Where Did All These Hills Come From?

Hey all:

We realized that after climbing hills in the Adirondack's and eastern Green Mountains these last few days, our climbing legs are a little out of use. From the Rockies in western Montana through the Erie Canal Trail in Western, New York there are hills, but they are not the kind that suck the life out of you by going straight up and straight down every mile for the duration of your day's ride. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it feels as if we are just starting out again. Jake, of course, is climbing the hills quite easily and making fun of his aging father.

The Erie Canal trail was a mixed blessing. Even though the surface was mostly crushed limestone, which reduced our speed by quite a bit, the first day was quite nice. The weather was fair, the path flat and free of traffic, and the scenery was beautiful. We camped along the canal with a bunch of people who were on a boating holiday. Most of them were friends already and meet up at the same spot each year.

The second day started with heavy rain that kept us in our tent until 11:00. We then decided to bike in the rain on paths that had gotten slower and soggier. At one point, the path narrowed to a four inch strip of mud, bordered on both sides by four foot high weeds - before it abruptly ended in a wall of weeds. We had to back out into a business park soaking wet and covered in seed pods. Needless to say, we were both a little fussy! We backtracked a few miles to pick up the canal trail on the southern side, before getting a little lost in Rochester.

That night we limped into a camping area on the canal that was a little too seedy-looking even for our tastes and decided to push on to a hotel in Palmyra. When we got there (just as it was getting dark) we discovered that they were hosting a Mormon youth group and had no rooms at the inn. We prayed upon their Christian charity and were allowed to put up our tent behind the hotel, where the Mormon youth paraded back and forth all night and into the next morning (if I didn't know better, I would think that they were looking for more golden tablets).

We followed the coast of Lake Ontario for a bit before we continued east - going up and down steep hills and in and out of small Adirondack towns. We crossed paths with Wally & Jenny again and rode with them off-and-on for a couple of days. We crossed the ferry from Ticonderoga into Vermont and climbed at least 10,000 feet  into Middlebury (one of my favorite Vermont towns - and colleges). We have been holed up in the Middlebury inn for a couple of nights, in part because Jake had a mechanical problem and we had to have an idler overnighted from Oregon to have it repaired. Susan came to visit us at the inn and we had a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant with a great couple who are hiking the Appalachian Trail. It was a lot of fun trading stories with folks who weren't biking. I was jealous of the fact that they have seen bears and we haven't!

If it's not pouring in the morning we will say goodbye to Susan and head over Middlebury Gap and bike to either Bethel or Sharon. Jake wants to visit with a friend from his Ecuador trip who lives in Thetford, so we don't have to bike more than 40 miles a day for the next two days. At our current pace, we should be in Lubec by the 17th or 18th. There are, however, a few hills to climb between here and there...

Take care,

Rob & Jake

Back in the USA

Hey all:

We crossed back into the United States in Niagara Falls yesterday and it feels a little strange to be this close to the East Coast. Even in Michigan it still felt as if we were in a cross-country adventure. Now it's starting to feel like we're coming home.

We stopped off at "Uncle Tom's Cabin" the former home of Jeremiah Henson, the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel of the same name.

The ride through southern Ontario, along the north shore of Lake Erie has been quite nice - fairly flat, decent road conditions, a slight tailwind, and frequent views of the lake. We even dared to enter the somewhat frigid waters - something I would not have dreamed of doing thirty years ago! We went to a beach restaurant with Wally & Jenny and felt as if we were in the Keys - beach volleyball, fruity boat drinks, and Jimmy Buffet.

We continue to benefit from the generosity of others. In Port Stanley, where no one was able to confirm that there was a campground a half-mile from downtown (there was), we were able to stay in the backyard of a man named Mike, who then immediately left for a camping trip of his own.

Then, after getting into Port Dover early one evening, we discovered that it was the first day of a major three day holiday, and there was not a hotel room or campground site within 30 miles in any direction. We all set out in different directions to see where we might be able to ditch camp. Wally ran into Ken and Georgia, a lovely couple in their 80's, who agreed to let us put our tents in their backyard. Over breakfast the next morning, Georgia regaled us with stories of their 58 year marriage. When asked what the secret was for their marital bliss, Georgia indicated that she had lent Ken the $5.00 for their marriage license and he hasn't paid her back yet.

There is quite a controversy going on in Ontario around the placement of wind turbines. There are a number of wind projects already in place and more are planned along the lake shore. You see some signs in support of the projects, but far more with slogans like: "Wind turbines lower property costs 25 - 40%," and "Health studies before wind turbines." I happened to like the way they looked located in and around fields planted with corn, soybeans, and alfalfa.

While stopping at the Canadian side of Niagara Falls was nice, getting out of there was not. The Adventure Cycling maps indicate that you may cross north of Niagara over the Queenston Bridge. A couple of folks we talked to had their doubts, but we blazed forward anyway. After negotiating a section of a busy highway and a traffic circle, we noticed the no bicycle sign at the entrance of the bridge. Having come too far to turn back, we joined a very long line of cars and slowly crawled along for almost two hours before being able to cross. On the bright side, we did meet a few interesting people and made a lot of people smile (or laugh) along the way. Then, when we were just three cars back from the border crossing, two loaded cyclists came down the restricted truck lane and were allowed to cut to the front of the line and cross immediately. Once again, illegal behavior was rewarded and our lawful behavior was punished. Is it any wonder that the human race is going to hell in a handbasket?

We will spend the next week or so traveling across New York, before we get back to New England for our last 500 miles to Lubec, Maine. We will hit the 3000 mile mark sometime today and will end up with about 4000 miles by the time we are done.

Can't believe that it's coming to an end. Bittersweet.

Hope you are well.

Take care,

Rob & Jake

Canada, Oh Canada

Hey all:

Not a lot to report. We’ve made it into Canada and are waiting out the rain in an Ontario Hotel. We’ve been leap-frogging with our new friends from Wisconsin, Jenny & Wally, who are also here at the hotel. The Brits were a day behind us and entered Canada at a different point - and it looks as if they may pass us on our down day.

The riding through eastern Michigan continued to be through fairly flat farmland, making for easy riding. Our average has increased to approx. 80 miles a day (although the winds still haven't heard that they are supposed to blow from west to east).

This sign could have been placed by the Governor of Wisconsin in his effort to further break the back of labor in his state (although I think, given the economy, that he could offer less than $7500 per worker killed. I still think he'll get a lot of applications for "union" hunting licenses).

A Road Scholar (remember those?) award goes to eastern Michigan for having some of the worst roads for cycling that we have seen so far this trip. Half my fillings are gone and every bolt has come loose on our trikes (ok, a slight exaggeration – but the roads were pretty bad). Another Road Scholar award goes to those folks who design and install bike paths. I very much appreciate the money and time that goes into creating paths for folks on bicycles to get to work, exercise, or cross the country free from the dangers of riding with automobiles and trucks. 

The Pere Marquette Trail is a great example of what a bike trail should be: wide, smooth, easy to follow, with well-placed bathrooms along the way. We were able to follow this for almost 60 wonderful miles.

For the other trails builders, there ought to be a few basic rules that they need to follow in constructing these trails:

1.      You need to be able to see the signs indicating access points to the path from a bicycle traveling at 10 – 12 miles an hour from a distance of at least 50’. You also may want to inform more than 3 townspeople that there is a trail that runs through their town.

2.      There should not be a two to three inch high jarring lip at the entrance and exit points, or where the path intersects with cross streets.

3.      All places where one has a choice of multiple paths should be marked with signs indicating where each path goes.

The paths around Bay City and Marine City, Michigan fell somewhat short of these ideals and caused us to get lost for the first time on the trip.

The ferry ride from Michigan to Ontario was very short and cost $1. There were a number of Canadian foot passengers who had made the trip to the states for the sole purpose of purchasing copious quantities of beer. It seems that you can buy Canadian and American beer in the United States, and pay duty on it, for less than it costs to buy the same beer in Canada. They may do universal health care better than us, but we do beer better!!

We’ll next spend three or four days making it across southern Ontario (mostly along the north shore of Lake Erie) before we pass back into the U.S. around Niagra Falls. At our current pace, we may actually make it to Lubec, Maine a week earlier than anticipated. It would be nice to have a couple of days to re-acclimate to life off the bike before heading back to work in CT on the 25^th of August.

Hope you are all well.

Take care,

Rob & Jake

We're Still Out Here

Hey all:

The heat has diminished a bit as have the headwinds (somewhat) so we've been able to ride more comfortably the last few days. We are currently in Luddington, MI, having taken the 12:55 am ferry over from Manitowoc, WI. Luddington sits on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and our hotel is only two blocks from the water. It's still hard for me to think about a body of water this ocean-like that is not salt water!

We've had some great encounters with "road angels" over the last few days. We were riding just west of Neillsville, WI, thinking about where we were going to stay that evening, when a cyclist turned around and pulled up next to my bike. His first words to us were "my wife is in Africa." While I was struggling to ascertain what this had to do with anything in particular, he followed up by saying that he had his house to himself and wanted to know if we'd like to stay the night. As he lives two miles down a gravel road, he lead us to a nearby supper club, where he corralled Justin into giving us and the trikes a ride there in his pick-up. He then set us up with drinks and a great 11-year-old cheddar cheese, gave us a tour of his beautiful home and property, told us where he kept the keys to his truck in case we wanted to go back out for dinner, and then left for a couple of hours to run an errand. An hour later, our British friends come waltzing through the door with Justin's mother - who had been asked to give them a lift after our host spotted them on the road a little while earlier. This man was either incredibly kind and generous or had the bodies of cyclists buried all over his 70 acre farm. Fortunately for us, and cyclists everywhere, Rick was the former. He was a teacher, furniture maker, trader in industrial lighting, and everyman philosopher, who has a big heart and a passion for cycling. He talked about his talented sons (architect and chef), his state (politically awkward for someone with more liberal leanings), and his wife, Toni (a Special Ed Director who he has known since kindergarten, who really was in Africa for a few weeks, teaching behavior management techniques to teachers there - a woman after my own heart!). While there we had a our pictures taken holding a limited production $10,000 TREK bicycle, signed by Lance Armstrong, that his older son had  won for designing the color scheme of one of the bikes ridden by Lance in one of his Tour de France victories - ok, this is only interesting to bike geeks.

Rick finished his incredible hospitality by setting out a breakfast of granola, blueberries, yogurt, and eggs before driving us back out to the paved road. Thank you Rick for your amazing generosity and thoughfulness.

Great ride that day through Wisconsin dairy farms where we stopped at a few dairies to buy local cheeses. What was to be a quick stop in a cafe/bar for a drink and an afternoon snack, turned into a lengthy conversation with four local women in their seventies who were very interested in our trip. We learned about cheeses (did you know that white cheese curds are better than yellow ones and you can tell that they are fresh if they "squeak" when you eat them?), the polio outbreak in the 1950's and the efforts of Bill Gates and the Rotarians to eradicate the disease forever, and the nephew of one woman who was killed last year while training Afghan villagers the skills they needed to become more self-reliant. We left there with presents of cheese and gatorade powder (left over from the supply that the woman had purchased to send her nephew).

After camping in a park in Amherst Junction and dining on squeaky white cheese curds, we headed into Waupaca for breakfast at a local restaurant/gas station. For the next two hours we were treated like rock stars! The owner, Jim, himself rides a recumbent trike, and introduced us to several patrons and members of his family. He called the newspaper, and had his son Todd interview us and take our pictures when the paper was unable to come out on short notice. A local cardiologist paid for our breakfast while a string of interested well-wishers stopped by our corner booth to ask questions, offer words of encouragement, and to give us donations for our charity. A second patron tried to pay for our breakfast, then asked us to put the $20 to our cause. Jim and his son loaded us up with Wisconsin t-shirts, gatorade, and a generous donation and promised to send Jake a Wisconsin patch (as they didn't sell any at their store). One more example of the "kindness of strangers."

Just so you don't think that I'm done complaining, or that life is too easy out here on the road, the trip east from Waupaca was not fun. Jake and I both had flats and used the last of our 20" tubes. The road conditions were highly variable and we were essentially kicked off highway 10 just before crossing a bridge into Appleton, WI. The police officer felt that it would be too dangerous as there was no shoulder and traffic flow was very heavy. While I know that his intentions were good (and ok, maybe he saved our lives), but we had to add an extra 10 miles going in and around Appelton on really bad roads, with a series or really bad directions, before we could re-join highway 10 again east of the town. Then, we decided that we could still make Manitowoc by nightfall and take the late-night ferry  instead of camping 20 or so miles west of there and taking the mid-day ferry the next day. By this time, my legs and knees were hurting and I was just a wee bit fussy (although I'm sure that I hid it well from Jake). But, as night fell, we limped into the ferry dock after a 109 mile day only to find the Brits in the ferry office, arranging for passage for the following day. We all went out for a nice dinner before we boarded the ferry and they set up their tents next to the ferry office. So, in the end, it was the best of days, it was the worst of days.

An uneventful ferry ride (where Jake and I attempted to get a little sleep) carried us over to Luddington, where we dis-embarked at 6 in the morning. We breakfasted, found a hotel that would let us check in at 8:00 and tried to catch up on our sleep. We also manged to get some laundry done and see the latest Harry Potter in 3D before running into a very nice couple from Wisconsin (Wally & Jenny) who were also making the trek from Washington to Maine. As we were talking with them, our British friends came cycling up, and we all had a lovely time picnicing in a local park - where a series of locals warned that they would all probably be kicked out for trying to camp there. We left them all rather late with an invitation to sleep on our floor should the local constabulary decide to roust them from their temporary domiciles in the middle of the night. It's now 9 am and we haven't had anyone come knocking, so they all all fine or we'll be bailing them out of jail after we have breakfast - we do have our priorities!

We now continue our ride east through Michigan where we will cross over into Canada before returning to the states around Buffalo. At this pace, we will likely make it to Maine a few days earlier that planned, allowing me a couple of days to adjust to life off the bike before returning to work on the 25th.

I hope you are all well and finding time to get outside and play.

Take care,

Rob & Jake

Did I Mention The Heat?

Hey all:

Greetings from Durand, Wisconsin. We've been riding a few days now in ambient temperatures in the high 90's with "heat index" temps above 110 degrees. For the most part, you don't feel the heat while riding, but then you begin to feel a headache and some fatigue and realize that you have been slowly cooking for a couple of hours. As we were leaving a town after a short break yesterday afternoon, I looked at the very steep (4 mile) hill we were about to climb and then at the bank clock. It flashed 4:00, then 100 degrees! I guess it wouldn't be an adventure if it were too easy, would it?

Spent an extra day in Stillwater, MN as a rest day from the heat. Nice town on the St. Croix river. Then rode along the Mississippi for a while before heading deeper into Wisconsin. We've been playing leapfrog with two men from England (Tom & Dave) who are doing the same trip as we are (with Montreal thrown in for good measure). They are camping at a nearby park while Jake and I took a hotel room to escape the heat - so Jake and I were able to sneak them in for a shower last night.

With any luck, we will be taking the ferry from Manitowic, WI to Luddington, MI this Saturday. Jake wants to take the one that leaves at one in the morning. Then I explained that we would have to start riding at 6am - the final decision is now undecided.

For some reason my computer can no longer access Wi-Fi, so I'm sending this from the hotel computer. If I can't get it fixed somewhere, I may have to use my smartphone or others' computers, so future blogs will be necessarily short and devoid of pictures. If anyone has any ideas of how to troubleshoot and fix this problem, please let me know.

Well, we're off for another day of pleasant temps near 100. Wish us luck.

Take care,

Rob & Jake

A Restored (mostly) Faith in Human Kindness

As we've said before, if you're new to this Blog, please start with the first one and then read on from there.

O.K. Let's get the complaints about the headwinds out of the way right from the start. Ten of the last twelve riding days we have had constant moderate headwinds! It doesn't matter if we're heading due east - they're coming out of the east. If the next day our ride is mostly southeast, then the winds are coming directly out of the southeast. These claims have been verified by numerous windsocks and farmers along the way. Everyone is saying that the northwest and north central portions of the U.S. are having very strange weather this year. O.K., complaining's done - for now.

So, I have to admit, with the political and social climate in America over the last (you pick a number) years, there has not been a lot to believe in when it comes to the kindness of others. With growing enmity within and across the political parties, and the libertarian (why should I care about someone else, I'm not my brother's keeper) mentality gaining strength in many parts of our country, I have, of late, been questioning whether people are inherently good and whether anyone truly thinks about the welfare of others. During our first few days in North Dakota this was reinforced by some of the least friendly people who I have ever met (which is in strong contrast to the statement made by the Governor on the back of the state map claiming that someone  -most likely a North Dakotan - has determined that people from North Dakota are the friendliest in the U.S.). This was illustrated by a woman in a cafe in Carrington, ND, where we were the only customers, going out of her way to try and not be nice to us (this was while the map with the Governor's quote was face up on our table in the cafe). She wouldn't make eye contact, did not check back to see if anything else was needed, and brought Jake his requested water in a small plastic dixie cup immediately after clearing the four glass glasses of water from the table next to us.

So why have I had a partial change of heart regarding people's goodness? Here are four examples:

1. After we exited the cafe in Carrington, three women (and a cute toddler) got out of an SUV and started to enter the restaurant. Seeing Jake attaching various things to his trike, they engaged him in a brief conversation about the nature of our trip. Two minutes after going into the cafe, one of the woman ran out and handed us a $50 bill, thanking us repeatedly for the good work we were doing.

2. This morning we stopped in  at the Schmitt Haus Cafe in Gilman, MN for a second breakfast (we really are becoming Hobbits). The owner, Glorene, greeted us warmly and told us about the specials. When she realized that we were biking, and that it was already well on its way to reaching the predicted 95 degrees for the day's high, she offered to have us go to her house for a shower, wait there for a home-cooked meal for dinner, and stay the night so we could get a good night's sleep before continuing on our journey. As we still had a long way to bike, we politely declined our offer. She then asked how she could get listed on the Adventure Cycling maps so that future cyclists could get a meal and a place to stay when they were passing through. We found out just before we left that Glorene and her husband are also foster parents of a six-year-old boy with autism.

3. After biking another few hours in the heat today, Jake spotted a sign for maple syrup. We assumed that no one west of New York state sugared because we got the strangest looks in diners and cafes when we asked if they had any real syrup for our pancakes. So this discovery was very exciting. The syrup was produced by a ministry group in Wisconsin and sold to benefit that group's camp and other endeavors. We met "Grampa Jim" whose name is on the syrup and who, with his wife Paula, have been involved with the ministry, and the sugaring, for many years. So, Jake and I bought the smallest amount of syrup we could to bring with us the next time we were going to a diner for breakfast. Once Jim brought Paula out to meet us (and to take our picture), and they found out the purpose for our trip, they insisted that we trade in the tiny bottle that we had for a couple of pints. A few minutes later, Jim returned the $6 we had paid for the syrup, indicating that it really wasn't giving us something if we paid for it. Jim also indicated that the ministry would be happy to feed us and give us a prayer cabin for the night if we passed through that part of Wisconsin.

When Paula and I were discussing the possible causes for the increase in children diagnosed with autism in Minnesota and the rest of the country, Jim kiddingly replied that it came from eating "Lutefisk" a rather odoriferous fish soaked in lye favored by Norwegians and Swedes. He then told this joke: A Minnesota farmer was having difficulty with skunks that were living under his porch. They were smelling up the house so badly that the family was considering moving out. He decided to drive the skunks out by placing a large quantity of Lukefisk under his porch. The good news is that the skunks are gone. The bad news is that he can't get rid of the Norwegians!

Dalbo, MN tonight. We are in a converted barn, now called the Adventure Cyclist's Bunkhouse. It is located on a country road in southeastern Minnesota and was converted by the owner Donn and his wife Sherry. From what I know, Donn is not himself an avid cyclist. He did, however, realize how nice it would be for folks traveling great distances by bike to have someplace warm (or cool) and dry to stay during their adventure. So he converted this barn into a three bedroom home-away-from-home for cyclists. There is a large living/dining room, a TV, internet service, a shower, and an outhouse. There are also two refrigerators fully stocked with juice, gatorade, sodas, pudding, candy bars, fruit cups, frozen pizzas, etc. There is no charge for staying here and the food is available (at cost) for a donation. And it is available whether Donn and Sherry are home or not (as we found out tonight that they are both away for the weekend).

So, little by little, and person-by person, my belief that there are still people in the world who care about others as much as they do about themselves, is being restored. Of course, I already knew that members of my family, and the incredible people who work with me in support of children with special needs, were in that category to begin with.

Other, less weighty, news:

Spent two days in Fargo, ND and liked it very much. We were able to eat food that wasn't beige, window shop some interesting galleries, and play frisbee golf on a real, but partially flooded, frisbee golf course for the first time.

We were able to ride continuously on a paved bike path (10' wide, no cars) from Fergus Falls, MN to Bowlus, MN, a distance of over 100 miles. The first half was called the Central Lakes Trail and the second half was the Lake Wobegon Trail (where all the pavement is strong, and all of the chipmunks are good looking).

Continue to camp often in small town parks where they fortunately have covered pavilions, which is great because we have had a number of late afternoon thunderstorms.

Lost my beautiful flag somewhere east of Fargo (blasted headwinds!).

The highs for the next week read like the test scores of an honor student. We fully expect that the formerly hated headwinds, that at least kept us cool, will now totally stop so that we may enjoy the full oven effect of the higher temperatures.

We will hit the 2000 mile mark tomorrow as we enter Wisconsin. This unofficially marks the midway point in the trip. It's hard to believe that we've traveled this far already. I must say, that for all of the things that I have said about the wind, or the heat, or road conditions, or the homicidal pilots. the trip has been pretty amazing so far and is really meeting or exceeding our highest expectations.

We hope that you are all having fun and staying cool.

Take care,

Rob & Jake

If the Lightening Don't Get You Than the Airplane Will!

Or the truckers, or the floods, or the national guard, or the constant headwinds...

It's been an interesting bit of riding since I last wrote. We have exited eastern Montana and are currently holed up in a cheap hotel in Harvey, ND waiting out a thunder and hailstorm. We just passed the 1500 mile mark and hope to be in Fargo in a couple of days taking a well-earned rest day.

While the roads and scenery have been generally good, we have been fighting a light-to-moderate headwind for the last eight days! It hasn't kept us from riding the distances we need, but does make us very tired at the end of each day.

The trucks in eastern Montana were awful. Due to an oil boom and the increase in road travel since the trains stopped running due to flooded tracks, riding has become noisier and a little more dangerous. A number of truckers have had to take evasive manuevers to avoid hitting us or have driven too close because they didn't move over soon enough. The way they lay on their air horns and the occasional overheard comments ("oh good, hippies on bicycles") we get the sense that they see us as a nuisance.

The flooding in the Minot area caused some delays due to detours (water still in the road) and store closings (we had a difficult time finding an open bike shop). At one shop (that was still closed) the owner fished out some spare tires for us and then pointed to a military Humvee that was coming in our direction. He indicated that we were probably going to be fined for being in a restricted zone (after circling around us for 15 minutes, they left).

During a recent thunderstorm (our first real rainy ride), we were watching the lightening as it slowly approached us. We were then surprised when the flash of light and clap of thunder happened simultaneously! We headed for the only house within miles and scared the poor woman inside by asking if we could hang out on her porch until the weather improved. She would have agreed to anything as long as she didn't have to open the door. After locking the door I think she was wondering whether she should call 911 or make us a cup of tea. She must have done neither as we left 20 minutes later without incident (or tea).

Then, when heading toward Minot on a nicely paved county road, we spotted a plane in the distance. We assumed that it was sitting in a field and that the road we were on would wind around it. Nope. We soon realized that it was heading straight for us! It's wingspan exceeded the width of the road and it was speeding up. At a distance of no more than 75' its wheels finally left the road, clearing over Jake's head by 10'. I get the sense that the FAA doesn't come out this way very often.

We're still surprised by the lack of eastbound cyclists. We met a nice guy named Dave pedaling solo from Michigan to Washington state and a Norwegian who was 2/3 of the way across from Maine to Washington - but haven't seen anyone heading east in over two weeks. We're slow enough that folks should be passing us with some regularity. Is there something you're all not telling us???

Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer. Special shout outs to Danielle and Brian, two great Special Ed teachers I work with who have weddings this June and July. And happy birthday to my sister Meg whose birthday is today.

Take care,

Rob & Jake