I’ve been everywhere, man I’ve been everywhere, man Crossed the deserts bare, man I’ve breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I’ve had my share, man I’ve been everywhere – Johnny Cash
Last day on the road, wooohoooo!!!! Just one last push and I’ll be home. There were a couple thunder showers that pushed through during the day where it was raining so hard that I couldn’t see and had to duck into first a pizza place and later a convenience store. Funny, but Vanessa said that we were in the middle of a drought. So far, it didn’t seem like one.
First view of the Merrimac River. Yes it’s muddy and full of random tires, cars, shopping carts, refrigerators, and the occasional headless body, but this is my river. The same river that drains into the salt water estuary near our home where it meets the Atlantic. Bike trail through Manchester, NHStopping at our home in Amesbury, our cats were all over me. They probably thought that I’d been run over by a car or some such and now they were following me everywhere and wouldn’t let me out of their sight. Final push into the Atlantic Ocean. My beautiful wife Vanessa bicycled with me the 8.5 miles from Amesbury to Plum Island to complete this adventure and there’s no way I could have finished without her support.
It’s only starting to sink in now that I actually bicycled all the way across freakin’ North America. About 3,800 miles in a month and a half. How crazy is that?
Thanks all for reading and hope to see you in the next adventure.
Today was hills day and the one I had been apprehensive about for the last few weeks. I had visions of long steep twisty climbs through the mountain passes like in the Middlebury and Appalachian Gaps. These never happened. Sure, there were climbs but these were mostly pretty manageable in my low gears and definitely easier than going through the Rockies. In some cases, there were some very steep sections well over 10% but these were generally short and you could tough them out. It turns out you can listen to your fears but you can’t let them boss you around.
Many of the roads in Vermont follow streams. You can tell when you have passed the halfway point in Vermont when you start to follow the water flow instead of riding against it. Crossing into New Hampshire. This would have been a better picture if not for the sticker on the bottom of the sign.Downstream of a dam on the Sugar River in West Claremont, NHThe Dam on the Sugar River in West Claremont, NH. Real gravel on the rail trail through Claremont. I decided to detour onto the road instead. Home for the evening. $50/night for a tent site, yikes!!!!!!Mike from the camp store gave me a free Nutty Buddy!Wise advice wherever you go.
The “less hills” Google Maps route is still guiding me north. Normally, I like hills, but when you’re carrying a bunch of gear, your perspective definitely changes. “Less Hills” sounded pretty good so here I was heading further north toward Rutland VT. Hopefully, this wasn’t going to be a big mistake with me going up 10% grades on bumpy “less hills” dirt roads.
We take cafes far too much for granted in the northeast. This is in Saratoga Springs. A short but pretty excursion on a paved bicycle trailThere were several beautiful rivers that the route crossed overCrossing into Vermont at Poultney
I passed into Vermont at Poultney. It was nice to finally be in New England again.
During the day, it just got hotter and hotter and more and more muggy until I finally sweated my way into Rutland accompanied by dark ominous clouds and thunder claps. I pulled into the hostel just as the raindrops were starting to fall.
Hiker Hostel / Yellow Deli in Rutland. It’s just like I remember from 2014.
I’m staying at the Hiker Hostel / Yellow Deli in Rutland. I also stayed here 10 years ago when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail and it’s run by some of the nicest folks you’ll ever meet. I did notice that the thru hikers here smell the same as they did as when I was hiking. Fortunately, I somehow lucked into having my own bunk room. I’ll need a good night’s sleep to tackle the mountains tomorrow.
Country roads, take me home To the place I belong – Country Roads by John Denver
After a lovely double zero in Cooperstown visiting Vanessa and her cousins Leane and Tom, It was time to start heading home. Only 287 miles to go. After Mohawk, the Erie Canalway became primarily paved. It was fast and peaceful and beautiful until I had to say goodbye to the bike path in Amsterdam NY.
Lock 16 on the Erie Canal
My path home is the “less hills” route from Google Maps which goes quite a ways north in Vermont. I’m hoping that this would not be a mistake as Google has this awful tendency of treating gravel roads like nice paved roads which results in a planned easy ride becoming an adventure in perseverance and swearing. Well, there’s always pushing the bike and camping by the side of the road if needed. I better get some extra food tomorrow.
The first steep hill in Amsterdam, NY wasn’t a good omen. It was a crazy paved sidewalk that wound through a copse of woods at over 10%. I would have taken a picture or 2 but knew that if I did, there was no way of starting up again. Complaining isn’t peddling so up I went, standing on my pedals in my lowest gear, and toughed it out. This turned out to be the only snag. The rest of the ride was hilly but doable on less traveled country roads.
The end of the ride today was a stealth camp near Ballston Spa NY near Saratoga Springs. Despite a noontime start, I was able to get about 70 miles in so was pretty happy with that. Thank you paved bicycle path.
I had not taken a day off from riding since starting this adventure mid June and my mind and body were ready for a break. Between the heat and the general exhaustion, this trip was starting to take its toll. Leane picked me up in Mohawk and she and Tom welcomed me into their home. Vanessa then made the long long 5 hour drive from home by herself.
Blueberry picking. Between Vanessa, Leane, and me, we picked 18 pounds.
Home cooked meals, blueberry picking, and just hanging out with family and my incredible wife were all reminders of what I had been taking for granted back home.
I left a bit late this morning, knowing that I had only about 75 miles until the planned meeting time with Vanessa’s cousin Leanne at 4:30p. Unfortunately, during my daily bicycle checkout, I found a broken spike on the rear wheel which was causing some pretty substantial rubbing against the rear brake. With no time to fix, I disconnected the rear brake and lived with the substantial rear wheel wobble the whole day. It was another nearly whole day on the stone dust Canalway, slow but peaceful.
Another Lock on the Erie CanalNear Syracuse and most cities, there’s a few miles of paved Canalway before it goes back to compacted rock dust
Well, the day started out lovely….. The plan today was to make it out to Syracuse, which was only about 65-70 miles away from Geneva, by catching the Canalway just before it entered a Wilderness area and follow this all the way in. Being relatively short mileage, I was initially taking my time and left late, getting ice cream and generally dawdling. It became a problem when the gpx track, that I pulled from the RideWithGPS library, got sketchier and sketchier, until the trail disappeared completely and I was pushing and dragging my bike through a swamp in the middle of nowhere.
At this point, I was getting suspicious. Very suspicious at this point and eventually the trail dropped out completely.
When the trail disappeared completely, I was on my own and I somehow pushed through until I found something resembling a dirt road.
Bicycle repair stands are available periodically along the trail. Here, I was digging out mud and tweaking my damaged rear wheel. It did not like being ridden off road.
By the time I got out of this swamp, my bike had so much mud caked up into its mechanicals, nothing really worked right. When I got back to the canal, the first priority was swishing the bike around in the water and digging out the mud and dirt the best I could.
Long story short, me and my battered bike limped into Syracuse around 9:30p. Life as a bicycle tourist.
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends. –Walt Whitman
It’s starting to really hit home that I might actually complete this crazy adventure soon. Today, I headed toward my good friends Chris and Steph whom I hadn’t seen in years. We used to be inseparable and they are amongst the nicest, kindest, and thoughtful people I’ve ever had the privilege to be friends with.
Celebrating seeing Chris with my first beer since leaving on this adventure
Beautiful roads on this side trip to Geneva and some steep little hills with grades up to 11%. Good training for Vermont. The picture with the crumpled up rear fender shows what happens when you catch a stick in your rear wheel. Weird things happen when you ride across the country and spend enough time on a bicycle.
Crumpled up rear fender from catching a stick in my rear wheel. A little creative rebending and I was back on the road.One of the few sections of paved Canalway near RochesterFolks learning to row. The Canalway is the perfect training ground for this. Flora, another new friend waking me up in the morning. Charlie, Jeff, Soren, Steph, Gannon, and Chris in Geneva
Having a normal life, sitting on the porch and chatting with friends, listening to the happy sounds of kids playing, all made me looking forward to getting home that much more.
First full day on the Erie Canalway! I have been looking forward to this the whole trip. The Canalway it’s a 360 mile long bicycle trail that spans the entire state of New York so there will be traffic only when crossing roads or on those brief excursions into town or those free places where it diverts to the adjacent streets. Yay! The only thing that has me nervous it’s that 41% of this is unpaved “compacted stone dust”. It turns out that this surface is actually fine and not like gravel at all. There are few of the larger rocks you associate with gravel to bounce over, no sliding around, and it’s not too loud. It’s just a bit slower than actual pavement.
Seriously, this bike trail spans the whole state!Section of bike trail as it winds through BuffaloMuch of this canal dates back to the 1820’s
The main objective today was to visit my nice and stay over at her dorm room at the University of Rochester. Just a beautiful day following the Erie Canal.
Part of the lock system in Lockport, NYStonedust is actually a nice surface to ride on but I can’t imagine what’s it’s doing to my drive train. Visiting my niece and her boyfriend Tristan at the University of Rochester
Today’s ride followed the Lake Erie shoreline nearly the entire day. Just beautiful! This was by far the prettiest section of ride through Ontario. I spent a good deal of time chatting with other folks about adventuring. Hopefully their wanting will turn into doing! Towards the end of the day, I crossed the Peace Bridge and into Buffalo, NY, yay!!!! I’m back in the northeast again and can almost smell that salt water.
Unlike on most of this coastal ride, this section spends a good amount of time actually right next to the water. Lake Erie BeachesView of the Peace Bridge from the Canadian side. The hardest part of the ride today was figuring out how to get over the bridge. There was some construction so the detour when all over the place and I spent a good half hour figuring this out.Back in the US!
