Chuck's Big Ride

Ride Day Thirty-Four: Belfast to Bar Harbor, ME — 55.1 Miles

It's hard to believe this is the last day of the regular cross-country ride, part 2.  I left Mandan, ND, on September 1st and at about 2pm this afternoon rode into Bar Harbor, ME.  It's been a great experience, and a great ending — more on that later.

One of the first sights on today's ride was the bridge over the Penobscot River.  I wish I'd had the time to go up in the observation tower, but an afternoon deadline in Bar Harbor required I press on.  Here's the bridge, which I rode across just a few minutes after taking the photo.

Several parts of the ride within Maine have been along U.S. Bike Route 1.  It's the route that runs from Maine to Florida.  Here's the sign designating the route.

I had to take a photo of the sign for one of the towns along the way today.  This is in honor of Todd Ellsworth, one of the people who rode with me from Fairhaven to Newhalem on day one of the 2015 journey. 

My apologies to David Fayram, Sarah Benn, Cathy Campbell, and John Bolton, who also rode with me to Newhalem on that first day.  I just couldn't find towns along the way with your names.

It was cooler today than yesterday but still a great day for a ride. I rode again without music, musing about the ride mostly, and thinking about what comes next, besides a drive home with some sightseeing and visiting friends and relatives on the way.  There were no dogs and no falls.

The traditional ending of a ride to Bar Harbor is at the city pier.  So, here I am at the city pier.

You'll notice that I'm wearing my Boundary Bay jersey.  My friend Jerry DeBacker suggested that I needed a yellow jersey for the finish and this was the yellow jersey I had along.  Plus, it's one of my favorite jerseys.  I really could have used a Scotch Ale from BB at that point.

Having ridden across the entire country I figured that I wouldn't need this anymore.

Just kidding.  I'll actually need it to ride around Acadia National Park over the next few days.

Not having Boundary Bay's Scotch Ale close at hand, we stopped into Bar Harbor Beer Works for a bowl of clam chowder and a pint of Bar Harbor Real Ale.

We went to Sherman's Bookstore to meet with owner Jeff Curtis and Binc board member Annie Philbrick.  When we walked into the bookstore we were greeted with this display.

Jeff and Maria have an apartment above the bookstore where we went for a prosecco toast and some great conversation.

I should mention that the fifth individual in the photo is Sherman, a very sweet Samoyed.

Today is Dee's birthday and Jeff presented her with the official state treat, the Whoopie Pie.

After our celebration we went to dinner with Jeff, his wife Maria, their daughter Gabriella, and Annie Philbrick at a great restaurant called Galyn's.

Now for a few days of relaxation, some less intense rides, and sight seeing in an extremely beautiful part of the country.

Ride Day Thirty-Four by the numbers:

55.1 — miles ridden

1886.4 — feet in elevation gain

5519 — calories burned

6 — fall-free days in a row

0 — dogs

 

Ride Day Thirty-Three: Brunswick to Belfast, ME — 74 Miles

What a contrast today was with yesterday.  It was sunny most of the day and temperatures climbed into the mid-70's.  Yesterday it poured most of the day and I don't think the mercury got much higher than 60.  Yesterday turned out to be a good day for exploring, in spite of the rain. We went to Boothbay and explored the quaint seaside village, including spending some time in Sherman's Books.  We'll be in Sherman's store in Bar Harbor tomorrow afternoon for a celebration of the ride and specifically for the fundraising for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.  Annie Philbrick, owner of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut, and Savoy Bookshop and Café in Westerly, Rhode Island, and a Binc board member, will be there to greet us, along with folks from Sherman's.

On the way back to Brunswick we stopped at Red's Eats in Wiscasset, which came highly recommended by our friend Marilyn McClellan, who has visited Maine often and loves the lobster rolls here.  So do we.  They were just as tasty as those in Portland, but were piled even higher with lobster meat.  They also serve theirs with drawn butter.  The place apparently always has a line, even on this rainy day.  They do provide umbrellas.  This photo was taken just after the rain subsided. The line wraps around the far end of the building behind me.  There were likely thirty or more folks waiting when this photo was taken.

Today was a good day for a ride.

One of the first bridges I crossed — there were several today — presented an unusual sight.  At first glance it looked like there was snow and ice in the water.  I'm not sure what was causing the extreme foam.

A short distance farther into the ride I encountered the first wildlife of the day...Maine style.

The second wild creature was a little more aggressive.  As you can see, he tried to take my bike.  I told him his cousin Smokey would be upset by his behavior.  He got embarrassed and gave me the bike.

I had a couple of interesting semi-encounters with creatures of the domesticated variety.  First, a rather large dog lunged, barking, out of its dog house toward the road.  Fortunately, it was chained and came to a sudden halt.  The second was a dog of similar size, unchained and charging toward the road.  Employing my usual tactic I shouted NO! NO!  It worked as well as the chain.

This is a view of the old bridge at Bath.  Take a look at the far right end of it.  This is the ultimate "bridge to nowhere."  Fortunately, I was on the newer bridge.

I didn't play any music today.  It wasn't actually a conscious decision, I just never put any on.  I was enjoying the scenery and riding on road shoulders it was easier to hear cars coming.

The scenery continues to be beautiful here even without the full-blown color that was expected before an unusually warm September encouraged the trees to continue to produce chlorophyll.  Here's a view across Seven Tree Pond.

It's difficult to tell from this photo, but this is a rather large body of water that I expected would be called a lake.  Ponds, according to my quick research, are shallow enough to support rooted plants, often across their entire surface.  This body of water didn't appear that shallow, nor did two others nearby, also called ponds.  Hmmm.

There were a lot of hills today.  In fact the elevation I gained (4114..3 feet) is nearly 16 feet more than the Mount Baker Hill Climb (4098.6).  Now riding from Glacier to Artist's Point is a pretty steady uphill climb in just under 25 miles.  Today's ride was up and down over 74 miles.  What I did miss in today's ride was that long descent.

We've got a great spot at the campground tonight with a terrific view of Belfast Bay, and looking out into Penobscot Bay.

In some ways it's a little hard to believe that tomorrow is my last day of this ride. I've enjoyed (nearly) every minute of it.  Most of the time there's no where else I'd rather be.  The weather with the exception of one day of really getting rained on and three days taken off to avoid riding in the rain, has been unbelievable.  Folks here in Maine don't believe it any more than we do.

I appreciate all of you who have followed and many who have commented on the blog.  I'll post again tomorrow night and will also do a summary after the ride ends and I'm relaxing in Bar Harbor.  Thanks, too, to all of you who have donated to one or more of the foundations.  If you haven't donated and would still like to, here are the links:

Donate to: Whatcom Community Foundation

Donate to: Whatcom Community College Foundation

Donate to: The Book Industry Charitable Foundation

A penny per mile ($20) to any (or all) of these foundations would be extremely helpful.  And, of course, you need not feel constrained by that suggestion.

I realized today that, because of some rain-day driving, when I arrive at our destination in Bar Harbor I'll be about 17 miles short of 2000 miles.  So, on Thursday I'll ride the Acadia Park Loop, a 27-mile loop around the park that is rated as the best bike ride in Acadia.

Ride Day Thirty-Three by the numbers:

74 — miles ridden

4114.2 — feet in elevation gained

7403.07 — calories burned

5 — fall-free days in a row

2 — dogs (see above — no harm, no foul)

1 — giant lobster (see above)

1 — bear (see above)

Ride Day Thirty-Two: Portland to Freeport — 17.9 Miles

It was a very short ride day today that began very oddly.  With heavy rain and possible thunder showers predicted for late morning I planned to get in a couple of hours riding before the skies opened.  As I rode across the parking lot of the campground I heard a thump, thump, thump and felt a bump with each revolution of the wheel — the front, I believed.  So, using my masterful mechanical skills and intuition I began to diagnose the problem.  Was the front wheel out of true? I lifted the bike and spun the wheel.  No, the wheel appeared balanced.  I looked for a bump or weak spot in the tire.  No luck.  Bike on the bike.  Thump, thump, thump.

I learned there was a bike shop just blocks away that was open this morning (Sunday). I was greeted by the owner, Claude Breton, who asked me to bring my bike around the building to the lower level shop, an area full of Specialized bikes.  Breton put the bike on a stand and began examining the front wheel and tire.  He couldn't find any problem either.  Then he looked at the back tire, which had now gone flat.  Turns out I'd picked up a tiny piece of wire and punctured the tube.  All the while Breton and I had been chatting about his shop, rides in the area, and my ride across the country.  Tire fixed, I tried  to pay, but Mr. Breton insisted on donating the tube and labor to the foundations for which I was raising money.  Cheers to you Mr. Breton.

Turns out the flat tire could have been a good thing.  By the time it was fixed it was pouring.  I would have only been a short way down the road and soaked.  So, I loaded the bike in the Rialta and we began driving north, stopping in Portland for this Maine specialty.,,

...at this establishment.

After lunch the skies had cleared so I decided to get a few miles in with a ride to Freeport.  Shortly after beginning the ride I crossed the this U.S. 1 bridge, heading toward Falmouth.

A short distance out of Freeport I spotted this.

What on earth is this Plains Indian statue doing in Maine?

No visit to Freeport would be complete without a visit to L..L. Bean, which with its multiple stores has become the anchor to a retail mecca, with nearly every major brand you can imagine.  We arrived during a special Columbus Day weekend celebration with lots of craft vendors under tents and live music.

No matter what you think of L.L. Bean, it's hard to disagree with the founder's sentiments about business.

While standing in line to pay for some items we found, I spotted this sweatshirt on the guy ahead of us.

Anyone recognize that boat?  It's the Snow Goose — home port Bellingham, WA.  This guy's sister is the naturalist on the crew, apparently Bethany Hasper, according to the Snow Goose website.  The boat was owned for a number of years by our friends Bert and Sue Webber, and Dee and I have been on it a couple of times. Small world, huh?

Shopping done, we headed to Brunswick and the motel we had booked for tonight — no campgrounds available on the three-day weekend.  With nearly 100% chance of rain throughout the day tomorrow, we're sitting tight.  I'll reconfigure Tuesday and Wednesday to get us to Bar Harbor in time for a celebration at Sherman's Books Wednesday afternoon.

Ride Day Thirty-Two by the numbers:

17.9 —miles ridden

771 — feet in elevation gained

1788.59 — calories burned

4 — fall-free days

0 — dogs

Ride Day Thirty-One: Loudon, NH to Wells, ME — 61.7 Miles

It was fallishly (that's a word, right?) brisk as I began the ride around 9am this morning.  The ride today would be entirely along roads.  No railroad trails in sight.  And I knew there would be some hills.  The roads were all pretty good, except for one (more on that later).  The shoulder width varied, but in most cases I felt pretty safe.

After three days of silent contemplation while I rode, I decided to return to listening to music I hadn't heard for a while.  I began with Buckwheat Zydeco's "Taking it Home."  I like Zydeco music, but can't say this was a favorite album.  Maybe that's why I hadn't listened to it for quite a while.  Next I listened to "The Best of Cher."  I have to confess I was pretty taken with Cher at one time — pre-nose-job. I like Lyle Lovett quite a bit and hadn't listened to "I Love Everybody" for some time, but his voice isn't the best for accompanying a ride, especially with traffic noise.  I'd forgotten about having an album by the Cluster Pluckers called "Unplucked." This was probably my favorite rediscovery today.  It's a fun combination of folk, country, bluegrass, and gospel, played by some very good musicians.  "I'd give it a nine, Mr. Clark, because it's got a good beat and easy to ride to."

I didn't take many photos today, but this sign did catch my eye.

I had to wonder if it was a direct route to Seattle.

We had decided to meet in Dover for lunch and to check out a cemetery where Rose Stoughton Otis is buried.  If our genealogy is correct she's Dee's 7th Great Grandmother on her Father's side of the family.  We found the cemetery, but many of the headstones — as we'd been forewarned by a site on the internet — had been destroyed, including Rose's apparently. Here's a photo of Dee at the cemetery.

The town was abuzz with a fall harvest festival.  Traffic was incredible and finding our way through the morass was a bit frustrating.  Dee remarked "why did they have this festival today, didn't they know we were coming?"

A short way from the cemetery we found a place called Patty B's, an Italian restaurant where I had a great meatball sub and a nice pale ale, and Dee had a caprese pizza. Once sated we drove through the downtown melee to the edge of town where I picked up the ride again.  And, just as I began, so did the rain.  I got a chance to practice the Art of Riding in the Rain (sorry Garth).  I think I've mentioned before that I hesitate to begin a ride in the rain, but don't mind so much being rained on once I'm out.  That's good, since it rained for quite a while.  Luckily, I had a wide shoulder on route 9, which I was on for some distance.  I should mention that in New Hampshire route 9 has been designated the Franklin Pierce Highway and the route traces nearly his entire life from birth, through college and law school, to Concord where he practiced law for years.

Google's GPS always tries to be helpful, and today was no exception.  I was happily cruising along on route nine, wide shoulder and all, when the voice in my head said "turn right on Dennett road."  If one looks at a map, the turn makes sense.  It bypasses the village of Berwick and likely saves a mile or two on the process.  However, when I first turned and saw some less-than-smooth asphalt, I thought "maybe this wasn't such a great idea."  I should have listened to myself.  I continued on as the road got no better and then suddenly became this.

The road had been scarified , probably in preparation for resurfacing.  This photo doesn't even do justice to the condition of the road with large chunks of asphalt.  About a mile into the ride and unsure of what might lie ahead I turned around and returned to the familiar wide shoulder of route 9.

Farther along the road the voice returned, urging me to take another "shortcut."  This time I thought "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."  I stuck to route 9.

Just as I turned onto route 9b (not a shortcut this time, but a route to our campground) I spotted this wonderful mailbox stand.

It's also the point at which I began to see fog ahead of me, coming in off the Atlantic.  As I joined U.S. 1 it looked a bit like a parking lot.  It was stop and go traffic for the mile or so to the campground. 

I'm in the last state of this ride — Maine.  That's the 9th on this year's ride, and twelfth altogether for the two-stage cross-country ride.  Dee hadn't been in Maine before and I'd only been in Portland and the vicinity for some meetings a few years ago.  It's Dee's 50th state (it was my 49th the first time here, but I've since been in Alaska for all 50).

Ride Day Thirty-One by the numbers:

61.7 — miles ridden

2726.4 — feet in elevation gained

6126.98 — calories burned

4 — fall-free days

0 — dogs

 

Thanks to Beth Golay, who does the blog "Books and Whatnot," you can also follow the journey on Story Map.

Ride Day Thirty: Andover to Loudon, NH — 32 Miles

You may, or may not, have noticed that the starting point for today's ride is not the ending point of yesterday's ride.  Call me a wimp — even though I've ridden over 3000 miles across the U.S. so far.  Shortly after we woke it began raining fairly hard.  Some folks might say I just don't like to get wet, but I think it's a safety issue, especially on unfamiliar roads with narrow shoulders.  At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  So, we waited a while, contemplated the options, then decided to drive a ways to wait out the rain and begin the ride later.  I rationalized this in part by the fact that yesterday I rode about 40 miles north to Woodstock, before having to ride about 40 miles south to resume the route.  And, I have miles to spare in hitting 2000.

We've come to understand that folks in New England really go all out decorating for Halloween.  Many homes have figures in the yards, along with pumpkins and other fall and seasonal decor.  We began to notice all along route 4 this morning figures, often fastened to signs or posts, but sometimes free-standing.  Here are a couple.

There were a couple dozen of these figures in less than twenty miles. The one we really wished we'd been able to get a picture of was a figure on a bicycle, right next to the road.  From a ways back one could swear it was a biker there.

With time to spare, we decided to stop for lunch.  I'd tracked down a little brew pub just outside of New London.  Here's their logo on a pint of Ragged Mountain Red Ale (I needed the carbs and sugar to fuel the ride).

It was a very tasty, hoppy beer and it helped wash down my PB (yes, peanut butter) and saracha burger.  It may not sound great to you, but it was delicious.  It came with some of the best sweet potato fries I've ever had.  And, after Dee let me taste her corn and black bean chowder, I ordered a bowl of that as well.  Now I had to ride, just to be able to still get into my bike clothes.

It was just seven miles to Andover and the beginning of the Northern Railroad Trail and as we drove there we noticed that the farther we got into New Hampshire, the more colorful the trees became.  It was as if someone had turned up the color knob on our vision.

75% of today's ride would be on the Northern Railroad Trail, which is likely the best maintained rock rail trail I've been on.

I joined the trail at an old depot where one line of track was still in place.  I thought I had waited out the rain, so I rolled up my light bike jacket and stuffed it into my bike bag.  Just after I began pedaling I noticed I was feeling rain drops, so a short distance down the trail I pulled out the jacket and put it on.  At about that same point I realized that one doesn't have to go far in New England to find a covered bridge. Here was yet another, right along the trail.

Less than five miles on, the sun broke through and I was getting too warm in the jacket, so it went back in the bag.  Of course, that wasn't the end of the rain.  But I only got a few sprinkles before it stopped.

All along the trail their were old stone mile markers.  I took this photo especially for our friend Kris Molesworth, who likes the typography on mile markers.  I think this one has likely been painted over in more recent times.

There was also this sign.

"You know how to whistle don't you...?"

Here was one mysterious structure along the trail.

A Druid ritual site? The foundation of a round barn?  No, it's apparently part of the structure of an old railroad turntable, but it even has historians a bit baffled, according to this sign.

There was often water along side the elevated trail.  Sometimes it was a marshy area with lots of cattails, later in the ride it was the Merrimack River running alongside.  This was Webster Lake, viewed through the trees.

I wasn't listening to music or a book again today.  Instead I was absorbing the atmosphere of a great fall day in New England (in spite of a little rain).  It also gave me time to think about how difficult it must have been to build this railroad, slicing through the wilderness, elevating the track, the immense amount of planning and effort it must have taken.

I also enjoyed seeing more ground squirrels per mile than I've seen in the entire trip.  Perhaps more in this 21 miles on the trail than the entire trip total up till now.  There were also a fair number of tree squirrels scampering across the trail.  Except for some birds, that was the extent of the wildlife seen today.  I did find myself wondering what I'd do if I met a moose on the trail.  It is, after all, moose country and we've seen moose crossing signs on the roads (how do the moose know where to cross?).  Alas, no moose.

I did have one jarring encounter with a dog.  Just a few miles from tonight's campground I was riding on the edge of a road with no real shoulder and quite a bit of traffic.  I could hear a dog barking very close to me, but couldn't quite place where the sound was coming from.  It kept getting nearer and I thought it might be chasing me.  Just then I looked to the side and I was nearly face to snout with the culprit, head out of a passing car window.  Fortunately I didn't run off the road.

After leaving the trail I had about 9 miles of a rolling, uphill ride to the campground.  It was a fairly pleasant ride, except for some heavy traffic.  It was nearly 4pm on a Friday, holiday weekend, afternoon, so I imagine there were a lot of folks heading home from work, or already out "leaf peeping."

Ride Day Thirty by the numbers:

32 — miles ridden

803.8 — feet in elevation gained (more than half in the last nine miles)

3145.67 — calories burned

3 — fall-free days

1 — dog (see above)

many — stuffed roadside Halloween figures

Ride Day Twenty-Eight: Saratoga Springs, NY to Manchester Center, VT — 43.9 Miles

We spent last night at a camp ground on Lake Saratoga at the edge of Saratoga Springs so that we could see our friends Chris Morrow and his mother Barbara at their bookstore.  We've known Barb and her husband Ed for nearly as long as we were in the book business., and met Chris years ago as well — he now runs the bookstores.  We're staying with Ed tonight in Manchester Center — Chris and Barb are in Saratoga Springs for a reception, working late at their store there, and staying over at their apartment above the store. The Morrows have run Northshire Bookstore in Vermont for 42 years, and opened the store in Saratoga Springs, at the behest of folks in that town, just over four years ago.  Here's a photo outside the Saratoga Springs store.

I think their stores, hands down, are among the best anywhere.  A funny coincidence...when Dee and I were traveling in 1979 and early 1980, deciding if we wanted to open a bookstore, we read a book called Second Chance.  The book was filled with stories of folks who had moved from one career to another — something less common in the late 70's than today.  One store was about a guy who worked on Wall Street.  He had left "the street" and he and his wife had moved to Vermont and opened a bookstore.  We found the story quite inspiring and it certainly contributed to our final decision about a store. After starting our store and knowing Ed and Barb for several years it finally dawned on us that they were the couple.  We dug out the book and confirmed it.  I just told Ed tonight that it was all his fault.  He laughed and said he was happy to take the credit.

Because we were going to be in Saratoga Springs until afternoon today I took advantage of being close to a bike shop with time to have some work done on the bike.  Some time back I learned that the rear wheel needed to be trued, but the timing and location hadn't coincided to let that happen.  So today I took the bike to Blue Sky Bicycles to have that done.  Fortunately, they discovered that I needed a new rear tire and a new chain —nearly 2000 miles has taken its toll.  In addition they gave me some good advice about my route to Manchester Center.  So I was all set.

As you might know, Saratoga Springs is a huge horse racing center, and much of the surrounding area is surrounded by horse farms.  All over the downtown there are statues like this, each painted in its own unique design.

This one is actually in the nearby town of Schuylerville, and there was another very near it.

The ride today was a bit more challenging than the past few days along the canal.  I climbed nearly the same number of feet in 44 miles today as I did yesterday in 80 miles, meaning the hills had a steeper incline.  And, yesterday was quite a bit more elevation gain than several days along the canal.  I think I'll have a similar experience for the next few days here in the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire.  I chose this to be a no-tunes day.  So I spent the time just absorbing the scenery and the atmosphere. If I had any great thoughts they must have passed through quickly.

I want to thank Steve Martini for his generous donation to Binc this week.  I'm hoping the other two authors in the legal thriller trio — John Grisham and Scott Turow — will match his generosity.  Steve, as you likely know, is the Bellingham-based author of a number of legal thrillers featuring Paul Madriani, as well as some stand-alone novels.  Here's more info on his books.

The countryside through which I rode today was beautiful.  I saw several harvested corn fields, like this one with the rolling hills behind.

I also came across this iconic covered bridge.

And later these stone walls that seem another symbol of New England.

According to our friends here, Columbus Day weekend is the busiest weekend in the state of Vermont, and likely in New Hampshire as well.  That's true because it's usually the height of fall color.  This year, however, some color came early, then summer came back and the major color has not materialized as it usually does.  There's not been a hard frost yet.  That said, this photo did look pretty "fallish" to me in spite of the still green hills behind.

When we got to Manchester Center we were able to visit the original store.  This was Dee's third visit to the store and my fifth.  I never tire of it. Here's a photo outside the store.  I thought it appropriate to show the Binc jersey as Northshire has been such an avid supporter of the foundation.

There are two great sculptures in a small park-like setting near this entrance.  The first is a Thomas Jefferson piece, though not just a statue.

The second is either newer, or I just hadn't spotted it before.  It's a reading robot figure.

It's the one on your left.

I did have an "almost" dog encounter today.  Within the last 10 miles of the ride I spotted a very large dog on the side of the road, head down and sniffing.  It appeared to be at least part Great Dane.  The dog looked up at me...and went back to sniffing the side of the road. Maybe it was part bloodhound. It couldn't have been less interested in me.

After a welcome shower we went with Ed to a great Thai restaurant that he and Barb frequent often.  The food was amazing.  It was a great time to catch up with Ed, with whom I served on the board of the American Booksellers Association.  He was ABA's president about three spots before me. It's always great seeing long-time friends.

Ride Day Twenty-Eight by the numbers;

43.9 — miles ridden

2828.1 — feet in elevation gained

4401,67 — calories burned

1 — days without a fall (this new way of reporting was inspired by a factory safety sign I saw today)

1/2 — dogs (see above)

Ride Day Twenty-Seven: Ilion to Saratoga Springs, NY — 80.9 Miles

The morning was, once again, cool and there was "steam fog" rising from the river.  If you've never heard of "steam fog" check this out.

I decided today was a music day and that I'd listen again to some music I haven't heard for a while.  I began with Frank Zappa.  Zappa, who may be best known for his satire of American culture, created more than 60 albums spanning rock, jazz, jazz fusion, pop, and orchestral music.  Rolling Stone magazine not only named him one of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, but also placed him at number 22 of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.  Next came Jimmy Buffet and some feel-good, island-escapism tunes, with a little social comment thrown in for good measure.  I couldn't help thinking of our good friend Ray Dunn, who is an avid Buffet fan.  K.D. Lang was next up with the soundtrack of the movie "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues." The movie, in spite of a stellar cast — Uma Thurman, Keanau Reeves, Angie Dickinson, Buck Henry, John Hurt, etc., etc. was a flop, but the soundtrack was not.  And, the book is still a favorite and available here.  I moved on to K.D. Lang's album "Shadowland." After all, "too much K.D. Lang" is an oxymoron. Her classic rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics bears re-watching here. Next came an old Billy Joel album I haven't listened to for ages.  I wrapped up the morning listening to one of my favorite local bands, the Prozac Mountain Boys, who have been guests on the Chuckanut Radio Hour several times.

Speaking of the Chuckanut Radio Hour, this Thursday evening's CRH will be a special Whatcom Community College 50th Anniversary celebration.  The show will feature Nathalia Holt, author of The Rise of the Rocket Girls.  Go here for information about the show.  Whatcom Community College is one of the organizations for which I'm raising money.  This would be a great time for you to donate here.

I've often mentioned the wildlife I've seen along the way.  Over the course of the ride I've only seen a few rabbits, but today attempted to make up for that.  I actually lost count, but I saw three within just a few minutes and others during the day.  Here's one that sat still long enough for a portrait.

Before I hit the trail I had one encounter with a dog.  It was standing in a driveway as I rode up and began moving toward me, looking more playful than vicious.  I yelled NO! NO! and the dog stopped in its tracks. 

The ride today was a mix of roads and trail, with an assortment of trail surfaces as before. There were some interesting features on the trail today.  At one point I was riding in a fairly narrow "canyon" and spotted this tunnel ahead.

Looking back from a ways down the trail the "canyon" looked like this.

The canal trail was along the Mohawk River much of the time.  I spotted this mile marker, but the trail was far enough from the river at that point that I suspect it was a road or railroad marker.

Shortly before lunch in Amsterdam (no not THAT Amsterdam, or the ones in California, New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania, Texas, or Virginia. The one in New York) I had nearly seven miles of paved trail that was fairly smooth, except for the usual root bumps at times.  But, just over a quarter mile of the trail was the most unusual I've ridden.  Take a look.

That's right, two lanes and my own bridge.  I was hoping this ran all the way to Amsterdam, but no, the trail resumed just the other side of the bridge.

After riding the first fifty miles I ate a big meal at Shorty's Tavern — hot beef open-faced sandwich, with fries soaked in gravy.  I should have taken a picture.  I couldn't finish the fries.  It was just too much.

I needed some strong beat music for the after-lunch, hill-climbing, road-riding, segment of the day so I put on "Rock Anthems, Vol II", Lazlo Bane's "Guilty Pleasures" (covers of rock classics),

The last thirty miles to Saratoga Springs was on roads, the first few miles of which were in the city of Amsterdam.  Boy could these folks learn a bit about bike lanes from their namesake — they have none.  I was riding on busy highway 67 with a very narrow lane...in some places, and none in others. Once I got out of town, bless the state of New York, the shoulder was wide and smooth and the rest of the ride was good.

About four miles from tonight's campground I came to a road where I thought I should be turning, but the voice on my GPS didn't tell me to turn.  So I came to a stop, but I once again experienced the "failure to unclip" syndrome and fell over, skinning my right knee and calf. And I'd gone so long without a fall.

Yesterday I mentioned finishing Sunil Yapa's Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist.  Here's a link to a great interview with Yapa, conducted by Christine Perkins, Director of Whatcom County Library System.

Ride Day Twenty-Seven by the numbers:

80.9 — miles ridden

2923.1 — feet in elevation gained

8106.1 — calories burned

1 — fall (see above)

1 - dog (see above)

 

Thanks to Beth Golay, who does the blog "Books and Whatnot," you can also follow the journey on Story Map.

 

Ride Day Twenty-Six: Green Lakes State Park to Ilion, NY — 65 Miles

It was a little warmer this morning when I began the ride — 47 vs. 40 yesterday.  It still felt a little crisp, but it was a beautiful fall day here with lots of sunshine.  Trails today varied from several miles of smooth asphalt, to asphalt with many root bumps, to packed limestone, to loose limestone, to single-track packed earth, and a few miles of 0n-road.  One was regularly surprised by sudden changes in the surface. The canal also changed quite regularly from very clear and apparently navigable to this, and worse.

Apples and walnuts and pine cones, oh my.  Often in the past few days, today included, I would come upon a cluster of apples, walnuts, or large pine cones littered across the trail, making forward navigation difficult at best.  Trying to bob and weave and not hit the little trail-blockers was a challenge, but it did keep one alert.

I've seen hundreds — perhaps thousands — of Canada Geese in the past couple of weeks.  This morning was no exception.  I heard them first, then saw them circling, then saw them landing on the water.

At one point I spotted what I assumed to be grain elevators.  At least they looked like those of my youth in the Midwest.  Then I remembered being told that coal towers looked like this as well.  So, I'm not sure what these are, but they were right along the canal.

Because much of the ride was along isolated trails with little distraction — other than the aforementioned "trail-blockers," I decided to continue listening to Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa. I mentioned the other day that the book is the 2017 - 2018 WhatcomREADS selection and that Yapa will be in Bellingham March 8 - 10.  The audio version of the book is available here, and the print edition is available here.

As I mentioned before, the story is set at the time of the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle.  It focuses on seven characters and their interactions, bringing many perspectives forward. I was stunned by the book, and nearly sobbed as it ended, overcome with a deep sadness.

I spent the next couple of hours in silence, thinking in part about the book I'd just listened to and in part letting my mind wander.  Later in the day I put on some more tunes — Paul McCartney, Patsy Cline, and Billy Joel.  There's a mix for you.

Earlier in the trip I took a photo of a 1956 Ford.  Here's another that I came across today.

There were lots of historic markers and story boards along this section of the canal.  One of the first talked about the "long level," the section of the canal that was built first because it had little rise and required no locks.  Here's the marker describing that section.

This storyboard was about Dewitt Clinton, Governor of NY during the building of the canal, and the man considered most responsible for its construction.

Rome (no, not that Rome, or Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, or Maine — the one in New York) was where construction began on the canal, and this plaque marked that place.

Tomorrow will be my last day on the canal.  I've modified my route a couple of times now.  First, enjoying the canal, I decided to ride its entire length.  Now, I've decided to ride to Amsterdam along the canal, then head off to Saratoga Springs, where our friend Chris Morrow has a bookstore.

Ride Day Twenty-Six by the numbers:

65 — miles ridden

813.6 — feet in elevation gained

6510.2 — calories burned

0 — falls

0 — dogs

 

 

 

Ride Day Twenty-Five: Newark to Syracuse, NY — 48.5 Miles

It was a cool enough morning that Matt and I put on some cool weather gear.  We may have been exaggerating in this photo, but it was only 40 degrees when we took off.

Much of the early part of the ride was on roads, including along bicycle route 5.  The shoulders were wide and smooth and allowed us, at most times, to ride side by side and converse.  I should mention that Matt also has a Coros helmet, and like I, loves the audio features — listening to music, taking phone calls, getting directions from Google (though I don't think he's used that feature much).  So, today we both played music much of the time.  One of the things I really love about the helmet is that with ears free one can still converse with a fellow rider, as well as being able to hear Matt sing along to Queen's "Bicycle Race."  Here's Queen's official video of the song (Rated R for nudity).

We were also on some very quiet and smooth back roads.  Most directions were clear so we did very little "exploring" today.  However, there was the occasional perplexing instruction, e.g. "turn onto Tyre Road."

HUH?

We stopped for lunch today in Port Byron, which was a real coincidence since I taught at a high school in Port Byron...Illinois.  We had a great lunch, including my latest addiction, chocolate milk (more on that later).  When we came out Dee pointed out this sign at the house next door.  We hadn't realized we were eating in such an historic place.

Just a few miles down the road we spotted this great mural, painted on an abutment of a defunct bridge.

 

Did you notice Fala in the last photo? 

Farther on we noticed the sign for a side road that, having grown up in a Baptist church, I just couldn't pass up. 

Matt was fascinated by what he termed "an ocean of corn" and snapped this photo of me riding between two large fields.  Having grown up in "corn country," I was not quite as impressed as he, but it was a lot of corn.  I've yet to see any being picked, and today was only the second time I've seen evidence of field corn having been picked.  Some has looked ready, but these fields on both sides of the road still looked pretty green.

Later in the day we were back on the canal trail and it presented a wide variety of surfaces.  Some was very rough and our bikes were rattling as we rode.  This surface is what is referred to in the guides as "natural."  It reminded me of the one section of trail back in Michigan that was like this.

Much of the canal along which we rode today is unnavigable.  This was among the least overgrown and stagnant.  In some areas the water was extremely malodorous.

We did have one brief dog chase incident today.  Passing a farm house a fairly small dog began barking and running toward us on the road.  I stopped and barked back at the dog, stopping him in his tracks.  It was only after riding on that Matt pointed out that there had been another, slightly larger dog sitting in the yard, looking a little perplexed by my barking.

When we arrived at the outskirts of Syracuse we loaded up the bikes on the Rialta and took Matt to the bus station, but not before drinking some amazing chocolate milk (remember my addiction) — a gift from my friend Chris Wirth from the Pittsford Dairy.  Matt had left his car at the station after driving from his home in New Jersey and taking the bus from there to Rochester.  I'll miss riding with him.  It was a great two days that passed way too quickly.  We had a great time swapping stories about publishing and bookselling (he's been in the business for more than 25 years), and of course, biking, and a few bad jokes.  I really appreciate his coming to ride with me, and tolerating my pace.  He was a great riding companion.

Ride Day Twenty-five by the numbers:

48.5 — miles ridden

1466.6 — feet in elevation gained

4856.75 — calories burned

0 — falls

1 — dog chase (see above)

several — dogs heard but not seen

 

Thanks to Beth Golay, who does the blog "Books and Whatnot," you can also follow the journey on Story Map.

 

Ride Day Twenty-Four: Brockport to Newark — 53.5 Miles + *

The kindness of strangers: Dee and I have had two great experiences happen to us on this trip, both with people we did not know.  The first was in a campground in Conneaut, Ohio, where I admired a fellow camper's bike and struck up a conversation about my ride.  We shared stories of biking and headed off to our own campsites.  Some time later Kent strolled over and knocked, said "please treat yourself to dinner when you get to Bar Harbor," and handed me sufficient cash to make that happen.  He insisted we take it.

The second time was last night.  A few days ago there was a comment on my blog from a former bookstore owner in Brockport, NY, who we did not know.  He asked if we would let him and his wife prepare a meal for us, then when we made contact by phone, he extended the invitation to spend the night.  We accepted, and Archie and Patty served us a garden-to-table dinner that was out of this world and we had great conversation until bedtime, when we retired to a beautiful guest room.  By the time we left this morning we were no longer strangers.

The entire day today was along the Erie Canal.  I rode the first fifteen miles from Brockport to Rochester, then went to the bus station and picked up our friend Matt Baldacci.  Matt had gone to great pains to disassemble his bike, pack it into a bike box and bring it by bus from Syracuse, where he had driven this morning from his home in New Jersey.  After reassembling the bike, Matt and I headed off along the canal.

With a plan to meet Dee in Fairport for lunch, we wound our way along the paved trails through the city of Rochester.  At the juncture of the canal and the Genesee River, trail signs failed us and we spent quite a bit of time "exploring" the area.  We wouldn't say we were lost, but it did take us some time to find our way back to the eastbound canal trail.

Finally arriving in Fairport we had a late lunch that included chocolate shakes for Matt and me.  Re-energized we hit the trail again for the final part of the ride to Newark.  One of the interesting sites we saw from a bridge on the canal was this dam off to one side.

I took that photo, but Matt was also intrigued so I took this photo of him taking a similar photo.

An unusual sign that we saw repeatedly along the trail was this one.

We could never quite figure out what its purpose was.  The trail seldom had anything that could remotely be called a trail.  Occasionally the placement of one of these signs was somewhat understandable — e.g. when there was less that a yard to the edge of the canal.  But, they appeared in other places that just had us scratching our heads to figure out their meaning.

Tonight was a very special night for me.  My friend Chris Wirth, with whom I went to school from first grade through high school, lives near Fairport.  She came to Newark, picked us up, and took us to dinner at Richardson's Canal House, which was originally a tavern, built in 1818, and served as a public house for more than 100 years.  Dinner was terrific and Chris and I got to catch up on news of old friends and times past.  Dee and Matt were gracious enough to tolerate our reminiscences.  It was such a treat to see Chris again.  It had been about seven years since she and another classmate visited us in Bellingham. 

It occurs to me tonight how much this trip has been enriched by spending time with longtime friends, and newly-met ones as well.

Matt and I will ride to Syracuse tomorrow.  We had such a good time today, talking as we rode.  I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's ride.

Ride Day Twenty-Four by the numbers;

53.5 — miles ridden (you may have noticed the asterisk in the blog title.  Because of our "exploring," and my failure to "un-pause" my app at one point, it's likely that a few miles should be added to this total, but this is the official distance if we'd ridden the canal in a straight line, or at least a line as straight as the canal allows.

750 — feet in elevation gained (this is a approximate number since the app was not working part of the time)

5000 — calories burned (once again, just an estimate)

0 — falls

1 — dog ( though this one was a cute little dog at the motel in Newark that climbed up on the motel counter, catching Matt's attention and getting some petting from him)