Yesterday we biked 75 miles and started into the Adirondack’s, so the hill climbing is back. We have 2 big, long grades to go up today that are 4 or 5 miles long. The Adirondack’s are famous for the “colors” in the Fall as the leaves change and we are right at the beginning of that. We have already seen some beautiful scenery and we are just entering the mountains. The next four days will be tough going, but we only have 5 days of biking left, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bright. We stayed at Redfield, New York and are planning on going 75 miles today to Raquette Lake to a camp ground.

We stopped at a bike shop yesterday and got John’s bike fixed good as new, and my “Shin Splints” are not getting any worse and are “bearable”, sort of the “grin and bear it” category. I will be able to finish strong, and will try not to whine to much!!

love you all very much, Dee

We rode on this trail that follows the Erie cancel for about 50 miles today, and did a total of 86 miles today. We are presently camped at “Lake Bluff Campground” outside of Huran, New York that overlooks Lake Ontario. When we got here at 7 pm those in the office were gone and there was a note to pick a place and we could pay in the morning. Found a nice spot close to the bathrooms, but when we went to use the bathroom we found it took a key that they gave out at the office that was closed. So we had no way to go to the bathroom or take a shower! There was a lady walking by so I began sharing with her what we were doing, and our dilemma . She said she had an extra one and loaned hers to us. Boy, that shower felt so good!!

John’s bicycle had a major breakdown today. The cable that runs the rear derailer broke. He managed to fix it by pulling the end down and fastening it on the derailer. The problem is he only has a couple of gears now. He can limp by with this for a little while, but will cause major slowing down. There is a bike shop on the way tomorrow about noon so we are hoping that they have the part and would be willing to fix it for us while we eat lunch 🙂

my leg injury stayed about the same. Hurts like the dickens but I can still pedal, so I think we will make it.

We have 6 days left. Love you all very much, dee

We stayed at Riverside Motel and Campground in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada last night  and were just a few miles from Niagara Falls which we went to this morning. It is a very awesome sight and quite amazing. Hard to get a good picture because the mist from the falls was very heavy like rain. We got soaking wet looking at the falls as well as my camera which I am not sure works right yet.

We rode 84 miles today and are staying in Brockport, New York tonight. The goal is to stay at at a camp sight on the shores of Lake Ontario called “Lake Bluff” in Wolcott, New York after pedaling 85 miles tomorrow. The weather today was very nice warming up a bit to the low 70’s.

this morning after we saw Niagara and crossed back into the US and went through customs we were riding on a rode and then we went down a very steep, 8% grade and long hill. We got to going very fast for a long time. We got to the bottom and stopped at a light,  and John Said, “Boy, that was fun, but I hope there aren’t any hills like that ahead that we will have go up”. Then he looked up at the road sign and said, “Woops, we missed our turn, we have to go back up that hill”. My response was”You got to be kidding me”, which he wasn’t. I grumbled all the way up the hill, and told John that I forgave him because Jesus forgave me, and that is what I am supposed to do!!

with just 7 days of riding left I have developed a very painful case of shin splints in my left shin. It hurts like the dickens to push down on the peddle so I do most of the pushing with my right foot only. It slows me up considerably. I have ice on it tonight as I write this, I am taking Aleve, and I bought one those compression stockings, the kind old people wear, to wear tomorrow to help keep it from getting any worse.

The picture above is the Erie Canal and we rode on the trail next to it for half the day and will tomorrow as well.  The only problem is the trail is gravel and is way harder for me to pedal in. It is very pretty and historic and no traffic.

7 more days!!!!

love you all very much. Dee

This is a picture of us crossing the “Peace Bridge” into Canada from Buffalo, New York.  This was a super scary experience! Thee sidewalk that we rode on was 2 feet wide, the wind was blowing sideways to us at least a bazillion miles per hour, the trucks roaring by created monster back drafts besides shaking the bridge like a major earthquake, but we made it across, Hallelujah!!!

Wow, my, oh my! Look at that picture. I have lost all my hair on this bike trip!! Must be the traffic. And look at that, the bicycle helmet has made grooves in my forehead! Boy, I hope those go away after awhile.

we rode 80 miles today, and it was a very pleasant day with sunshine, but cool, with just enough tail wind to make pedaling relatively easy.

The traffic in a Buffalo was very heavy, but we got through it with no bad experiences. A school bus pulled up next to us at at a stop light, opened her door and started asking about our trip, happens all the time. I was thinking we should have made shirts that had ” From Oregon” on the back in big letters and “To Maine” on the front. We stop and check our maps regularly to figure out where to turn and when we do often someone comes up and offers to help us. John usually says, “we are fine”, but I say, ” we are lost!”. Today a very friendly lady offered to help and she noticed my peeling nose and she put her finger on the end of my nose and said, “you be sure and put some sun screen on that nose” and I dutifully promised her I would. John said he thought she was hitting on me , whatever that means.

8 more riding days left!!! We called a bike shop and made an appointment for them to box our bikes per airline requirements for $50. They are close to the airport and getting a taxi from there with our bikes and stuff will be easy. We are planning on going out the night before we leave and having Lobster for dinner. I will take a picture of the big boy before I eat him!

love you all very much. Dee

Here we are on the “Peace Bridge” crossing into Canada. This was one scary experience! We had to ride on the sidewalk which was 2 feet wide and the wind is blowing a bazillion miles an hour sideways and the trucks are barreling across creating major draft and the bridge is shaking like a big earthquake from the trucks! But we made it, hallelujah!!

my oh my! I have lost all my hair on this bike trip! And the bike helmet has made grooves in my forehead! I hope those go away after awhile!!

We rode 80 miles today and it was a very nice day. Sunny but cool with a nice tail wind most of the day. Getting through Buffalo wasn’t to bad and customs was easy as we talked to the lady about our trip more than about what was in our panniers. We were riding through the busiest part of the city and stopped at a light and a school bus pulled up next to us and the lady driving opened the door and started asking questions about our trip. I was thinking I should have made a shirt that said “From Oregon” on the back and “Going to Maine” on the front. We stop and look at our maps frequently and most of the time someone will come up and offer to help. Today a very friendly lady came up to give us directions as we were checking our maps and noticed my peeling nose and put her finger on my nose and said sternly, ” you put some sunscreen on that nose!” I promised her I would. John said he thought she was hitting on me, whatever that means.

8 more riding days!! We called and made an appointment with a bike shop to box up our bikes per airport requirements for $50. They are close to the airport and we will take a taxi from the shop with our bikes and stuff and be there 2 Hours before our flight leaves. The night before we leave we are going out to dinner and have Lobster! I will take a picture of him for you 🙂

love you all very much. Dee

Oregon Antiques. Not sure what was in the store, but I bet it is expensive!!

This our camp and just past those trees is Lake Erie, very pretty. Super windy and cold. Finished eating my freeze dried dinner, took a shower and in my warm sleeping bag by 7 pm.

We entered into Pennsylvania today, and then after about 5 hours of pedaling we entered into New York. Road through the entire State of Pennsylvania in 5 hours, is that fast or what! Well the State is only about 45 miles wide at the top of the State where we crossed. Oh well, still seemed impressive to me 🙂

we pedaled 75 miles today with a fairly nice tail wind for part of the day so we got to our camping spot before dark which hasn’t happened for the last week. We are at Lake Erie State Park and right now the wind is blowing very hard. If I weren’t in my tent I am sure it would blow away. We are only a few feet from the lake and the sound of the waves created by the wind is very loud along with the wind howling. Sounds kind of cool!

tomorrow we are planning on camping at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Campground which is 3 miles from Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. We will have to bicycle through Buffalo, New York which I am not looking forward to. I am hoping there are a lot of designated bike lanes.

We have 9 ride days left until we finish the course! Single digit number of days left. Won’t be long now until this Mountain is climbed! The forecast is for nice sunny weather for the next week where we will be riding. That will be a very nice way to finish the trip!

love you all very much. Dee

We biked up to this sign yesterday, and then had to decide what to do. If we turn around and go around we will add at least an hour of bicycling time and it looked like we were going to get to our destination right at dark the way it was. If we go through the sign we run the risk of getting yelled at or shot at by angry road workers or blown up by road mines. 🙂 my imagination of course! I was nervous but John said it is Saturday, there is no one here to even see us so off we went biking on fresh asphalt that no one had ever been on before. One nice thing was there was no traffic, we had the whole road to ourselves for several miles, and the only negative thing that happened was puzzled looks by people who lived next to the road, we smiled and waved!

when we are finished with the  trip in 12 days we will have actually pedaled 4,000 miles. The original estimate was 3,800 but with off route camping sites and getting lost etc we will be a few miles over 4 K. As of this moment we have gone 3,204 miles so we have 800 to go.

Today is our last rest day. We are canceling our last one because we lost a day because of rain and we are so close to the finish line shear excitement of going home will carry us for those last days. We are sitting in a very old motel, with a very old TV, but the toilet flushes, the beds are soft and the cost per night is $56. We slept until 10 am and are watching Football  now. We were going to try and go to church, but the closest one to our fine Motel was 8 miles away and we really didn’t want to bike 16 miles on our rest day so we are reading our Bibles extra instead.

when I was 50 years old I was 250 lbs and had very high blood pressure, my cholesterol level was close to butter, and I was border line diabetic. I started running, lost 20 lbs and ran my first Marathon. It was to that point the most difficult thing I had ever done physically, and when I got to the finish line I got super emotional. I am thinking that when we get on the airplane and I settle back in the seat and I start thinking about this trip and all that has happened and that it is over I will start crying like a baby. If I do I am not telling anybody.

love you all very much! Dee

This is the sky line of Cleveland, Ohio, and Lake Erie from a bike path that we road on this morning. I was really nervous about riding through a huge city like Cleveland, but several things made it a very good day. Our “Warm Shower” host offered to ride with us and be our guide through the city, and that was a huge blessing as he knew all the back streets and low traffic routs to go. Also there were a number of bike paths in Cleveland that we were able to take with zero traffic as well as many of the streets have designated bike lanes, I love bike lanes almost as much as tail winds. We rode right by the stadium that the Browns play in and through the middle of Cleveland. It turned into a fun tour of the city from a bicycle seat.

we were looking at google maps on my iPhone to figure out where to turn, and I saw the street we wanted and also saw that there was a Dairy Queen on the corner of that street and we would go right by it. That is all that we needed to be motivated to stop and get a Sunday for John and a Blizzard for me.

we rode 88 miles today which is our fifth day in a row that we pedaled over 80 miles. I am so glad that we are having a rest day tomorrow to recuperate my tired old body.

Love you all. Dee