July 5, 2005

The Lock and the afternoon rain.

We rolled out at 8:00 AM and the plan was to get to Herkimer, NY which we estimated was around 75 miles. We saw the Mallore’s and the Cain’s leave to head home to work after the holiday weekend and gave them a wave.

Tim hits 1,000 miles

As we approached Lock 20 on the Erie Canal in the early afternoon we found a paved bike trail that we followed to the lock. I wanted to get a picture so we stopped. There were some men working on the parking lot area and another local man just hanging out near the lock watching things. We struck up a conversation and learned that a pleasure boat coming from the east was about to go through the lock so we decided to stay and watch it go through and take some pictures. We learned that if you ask the lock operators they sometimes let touring cyclists camp on the grass next to the canal. We got some directions to a lock much further down the canal near the route to have the option to possibly camp by the canal. We also got directions to an ice cream store for our next planned break.

Empty Lock with Low Water

Lock Filled

On Their Way

As we approached Utica where the planned stop is it started to rain. It was a light rain at first, but when it got heavier we pulled into a Wal Mart to suit up in our rain gear and blinking lights. The rain was heavy and as we approached the ice cream stop we just rode by, opting to stop for lunch to see if we could wait out the storm in a longer break. The storm persisted so we just started riding again as there were still wide shoulders. We rode at an even pace with bigger gaps between us for visibility and safety purposes. The rain was very heavy at times with some thunder and lightning off in the distance. When it rains and you are touring, you get wet.

Due to the rain we decided to can the camping by the lock idea and get a motel in Herkimer. We stopped and Nick asked where the motels are and were told that there were two down by the Interstate and a few up the road ahead. We obviously didn’t learn our lesson from our experiences in Montana as there was one motel “up ahead” about three miles and it wasn’t very appealing. We ended up riding another nine miles to Little Falls and a total of 96 miles for the day. You would think we would learn.

As we were entering the motel we met Jim and Mary Kay who are touring on a recumbent tandem bicycle. They are on a trip along the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario this year. Their goal is to tour in all of the lower forty eight states. They rode coast to coast in 2000 and have about half of the states checked off so far. When I mentioned that I usually rent a bike and ride in various states when I travel I was told that they don’t count that, to which I replied, “I guess they have just forced me to raise the bar.”

The motel we are staying at has OLN Network on their cable so we got to watch Lance and his Discovery Channel Team win the team time trial in the Tour de France and Lance get the yellow jersey for the first time in this year’s tour.

It’s late and we only have about seventy miles to get to my sister Pat and her husband Jim’s home in Vooheesville tomorrow. I think we’ll sleep in and get a later start.