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| Niagara Falls from the Canadian side |
We crossed back into the USA at Niagara Falls. We spent quite a bit of time viewing the falls from the Canadian side of the river before heading to the Rainbow Bridge to clear customs. We had been told by the tour company that we should use the pedestrian walkway to cross the bridge with our bikes. Wrong yet again. We got yelled at by Customs and Border Patrol that we should have used the car lanes on the bridge. Anyway they let us through, but made sure we knew they weren't happy about it.
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| A series of locks on the Erie Canal at Lockport, NY |
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| Riding the Erie Canal Tow Path |
For the next couple of days we did relatively short rides (50-60 miles) along the Erie Canal which are practically dead flat. I'm not quite sure of why the route was planned this way since the next 8 days were much higher mileage and lots of climbing as we headed into the Adirondack Mountains.
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| A covered wagon for 5... with a bathroom and shower |
A group of 6 of us have been trying to avoid camping as much as possible. It is either raining or hot and humid. John was able to rent this covered wagon with air conditioning in one of the RV parks we stayed in. He invited me and the 3 Amigas to share it with him which worked out great. Our sleeping arrangements tend to be pretty fluid if there is the opportunity to avoid pitching a tent and have AC.
One day we completely rerouted the end of the ride to go to Oswego, NY which was 14 miles away from the scheduled camp to stay in a motel. Dorothy lives about an hour away and her husband drove to the camp to get all of our overnight bags and bring them to the hotel. He spent the night and took the bags back to the camp for us. The next morning we rode on to meet up with our group prior to the first water stop. This stuff is driving the tour operator crazy, but at this point we really don't care.
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Riding in the rain with Jocelyn and Dorothy.
Over the past few weeks we have been pretty consistent riding companions |
However, two day ago, we were in our second day of riding in the Adirondack mountains and it poured rain most of the day. A few of the group called it quits at the lunch stop on a 74 mile ride. Our group of 6 had booked a hotel in Long Lake, NY which was about 2 miles from the campground we were scheduled to stay in. Much to our surprise, the tour company dropped off those who had stopped at lunch along with our bags at the hotel. We were in shock that they were so cooperative. Then after getting to the campground and seeing it was a mud hole, they drove two more of our group back to the hotel to get the very last room.
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| Mortars and cannons at Ft Ticonderoga overlooking Lake Champlain |
It rained most of the night at Long Lake and well into the morning. We tried to wait out the rain, but it just looked like it was going to go on until at least noon. So we all took off on our bikes and got wet yet again. Luckily the rain did stop about 10AM. We stopped for lunch at the Paradox Brewery. By the time we had finished lunch, the sun was out for our 24 mile ride into Ft. Ticonderoga, NY and a much needed rest day. We all had bags of soaking wet riding clothes to wash!
Today we start our final 5 riding days of riding. Again, it will be some of the longer rides and hardest climbing days, plus some more rain in the forecast. We are all looking forward to finishing the ride. It has been quite the challenge with the weather (snow, rain, thunderstorms, heat and humidity) and smoke from the Canadian fires. But our final group of 9 riders have formed some pretty close bonds, so it will be hard to say goodbye.
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| Route map as of July 31 after 69 days on the trip, at Ft Ticonderoga, NY |
Current Stats:
Location: Ft Ticonderoga, NY
Miles Ridden: 3770.0 miles
Ft of climbing: 131,777 ft
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