Santa Rosa, CA 10/12/2011

After a great night sleep, we were up and down the hall for coffee and cereal and a little TV to catch up on the world. We chatted with Kathy the front desk manager about our trip and later with her boss who rides 150 miles or so each weekend. Delightful gentleman, our age or older, who is an enthusiastic rider of rail trails and canal tow paths in the area. He loved talking about our ride.

Martin drove us to Reagan airport through the miserable DC commute traffic and we got checked in with plenty of time for our trip home via Denver. We enjoyed good foot room to Denver as we were seated in the exit row over the wing. From Denver to SF, it was in the back of the plane which was full. One of my seat mates was 6'6", from Winnipeg en route to Berkeley for a birthday party. The flight was good and we arrived in SF to 80 degree weather and my lovely wife Mary waiting at the curb. We dropped Rudy off and arrived home in good time.

Lots of good memories. Happy to be home safely.

I will post photos in a few days.

Bethesda, MD 10/11/2011

We had a good night at the Ramada and went down to sample the provided breakfast. We had cereal, coffee and juice and shared the breakfast room with about six working types, mostly speaking Spanish. The oranges and apples did not look that good so we took a bagel and cream cheese and headed down the route I had put together from the Internet to get us safely back to our route on our Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) maps. It was generally a pretty good route, much safer than the route to our motel last night on route 140 towards Baltimore. We were mostly counter commute but still had to deal with school buses, which as a rule tend to give us less room than about any other type of vehicle. As we got farther from Baltimore, the hills increased and traffic thinned. We stopped at one point at a fork in the road and a local resident was just walking his daughter out to the curb to wait for her school bus. The bus came and went and we chatted with the dad who works between Baltimore and DC. He is former US Navy submariner as was my older brother Tom who was on a fairly famous sub, the USS Halibut back in the 1960s. We followed his suggested route off my selected route for about a half mile and missed a couple of short steep hills and a section of road with sharp turns and short sight lines. The former sub mariner noted the former owner of his house had had a car through his fence and into his yard more than once. Once away from Baltimore and back on our rural roads, we faced the same problem from previous days of where to get something to eat. Again the restaurants do not open until late morning. We stopped in Gleneig and on a suggestion from a local lady, went to the only place serving any breakfast in the area, Subway. The Subway was operated by a nice bright interesting young man from Nepal who had been in the States 4 years. He pitched Nepal as a great place to hike and ride.

We have enjoyed good weather the last week and a front is coming in tomorrow and by late morning we could feel the change in the air. More leaves were falling along our route and it cooled as we rode. We came to highway 108 north of Olney where our maps indicated there was a restaurant. As we waited for the traffic to clear we observed the front door being unlocked and the "OPEN" sign turned on. Opening time was 11:30 am. We had a nice lunch of pulled pork sandwiches and chatted for sometime with a couple in the parking lot as we were leaving. A few miles later we picked up the Rock Creek Trail which would take us all the way into Bethesda, the planned end to this leg of our journey down the East coast. Our ACA maps suggested we should get local maps of the Rock Creek Trail as it is poorly signed. We did not and figured we could follow the creek down stream. Planned worked reasonably well once we got on the trail. We crossed a major highway not on our maps and found a new trail along the road. Seeking directions to the start of the Rock Creek trail, we stopped one lady on the bike path and, has been the case 9 times out of 10, she had no idea. But she had an excuse as she was from Arizona in town visiting her sister. Down the path a bit and found a sign directing us to the Rock Creek Trail. It was a delightful ride and again evidence of the recent heavy rains was obvious. Down trees, creek bed full of brush, gravel washed over the trail etc. We saw some deer along the trail and as the trail is heavily used, they paid no attention to us at all. We also saw two black squirrels. Most of our squirrels have been grey, some brown and these were our first and only black ones.

We enjoyed our ride on the trail but were not sure where the best place to get off, so as we got close, we got off and approached a police officer in a car. He gave us directions and we rode through some traffic right to Martin and Meg's house where we used the hidden key to enter the house, unpack our bags, take a shower, drink their beer and generally kick back until Martin home from work. We are leaving our bikes and some of our gear at their very nice house until we return in the Spring to continue down the coast to Florida.

Martin arrived and we went to local club for dinner and where we are staying the night. We were joined for dinner by my wife's Aunt Jannie, cousins Mark and Martin and Meg, the delightful spouse of Martin. We enjoyed great company, good food, and ended the day feeling very good.

57 miles for the day and a feeling of accomplishment and that it was a good time and place to stop to let our bodies recover. Rudy's odometer shows we have ridden 1,007 miles since Bar Harbor.

Pikesville, MD 10/10/2011

And then there are those days.

We were up early with plans to grab a bite at the motel and hit the road at first light.

Well, the motel restaurant was not open and no continental breakfast was available, so up the road we went to the first restaurant. It opens at 11. And that was the story of the morning. We grabbed a cup of coffee at High's, the local chain of stop and robs at gas stations. I passed on the hot dogs on the rolling grill and I am guessing the expected crowd never came in after the game on Friday night so the dogs were still there. Asked a guy working on a house about a restaurant; so down the road we went, closed until 11. Ok, people don't eat breakfast on our off the beaten path route. After 30 miles plus and another stop at a Highs for a "breakfast sandwich" we made it to Butler, MD and discovered a little country store that sold everything and had a deli, but was a far cry from Jim Towns in Alexander Valley. We had a roast beef sandwich and sat on the front porch with the honey bees and chatted with Mark, the owner of Misty Farms, just down the road. A steady stream of locals filed through picking up something from the deli as it is apparently the only place for miles. Interesting people including a couple of potential banjo players from Deliverance.

We hit the road and rode through some nice hills with beautiful farms. This is horse country and we saw a couple of riders in fancy riding gear and heard the bugle of the group on the trail of a fox, we assumed. Tally Ho! We saw a couple of white tail deer running through the woods along the route as well as another deer who never quite made it across the road.

Our route crossed a rail trail and we asked the first jogger where it went but she was plugged into her music and never heard us or just ignored us. Another pair of joggers came by and we determined the trail would take us off course to far. They were training for the US Marine Corps Marathon in DC and we chatted about our ride and their jogging.

Our little black caterpillar continues to make great time and we saw him a couple of times on the road today.

We made good time and stopped in Reisterstown for a sit down lunch of chicken Caesar salad and I tried to locate a motel further down the road on our route with no luck. Not a problem as I was thinking Reisterstown, a town of 25,000 might have a motel. How silly of me. We spoke with Tom, employee of Martha's and Mary's where we were eating. Oh, no problem, lots of motels down by US 40 on your route. Name one. No luck. Tom makes inquiry of others in the store and reports back, No, problem, go up 140 the corner by the gas station, turn left one block and you will find a small motel. Great, we follow the instructions and no such motel. I stop in a dress shop and the ladies there said there is no motel for miles. So, our choice is go forward on our route and hope for the best or go off route a few miles toward Baltimore and stop at what we find. We finally opted to head toward Baltimore on Route 140 as I had determined there were hotels on I695 around Baltimore. Solid business for 8 miles, a representative of every type business known to man, but not one motel until we found a Ramada and a Hilton just inside I695. We opted for the Ramada which was next to an Olive Garden. Cheaper motel than last night and the early dinner special at Olive Garden was good and cheap. Route 140 was full of drivers in a big hurry and we were honked at more today than the entire trip.

A good shower, a good meal, thoughts of the nice scenery and good people of the day.

Tomorrow we will be at Martin and Megs in Bethesda. Martin is my wife's cousin and has consented to housing our bikes until the spring when we come back to finish our ride to Florida.
So, one more day of riding and then home again.

54 miles in lovely weather.

Delta, PA , 10/9/2011

We were up and out of the Rodeway Inn a little late. We headed back east on Hwy 30 for about 3 miles before heading south on 896. Traffic was less but 30 was still busy. The weather continues to be very nice and today was the first day I started without legwarmers or my jacket.

We rode through the country side and noted no one was working in the fields today and we met several buggies on the road going to church or a courting or wherever. Some of the big horses we saw yesterday working in the fields were enjoying their day off standing close to the fence along the road and posing for the tourists. We stopped in a little town to confirm directions and spoke with a gentleman shinning up his Harley. He is a retired truck driver and now he "Drives the Amish around". He had a 12 passenger van and said he is busier than he had planned to be in retirement. He gave us a short cut to Hwy 372 and recommended a breakfast place in Quarryville. Both suggestions turned out to be very good. We have seen lots and lots of Harley's in groups out enjoying the nice roads and lovely weather. One group of 25 or so passed us yesterday.

Our route took us up some long steep hills, but preferable to the short steeper hills in Connecticut. We had a nice long down hill down to and over the Susquehanna River on Route 372 and of course a very long up hill up and away from the river. Road was such that we never had a chance to stop for a photo op on the bridge. I noted that there is a lot more water running in the river now than when the Google Street view photos were taken.

We stopped early in Delta, a mile or two from Maryland. The shower in the Peach Bottom Inn is vastly superior to the Rodeway Inn of last night.

Rudy talked to an old guy in the bar (younger than us) about our ride and he stated Rudy was an inspiration to get himself in better shape. More power to him.

We made a couple of calls,wrote a Blog, got something to eat and planned tomorrow's ride. Our trip is winding down.

35 miles today. Pictures will be posted when I get home.

Lancaster, PA 10/8/2011

We picked up our bikes from room 103 and took them down stairs and parked them outside the motel. Returned to our room, 208, and picked up our bags and loaded up the bikes and headed up the much quieter street from last night to Nuddie's, the recommended breakfast place and discovered John and Wayne just finishing up and getting ready to hit the road. John is new to long distance biking and we were amazed at how much stuff he had on his bike. We keep trimming back on what we carry. We had a good breakfast of ham and eggs and hit the road, following Charley from REI suggestion. It was a beautiful morning and the road was good with some nice hills and numerous yard sales along the road. Nice homes, lawns mowed to the edge of the pavement. We took route 23 to 345 and headed south to 82 towards Coatesville. We stopped for some gatoraide and a very busy little corner store and chatted with a lady from the area. We commented about all the traffic and she pointed out it was Columbus Day weekend, great weather, winter is coming and the tourist love all the attractions in the Lancaster area, Amish farms, car shows, out lets, etc. We called for reservations at a Rodeway Inn near Lancaster and got the last room. We pulled into Coatesville and started looking for a place to eat. In one block we went by a Jamaican, Chinese, Mexican and chicken place, none of which looked very good. We stopped at the fire department and asked Craig one of the young firemen on duty about a place to eat and he recommended the Little Chef on down the road toward our planned route of highway 372. I asked about swapping patches and he had none to swap.We got ready to leave and I noticed my back tire was flat. We changed it in front of the Fire Department and I washed my hands in the fire station. There is a very large steel mill in Coatesville and old row houses etc. We stopped in the Little Chef and split a club sandwich with chips. Based on the people we saw in Coatesville, Weight Watchers has not hit town yet but I suspect dialysis clinics are doing great business.

A pleasant ride west on 372 looking for Cherry Hill Road to head back north to our hotel on Hwy 30, the main road in the area. We entered the Amish farm area and began seeing buggies on the road, horse drawn wagons hay balers in the fields. Nice looking farms, laundry hung on very high clothes lines and busy people.

We found our road and headed north past a roadside farm attraction with around 200 cars parked in their parking lot. We love the Amish because many of the roads have an extra wide shoulder reserved for their buggies. We joined the buggies of course and rode to Hwy 30 and turned left toward Lancaster and found the traffic was extremely slow. In the 8 miles or so we rode up 30 to our motel, we passed cars sitting in traffic in every mile. We arrived at our motel and found the worlds oldest Rodeway Inn. We checked in, carried our stuff and bikes up stairs to our room. I took a shower which was the worst on our trip. The water went from scalding hot to cold on its own. There was an Applebee's Restaurant across the parking lot as well as a Texas something restaurant and a Chinese place. The parking lot was full and there were maybe 15 people waiting outside Applebee's with pagers waiting to eat. We walked in, put our name on the list, picked up our pager and noticed two ladies sitting at the bar with an empty seat on either side of them. We went and asked them to move over which they did. We returned our pager and ate at the bar. The ladies were Mary Kay reps and had been sitting there for a long time doing business, eating little, completely unaware of the long line of people waiting to eat. Amanda and Nick the bartenders were in constant motion and yet pleasant young people and we chatted about the crazy traffic and our ride etc.

It was an early night and we were making plane reservations for our flight home and the blog never got written until the next day.

A good day in Amish country. 56 miles.

Phoenixville, PA 10/7/2011

Up and out the door in a very cool morning. We had our bill adjusted as the restaurant at the Ramada had been rented out for a fashion show. We were unable to get on as models so had to walk in the dark for dinner. We had a bowl of cereal at Ramada, toasted a bagel to go and grabbed some cream cheese and hit the road, up the hill. We were off our route for a few miles and joined our route coming into Conshohocken, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. We had so many turns on our route I began to develop an unusual craving for cheese. We made it through the maze, past some very nice homes on Valley Road, Kansas Avenue and Tennis Avenue.

It is horse county, big beautiful homes and past the curiously named Almshouse Road.

We began to get hungry and saw a sign in an industrial area advertising catering, and now open for breakfast, but not a clue as to where they were located. We asked a guy passing by and he gave us the directions, "behind the blue building". We rode behind the blue building and had a nice breakfast and chatted with another couple about our ride and how he ruptured his Achilles tendon. He was moving his children's basket ball net over a soft lawn during the rainy September.

We stopped in REI in Conshocken and Rudy bought new cleats and I replaced my flashing red light which had disappeared off the back of my bike. We were also seeking local knowledge about bike friendly roads to cut some distance off our Adventure Cycling Route which takes us north of Lancaster before heading south into Maryland. We got some tips from Charley, one of the mechanics and some assistance from Holly, both good employees of REI. Shortly after leaving REI we picked up the Schuykill River Trail and road up the trail to the Valley Forge National Historic Park. A beautiful day, lots of people hiking and biking and visiting the various areas in the park. We exited the park and entered Phoenixville looking for a place to stay. Stopped in the first place, a sports bar. A few people were in the parking lot standing around a 1931 Ford, and by their body language they were expecting it to explode. We went into the bar and spoke to the bar tender, a truly grouchy individual. He recommended Prima Motel down the road behind the pizza parlor. We called and Gary said, yeah, we got rooms. As we were leaving one of the guys who had been at the 1931Ford came in to claim his Guinness . The owner had came in the bar looking for a phone book to call a mechanic and the fellow had answered, You found one, and abandoned his Guinness to help the stranded motorist. As he talked to us, with his lady friend in the back ground saying it was time to go, I realized that I had been mistaken when I first observed the people around the Ford in the parking lot. They were not afraid the car was going to explode, they were standing back while their volunteer mechanic was checking out the car and wondering I a sure about his ability. We exited and headed down street, a very unbikefriendly street in search of Prima and discovered every corner had a pizza parlor on it. We found the right one and I walked into the Prima Motel hallway, it could not be classified a lobby, and was immediately reminded of some places in the Tenderloin in San Francisco that rent rooms by the week. The cigarette smell was intense and I backed out and told Rudy, No Way. I called the Majestic Hotel again (I had got an answering machine earlier) and got a nice lady who said they had non smoking room available. We rode down Bridge Street and checked in to a nice room, next door to two other bikers, whom we met later. We did some laundry in the tub and then went down stairs to the very nice Italian restaurant in the basement of the hotel. Many of the patrons were wearing Phllies Jerseys, including a family of four, the children being about 5 and 7 years old and a sweet grandmother type at the next table. A ball game was on in the next room above the guitar player. I asked one of the employees what the inning and the score was and he replied, who cares, it is not the Phillies.

When we checked into the Majestic, Nicole told us we were lucky as tonight was First Friday and things would be happening later. Sure enough, they blocked off two blocks of the street in front of the hotel. There were vendors set up, live music of a variety of types and quality, in several places and fire trucks from four different departments in the middle of the street. I spoke with three of the departments about swapping patches and nothing panned out. They were there to kick off fire prevention week.

We got back to the hotel and chatted with our biking neighbors, John and Wayne, who are doing the same route as we are but a week or two at a time. They started this bit in Poughkeepsie and will end in Richmond. They were traveling much faster than we are and we wished them well and returned to our room. I was to tired to do the blog and went to bed.

51 miles of very pleasant riding.

New Hope, Pennsylvania 10/6/2011

We had decided to sleep in but of course were up at our regular time, about 6 am. It is not light until after 7am and we do not ride in the dark. We came down stairs and Adam, the manager, told us two other cyclist had checked in last night. Rudy asked, "Young couple, the guy pulling BOB trailer?" Yep, it was the couple we had seen go by the Fly Shop outside of Union, CT on 9/29. They stayed in the B&B we had been trying to call all afternoon and were present when the operator of the B&B returned our call, so they were aware that we were on the road somewhere. Anyway, Drew and Shira started in Bar Harbor and are on their way to Key West. It was nice to meet with them and discuss the things that happen along the road, and the road itself. They made it through the closed bridges and roads as we did. We exchanged blog addresses and were on our way. Check their blog at billydontlosemynumber.blogspot.com. They told us they were going to stop for a few days at Shira's home, near Lambertville.

We had a good day of riding, nice weather, little climbing, quiet backroads for the most part, nice people to give directions along the way when we had questions about the right route.

We stopped in Frenchtown, NJ for lunch and there was a group of 8 people out for a days ride seated near us. We chatted with Macon and Bob. Bob has done some long trips, some on a motorcycle and some on bicycle. He retired after 35 years in the cut flower business. Like the Rose of Sharon Flower shop we visited several days ago, he got most of his flowers from South America. Travel time was 2 1/2 days from time the flowers were cut until they were in his store. Bob suggested we ride down the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware to Stockton instead of the New Jersey side as our maps listed. Go with the local knowledge and hope for the best. The Pennsylvania side was pretty but Bob forgot to mention there are no shoulders on much of the ride. It was not a problem as traffic was light.

We continue to see lots of evidence of the damage caused by the hurricane and heavy rains during the last month. Road damage, lots of trees uprooted and in Belvidere virtually every house we walked by on our way to dinner at John the Greeks was pumping water out of their basement.

When we reached the bridge at Stockton, NJ we crossed the Delaware River again thinking we might find a cheaper place to stay for the night. I had chatted with a pretty blonde at an inn on the Pennsylvania end of the bridge who told me her midweek special rate was $105. We stopped in the parking lot of the Stockton Inn and spoke with a lady just coming out of the inn after attending a music concert (classical guitar). She was very friendly and interested in our ride. She pulled out her IPhone and interviewed us on camera! As other ladies came out from the inn, she introduced us to them. We asked about sleeping on her couch but determined she lived to far off our route. We said goodbye and bypassed Lisa's where Bob in Frenchtown had told to be sure and stop for a cookie. How good the cookies are, we will never know. One of the concert ladies said the cookies had too much sugar.

We headed south on Highway 29, with heavy traffic and no shoulder, so as soon as we could we moved to the tow path along the Delaware Canal right along side the Delaware River. What a change, much more relaxed and quieter, for a mile or so until the path quality went bad after crossing a road. Then we noticed the good path continued a bit to the east. We chatted with a couple of young people employed by the local water district who were riding the canal tow path checking for damage from the storms. The canal is a major water supply source for the local area. They also suggested a Ramada Inn on Highway 202 out of New Hope.

Back on the trail and we arrived in Lambertville to find Shira's mother, Penny, her sister in law Karen, with lovely 11 week old Julie and family friend Deb awaiting the arrival of Drew and Shira. They had nice welcoming signs so we had our photos taken with the signs. Nice people and Penny invited us to dinner and, although it sounded great we declined, wanting to stay close to our route. They had spoken with Drew and Shira who were in Frenchtown, so they were not far up the road. We crossed the Delaware again for at least the 9th time and headed west. On the bridge, a couple stopped Rudy and said they had seen us having lunch Frenchtown and commented that we were making good time. The bridge had lots of foot traffic as everyone was out enjoying the beautiful sunny day.

Checked into the Ramada and walked down the road to Giuseppe's for a good dinner.

A better day than yesterday. 51 miles. Check out the photo post and Along the road post now and then. I might post photos tonight or tomorrow, it is getting late.

Belvidere, NJ 10/5/2011

An interesting day. We left our nice motel (53 degrees), no coffee etc, and rode down town to the diner recommended by the deer hunters also staying at our motel.  We had a good breakfast and caught a bit of the conversations going on in the rowdy end of the room.  General talk about deer hunting, bears, and one guy was telling some one about a lady he knew.  She got married and on her first anniversary she went to a heavy equipment operator business.  They told her they were not hiring and she told them she was not looking for a job but instructions on how to work the back hoe she got for her anniversary present.  Fellow said she got a D-6 Caterpillar for second anniversary.  It seems I have heard a similar store before.

We headed out of town to the bridge over the Delaware from PA into New Jersey and the toll taker directed us to the walkway along the side of the bridge away from those "crazy drivers."

We anticipated a relatively easy riding day as our route took us through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  Our first few miles were very nice, no cars, relatively flat riding, cool sunny weather.

The first thing to make the day interesting was info that the road was closed due to damage from the hurricane that went through.  We had seen lots of damage along this secondary, low priority road including several places where they had to cut trees that had fallen across the road; numerous places where the water had run across the road leaving a lot of gravel on the road.  We called the Park Service, Yep, road is closed to all traffic, including bikes.  Only recourse is 12 miles back, cross over to the Pennsylvania side of the river.  Then I recalled Steve, the cyclist we had met in New Hampshire, had told us he had made it through on his bike.  So, off we went around the road closed barrier.  Nice riding with no cars; however still some debris on the road.  We were taking it easy in spite of discovering the route included some pretty steep climbs. Rudy was heading down one hill and hit something, flattening a tire.  We stopped, sat in the middle of the closed road and put in a new tube which exploded when it had about 90 psi.  Big bang, we jumped, it was the first time that had ever happened to either of us.  Anyway, put in another new tube and were ready to hit the road when we discovered his front tire was also flat.  No problem, another new tube and down the road we went.  We came the damaged area and were able to navigate through with no problem.

We continued on down the road with some more good hills and only met three cars for the first 30 miles of our ride. We arrived in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, crossed under I80 and stopped for a bite to eat at a pizza place. Called our wives and got up on things on the home front.  The TV was showing snow was falling on I80 in the Sierras in California! And then we headed back into New Jersey along a  busy highway through the Gap. We shared our road through the Gap with the Delaware River, I 80, and the railroad which did not leave much room for our road.  I was in front and pulled into an overlook for a photo op and Rudy did not see me leave the road.  I yelled at him as he was passing but a large truck was going by and he could not hear me. I took my photo (it was not a good overlook) and then called Rudy to tell him I was behind him and to not and try to catch up with me.  The call went to voice mail.  I got back on the road knowing that if he was trying to catch me, I would never catch him, but he would get my message.  About 4 miles down the road, I find him in a parking lot overlooking the river.  His face is long.  I asked if he got my message, no, He does not have his phone.  He knew he left the pizza place with it and we figured that if he lost it along the road it would be in a million pieces by now.  Lets call the pizza place just in case. I got out the receipt and discovered it is the first receipt we have on this trip that does not have a name or phone number on it. Neither of us could remember the name.  I walked over to a gentleman sitting in his car in the lot. I told him what had happened and  asked him if he knew the name of the pizza place and he did. I called 411
and answered the question, "City and State Please" with Delaware Water Gap Pennsylvania which confused the poor lady and after asking again she said she would have someone else help me which translated into she hung up on me. I tried again and got the number and was connected to Doughboys Pizza.  No Rudy had not left his phone in the shop but a customer had found it in the parking lot and brought it in.  Neither of us wanted to ride the 5 miles back through the Gap to get the phone and Joe, the gentleman in the car who came up with the name of the shop volunteered to drive Rudy back to get his phone.  Nice guy.  I stayed with the bikes and Rudy went and got his phone.  People are nice.

Back on the road toward Belvidere where we have reservations.  We continued along the crazy busy highway for a while and then our route takes us down a nice quite road along the river. So Rudy has another flat.  Probably my fault as I was leading and missed a rock and Rudy never had time to avoid it.  Anyway, tube out, used a new pre-glued patch the bike shop guy said worked great.  It did not, so changed the tire again.


By the time we arrived at our hotel we were tired.  We showered and walked across the bridge into Pennsylvania for dinner at an old restaurant owned by John the Greek.  Our waitress was on her 3rd day in the job, her first job as a waitress, and must have been John's grand daughter to have lasted three days in the job.  Food was good and we walked back to New Jersey and our comfy room in our hotel which dates from the 1830s. Adam, whose family has been restoring the hotel for a number of years, used to race bikes in the Velodrome near Allentown, Pa when he was younger.

Long day, 57 miles

Milford, PA 10/4/2011

Up and down the hall for coffee and whatever which today consisted of coffee, tiny donuts, bagels, cream cheese. We chatted with fellow guests, including Lucias and his brother in law from Louisville, KY.  Both are retired, Tom, the brother in law, an MD and Lucias a teacher in a Catholic school .  He noted that years ago he and his spouse were both teaching in Catholic Schools and realized they had no retirement so he bought a Sylvan Learning Center which did so well he bought 4 more  and then sold them when he stopped teaching and retired.  They walked across the foot bridge we rode across the Hudson yesterday and they also visited  FDR's home in Hyde Park.  They raved about the guides at Hyde Park as well as the Vanderbilt home.  Today they were going to visit West Point (about 90 minutes by car from here).  Lucias's wife rides bikes in Louisville, Ky with a regular group called the Buttermilks, but we won't go into that here (his comment) and the Buttermilks try to include at least one male on their rides in case some one has a flat.. We had a cup of coffee and took a bagel and cream cheese for later and headed into New Paltz for some breakfast.  We stopped at the organic bakery ran by Seth who moved his family up from Long Island a few years ago to get away from big city life under the flight paths of a couple of major airports. He very generously split one order of oatmeal into two which appeared to be the size of two orders.  Organic oatmeal, with strawberries, bananas, raisins, with organic milk and a cup of coffee, organic freetrade etc.  Seth, a musician and has a friend in Sebastopol whom he has visited so he is familiar with Santa Rosa, Healdsburg etc.

On the road in the light rain  which cleared up after about an hour or so. We had a few good hills as we left the Walkill River valley and entered the Neversink River valley. There has been lots of rain in this area during the whole month of September and all of the little streams are running a lot of water.  We saw evidence of major flooding in the Neversink River channel and yet another bridge was closed to traffic, but we were able to go over it.

We stopped for an early lunch and had a chicken Parmesan panini and substituted french onion soup for the offered fries.  Sandwich was huge and we ate half and took the rest with us for later.  The soup was just the thing to warm us up after the cool rain riding.

We rolled into New Jersey, (no welcoming sign to take our photo by) and then over the bridge into Pennsylvania to the Meyer Motel in Milford.  A nice, busy little town.  The Motel is very nice and consists of 19 units, some single cabins, some, like ours, containing two units.  We showered and ate our left over sandwiches and then walked up the street to a fish place and had some crab strips and a gin and tonic and conversation with John, a local gentleman who was trained as an attorney.  He used to do a lot of ice climbing until he was hit by a car in a cross walk and spent a month or so in the hospital.  We discussed our ride, our route, maps (John loves maps, Rudy said, sounds familiar and pointed at me).  Conversation ran to topography, local beers, and several minutes about the civil war.  John found the Gettysburg battlefield quite moving and "haunted".

Back to the motel,  I tried to write the blog from the room but signal was to weak so I am in the office.  Other guests include deer hunters who have been here for a few days.  They are bow hunters and were successful hunting  in New Jersey (across the Delaware River from Milford).  The local deer are white tail deer, much bigger than the coastal deer we have in Sonoma County.  The hunters made a point of telling Sharon, our inn keeper that it was not they who had  dressed the deer behind the motel and it was another guest of the motel.

I had a nice chat with Sharon our inn keeper and gave her our blog name.  She had friends who are planing a long bike ride.  It is late and I am sure Rudy is asleep by now.

61 miles today.  And the forecast is for mild sunny days the rest of our trip!

New Paltz, NY 10/3/2011

Woke up to find it was still dark at 7 am.  Foggy, but no rain.  We left the key on the desk of unit two and left the Willows Motel, never having seen another guest nor an employee of the motel.  Four Brothers restaurant was not open for breakfast and we stopped in corner gas station/coffee shop for some GatorAide and directions.  Down the street to a little restaurant for breakfast.  Chatted with brother of the owner about riding.  He is recently divorced and has a 4 year old daughter.  He has taken up bike riding again and rides the trail we rode yesterday with her.  He stated he has started riding again as he wants to be in shape to walk his daughter down the aisle when the time comes.  He also warned us about the big turn on the climb out of town, "very dangerous, if I had my truck with me, I would take you up the hill, corn field blocks the driver's view,  etc," which did nothing for our anxiety about starting the day with a good climb.  Well it was a steep climb but we were up around the corner before we knew it and had a beautiful ride on Highway 57 between Amenia and Salt Point.

We rolled into Hyde Park, and past FDR's home and stopped for lunch.  Chatted with a former McKesson official who used to make regular business trips to San Francisco and he was a regular visitor to Sonoma/Napa valleys.  Nice guy, lots of questions about our ride.  We got back on the road  into Poughkeepsie, NY. past Marist College onto the bridge over the Hudson.

We rode over the Walkway Over the Hudson Pedestrian Bridge, which is an old railroad bridge from the 1800s.  Google it as it is a good example what can be done by grassroots organizations to accomplish some thing truly special.  We stopped in mid span (1.3 miles or more, the longest pedestrian bridge in the world) for a photo op and started chatting with Julie from eastern Tennessee who is visiting the area checking out Vassar which is close by.  Julie was interested in our ride, took some photos and we gave her our blog address  Another pleasant person along the road.

We left the bridge and headed up through Highland only to discover up the road a couple of miles that the rail trail from the bridge continues a few miles.  We rode the trail to its current end and continued on into New Paltz and stopped at the Rodeway Inn.  I had made reservations when we stopped for lunch and discovered the phone number for the  motel where we planned to stay in Shawangunk is no longer a working number.

Turns out the Rodeway Inn, althought it has a nice small Main Street address, is not down town or close to any place to eat. We took a cab to the Gilded Otter Brew Pub almost on the banks of the Walkill River. We walked a couple of blocks up river to look at some of the original homes in the area, built by the original Huguenot settlers who arrived in North America on the good ship Gilded Otter.  We had the Monday night special, a ten ounce steak and a 10 ounce beer, with salad and veggies.  It was a good meal and we walked up the hill away from the river.  New Paltz is a college town and lots of college kids were out and about.  We stopped in Garibaldi's, called a cab and chatted with James the bartender, college student, long boarder, native of Long Island, a budding writer and a pleasant young man.  He spent a summer internship in Guatemala  last year and is preparing to go to LA for a college creative writing shindig (my word, not his) 
He had some good questions about our trip and was enjoyable to talk with.  Our cab arrived and back to motel.

Noelle, the night clerk , with whom we had chatted while waiting for our cab to dinner,was still on duty.  Another college student.  She is from Wilson Hill Island, near Massena, NY in the Saint Lawrence River, and is a grad student with a major in Music Therapy.  Five brothers, not sisters.  I asked her if she was ever called Princess and she smiled and said, "My Dad". She did her undergrad work at Utah State. We suggested she could loan us her car as the owner of a B&B in Louisiana did after he had suggested a dinner place several miles down the road.  Sorry, this is New York, not Louisiana.

It was  a good day with good weather, good riding and great people.

41 miles in the sunshine.  New Jersey and or Pennsylvania  tomorrow.

Amenia, NY 10/2/2011

Well after of a day of rest we were out the door with our laundered clothes, spiffy  bikes and ready for a nice breakfast at Pickle Works, the same restaurant we enjoyed so much when we came into Windsor Locks. It is closed on Sundays.  Next choice, Friendlys.  Way down the list from Pickle Works.  We ate and as we are leaving it started raining.  Not a problem, we are prepared, we stopped under the protection of a tree and put our rain pants on and I put on my booties over my shoes,which work very well.  We rode for about an hour and a half in the rain and then it cleared up for the rest of the day. We rode up some monster hills, found another bridge on our route that was washed out  during the hurricane and saw some beautiful scenery.  The ride along the West Branch of the Farmington River between Pleasant Valley, CT and Riverton,CT was very nice.  There were lots of joggers and other bikers out as the weather was great.

We stopped for lunch at Infinity Music Hall & Bistro in Norfolk, CT.  Wonderful hamburgers and they had Lagunitas IPA from Petaluma and Murphy Goode Liar's Dice Zin.  Photos will be posted. Staff was very pleasant and a couple of fellow diners approached and we chatted about out ride.

And the best thing about our stop in Norfolk, was when we left we had a great downhill for a few miles into East Canan and then onto a secondary road along the Blackberry River along the CT Wine Trail.  We went past a couple of winerys and one very scrawny looking vineyard.  Then over one more good hill and then into New York.  I called a local motel, no room at the inn.  Called a b&b in Amenia, room available at $190/night. We got a number for the Willows Motel in Amenia,  $70/night.  OK.  Instructions form the operator with whom I booked the room, " I charged your card, your room is number 2 and when you get there, go on in, the key is on the desk."  We had a nice ride down the Harlem Valley Rail Trail for 8 miles into Amenia and got off the trail and asked a couple of gentlemen, aged 75 and 83, about the location of the Willows.  Down to the light, right, up the road across the street where the restaurant used to be.  They also recommended the Four Brothers Restaurant, down the hill and to the left.

Well, for the last two nights we had a nice stay at the Econolodge in Windsor Locks at $70/night.  Two rooms, etc.  Tonight, one room, about 12x12;  but there are a couple of beds and the shower was hot.

Dinner at the Four Brothers was good.  News clipping on the wall covered President Nixon dining there.


A good day. 69 miles.

Windsor Locks, CT 10/1/2011

We both had a good nights sleep and went to check out the fare offered by the hotel.  Coffee fine, but limited choice of anything else. A couple of fellow guests joined us.  One of whom was a neighbor of the Webbs in New Hampshire; at least he knew where Landaff is located.  His accent was remarkable and he told us about his job as a tree cuter following the recent storms. He had 8"rain in one day at his house which created all sorts of problems.  His friend joined him and they said they were going to the  ET.  We asked what the ET was and the reply was, "You know, the fair."  Oh, where is it being held?  Neither knew, I guess the coffee had not kicked in yet.

We called spouses, and then took the free shuttle to the nearby Bradley International Airport, busiest airport in CT and 2nd busiest in New England, after Logan in Boston.  It is also one of 65 in the world than can handle the AirBus 380. We arrived and went looking for a store offering maps of the area and maybe something to eat.  There is one small shop offering a few books, newspapers and a new cafe seating about 10 and the rest of the places at beyond security.  We walked into the attached Sheraton Hotel and had a nice salad buffet.  I was hoping to locate maps of the East Coast Greenway which is going to be a linked system of trails down the east coast. We took the shuttle back to the motel and I loaded a few photos, watched a little football, rested, ate again, cleaned and serviced the bikes, looked at maps, made tentative plans where we might stay down the road, avoided walking up any hills.  In general, we took it easy.

I read some of the postings so far and cringed a bit at some of my spelling and sentence structure. i due tri too use good english but its a bit hard two dew some times when i am tired.  At least, that is my excuse.

I plan to post more photos in the same photo posting and I will also be adding items to the Along the Road posting.

It rained pretty hard this morning but has generally been overcast to misty most of the day. We are looking at possible rain tomorrow and plan to be up and out on the road early with plans to be in New York state tomorrow evening.

Windsor Locks,CT 9/30/2011

We finally got out of the room around 8 after finishing our left over Grinders for breakfast, as the Ashford does not offer a continental breakfast and the nearest breakfast place is in Stafford Springs.  So up the hill from Ashford, at this point "up the hill" seems redundant. After up and down some hills, we rolled into Stafford Springs and into a coffee shop/breakfast place that turned out to be very warm inside.  We chatted with a local yoga instructor about riding in the area and it was clear he had never ridden his bike with any weight on it.  Anyway, a bite to eat and yes, up the hill.  Pretty town, and as with many of the towns on rivers in the area, some large brick buildings that were previously mills of some sort back in the day.  Several of the buildings are now leased out to many firms for various uses.  One of the rather nice old mills (not sure "mills" is an accurate description) in Whittinsville is being completely refurbished.  There is a lot of money in the area as the towns are in good shape and there are many nice well kept homes along our route.  We were close to Boston so I am sure many people commute from the area we have ridden through.

Anyway, on down the road through Ellington on Frog Hollow Road toward Windsor Locks.  We stopped and took some photos of tobacco drying in a couple of large buildings (100 ft x 50 ft or so) and rolled on through some nice farm land in the Connecticut River valley.

On Tromley Road we pulled over with the idea of having a bagel.  I asked the gentleman working in his garden if I could borrow his tree to lean my bike against.  Ok, so I walked over to see his garden. He was picking what appeared to be seed pods of his climbing spinach plant, a new plant for him and me. We introduced our selves and Don Pomeroy, said he had picked spinach off the plant all summer and his wife had made some wonder quiches. We chatted for a while, talking garden stuff and bide riding; his son Peter rides a lot and has mountain bikes as well as road bikes. The dogs in a pen about 20 yards away heard us talking and would interrupt us now and again and Don would hush them with a persuasive, "Shut Up" command. He raises and trains hunting dogs, English Springer Spaniels, and owns Scantic River Kennel.  He asked us in for coffee just as his son Robert, one of six children, 4 boy, 2 girls, pulled in to pick up some corn on orders of his Mom.  Don, age 81, had been to the doctor this morning and got a clean bill of health and looked and moved very well in spite of having had both hips replaced. We went in and Don introduced his spouse Aggie and said we were here for coffee. We sat and talked for half hour or so and solved some of he world problems but mostly just talked about the important things like family.  Aggie's family comes from Waterford, Ireland and we bemoaned the fact Waterford Crystal was closed and/or sold to a German company.  Robert suggested they could make some nice crystal beer steins. We mentioned the tobacco and Aggie said the whole valley used to be filled with tobacco fields and the crop has almost disappeared from the area.  Robert said that at age 12, under the legal age of 14, he had worked for an old farmer who on payday would gather all the workers around and hand them their pay in envelopes.  A nice family and our meeting with them is an example of one of the reasons Rudy and I enjoy our rides.  We exchanged e-mails and Aggie said she would try and open our blog on her new computer. After a very pleasant time we were back on the road toward Windsor Locks.  

We stopped for lunch at the Pickle Works.  I had a salmon caesar and Rudy had a chicken caesar. We had decided  to make tomorrow a rest day, but as it was still early we called the motel in Granby listed on our maps.  Unfortunately, they only had rooms with one bed.  It is only another 9 miles up the road it is 9 miles we would not have to ride on our next riding day. We decided to stay in Windsor Locks which is the location of Bradley International Airport which serves Hartford and this area.  Tom, the owner of Pickle Works gave us some suggestions and we settled in the Econo Lodge which has been recently refurbished.

Got settled and rode down the street to the laundromat and did our laundry which we needed to do as our limited wardrobe has suffered in the last few days of hard, rainy riding.   

Back in the room and I showered and started my blog.  Talked with family at home and Skyped  my daughter in Ireland.

We walked a couple of blocks to Papa Ginos for dinner.  As we got ready to leave, the skies opened up and heavy rain began to fall.  We were standing by the door when Ricky, on break from his job at the local Honda parts distribution center, was leaving.  We asked for a ride and he was nice enough to save us from getting soaked.




It is getting late and I am looking forward to kicking back tomorrow.

33 miles today.  37 mph for top speed.

Union, CT, 9/29/2011

We were up fairly early and headed downstairs to the dining room where Karen, our hostess had set up breakfast items the night before including coffee, juice etc.  We made some oat meal and toast and got our bikes from the back yard where our host had covered them with tarps.  Good thing as it rained pretty good during the night.  It was over cast when we left and we took photos of the B&B and will post them along with other photos once I figure it out.  We arrived at the corner down the street just as the school bus pulled away from the curb and left the Moms standing there drinking coffee and chatting. We joined the chat and asked the name of their road the bus had just left with their children.  After a discussion, it was agreed it was Main which is what we were looking for.  Asked about place up the road where we could buy some Gatorade and the answer in unison, without conferring among themselves was "Super Walmart on the right just before you cross Route 148".  The group dispersed but the lady with the Bruins shirt lingered and chatted a bit more.  The local accents are delightful.

Our route took us by several lakes today and at 9:40 am we entered Rhode Island on Rhode Island route 100 and by 10: 20 am we were in Connecticut.  A lot of nice homes along the way as well as a very large state mental hospital.  We stopped at the top of a hill near Thompson to have an orange and walked around an old cemetery.  Most residing there have been there since the 1800s.  We asked a nice lady out for her daily walk (she was older than us by 20 years at least) for breakfast directions and up and down the hill we went  to North Grosvenor.  Had a pleasant meal and got a bagel and cream cheese to go. Checking our maps, we called a B&B in Stafford Springs looking for lodging but got an answering machine. As we were leaving, a pretty good rain began to fall.  We rode in the rain for 45 minutes or so and then it changed to drizzle  off and on for the afternoon with some thunder later in the day. 

Well, we found the hill that Steve, who we met yesterday, told us about.  He said he hit 50 mph going down and I am sure he was on his brakes.  We had some very steep hills today at 9%  or better.  I stopped three times on one rather long hill just to keep my heart rate from going to crazy.  I start to think about stopping when it climbs into the 150s.  Down hill I hit 39 mph for my fastest today and Rudy hit 41.  If the down hills were a bit straighter and you could see farther, I think we could hit a 100, well almost. 39 is fast enough for me.

We called the B&B several more times but never got an answer and began to get concerned as lodging is sparse and we did not want to ride 70 miles, particularly not today because of all the climbing on the steep hills.

We stopped at a nice Fly fishing shop outside of Union on Route 190 just west of  I 84.  Launa, the owner, was very nice, helpful and told some good stories.  After confirming the non answering B&B was the only show in town, Launa suggest the Ashford Motel which is just off our route, yet quite close but not listed on our maps.  Launa told us the Ashford has a number Section 8 tenants (not that there is anything wrong with that).  She called directory assistance and got the number and I spoke with Mr. Patel who confirmed they had a room.  Where do we eat?  Launa never offered us a dinner invitation but gave us directions to Smittys for some grinders.  We went to the Ashford, checked in and showered and took the unloaded bikes to Smittys hoping to not get caught in the rain.  Smitty fixed us one roast beef sandwich for us to take out.  It was huge and neither of us finished our half.  We should have ordered a half and split it. While we were waiting for our sandwich three other customers came in and Smitty sold 4 twelve packs of beer, two Bud Light, one Busch and one Michelob Light.  The conversation centered around the end of the Red Sox season or an Epic Collapse as the Hartford Courant reported. We put our purchases on the bikes and headed up the 9% grade Launa had neglected to mention in her directions to Smittys.  Even with our unloaded bikes it was hard for our tired legs.  We were back in our room working on our monster sandwiches when the B&B returned our call from noon.  She was very apologetic and was happy we had found a room and said that if we were out in the rain, she would have come and picked us up.

Anyway, long day 52 miles.  More hills tomorrow.Rudy is asleep and I will work on the photo thing another day.

Whitinsville, MA, 9/28/2011

After a pretty good nights sleep in our notellmotel in Ayer we went up the block to Tony's for something to eat. Two guys sitting at the counter.  The older, age 80, asked if we had ridden down the Nashua River Trail. We acknowledged we had and he stated he would never ride it again. A year ago he hit an area that was very rough and took a bad spill, time in the hospital type spill.  He banged up his leg and almost severed his little finger.  Now he just lifts weights at the gym.  Other guy was originally from western Kansas about 100 miles from my home town in western Oklahoma.  He was in the service, met and married a young lady from Massachusetts. One visit to Kansas and they settled in Massachusetts.

We met a couple of lady cyclist near Bolton and stopped to chat.  One was from Cape Cod and they have ridden most of the route from San Diego to Florida that we rode in 2001.  They had to abort the ride as it was one of the years the Mississippi was flooding and the route was impassable.  They had the same experience we had on I-8 in California between Jacumba and the valley south of El Centro, CA.  There were high winds, which blew our bikes sideways.  We rode the entire down hill with our feet out of the clips and braking all the way and it was very noisy as the metal wind barriers were vibrating, creating such a racket that when standing next to them, we could not talk. 

We stopped in Britney's Cafe in Northborough, MA for an early lunch as we had been gong up and I suppose down some nice short steep hills.  The road names a quite accurate, Sawyer Hill, Solomon Pond. etc.  I keep looking for (insert name here) Flat or Easy or Wind At Your Back Street. Not today. Anyway at Britney's, a young couple came in and sat next to us.  It was Leah's 30th birthday!  She is a spin instructor and her boyfriend is a boxer (welter weight) who has not fought lately due to a back injury.  They asked about our ride and Leah made suggestions about nutrition which was timely as I am dragging today.  Up hill, into the wind and not eating the best today.  More carbs needed.

We headed up the road into Westborough and met Steve, a touring cyclist on his way north.  He crossed the street and we talked for several minutes. He has ridden all over the  world and told us the hardest part of our ride is yet to come.  Connecticut.  Very steep hills. Steve said he hit 50 mph on one downhill and 40+ on a couple of others.  He is going north and we are headed south so we will be headed up those hills.

We crossed three Interstate Highways today and some major Massachusetts roads and it is hard to find a motel.  We are 75 miles from Windsor Locks, Conn  and our maps list only campgrounds and B&Bs for lodging.  We are not riding the main roads.  So, tonight we are in Whitinsville, MA in the Talley's Corner B&B.  Very nice place.  En route I stopped at fire station to ask directions only to find our street was the next corner, 100 ft down the road.  I chatted with the Chief, picked up a department patch for Scott, my son in law, who is a fireman with Healdsburg and told him Scott would be sending him a patch from Healdsburg.

It was a pretty day, not as humid, in the 70s or maybe low 80s. We are on the 3rd floor of the B&B with the windows open and a nice cool breeze coming in the window.

We asked the Inn keeper about a place to eat.  She suggested Brian's, not to far down the street. Picked up a card for Mike's Cab so we could call cab for the ride back and headed out for Brian's.  As we walked we asked more people about the location and distance to Brian' with different answers.  40 to 45 minutes later we arrived at Brian's and had a good dinner. Quite full, I call Mike's Cab.  The number was no longer in service.  I called directory assistance and got the closest cab company, which does not serve this area.  Our return walk was interesting in that a lot of area had no lights and the sidewalks are a California personal injury attorney's idea of heaven.

40 miles today. Off to Rhode Island and Connecticut in the morning.

Along The Road

As you travel along the road on a bike you have time to observe things you might not see from a car as well as items that make you think. For instance, Wikipedia lists 49 pages of beer brands made in the US alone. So why is it that we have seen countless Bud Lite cans in the ditch, one regular Budweiser and only one Coors. A few Arizona Ice Tea, some EnSure (?) bottles and two Coke cans. The ditches in Maine were very clean, New Hampshire as well. Massachusetts are not as clean but not to bad.

9/30, a new beer can: Fosters. Also while stopped to take a rest, I noticed an empty airplane serving size Bushmills Irish whiskey bottle lying next to an empty whipped cream can. No signs of any coffee mugs, so who knows.

We have seen little gray squirrels every day in large numbers. Most alive but many who never made it across the road. The last few days we have seen lots little tiny chipmunks. On the Nashua River Trail two ran right in front of Rudy, one stopped and ran back between his wheels.

And of all things, we saw a beaver at the edge of the road on 9/27! There was a small stream and we had seen what appeared to be beaver activity and there he/she was!

We saw several what we called wood chucks in Pennsylvania. And I think I saw another beaver.

Update on road kill. We have seen 5 or so raccoons; 3 opossums; one Red Fox on the road in Valley Forge National Historical Site, one deer; a couple of black birds.

There have been lots of little black and tan caterpillars on the road trying to cross. The only one I know to have made it across the road for sure is the one I picked up and took across. I think he was so shocked he may have headed back across the road.

Ayer, Ma 9/27/2011

Slept well until 1:30 am when the air conditioner started an incredible racket which ceased when I held my foot against it which was not the ideal sleeping position.  I shut it off and opened windows.  We were in our most upscale hotel, a Hamilton Inn, and they adjusted our bill a bit.  A great breakfast at the hotel of fruit, egg thing that wanted to be an omelet, cereal, coffee, juice and I left with a hard boiled egg.  We left Exeter  in sunshine around 8 and made good time up and down the hills. Exeter is a lovely town and we rode by the Phillips Exeter Academy, school of Daniel Webster, Franklin Pierce, James Agee, a smatering of Rockefellers and du Ponts as well as Amos Alonzo Stagg and George Plimpton.  Pretty place, check it out on Google street view.  Lots of traffic along our route of people headed to work and kids off to school. The drivers continue to be very good, the vehicles that come the closest to us have been big yellow School Buses!  18 wheelers loaded with all kinds of stuff give us a lot more room. 


We made good time and decided to continue on into Massachusetts.  We stopped for lunch around 11 am at the Waterhouse Country Store,  a chicken place in Windham.  Kristen our waitress, cook etc treated us very special and the chicken was good.  We were talking tonight and I think we never left a tip, good grief.  Any way, we had 30 miles in by then and decided to push on to Ayer, Mass.  We stopped and rested our feet at the Rose of Sharon Flower shop near Groton and asked about lodgings in Ayer.  Called and made reservations at the notellmotel run by Mr. Patel. We rode into Groton and picked up the Nashua River Trail. About four miles of old railroad bed turned into a paved trail.  Wonderful flat trail with lots of local bikers, hikers, moms with babies etc. enjoying the lovely day in early fall.  We arrived at our motel in Ayer, around 35 miles or so from Boston, and walked up the street to Tiny's.  Stacy, our waitress, said people come from Maine for Tiny's sea food.  We had a good meal, very reasonable.  Back to the motel where we can only get the free wi-fi in the lobby.  A fellow guest, maybe the only other one, came in to report his sink was leaking badly.  He rang the bell and no one came so he finally called the motel and Mrs. Patel's young teen daughter came out to talk to him.  Mom and Dad are not here, come back later.  Our fellow guest said the motel used to be quite notorious and some of the rooms are unusual.  On the way back to our room, (two double beds) we looked in a couple of the other rooms.  Round beds, jacuzzis, mirrored ceilings, tiger pattern bed spreads!


59 miles today.

Exeter, New Hampshire

Out the door through Wells, Maine and then off Hwy 1 to the road along the beach through the condo rentals along the shore in Moody Beach and then back on 1.  We stopped at Qgunquit for some oat meal.  We have learned not to order a bowl as it is too much.  Well, Bessie's does not offer cups of oatmeal but Toby our waitress split an order. Toby rides a Honda to work at a cost of $1.50 per week and her husband just bought a bike. She thought our ride was pretty cool but declined to join us.  Back on the road through York Beach and to York Harbor.   A lot of people at the beach including some sun bathers.  Everyone is talking about the great weather, the coming of winter etc. Stores are advertising seasonal tune ups, a lot of blades for snow removal  are for sale along the road.  We stopped briefly at Fort McClary which protected the entrance to Portsmouth harbor.  A little late, as it was built after a Confederate ship captured and burned a ship in the harbor during the civil war.  The fort was never finished as it was deemed obsolete.  Our luck with bridges continued as when we came back up to Highway 1 (we had been on 1A along the beach) we learned the bridge to Portsmouth was closed. Good luck, a young man waiting for the light told us we could still walk our bikes across, which we did with no problem.  Bridge was built in 1920 - 1926 and needs paint and repairs.  Once we arrived at the other end of the bridge we were in New Hampshire so stopped for photo op and to discuss lunch plans.  Don, a local biker who was finishing a 75 mile ride, stopped to see if we needed directions.  He gave us directions to the Oar House and we learned he is going to Sonoma County next week to ride in Levi Leipheimer's  Grand Fondo.  He has done the Vineman in the county and loves Healdsburg and will be staying there.  We told him to go to Murphy Goode winery, and tell everyone that Rudy and Larry sent him and to ask for free tasting. Nice chat, then Don headed off to work and we headed to the Oar House for lunch.  Great roast beef sandwich for me and pulled pork for Rudy.  As we were leaving we were chating with a couple. The gentleman is going to be in Healdsburg next week on business.  Naturally, we suggested Murphy Goode to him as well.  Small world.  Portsmouth is a very pretty town and it would be nice to spend some time there.  We have been impressed with this area.  The people are friendly, the drivers are aware and drive safely around us, the homes are pretty and well cared for.

We finished in Exeter for the day and are close to Massachusetts but it may be a short day tomorrow depending on lodging or it may been a long day, either around 48 or 75.

Today was  50 miles.  Another new state for Rudy.

Kennebunk, Maine 9/25

Expecting a long day, we were up early.  Pat and Florence came down for a cup of coffee and after a quick photo op we were on the road.  We stopped and picked up some GatorAide.  Began to wonder about the day when the bridge over the Royal River was closed. We thought about riding down to the bridge to see if  we could make it over on bikes and just before we headed down the hill, we came upon a jogger. We asked him about the bridge...jogger said no way, so he saved us a ride back up a steep hill.  On down the road and asked a guy working in his yard for additional directions which got us back on track in Gray.  Looking for a snack, had to settle for a EggMcMuffin!  A town that has no motels, a decent restaurant and a bed and breakfast that won't answer its phone has a McDonalds.  It just dawned on me that if you enter an address in Google Earth and street view you can see where we are.  Enter Gray, Maine and take a look at the town. Weather was good and people were enjoying the late fall weather.  A lot of traffic around Sebago Lake.  We stopped for lunch at a sandwich shop at the corner of highway 35 and 114 in Sebago Lake. Kind of like the soup Nazi on Seinfeld.  Two young girls fixing sandwiches, no chatting, no smiles, just making sandwiches under the gaze of the boss.  After we ate, I thanked the boss and she growled, "Don't thank me, they made them".   A lot of anger.  While waiting for our sandwiches we chatted with a local who built his own steam boat out of a 26 foot life boat.  Twin paddle wheels about 6 feet in diameter.  He keeps it on Sebago Lake and spends the nights on it some times or tools around the lake at 5 mph.  I never thought to ask him what he used for fuel.  A lot of people stopping in for beer, ice etc.  Fire engines going by with sirens and lights, a happening place.  A couple bought some ice and offered some for our water bottles.  They were from Maryland and had been to a wedding in Portland, Maine.  On to North Windham where we picked up Highway 35, our route for most of the day  Some where along the road we stopped to chat with a group of people washing sheep in preparation for the county fair.  I will post a photo one day soon.  They put the sheep on stands, secured their heads and had a power washer (using Whisk soap, who knew) and Coors for the workers. I asked what kind of sheep they were and one of the guys standing there said, a variety. It appeared that it was taking about one Coors per sheep.

Sunday along the road in Maine is much like anywhere else, mow the lawn, go to church, wash the truck, go to the lake, do house repairs in anticipation of winter, etc.  About sixty miles into our ride, Rudy is talking about stopping to soak his feet in the next stream.  In stead we stopped in front of a house where a young couple were painting their porch.  I asked if we could use their nice homemade bench in their yard. No problem,he works in Massachusetts for his father in law as a piano tuner.   We asked about motels in Kennebunk and they said they were right by I 95 as you come into town.  We rolled into Kennebunk, one motel by the interstate and no eating places in sight.  We headed on into Kennebunk to US 1 thinking we might find an old motel.  Nothing in sight,  so stopped to chat with Alex just getting ready to back out of her driveway.  It was her birthday, (35th) and was feeling old but quickly acknowledged she was not going to get any sympathy from us. She gave us suggestions for lodging and dining and called up a number on her iphone for the Econolodge.  We arrived  just as Jason was coming on for a 12 hour plus shift and got checked in.  Jason's primary means of transportation is a bike so we chatted a bit.  Gave him the web page for Adventure Cycling Association, who publish the maps we use.  Then walked up town on hwy 1 past a big garden center with nice displays for Halloween to Duffy's right next to a nice stream running through town.  A new bridge is being built over the river right next to Duffy's and just before it opens, they are going to have a big party, perhaps with dancing on the bridge. (we were invited, but declined).

74 miles on a warm day but feeling good. New Hampshire tomorrow.

Freeport Maine 9/24

Up and out the door in reasonable time in the rain as we start but quite warm.  We went over the bridge into Wiscasset thinking of a wholesome breakfast.  Just a bakery with one long table for seating.  Baked goods looked great and we settled for a cherry scone and coffee. One gentleman and a family of four who moved out last year from Fort Lupton, Colorado. The boy is is a sophomore and plays soccer and his younger sister is home schooled. Boy likes his new school and it has not been locked down recently because a student brought a firearm to class which was not unusual in Fort Lupton.  One of my aunts taught school in Fort Lupton years ago and it was a tough school then. They were off to a history thing related to Ethan Allen (I think, might have been Nathan Hale)  The other gentleman at the table has been an appraiser for 40 years.  I asked if he did residential or commercial, neither,  he appraises antiques. Told about an appraisal he did for an older lady and surprised her when he bought the "junk in the basement for $3000 and he expects to sell the items, mostly junk silver for about $4500. He knew the kids running the place and chatted with them, cashier kid runs cross county in high school, never stops moving.  Asked for directions to Old Bath Road and as is normal, got all kinds of suggestions. Out the door and up the street into a Circle K for some gator aide. Cashier told us our street was next right up the hill.  It seems everything has been up the hill on this ride.  One of her regulars came in for cigarettes and she asked him about some one and the answer in a great accent, " He is out "pounding on the island". I assumed they were both carpenters.

On our way and did the equivalent of wind sprints up and down short, steep hills for a few miles. and then a few miles on Route 127 which had poor shoulder and then over the river into Bath.  Right at the end of the bridge and stopped in a cafe in the basement. We ordered oatmeal with raisins.  A family at next table were very friendly and interested in our travels.  We stopped for a bit and watched a couple of boat builders putting together a boat. Out of Bath on a very nice route which got even better when we got on the Androscoggin River Bike Path into Brunswick.  Path was very nice and being used by walkers, bikers, etc.  Once off the bike path we saw some people  around a scull at the river's edge and decided to make it a photo op.  However, the people, who appeared to be in their 50s were just finishing a lesson and were in process of getting the scull out of the water. Nice ride through the country on our way to Freeport and spoke to several other bikers along the way doing a ride for cancer.
We arrived in Freeport and stopped at the Azure Cafe, two doors form L.L. Bean which is headquartered in Freeport.  Do you think someone ending up with a name like Leon Leonwood Bean might have been a victim of a misunderstanding.  Maybe he was going to be Leon Wood Bean?   To late now, who would shop at L.W. Bean? The town was full of people shopping at the many outlet stores in town. We shared a chicken Caesar and decide to make reservations for a room down the road. in Gray or North Windham. Not to be, I called county Sheriff dispatch and the Gray public library and neither had any suggestions for a place to stay.  So, change in plans and decide to stay in Freeport despite on having put 37 miles in for the day.  Zeus, the manager, picked up on what we were trying to do and was a great help, providing telephone numbers and suggestions all the while taking care of the guests in the cafe.  I always enjoy watching someone who is excellent in their jobs and Zeus was tops. I called my old friends, Pat and Florence Webb, who were in Portland, Maine for a luncheon and gave them our location and we made plans to meet later for dinner.  We checked into the motel and then walked down the the Holiday Inn Express owned by the same company as our Econo Lodge and did our laundry.  Chatted with Stephanie, the desk clerk at the Holiday Inn while our laundry was washing.  A former Starbucks employee she is now in school at University of  Southern Maine studying linguistics.

Pat and Florence show up with a bottle of Navarro Vineyards wine (from Mendocino County) an excellent wine and we head down to the Azure for dinner. Zeus seated us in a very nice table and noted the table was booked for 7:30. We had an excellent meal with complementary appetizer and at about 7:20 had Zeus move us into the bar.  All and all a wonderful experience at the Azure and we it recommend highly.  Back to the room, to late and tired to write the blog.

37 miles for the day looking at a long day tomorrow.

North Edgecomb, Maine 9/23/2011

We were up and packed and down the road into Belfast fairly early. Overcast, no rain and quite warm, no jacket or arm warmers.  We went  over the river on Highway1 instead of the pedestrian foot bridge as I missed the turn listed on our maps.  Worked out ok as it eliminated climbing up the hill from the much lower foot bridge; however, probably missed a good photo op from the foot bridge. Stopped and asked  a city worker laying a border of bricks along the sidewalk where we might get something to eat.  Several suggestions and the first one was pastries etc;  so across the street to Weavers, one of the oldest bakeries in town.  It has been at the present site 47 years. Buildings across the street were beautiful and erected in 1876 and 1886 and I suspect the bakery building was a contemporary.  I went to bathroom located in the back.  The mixers and other equipment (and maybe the baker) appeared to be 19th century vintage.  Nice people in for coffee and conversation.  A table of retirees and a couple of tables full of people in town for the Common Ground Country Fair including a lady who lived in Berkeley Ca for many years before moving to Belfast. We have met several people with California connections. We had a huge bowl of oatmeal with raisins, blue berries and brown sugar.  This area is famous, and for good reason,  for the wild blue berries.  They are small but very tasty.  We had them in Bar Harbor as well and you see signs along the road advertising them for sale.   We made a mistake and took the advise of Herman, a coffee drinker in the coffee shop, and stayed on highway 1 instead of our Adventure Cycling Association maps.  Our nice wide shoulders soon became not so wide so we had narrow shoulders along with traffic and noise for a few miles.  Riding like that increases the tension and brings your shoulders up around your ears.  We came into Camden passing many beautiful homes and Camden itself is lovely and full of tourists.

We had lunch in Waldoboro at Moody's, locally famous. Met a lady on the way out who had ridden in Denmark for three weeks and enjoyed it very much.  Denmark is very flat which sounded good as we had some pretty good hills today.

As is our custom we keep a log of animals seen, signs of interest and road kill.  Road kill to date on this trip includes several grey squirrels, at least three skunks today, two snakes, a variety of birds.  Living animals include one Deer, lots of squirrels, caterpillers  determined to cross a busy highway for some reason, and birds and we hear cricketts when not on Highway 1.

Signs include one on Mt Desert Island informing us that Thunder Hole restrooms were just ahead. It struck us funny.  Saw a sign today advertising some lots for sale that were surveyed, percolated and covenanted.  I understand the first two and my mind ran a bit wild with covenanted....no witches on the property perhaps, or maybe a coven of witches included.

It was warm and muggy today and we saw one sign that said 75 degrees.  We called ahead and made reservations at the Pioneer Motel but never asked about dining in the area.  Turns out nothing is close.  We called the Two Cities Taxi and Mrs Hatch arrived in the company's silver Lincoln Town Car.  She teaches kindergarten but is filling in for her husband tonight as he was going out for dinner with his Bulgarian friends who work in the area during the summer.  Seems there are a lot of Romanians in the area during the summer as well.
Spoke to my old friend Pat Webb tonight.  He lives in New Hampshire and we will probably have dinner tomorrow night with Pat and Florence, perhaps in North Windham if we make it that far.

57.5 miles today.  No rain, tired ready to call it a night. Skyped with my daughter in Ireland. Wished my mother in law a happy birthday.  Spoke with my sister in Oklahoma. All in all, a good day.

Belfast, Maine 9/22/2011

What a difference a day makes. We woke up to cloudy skies and got our gear ready for our first real day of riding down the coast.  We grabbed a quick bite at the motel and as we were leaving the first rain drops fell. We put on our rain pants etc. This was our first riding with loaded bikes on this trip and we made good time off the island to Ellsworth and took a very enjoyable ride down Route 172.  No shoulder for the first few miles and then new payment with a nice shoulder and little traffic.  We stopped in a small store in Surry for a snack and the talk in the store was about niece Michelle's new baby (girl, 7 lbs 13 oz, named Charlotte, born today at 1:15am).  The place was run by Mom, daughter, son in law and Ralph who came in for a cup of coffee and upon discovering the urn was empty, filled it, started a new pot, paid for his coffee and left after getting the news about Charlotte. Donna, the daughter and proud new Aunt, said she finds time to laugh out loud at least once every day.  A good plan.  She also pointed out where to stand in the store so you could look out the window and see the Bald Eagle who spends part of his day in the tree across the street.  Good vibes, so so food and nice people and we hit the road still in the rain.  After a few miles we rejoined highway 1 and 3 toward Bucksport with nice wide shoulders but lots of traffic.  We blew through Bucksport over the Penobscot River onto Verona Island and then over the new Penobscot Narrows bridge.  After crossing the bridge we stopped at an over look for a photo  of the bridge and two riders rode up on their bikes and asked if we were Larry and Rudy. John and Bill are from Bellingham Washington and had flown their bikes into Bar Harbor Bike Shop same as we did.  The bike shop people told them about us.  We did not join them as they were going father and faster than we planned for today.  They are riding all the way to Key West.  We stopped  in Stockton Springs for a quick bite and then continued on to Belfast for the night.  We cleaned the bikes, got into the room, had a nice hot shower which felt great after riding in the rain most of the day and then walked down the street to PapaJs for baked Haddock and conversation. They had a great wine list including several Sonoma County wines including Chateau St Jean where my son, the economist in Ireland, worked as a Cellar Rat a few years ago. This is end of regular tourist season but the regulars filled the place before we left including Dan who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.  Said he hated going to the doctor so did not go for years.  It could end up costing him his life. While we were talking to Dan his primary doctor, a gynecologist, came it.  Another story.   Back in the room, try write a blog and figure out how to find the photos to put them on the blog.  It is best to do this computer stuff when you are not tired.

54 miles today and looking at another rainy day tomorrow.

Bar Harbor

We left our motel en route to the visitors center for Acadia National Park, missed our first turn added a few miles and finally made it to the visitors center. Rudy picked up an old guys lifetime pass the US National Parks.  We were leaving the center and a couple, responding to Rudy's  Sierra Nevada jersey, asked if we were from California.  Yes, where? Santa Rosa. They had previously lived in Santa Rosa and went to same health club where my wife Mary works.  Small world.

What a day at Bar Harbor. Weather was absolutely wonderful.  We rode the park loop trail to Jordan Pond, had lunch. We had a delightful lunch, (Andrea our waiter was from Sunnyvale) and we took some photos of butterflies and hummingbirds outside our window at lunch. . We the rode the Carriage Road back to the park exit and downtown  to the Thirsty Whale for a beer. A lady walked in we had seen on the ride.  I had commented what a beautiful day it was when we rode past her and she said we won the lottery.  She used to live in Livermore and now lives on Cape Cod.  Wonderful views of the ocean along the ride.  Rudy took photo of a pair of eagles.

We took the free shuttle back to the motel with plans to write blog etc.  I went to the office to ask about local dining and talked to Camile and Darren, owners of the Belle Isle where we were staying, for half an hour.  On their suggestion, we ordered delivery from local place.  A knock on the door, wow that was fast, no it was Klaus Hohle also staying at the Belle Isle who is on a bike trip around the world with his wife Doris.  Check out www.hoehles-challenge.de for infor on some serious bikers. Klaus is 72 and has done the Iron Man in Hawii 7 times and their route on their trip around the world is incredible. After a great conversation with Klaus about their trip he left.  A few minutes later another knock on the door, our food? Nope Klaus and Doris. Another interesting conversation (our food arrives in middle of the conversation).
We ate. It was late no blog yesterday.  We did 37 miles for the day.

Bar Harbor Maine 9/20/2011

Well, after sleeping poorly because I was thinking about things that still had to be done before leaving for our trip and also thinking of a few things that had not been done such as a few miles on the bike, it is time to get on the road. I made one  more call to Liddy at the Bar Harbor Bike Shop and confirmed our bikes had been received (via FedX) then Mary and I went to Rudy's.  Picked up Rudy and Mary dropped us off at the Santa Rosa Airporter in Rohnert Park and our trip is underway.  Arriving at SFO with plenty of time, we ate and made our way to the gate for for the red eye flight to Philadelphia with connection to Bar Harbor.  The flight was full.  Young man next to us was going to Virginia where he is a 2nd year law student at William and Mary, he had helped his girlfriend get settled at Stanford University where she is a grad student. He promptly went to sleep and slept the entire flight to Philadelphia.  After arriving we sat for a while in the white wooden rocking chairs between B and C concourse watching the airport wake up.  It is cloudy outside and from the way people are dressed maybe a little cool.  We went to the Legal Sea Food restaurant and opted to have the Steel Cut Oatmeal served with walnuts, raisins and brown sugar,  in lieu of the famous clam chowder (served at presidential inaugurations) as it was 5:30am.  We then walked over to our gate and discovered one of our plane mates from SF was sleeping on a few of the chairs, snoring very loudly.  We chatted with Boots who had been to her sister's wedding in Denver.  Her sister is Lannie of the famous Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret in the 16th Street Mall in Denver, Colorado. Lannie is in her 60s and Boots said it was a great wedding.  Boots was on her second day traveling en route home to Maine. Canceled flights due to equipment failure, long delays, overnight in a hotel with no luggage, she was ready to get home and we were five minutes from our  scheduled departure time and no mention of boarding.  I woke the sleeping snorer and asked him if he was going to Bangor, uh uh, back to sleep.  We got on our flight to Bangor to find the flight was not full.  As we take off one end of one of  the ceiling panels dropped down a few inches.  Flight attendant reports same to crew chief and rows 11 to 13 are emptied in case the  panels continue to fall. We are in row 14.  Boots moved to the front and I am thinking whether it is save to have her so close to the pilot as she seems to be plagued on her trip home.  No problem, the flight is good and we land with no problem.  Boots' ride and her long gone luggage are at the airport and our shuttle is at the door. James the driver has one of those meeting people signs with my name (misspelled of course )on it.   Helen the Shuttle person had called my cell phone when we landed to confirm we were there and to direct us to James.  Helen is our age and has ridden the same route from San Diego to Florida we rode 10 years ago. We say goodbye Boots, a very pleasant lady and Paul, her ride home, and take the shuttle the 50 miles or so to Bar Harbor.  We are the only people on the shuttle and James stops at our motel for a second while we check in, drop our bags, put on some riding gear,  back on the shuttle to the Bar Harbor Bike Shop.  Our bikes are in good shape, and Fred and Joe at the shop discuss local riding with us.  We locate the local free shuttle, stop by the police station to chat with the chief, a FBI National Academy grad, about local eating etc.  He suggests one place and tells us to avoid the "two swipe" place on the corner. The department is working a case involving credit cards being swiped two times for same meal, not by accident.  We had our lobster dinner/lunch at Geddys. Chatted with a couple from Illinois who are in town on the Caribbean Princess cruise ship, one several to make port this week. It is windy, misty and forecast for tomorrow is sunshine. After a brief ride/walk around town,we opted to take the free island shuttle back to our motel as the road is busy with no shoulder. On our walk we listened in on a tour and discovered the local Civil War Memorial has a Confederate Soldier on it.  Seems the manufacturer of the statue made them for both Southern and Northern cities and a town somewhere in South Carolina has a Union soldier on their monument.  The mistake was discovered about two years after delivery and the towns opted not to spend the money to exchange statues.    In the room, called home, tried to write a blog but was having trouble getting on line so called Brian my neighbor at home for suggestion and discover in mid conversation the problem is my mind is gone as I haven't slept well for two days. I figure out the problem and shower and go to bed at 6:30 local time (3:30 California time). Rudy is already asleep.     We are up at 6:30 am, sunshine as promised, coffee in the room, finished my blog and we are off to face the day.  We are in Bar Harbor today and leave in the morning.

Larry and Rudy, looking forward to checking out the island and Arcadia National Park.

Santa Rosa, CA 9/18/2011

Well, it has been a while, but our plan to circumnavigate the continental US on our bikes is back on track.
As most of you are aware we rode from San Diego to Miami in 2001 and earlier posts in this blog detail our ride from San Francisco to San Diego completing our west coast ride.

Tomorrow, we are flying to Bangor, Maine on the red eye flight from San Francisco via Philadelphia.  We have shipped our bikes to a bike shop in Bar Harbor, Maine and will be in Bar Harbor Tuesday afternoon. Our current plan, following the Adventure Cycling maps, is to ride from Bar Harbor to Washington, D.C.

Much has changed since our ride in 2001.  Mostly technical equipment.  In 2001 we had a Sony Vio computer which was the state of the art at the time. We submitted e-mails when possible and had no way to upload photos.  I used a throw away camera which I mailed home for Mary to develop. We had to depend on call up access to the internet and that was not always possible.  The Sony did not have a USB port!

Rudy has an IPad for this trip and a digital camera and Iam continuing to use my HP notebook with WiFi and access to the Verizon network.

Rudy has Weather Bug on his IPad so we will have up to date local weather. Weather has been great in Bar Harbor this week but looks like it might get a little damp later in the week. Our route takes us down some areas that were hit quite hard by Hurricane Lee but we are anticipating no major problems.

We are still riding our Bianchi Volpe bikes and I will detail our gear in a later blog.

Oh, we had planned to leave a bit earlier this year but Rudy had shoulder surgery and then he wanted to attend his 50th high school reunion held last night.  He said he had a good time and what is typical of 50th high school reunion attendees, was home by 10 pm.

Larry and Rudy in Santa Rosa, anxious to hit the road.