yard towards David, and launched himself off the four or five foot-high embankment. He landed feet down on the run and continued the chase. David caught this out of the corner of his eye, but just continued at his same pace - 15 mph. I almost died laughing. It was a circus-type performance.
The second incident followed this by a few days. Same riding formation but a different lawn. Again David saw this in his peripheral vision, but for me it right in front (like being in the movies): a big shaggy dog running across the yard, tripping and tumbling in the roadside ditch. He somehow didn’t break his neck, got up, and resumed chasing David. David continued to cruise but soon noticed an inordinate amount of commotion behind him. A fully grown and barefooted women was chasing her dog and yelling at him. The three of them paraded on in front of me. I was amazed at her speed but felt sorry for her bare feet. David finally stopped dead and watched her catch and throttle the poor mutt. She apologized while dragging her dog back home. I could not stop laughing.
Being off the Adventure Cycling map, we had a harder time finding campgrounds. This day we found one near Wolcott, NY, just south of, but not within sight, of Lake Ontario. We camped at Cherry Grove RV park and campground. Dinner was in Wolcott, NY. The campground had nice showers and a recreation room where we watch RV travelers play pool and drink beer. Yes, I told them all about our tour.
Friday, August 7, 1998 - Day 57 - 61.0 miles - to Pulaski, New York.
We were ready for an easy day after a string of four hard days (100, 90, 101, 103 miles.) So, we set a goal for Pulaski, NY at the SE corner of Lake Ontario. This was 60 miles, back on the Adventure Cycling route, and at the threshold of the Adirondacks.
Selkirk Shores State Park was full but the Bears Sleepy Hollow RV park next door was nice and accommodated us. We had ignored a few rain drops this day as they just didn’t seem committed. Traffic was very committed, however, as it was a Friday and there was a heavy stream of cars from the south (NYC?). Another negative, for David, was that none of the pay phones in this area seemed to work although their money input slots functioned OK. On the positive side was, a good restaurant near by that served my favorite ice cream (black raspberry) and the campground had a good shower and laundry room. We used all of this.
For weeks we have ridden by field after field of corn. David’s said that there was one ear of corn per stalk. “No way,” I said, when we planted corn at home we always got three or so ears per stalk. We stopped many times to visit the corn fields during this tour and sure enough David was right, each stalk had one ear. I guess my backyard corn was some kind of hybrid. I also learned there were four kinds of corn that we rode by, can you guess them? Answer in the summary at the end of this page.
Saturday, August 8, 1998 - Day 58 - 100.0 miles - to Inlet, New York.
We woke to clouds but there were sun breaks. The night was dry. The day turn out to be a great day, sunny and warm and less humid than the passed days. We would enter the Adirondack mountains of New York today, and followed a string of lakes where there was not a lot of heavy climbing. Our two days in the Adirondacks were characterized as scenic, not too busy, and with more pleasant weather. We were now out of the Alleghenies and in “real” mountains. However, they seemed far more benign. They went up for a long time and then they went down for a long time. Not the slow hard trudge followed by the crazy rush, repeated infinitum. We talked about those NE Pennsylvania and SW New York hills. It takes 30 to 45 minutes to climb one of them and 5 minutes to descend. Allowing a few minutes of level ground at the crest and in the hollow means that 3/4 to 90 percent of the day’s time is spent climbing. No wonder we got tired.
Just before lunch we met another couple on single bikes, Bob and Margaret from Boise, ID. We had heard that there were bikers ahead of us including a tandeming couple. They were going from Seattle, WA to Nova Scotia, and left Seattle on May 16. We had lunch with them and rode a short way after lunch together. At lunch we found out that they had met Scott and the girls. Margaret gave me one of their business card that were made especially for their tour. She also mentioned that Scott had showed her someone else business card who was also going coast-to-coast this year. I gave her my card and she said “your the one.” Again, it’s a small world. If you want to visit their web-site it’s at (http://www.webshingles.com/thomas). We would not catch the tandem couple, but I would meet them on the train home.
We camped, a few very hilly miles off the route, at Limeklin State Park. Since it was a summer weekend in New York we had called ahead to see if they had room, they would save us a place. When we approached the sign-in booth, one of the rangers took us aside and gave us direction to our campsite. He would not take any money. The showers was a good ride away and on our way back in the dark, David in front, we rode up the steep hill to out site, off to my right I heard someone say “that dude sure can climb.” I stopped and said “who’s there.” It was two guys and a girl, sitting along side the road smoking and drinking beer. I was a little nervous as they look pretty tough. We talked and they were blown away with out tour and ages. They had the typical response to our tour “I could never do anything like that, I could not even make one mile.” I agreed with them, but went on to tell them that if they really wanted to they could. All they had to do was get in shape, get a GOOD bike and ride around the block once, on the first day. The next day go around the block twice, and so on. I think I saw one of them actual put out his cigarette. They were, while tough looking, nice guys.
We were warned to put our food in the lockers that were in each campsite, because a black bear had been in our area the night before. The bear had hit the campsite that was just two site up from ours.
Sunday, August 9, 1998 - Day 59 - 104.7 miles - to Ticonderoga, New York.
There was no bear last night. The new day brought sunny clear blue skies but it was humid again. It was a long day but we finally had some downhill that was worth it. This part of New York is canoe country, as a lot of passing cars had one on top. We completed our crossing of the Adirondacks today with better scenic views of hills and lakes, and a fast descent into Ticonderoga, NY near Lake Champlain. We were tired with 105 miles on the clock but were also energized as tomorrow was not only another State but another “world”, New England.
Another thing I noticed was that when you came up to a sign that told you that a town was ahead it could be miles ahead. Out west I was use to having a sign just on the outskirts of the town, so it was just half and miles or so and you would be in town. As was approached Ticonderoga , NY, there was the sign so I clocked the distance, 10 miles later we pulled into town.
It was a long and hard day and with the heat and it being as humid as it was, I was ready for a motel. I called several but the prices were just to high, even with one giving us a break. I found New York to be on the expensive side, even the postcard were $0.50 each. We have been paying $0.25 or 5 for a $1.00 (except in Henry, IL). So after eating dinner we rode 4 more miles to Brookwood Park Campground. It wasn’t very pretty but they let us camp in a grassy area that was closed to the showers, home sweet home.
Monday, August 10, 1998 - Day 60 - 80.57 miles - to Sharon, Vermont.
It was overcast, humid and looked like it was going to rain as we got on the road today. We rode by Fort Ticonderoga but it was to early in the day for them to be open so we rode on. Soon crossed into Vermont by ferry boat. David seemed more affected by the humidity than I was and lack any pep. Almost immediately, the map gave us a route decision: short on a gravel road leading to a covered bridge or long on all pavement through a fair size town. We chose the gravel and it along with covered bridge were quite OK. The route took us to East Middlebury, VT and over the Green Mountains to Handcock, VT where we lunched at a Inn, Old Handcock Hotel, that dates back to 1788, for a west coast person, that is old. The climb, over the Green Mountains, was tough and we were totally covered with sweat.
After lunch David stopped at a bank in Stockbridge, VT and we got separated. It stated to rain and I ducked out of it under an old building. This first shower was light and soon I was on my way again. I came to a place that looked like a shortcut but since David was somewhere behind me I stayed on route. Before long the rain started again, but this time it was heavy. My road now joined with one that looked like the shortcut. I rode on in the rain but this road, a main highway, had heavy traffic and some of the trucks just came to close, so I found shelter under a tree, along side the road. It was poor shelter so I rode on, by now the rain was a little lighter. But not for long, and I had to find shelter again. This time it was on the front porch of an old house next to the road, so I could keep an eye open for David. Again the rain let up and I rode on. On the left side of the road was a restaurant, the first business for sometime. I pulled in and noticed the name of the restaurant was “Tozier’s” the name of my wife’s stepfather. I knew that they came from the New England area, so I took a picture and inquired if there were any Tozier’s around. I was informed that the place had been sold several times and there were no Tozier’s. Within minutes David pulled in. He had taken the shortcut back up the road and also sat the rain showers. My guess is that every time I stopped David stopped. We took and break and I have another Black Raspberry ice cream cone. This would become my standard ice cream, it was good.
The rain stopped and we were on our way. As we pulled into Sharon, VT the skies look threatening again and we knew that the next town was a long climb away. So we agreed to stop, short of our plan for the day. There was no campground and only two motels. We chose “The Columns Motor Lodge” built in 1804. The motor lodge had been modernized but still showed it’s colonial atmosphere. After dinner David became more energized and went for more miles, it had also cooled down, so he rode another 22 mostly riverside miles to clock up 103. Our room as very nice and quite large. There also a dish of hard candy in the room, a nice touch.
Tuesday, August 11, 1998 - Day 61 - 75.8 miles - to North Woodstock, New Hampshire.
During the night the rain started and it was heavy. We woke up to rain, so we walked across the street for breakfast. About 10 AM the rain let up and we hit the road. Since it still look threatening to the north we decided to take a detour. Instead of heading north up and over the hills we headed south to West Lebanon, NH and then north to East Thetford, NH. You can never tell but even through we rode more miles the time might have been the same. Our route was flat and along the White and Connecticut rivers instead of over the mountains. It was a nice route and we passed through Dartmouth Collage. Soon we were back on the official route, at Lyme, NH.
Lunch was in Thetford Hill, VT, yes we crossed back into Vermont for lunch. We rode back across the Connecticut River into New Hampshire and continued on the Adventure Cycling route, dodged a short rain shower at, of all places, an ice cream stand, and pulled into North Haverhill, NH. There, we discussed strategy and decided that North Woodstock, NH over a small mountain was within reach. David figured that we would climb a shoulder of Black Mountain and then cruise downhill to North Woodstock, NH.
Well, we climb the shoulder as expected and descended to the Wild Ammonoosue. Problem: the Wild Ammonoosue was flowing in the wrong direction! We weren’t going to cruise anywhere without first going up a long climb, the top of which was way out of sight. David was kinda meek over this map misreading but, fortunately, it wasn’t steep, the road was quite, wide and very smooth (newly paved), and we climb easily (and long). I give David a 99.99 percent grade for his map reading abilities, it’s no easy job. On the climb, we crossed the Appalachian Trail and made a short stop where the Appalachian Trail crosses our road. When the company that I worked for was going to move from Los Angeles one of the possible sites was August, GA. I had just finished hiking The John Muir Trail (1977) and wondered what the Appalachian Trail would be like. I bought two books which contained many stories of hikers who hiked the trail. Last minute the State of Oregon made the company an made them an offer that they could not refuse, so we moved to Oregon. I wanted to take just a few steps on this famous trail, so we stopped and took a picture.
At the top, Kinsman Notch, there were surprises of both sight and sound. The sight was the road plunging into the abyss between the mountain we were on and the series of White Mountain ranges facing us. The sound was one short grunt from me: “Wow” as I disappeared down that abyss. What a great downhill, 2 miles of 12%, I hit 46.5 and David hit 51 mph, a trip record and lifetime record for each of us. David said that he felt like Chuck Yeager in the X-1 as he caught up to and passed me.
We found a campground, Maple Haven, just outside of North Woodstock. We found some high ground and put up our tents. This campground had a lot of low spots and with it looking like it could rain we wanted to be sure that our tents was not in the path of the water. North Woodstock is a real tourist town with lots people and nice restaurants. We had a nice dinner, while sitting outside on the patio. We were very happy with our day considering the weather and our late start.
Wednesday, August 12, 1998 - Day 62 - 42.28 miles - to Conway, New Hampshire.
Last night, at 12:04 AM there was a wonderful thunder and lighting storm and at 1:00 AM the rain started. I was happy to be on high ground and in a dry and warm tent. Again we had a late start, leaving at 11:30 AM. One very big advantage of being one your own tour and not a commercial tour is that you can set you own pace. I will learn later that the GTE big ride, which left Seattle three days after we did and was on a route just south of us, had more problems with weather than we did due to having to meet and stay on a schedule.
Ahead of us was the White Mountains, NH and Kancamagus Pass, 2855 feet. Would the White Mountains be as steep as the Green Mountains, VT? David would tell me that on an earlier tour to this area of New Hampshire (Pinkhan Notch) resulted in the thought “Dave, you’re getting too old for this.” Now here he is again, older and with a friend who is really old. Fortunately, we were more experienced and just too determined to let this climb get in our way. It wasn’t bad even with a rain storm chasing us down the eastern side to Conway, NH. The last four miles into Conway it rained. We sat out the rain again this time in a Pizza place. After the rain stopped, we decided to stay in Conway, David went for a haircut and I agreed to meet him at the Youth Hostel.
The Youth Hostel was really nice and had laundry equipment and a place to clean up and oil the bikes. We had a room to our selves. Dinner was at a fish restaurant across the town’s old covered bridge. Tomorrow was Maine, our “there.”
Summary
This week we rode 566.95 miles, for an average of 80.99 miles per day. We crossed a lot of mountains this week and was looking forward to a downhill run to the Atlantic Ocean, sure. The end was now clearly in sight.
The four types of corn that we rode by are:
- Field corn
- Sweet corn
- Seed corn
- Corn for oil