Day 21: August 14, 2016 - Medina to Rochester, NY

The Court Street Dam in downtown Rochester, NY

It's amazing the difference 24 hours can make. Today's ride into Rochester, NY was within 5 miles of yesterday's distance, but the temperature was 7-10 degrees lower with cloud cover, and that made all the difference. We also used NY 31 instead of the Erie Canal towpath. It was nice to ride the towpath yesterday, but honestly, if you've seen one mile of the canal, you've seen them all...besides, the road is faster.

If you look closely there is a tree stuck in the dam flow. 

We arrive at the Towpath Motel before 1PM and were in our room within 15 minutes. The hotel manager was so taken with our story, he insisted on getting our picture and asked John to write down the basic facts for him. He is sending it to his family in India. Imagine two old people traveling by bicycle so far!

Day 20, August 13. Niagara Falls, ON to Medina, NY. Back in the USA!

Margaret added some photos to yesterday's post. Go take a look if you haven't seen them.

Our heat wave continues, so we set our alarm for 05:30 to let us get an early start. We want to get in all the miles we can before the heat gets bad. Nature did not cooperate, however, and delivered a major thunderstorm that delayed our departure by 45 minutes.

At any rate, after breakfast at Timmy's (Horton, we are in Canada after all), we rode down to the Rainbow Bridge, and crossed back into the good old US of A.


View from the Rainbow Bridge crossing back into the US.









Our route was on US Bike Route 5 for the first part of our day until, after about 27 miles, we got to Lockport on the Erie Canal, where we had a very nice second breakfast. Here we got on the Erie Canal tow path, and rode the next 12 miles into Middleport. The tow path parallels the canal. It is the path that the animals (donkeys? oxen? Don't know) that pulled the barges on the canal used. It is now surfaced with packed limestone, which is not a bad surface for us, but does slow us down by 1-2 mph.




































Erie Canal.





Margaret's view.


There was a race of some kind also being run on the tow path this morning, some runners doing over 25 to 60 miles. I honestly don't know how they can run in this heat and not get dehydrated. Some carry a couple tiny water bottles. We went through over 5 liters of water each in 3 and a half hours today.


The last twelve miles to Medina were on NY 31E.The road had good pavement, little traffic, and no real hills. Life can be good.

We are in a motel tonight; we still have some beer we bought in Canada. Margaret had an inspiration and ordered delivery pizza. Tomorrow we ride 45 to 50 miles into Rochester.

Day 17-19, August 10-12. Port Colborne to Niagara Falls, ON, and a double rest day.

We arrived in Niagara Falls during a heat wave, temperatures in the 90’s and high humidity. Like much of the mid-west, eastern Canada is going through a drought. They have burning bans and have not had significant rain in a month. 

Even with all that, the Falls are beautiful. Yesterday we took a 6-hour tour to see the sights. Walking behind the Falls allowed us to step out on a platform and see the flow of water close up. We looked over the whole of the city, as well as both sides of the Falls from the Skylon Tower. The Hornblower Cruise (aka Maid of the Mist) was definitely the highlight of the day. There is something about being so close to the tremendous power of 150,000 gallons, 1 million 200,000 lbs, of water, flowing over the Falls not per hour, not per minute, but per SECOND to make you aware of your insignificance. 

The Niagara Falls actually is three separate waterfalls: two on the American side, and one on the Canadian side. Even so, going to the Canadian side is your best choice. Nicer city, good choice of restaurants, and $1.00 US gets you $1.30 CAN. Additionally, the US has neglected its side and, at least when we were there, it is more expensive in the US.

Having said all that, we intend to return and do the American side someday.

Zappi's - a great spot for pizza. If you're in Niagara, this is a must :)

Day 15 and 16, Aug 8 and 9. Dunnsville to Port Colborne for a rest day

After sleeping a bit late - see Margaret's comments on "more than a few local beers..." - we left our Warm Showers hosts a bit later that usual, and got on the road at about 09:00. Once we crossed the Grand River in Dunnville, we angled south to parallel the Lake Erie coast. Today was a beautiful ride. Given our behavior last night, it also didn't hurt that it was less than 30 miles.

Wind farm at about 20 miles in. Seen from Long Beach where Margaret took a dip.

Our goal for the day was another Warm Showers family, Janet and Steven Rivers. They turned out to be a lovely couple with extensive cycling experience. They were also kind enough to host us for our rest day.

Port Colborne is a city of over 18,000, situated on the north east end of Lake Erie. It is the southern terminus of the Welland Canal which gets ships up and around Niagara Falls and into Lake Erie from Lake Ontario. The canal goes right through the center of town, and it is a little odd to be sitting and sipping a beer at a sidewalk cafe while a thousand foot long ship goes by.

Lift Bridge is open.

Here comes a ship.

Still coming.

Still coming

Now she's done.

Tomorrow we ride to Niagara Falls, ON, and a double rest day.

Day 13 and 14, August 6 and 7: London to Scotland to Dunnsville, Ontario

United Church of Scotland

Heather, Eric

Sunday and Monday were absolutely beautiful. Saturday evening a front blew through London bringing cooler weather with it. The 54 miles to Scotland flew by and we arrived at our host's home before 1PM. Heather, Eric and their 2 sons were lovely hosts. The boys proudly showed off their new bikes and welcomed us to their home. We sat down to a delicious dinner of pork, potatoes and the largest ears of corn I have ever eaten. We enjoyed swapping cycling stories.

Julia and Nancy our hosts in Dunnville

On Monday we rode to Dunnville and the home of sisters Nancy and Julia. Once again we were welcomed with open arms even though their home is in the throes of renovation. Knowing that our ride to Port Colborne would be less than 30 miles, we enjoyed many laughs and more than a few local beers into the night. In the morning we set out for Port Colborne.



Southern Ontario has a lot in common with Grand Rapids, MI. Once outside of the larger cities the land stretches into farmland: corn and soybean for the most part. Small towns like Scotland and Dunnville dot the countryside, people are friendly, and inquisitive. One difference, however is the the many wind generators and solar panels we passed. I have never understood the "wind generators are ugly" crowd. Both John and I think they add, not detract from the landscape. As far as sound goes, we were unable to hear them as we rode by. Once, seeing a generator close to the road, we stopped and listened. I thought I heard a quiet whoosh of wind, John said he detected a low mechanical hum. Neither sound was loud enough to be distracting and certainly could not be heard easily. Having ridden past small oil drilling rigs, I would prefer a wind farm in my neighborhood.

Day 12, August 5. Rest day in London, Ontario

We often intend to explore a rest day town, and in a sense we do. We walked to a nearby mall to shop, but did not find what we needed. We walked here and there for food and drink; Canada has state stores, the Liquor Control Board, where you have to go to get any alcoholic beverages. Yep, walked there too.

Mostly we took it easy. The alarm clock did not go off while the world was still dark. We snuggled into the covers, and didn't get to breakfast until 08:00. Breakfast was not immediately followed by load the bike, fill the water, oil the trailer hitch (when we remember it), zero the computer. "Ready?" "Any time." "Go." And we are under way.

As I write this, I am thinking we may need to take double rest days.

Catch up time. Day 8-11, Aug 1-4

Since we last posted, we have occasionally been without internet access, occasionally been too tired to speak coherently, and occasionally been lazy. Let me try to catch up.

I should also mention that while Margaret has been taking pictures, none of them have made their way from her camera to the computer as yet, although such a migration is promised for the future.

Day 8, 8/1 Rest Day
We had breakfast at a very nice restaurant called "Kay's." We then went downtown to Algonac, shopped around, found a computer bag for cheap at Good Will, picked up a pint of bourbon and a six of Perrins Grapefruit IPA, then went back to our room and vegged out. Later that night we went to Johnnie Lega's again. Another good meal.

Day 9, 8/2 Algonac, MI to Blenheim, ON, 45 miles
General route for today: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15538926 We did modify the route as gravel roads dictated.
Breakfast at Kay's, of course, then about three more miles to the ferry in Algonac. We just made the 8 o clock boat, and were the only vehicle. Total cost for bike, trailer and people=$2 American. There were four or five dogs waiting for us once we got off the ferry on Walpole Island, Ontario. Ears were scratched all around, at least for the dogs. Altogether, the Canadian side was much more relaxed and friendly. Our own border people acted like they had dried corn cobs up their asses.
The zipper on our $1 computer bag broke this morning. You get what you pay for.
After Chatham Kent, where we stopped for lunch, the day got tougher. Temps in low 90s, high humidity, and head winds really slowed us up. About 2 miles short of our ending for the day, we passed a Best Buy. Found a much better bag there, though not as cheap. We finally reached the home of Chris Nanni, our Warm Showers host for the night, around 4 PM.

A word about Warm Showers, which is an international organization of people who will host touring cyclists. The hosting is free, you are most often provided with dinner and breakfast, laundry is almost always available, and you are greeted by incredibly interesting people who are your hosts. In fact, that is the big draw back. The camaraderie is so good that sucks you in, and you neglect to do those maintenance type things that need to be done. In this case, Chris made a killer fruit martini that begged for seconds, which we gratefully accepted. We did, at least, get a load of laundry done.
Here I also learned that my cell phone is so technologically backward that it won't work in Canada. I feel rather isolated. If anyone is trying to call, I will get back to you when we reach Niagara.

Day 10, Blenheim to Port Stanley, 58.3 miles
General route for today: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15538756 We did follow a route change suggested by our Warm Showers host which added 3.7 miles.
Another hot,humid day. Usually when we start out at about 7 AM, the conditions are cool, but as the day progresses, everything gets tougher. By the time we had five miles left, we were toast. We sheltered for a bit under a stand of maples to drink water and cool off. The owner of the property came out and ended up offering us iced bottles of spring water. Helped a bunch.
We stayed at the Windjammer B&B in Port Stanley. The house had an historical plaque which said it dated back to 1854. We had dinner there, went up to our room, and had a short discussion about what our route should be for tomorrow. We both agreed that a sixty mile ride into Simcoe was not in the cards for either of us. Before I passed out from exhaustion, er, fell asleep, I agreed to agree with whatever route Margaret chose for the next day.

Day 11, Port Stanley to London, 20.1 miles
Route for today: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15616795 Spent most of the day on a gentle climb, although there were a couple descents. Max speed 32.9 mph.
After the two longest days we have ridden this year, and remember we pull a 70 pound trailer, we decided on a semi-rest day into London. Part of the reason was that I needed to be back into internet contact with my office, otherwise we would have loved to stay in Port Sheldon. At any rate, up and on the road by 07:30, and into our motel before noon. Great day, we both felt strong. Tomorrow we plan to explore London, maintain the bike a bit, and talk about where next. As you may have discerned, my gentile reader, we are becoming more concerned with experience than progress.
More Later.