July 1, 2005

A Three State Day

It was a great night’s sleep at Al Cumings Sunset Park. Since we were the only ones there it was quiet from a people point of view. The winds picked up during the night and with them the waves on Lake Erie made it sound something like the ocean; good background noise for sleeping.

NY Vinyards over Lake Erie

Our plan for today is around 105 miles to get us into New York to Evangola State Park. We don’t have reservations, and it is Friday of 4th of July weekend, but we are not concerned, as I doubt that they will turn us away.

Lake Erie Lighthouse

It’s a good day for cycling. Morning temps are in the 70’s, there is a stiff tail wind and no humidity to speak of. It’s 24 miles to second breakfast and we make it in about an hour and 15 minutes. Just after we leave Nick’s wheel breaks another spoke. At this point it is no big deal. We fix it in 15 minutes and are on our way.

We talk to people when we stop, but now we don't seem to be anything special as we have just a week of riding to finish the trip. When they ask where we are from and we tell them CT, NY & IL they are not as astonished as when we were in the northwest.

The riding began in Ohio. We went through about fifty miles of Pennsylvania and then entered New York. With the tail winds it was an easy day. Nothing unusual happened. We even had time to stop for an ice cream in the afternoon. Although it is the Friday of the holiday weekend our route took us on roads that did not have unusually heavy traffic. Just before we got to the campground we stopped for lemonade at an old fashioned stand with two kids trying to raise money for a dog that needed surgery.

Lemonade Stand

We reached our planned destination in less than six and a half hours of saddle time. 106.8 miles at an average speed of 16.7 MPH. All in all it was a good day of cycling.

There were three tent sites left when we arrived so it was no problem not having reservations. Our typical routine when we arrive at camp is: set up the tents, take showers (we wash our cycling clothes daily while we shower) in shifts so someone is always with the bikes and gear, cook dinner separately and eat together, cleanup after dinner, then I type my log and try to get to sleep by 11:00. It may be hard to believe but we really don’t have a lot of leisure time. We are doing something related to the trip almost every waking hour. Tomorrow a short day is planned with an afternoon stop on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

Sunset from Evangola State Park