Autumn in the Northeast

New York, The Adirondacks, and Colder Weather

After leaving Canada near Niagra Falls,  the terrain is getting hillier and the elevation higher as we travel from Canada across New York.  We rode a day on the Erie Canal trail before entering the Adirondack Mountains.  It was likely the last of the flat terrain we will see for the rest of the trip.  The trail is mostly packed gravel, but asphalt in some sections.  It was on one of these asphalt sections while cruising at about 15mph that I hit a rough section of lifted asphalt folds.  Thought I would bounce out of my saddle.  I slowed and we continued more cautiously.

A couple of miles further down the trail a familiar looking older gentleman and younger lady stepped out into the trail in front of us, "Are you from Oregon?" They asked as we rolled to a stop.  "Yes," I replied.  "Is your name Jonathen?," came the next question.  "Ummm, yes..." I answered suddenly very curious as to where this was going and how they knew my name.  "Is this your wallet?"  They held up my black wallet.  Now I knew why they looked familiar.  I had said hello to them on the trail just before the bumpy section.  I had hit the bumps hard enough that my wallet had bounced out of my handlebar bag.  No doubt my eyes were on the road ahead and I had no idea it happened.   They had found my wallet in that area and chased us down in their car in hopes of heading us off to return my wallet.  Wow!  How kind of them and how fortunate for me!  

That night we stayed with a wonderful Warm Showers host near Rochester, New York.  Gretchen Schauss made us a delicious pot roast dinner with potatoes and veggies out of her garden.  She has done several long tours over the years and we enjoyed comparing notes about the places we had all been while touring.  Gretchen made us feel right at home and she was up early in the morning to make us breakfast before we headed out.

Entering the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains we rode through many miles of apple orchards. They were all busy in harvest activity.  I never realized how many apple orchards there were in New York!

It is peak color in the Adirondacks and we are really enjoying seeing the colors as we ride higher.  We took a zero day today in Old Forge at about 1,850 feet elevation due to rain storms moving through.  It was a good day to do bike maintenance in our motel room and rest up for going further into the mountains tomorrow (Friday 10-14).

When we head out tomorrow the temps are forecast to be 31 degrees with a north wind.  We are likely to be camping someplace in Newcomb NY.  All of the NY state campgrounds closed on October 10th and many tourists services are shutting down now.  It will be challenging to find accomdations in the mountains over the next days.  Cell connectivity and wifi availability are also unknown.  It is looking like we will be on the coast in Maine in 6 days or so if the weather permits.

Niagra Falls

Obligatory Falls Photo

The Erie Canal

Bill & Jessica to the rescue!

At the Haus of Gretchen Schauss

Getting Hillier as we head east

Apple Orchards Southeast of Lake Ontario

Moose River Road - Adirondacks

Moose River

Bicycle Maintenance

Adventure

You know you are about to have an adventure when you are in a foreign country cycling across the continent unsupported, off the planned route in a remote area as evening approaches, no cell phone or data connection, no map, storms forecasted for overnight, faced with the decision of riding down a road that may end abruptly, or taking a gravel trail next to the road that leads to God-knows-where, and your riding partner looks at the road, then at the trail, then turns to you and says.... "Feeling adventurous?"

Unrelated Photo

Two Days

We got back on our bikes on Sunday 10/2 and rode 50 from Sanford to Frankenmuth. The roads in Saginaw resembled the concrete jumbled aftermath of a bombed-out WWII village where someone had come along and poured lumpy asphalt overtop.  I've never ridden on anything so awful!  Dirt tracks have a lot to offer over those roads!

In Frankenmuth we had a motel on the outskirts of town.  We walked 3 miles roundtrip into town and did the tourist thing for a while (buying nothing) and then stopped at 'Slo Bones' BBQ on the way back to our motel.

Frankenmuth

Frankenmuth Shopping District

From Frankenmuth we rode 65 miles to Yale Michigan.  We had a reservation at the historic Yale Hotel for Monday night.  A whopping $37 for the night.  On the way, we had a couple of road construction delays.  One was a torn-up road near Otter Lake that we tried to circumvent to no avail.  Too torn-up and no way to skirt it. We ended-up riding down dirt roads to get around it and adding 4 miles to our journey.

Confident that we would get around the construction

Alas... no joy in finding a way around

We rode to Browning and on to Yale after the delay, but ran into yet another road construction area.  This one was manned by flaggers, so we made it through while slowing down and annoying the car drivers.  The weather looked threatening all day, but other than a heavy mist, it did not rain.

Once in Yale we checked into our hotel.  It is a 100 year old, barely maintained hotel.  The kind of place that we enjoy.  Peeling paint, missing fire extinguishers, chirping smoke alarms, questionable plumbing... the works.  

The Yale Hotel

We went up 7 flights of stairs to the 3rd floor

Our Room

This morning our host had to climb through the transom window above our door to open our room after we returned from breakfast because the key she gave us did not work.  Just an average day for her...   

Today (Tuesday) we ride to Marine City and into Canada.  We are over 2,600 miles into our trip.  Less than 1,400 to go. Not sure what connectivity we may have, but my cell phone will be in Flight mode to avoid the ridiculously inflated AT&T charges.  I will be relying on WIFI signals where I can get them.  With luck, we will be back in the country in New York by the weekend

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Saginaw - You can't have it both ways