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Today we awoke to a foggy morning as it was going to be a hot day. We had 72 miles to bike but I decided to cut it in half and took the morning sag ride as I have allergies and the air quality is not very good. Anyway, I did manage to snap some pictures leaving town and Tina gave me the foggy picture and Mark gave me the foggy mountains. Once I did start riding I got to enjoy the small towns we went through along the way. But it was sure hot!! We had New England hills with steep grades but our legs are strong from going across the country and everyone did great. We had our last Happy hour- map meeting tonight and it was nostalgic as Lynn sang a song she wrote about all the towns we have been to. It has been quite an amazing trip with so many memories. And tomorrow we head to Boston….. hard to believe!!

 

Hi  On the road at 6:30 from Bennington starting with a 10 mile climb but mostly downhill from there.  Great way to start the day!  At the top of the climb we passed by Pat O’Hearn’s mother and grandmothers homes.

Breakfast wasn’t served at our inn til 7 so we, along with much of the group, stopped at Dot’s Restaurant, at about 20 miles, in Wilmington.  Good omelette and cinnamon roll!

The day was spent on great Vermont roads 9 and 100 with beautiful scenery and along a fast flowing clear river.  In other words the Green Mountain State really is beautiful!

Rode into downtown Brattleboro and really impressed with all the  businesses for its size of 15,000.  Stopped at the Blueberry Haus for some Ice cream then on to the Econo Lodge.  Long, hilly and hot day tomorrow so going to get out early. 

Up,up and away today!  Haven’t done as much climbing of 10 to 12% grades for many weeks but fortunately only 42 miles.  A beautiful day, sunshine, blue cloudless skies and, oh, did I mention Hot.  Similar forecast for tomorrow but a bit warmer but hey it’s all good!  Lots of tree debris, particularly on the trail, from the storms that came through last night!

Ed and Pat O’Hearn came to Bennington this afternoon.  It was really great to see them!  They came with us to the map meeting/happy hour and everyone enjoyed meeting them and hearing about their cycling experiences.  Afterwards Mark, Bob and I went to dinner with them at the Madison Brewing Company.

Friday, 8/3
Only 55 miles today so planned on leaving later than usual at 7…..but couldn’t kick the early out habit so left about 6:30 as usual. Mostly cloudy and a few showers on and off but not bad. Only on the canal trail a few miles then on back roads and good highway shoulders. Rode through some urban areas, mostly in Utica. Tina had a slow leak in her back tire and we pumped it up and headed to a bike store. It wasn’t in the best neighborhood and when we got there it was padlocked so we moved on. We happened to run into Bob and he had a spare tire, exact size needed, and we put that and a new tube on and good to go. Lunch was a meatball sub at Big Willy’s pizza joint in Frankfort……yum!

We finished off the night with seeing the play The Wizard of Oz by the Mohawk  Valley Center if the Arts.

 

 

 

 

A small group got on the road from Brockport at 7am and alternated from the packed gravel Erie canal trail to the NY highway bike route #5.  We stopped at Mark’s Pizza in Palmyra for some great food and one of our group negotiated a mistake on the bill for monster cookies for all 5 of us….great deal.

We ran into some rain but still managed to finish the 74 miles by 2:30.

We We are staying in the Del Lago hotel and casino in Waterloo where we were greeted with glasses of champagne when we arrived.  The rooms are GREAT!

Good bye Canada, hello USA!! We headed out on the parkway along  the Niagara river where the power  is made. It’s amazing  to think about how the power of water can play a role to make electricity! We crossed over a bridge into USA and entered New York State. When we reached Lockport we got on the Erie Canal- a tow path or bike path that is crushed stone. It was pretty riding along the canal but after lunch in Middleport we decided to   Ride on the road which is also listed as a bike path. We are on final countdown to Boston and don’t have anymore rest days. Tonight we saw Fallout the mission impossible movie. I like going to the small town theaters. It was a fun action packed movie!! Love the theme song.

Today we headed out on nice empty roads which were like wide bike paths for us. We stopped at Tim Horton’s for a snack and continued our way into the Neon Chaos of Niagara Falls.  We are in the Sheraton Hotel overlooking the falls. The falls lights up at night with different colors and at 10  pm they have fireworks which are a nice ending  to t