Day 29 - 8/22/16 Little Falls to Johnstown 30 miles

We began the day in Little Falls, NY is a quaint little town, built into a mountain side right off of the New York State Thruway in the middle of Nowhere, Upstate NY... actually it is on the Erie Canal, specifically Lock 17.

Less than 6,000 people live in Little Falls, but it has all the normal amenities: supermarkets, drug stores and the like. Historic brick buildings line the steep streets of the downtown.  I love old brick buildings: masonry work, in all its intricate forms, the tall windows and columns are a snap shot into an era I can only imagine.

The forecast today was "sunny and delightful" with a high of 70 degrees; and delightful it was. The terrain between Little Falls and Johnstown required a lot more climbing, but gave us long descents and beautiful vistas. Acres of fruit trees and vineyards became rolling pastures with dairy cows and horses. The farms are smaller and roadside fruit and vegetable stands more plentiful. Just delightful.

Yes, we just climbed the hill. It was as steep as it looks!

 Getting closer to Johnstown, NY, the hills grew larger and the scenery "delightful".






We arrived in Johnstown too early to check into the motel, so we stopped at the Vintage Cafe for lunch. If there is a friendlier cafe in New York, we haven't found it. The owner and waiter had many questions for us and could not believe we came all the way from Michigan. We had a great lunch and headed to our hotel for a well deserved shower.

Day 28: 8/21. Rome to Little Falls, NY

Today we ride 37 miles into Little Falls, NY. First I have to include a few more photos that Margaret took from Fort Stanwix. I especially liked the powder horns.





I had no idea of the water connection through this area, nor its importance.






At any rate, ya gotta just love it when a plan comes together. Last night we saw that we were predicted to get heavy thunderstorms which would begin in Rome at 12:00, and Little Falls at 13:00. So, we got up at six, had a quick breakfast at Denny's, and got on the road. We obviously wanted to get to Little Falls before the rain. Got there before noon, and completely dry. As an added bonus the motel already had our room done, so we got to shower right away. It was even nice watching the rain started shortly after 13:00.


Yep, in a valley.

The route today paralleled the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal, first we were to the south, and then to the north. Although we had about 10 mph of head wind, there were no real hills, and we averaged over 12 mph. Not bad for towing an eighty pound trailer.


Coming into Little Falls. Notice that the pavement is dry.

Tomorrow we start to climb out of the Mohawk River valley, and head to Johnstown.

Days 26 and 27: 8/19-20/16 Pulaski to Rome, NY, and a rest day.

This is our 6th ride-day in Upstate New York. At first the scenery was typical rural USA: corn and soybeans, soybeans and corn, but as we continued there was a shift. First to apple and peach trees, then grapevines and vineyards, and finally to small subsistence farms and poverty. Most cities seemed to be tourist destinations or had seen better days.

With that said, the ride to Rome was filled with gently rolling hills, beautiful scenery, and hospital people.



Rome is a larger town than I had expected. It's been around, in one form or another, since 1796 and has a population of almost 34,000. Not large, but big enough to have JCPenneys, Walgreens and a good sized grocery store. Being, what my friend Jeanne would call a "city-idt" (rhymes with idiot), I find comfort in such conveniences.

Panorama of Fort Stanwix

In addition to city conveniences, Rome is the home to Fort Stanwix, a national monument. During the Revolutionary War it guarded the passage between the Hudson River, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean, and Lake Ontario allowing European trade with the Americas and the Mohawk Valley home to the Six Nations Confederacy.

Powder Horns were elaborately decorated, often with maps.

The Information Center gave voice to the Loyalists and Rebels, each of whom called the other "traitor", but also to the "indians" and women. The displays acknowledged how poorly the Six Nation people were treated, but ended with them being "given" a reservation. The fort was interesting to go through. At its height 800 people inhabited it, though it was built to hold 400 on a patch of land smaller than most high school buildings.

Day 25; 8/18. Oswego to Pulaski, NY

Yesterday's ride while not long, kind of did us in. It was not the total gain in altitude, but rather the way it was gained. Each climb became a 3.5 mph maximal effort lasting 10 to 20 minutes, followed by a screaming descent. The momentum of the descent typically petered out before the next climb, so we started each climb from scratch. Hard day. Ah well.

Oswego is a kind of depressed college town with the SUNY Oswego on the west edge. We honestly didn't see much, as we got to the motel, showered, went out for dinner, and fell asleep. No knock on Oswego, but upper New York State reminds me of the northern lower peninsula of Michigan, touristy jobs, but otherwise a lot of poverty. Tired as we were, we were looking forward to today's ride.

After sleeping in to 07:30, we did a little bike maintenance, had the obligatory 'free continental breakfast' at the hotel, and headed out on our 24 mile ride to Pulaski. (Pronounced with a long 'i')


Wonderful ride today. We did have four or five hills like yesterday's, but by and large it was a reasonably fast ride on moderate grades through farmland. We had a ball, arriving at our host's home before noon.



For lunch we went to a local restaurant called River House. Nice beer selection.
 


Tomorrow we ride to Rome.

Day 24; 08/17/16: Sodus Point to Oswego

On the road between Sodus Point and Oswego

Since we had a relatively short day (40ish miles) and the breakfast at Silver Waters bed and breakfast was exceptional, we did not get on the road until almost 9:30. We were not concerned since we were heading to a Motor Lodge Inn and the temperature was predicted to be in the 70's all day.

We looked up the route on Google Maps and Ride with GPS, so we had a plan and knew what to expect...more or less. John figured out that we would climb about 2000ft.  2000ft is nothing to sneeze at, and a lot more than we have done on this trip so far, but we've done more in the past so we were not overly concerned.

We could have ridden on NY hwy104 all day where it would probably be flatter, but it is a very busy road and we would have to contend with constant 50mph traffic. Yuck. We chose the hillier, but less traveled back roads. And hilly it was! In fact, there was very little flat ground to be found. Many of the hills were close together, allowing momentum from one hill to help us up the next. On one decent we hit 43mph, which is pretty fast on a bike. Of course going down hill that fast requires one to climb a loooong hill which is tiring to say the least. By the end of the day we were exhausted, ready for a shower and an early sleep. (oh, and beer!)


The Silver Waters bed and breakfast was a real find. Jim and Mike could not have been nicer. At one time Mike raised miniature dachshunds, and still has four of them living at the B&B. I was able to get my doggy fix and we were treated to a dachshund choral version of Happy Birthday.  I spent a good portion of the evening chatting with Jim, Mike and other guests. We solved all the world's problems, and slept well.  

Silver Waters was built in 1813 and retains its period charm. It's been a private home, an Inn and obviously, now a B&B. During the Civil War it was a safe house for the Underground Railroad. Slaves would follow the Tunnel to Freedom from a hillside several blocks away into Silver Waters' basement. Another tunnel ran under the downtown area to a second house where slaves were put on ships bound for freedom in Canada.

I, of course, wanted to check out the tunnels, but they have been boarded up, something about safety and collapsed areas... killjoys!

Day 22, 23. 8/15,16. Rochester to Sodus Point and a rest day

Weather.com was predicting 100% chance of rain for 8/16 at Sodus Point, so we decided to make it a rest day. Turns out it did rain on and off today, with a few downpours, so we felt justified.

The manager of the Towpath Motel in Rochester was an interesting guy. He is from India, and his accent so thick that we could only understand every third word. Eventually we understood that he was totally taken with the idea that two people as old as we are should be doing a trip like this. He requested biographical info, took multiple pictures of us and the bike, and assured us he was going to send this story to his hometown newspaper in India.




Prakash Jariwala

Today's route:  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15897973

The terrain is becoming hillier as we head east in New York. Early today we had a 2.2 mile climb that started with about 150 yards over 7%. We made it, and both of us kept our breakfasts down. There were short ups and downs all day, and not many places to get food, so when we got to our B&B in Sodus Point, we were ready for a shower, and a meal and some liquids.



Tomorrow we ride to Oswego, and our climbing will begin as we approach the Adirondacks.

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!