Albany, my beacon - plus pictures

I'm in Albany, NY wrapping up a rest day - meaning a day of running around doing errands, but resting from riding my bicycle. One of the projects was shipping home all my camping gear - from here it's only a few days to Boston, and I'll be staying with friends the rest of the way. The tent, sleeping bag & pad, stove and cooking stuff added up to almost 20lbs, which I am delighted not to be hauling over the Berkshires... but I'm sort of wistful, already, about not sleeping outside for at least a few weeks (and I'm already thinking about going camping in Marin within a couple of weeks of getting home...!)

I spent a week crossing upstate New York - could have done it a couple of days faster, but there were several delaying factors. One thing was that it rained every day from last Saturday until Thursday. I managed to take shelter one wet morning in the gazebo of the Erie Canal park where I had camped, and had my breakfast under there while it poured outside, which was actually pretty fun.

I managed to stop once at a historical site, in Seneca Falls, where they held the first national women's rights convention to launch the movement to win the vote for women. The whole canalway is a series of historic sites across the state, but I found it hard to break the momentum of riding to visit many of them - especially with a bum knee, and in the rain. I'm planning to do a lot more of that as I head into Boston, so if anyone has ideas for things I should see - let me know!

I also took a day out to visit my Danko & Kukuk relations-by-marriage in Ithaca, which was very exciting and satisfying, and then a day near Syracuse camping with Jon, who came from Minnesota on his motorcycle.

For the past few days we've been riding off on our different bikes each morning, then meeting up in the evening - after my 50 miles and his 350 (riding in the Adirondacks or to Vermont). It was a good week to get tendinitis, or whatever it was - given the short mileage, relatively flat terrain, and rest days built in. My leg is feeling a lot better and I've got that antsy, I-want-to-be-riding feeling - which is a great way to tackle the Berkshires into western Massachusetts, then down into Northampton, where I'm heading tomorrow (Tuesday).

I loved being around the Erie canal, despite abandoning its bike path (which was mostly mud, had many gaps where you had to be on the road anyhow, and was was confusing to navigate). Many of the old locks have parks around them, including some where you can camp out - which were especially pretty early in the morning.

Once the rain stopped I really liked riding on the country roads that make up most of the cross-state Bike Route 5. Besides the nice roads, though, I have found upstate New York to be economically depressed, fairly grim, and the culture not very friendly... and despite the great bike route, I have seen very few people on bikes in the past week - until today, in Albany.

I had yet another series of I'm So Lucky moments related to a sliced tire - it held over two days of riding on it (with an under-inflated tube) and then blew out while I was in a bike shop, of all things, pumping up the tire! So now I have a new rear tire that is very spiffy, and continue to be grateful for all of that.

Here in Albany I'm staying with a friend who gave me the idea back in April that I could skip the mountains and ride across the flat part of the state to see her - yay, Deborah! (Not to mention all the salad, corn on the cob, and tomatoes from the garden...)

And now I'm almost done. I will be in Boston by this Friday, incredibly - well, the whole trip is still hard for me to believe, so reaching my destination will only be the culimination of the incredible. Then I head to St Paul for a little vacation, and finally I'll be home on September 11th. I'm starting to get a little homesick, in a good way - though I think I've turned a little feral, and I'm not sure what it's going to be like being indoors so much everyday.

And here are some pictures! http://picasaweb.google.com/106458209676650999720/NewYork#

4,000 Miles!!

I'm in central New York - and just west of Syracuse yesterday I hit 4,000 miles. I almost missed it but managed to watch my digitial odometer click from 3,999.9 over to 4,000 - but still can't believe it.

More good timing & luck: I'd already scheduled taking a couple of days to camp, rest & not ride my bike (though I always miss that... still love riding the bike!), and right now I'm struggling a little with either a pulled muscle or tendinitis, which is really irritating. I hope a couple of days break will improve things but either way I'm so close to the end I'll just ride through - it's just a lot harder to make it up these lovely rolling hills.

It's been raining all week, which is kind of fun to ride in but much more complicated for camping. Hoping the forecast for sun comes through, to ride into Albany and then Massachusetts - I'll be done in just over a week from today!

Back in the Empire State

Greetings from New York! After being stymied all morning I was just able to post a picture of the pedestrian & biker entrance to the US from Ft. Erie, Ontario Canada. It's so civilized, really, to be able to stroll across a bridge to get where you're going (unlike the border between Detroit and Windsor, which bikes are prohibited from crossing). Except earlier today the blogger posting thing kept crashing when I tried to load it...

That fed a temporary conspiracy theory among those of us vulnerable to such tendencies, because I got hollered at by the customs guy for taking photos at the border. You're not allowed, although there are no signs that say so - you're just supposed to know that danger lurks everywhere, apparently, disguised as a Beverly-Hillbillies-style bicycle tourist carrying a little digital camera. Since it just worked from here in Seneca Falls, I guess it must have been a problem at the place in Newark where I was before.

Had to show the bike path along the Niagara River in Buffalo (remember those lovely grassy parks on the Canada side?) - but to be fair, the Erie Canal towpath is really lovely.







But to then be honest, it's also muddy and full of puddles, and really slow to slog through - so mostly I have bailed on the canal path and am following Route 31 - which is also the NY State Bicycle Route 5 & even has official signs (first like this that I've seen anywhere) - although it's impossible to find a map of the route...

It's raining again today - third day in a row. I hope to camp at Cayuga Lake State Park tonight but it might be too wet... I just dried out my tent but it's starting to get a little raggedly from traveling wet - only a few more nights of camping on this trip, I just realized - so I want to take advantage.

It's been hard to find the internet, again, but I hope to have access on Tuesday night (in Ithaca, visiting Sheila, David, DC and Paul!)... we'll see!

And pictures, eh

Thought I should post my Canada pictures now - it was hard to capture the scope of the corn, I have to say, not to mention that specific agricultural scent... but I got a lot of other stuff. Besides the corn, there were tons of blueberry farms - and a few stands with pie, where naturally I stopped. The route followed coastal-ish roads - meaning Lake Erie was anywhere from a quarter-mile to a full mile away, which actually was a bit disapppointing. Thursday it got more interesting: river port towns in the morning, a functioning steel mill, and then riding right along the coast for a few hours. It was a glorious day, just about a perfect day of riding, but that's hard to capture on a little digital camera...


Also - I forgot to say: I saw yellow arrows again, from my Cycle America friends! I actually saw a few on one short stretch of road in Clare, MI last week, pointing them (and me) to the Pere Marquette bike trail. That was a total surprise and a blast.


I had an idea I might see arrows somewhere around Niagara, because I knew they were going through here - but I actually encountered them a couple of days ago on very rural roads near Port Stanley (a river port not far off the coast), and then followed them until Dunnville, when they turned north and I kept heading east. It was both fun and actually really moving to see them - knowing that group is reaching the Atlantic ocean and the end of their ride tomorrow (Saturday) - it must be so exciting for them, and yet also maybe hard, to be done... So often when I've found the arrows I have felt the companionship and affection for people in that group. Anyhow, here's to the Coast-to-Coasters! I'll get there soon!

And here are the pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/106458209676650999720/Canada#

Joy Ride

I think this whole thing could be called a "joy ride," but today I got to leave all my stuff behind in a motel room and ride up to Niagara Falls, and that was especially fun. It's been a really lovely day - sunny but not too hot, after last night's thunderstorm (!!) cleared out the humidity. (I was safe in bed, yay.)

It's easy to make fun of the tremendously cheesy development around Niagara Falls - but the falls themselves are truly awesome. As in, awe-inspiring. I'm really glad I took the time to see them, and to just sort of hang out along the river.

I also noticed that the US side of the river doesn't seem to have so much green space... hmmm.

Canada, picnic table & grass; US, smokestacks...

I seem to spend a lot of time at laundromats, which is where I am now. I managed to ride across Ontario in just four days but used every stitch of my clothes to do it! So I'm stocking up on clean laundry, new tubes of toothpaste and sunscreen, and snacks to get me launched on the Erie Canal bike path starting tomorrow. I got to ride about 15 miles on car-free bike paths yesterday, which was fun, and I'm looking forward to the whole network of canal pathways. (Though I admit that today I rode on the road, instead of the bike path - I felt like going fast without my heavy load!)

I'm also re-routing myself, to end up in Boston instead of Maine. I realized since I'm going to visit my friend in Northampton, Mass. I might as well just keep heading east. What's shocking is how close Boston is! I'm going to get there in just a couple of weeks.

So I'm slowing down a little... dawdling across upstate New York so I can visit family in Ithaca, camp in some gorgeous state parks with Mr. Duncan (who's riding his motorcycle over), and hang out in Albany with Cyndi's sister Deb. Then I guess I'll dawdle across Massachusetts and around Boston (and Hull, and Cambridge...), and then some more lolly-gagging in St Paul before I end up back in SF. I guess that will be my summer vacation before getting back to work...!

Starting tomorrow I'll be camping again, so might not be online again until... maybe Tuesday, in Ithaca. Ithaca! Wow. This all still seems so impossible...!

O [ntario] Canada

I'm writing this from the library in Port Dover, Ontario. I was so excited to have access to the internet. One of the things I space out about while riding alongside corn fields is, What should I put on my blog? (Right up there with my next snack.)

This picture shows the Detroit River, as seen from a lovely park in Ontario. The opening in the distance is where the river reaches Lake Erie.



As I got further along and could see across the actual lake - that's what you see on the US side! (And that's Ohio, BTW not Detroit.)
US >>>>>










While as you ride into Ontario, this is what you see: a whole different approach to generating electricity. (Not to mention the solar clothes dryer.)
<<<<< Canada

Lest you think I am heavy-handed with visual editorializing, I have to say these windmills are everywhere! I've been riding in Canada for three days now and have seen them multiple times each day. On Monday, heading from Windsor eastward (along the northern shore of Lake Erie) I also saw lots of cool signs about bikes & cars sharing the road. Those disappeared by Monday afternoon, but people all along the route have been friendly and giving me room - none of these roads have shoulders, is the thing, and they're pretty narrow, so it takes some thought to make space for everybody.

The route I'm following is really lovely... the first day & a half of riding it was completely flat, and I had strong winds pushing me along, which was super fun. I found myself wondering, Am I going to get out of shape for climbing hills, if it's like this the whole way? How am I going to cross the mountains to get to the east coast?

Not so worried about that anymore (well, maybe about the mountains...) - today I hit hills. And the road is taking them the old-fashioned way: straight up. Or worse: straight down, with a hairpin U-turn at the bottom so you have to come to nearly a stop before the turn, thus losing all your momentum before climbing back up. It's mostly fun, except for when the wind's against you (as it was, bizarrely, most of today) or there's a big truck trying to pass - but it's going ok on the whole.

Now I'm looking forward to hitting Niagara Falls on Friday!! And crossing back into the US on Saturday, to hit the Erie Canal bike path... (Let's hope getting back in is less of a hassle than leaving: it took forever to get through immigration between Detroit & Windsor...)

I've also been thinking a lot about my destination(s). I've decided to end up in Massachusetts instead of Maine, but don't know exactly where or how I'm getting there... So if anyone has ideas about that, please let me know!

My sister rocks!

Well, both my sisters rock, along with my brother, his wife and all her family, my kid, aunts & cousins... etc.

But I have to give special thanks to my sister Peg, who has not only been supportive about my trip for the past several months but brought some friends into it (who routed me to their cottage in Hope, and then into Ann Arbor), and has spent the past few days driving up to meet me, carrying my stuff, finding a hotel & lunch spots along the way, and putting me up at her house. And driving me around to do a million errands. And is driving me to Canada!

Thanks!