|
Today was the longest day of the ride and Liam's longest day ever, and he
came through like a trooper. I told him after the rain of 2 days ago,
today's long ride, and the tan lines he's developing, that he's a true
cyclist. The day started early with packing our tent which was soaked with
dew, all the while dodging mosquitoes. We made our way the mile to the YMCA
where breakfast was served, and after that we headed out of town. The route
wound through Rome's streets before finally ending up on the Canalway train
again. The trail surface was pretty smooth and we made good time. A quick
snack at the first rest stop and we were back on the trail, which eventually
turned paved, and we picked up another 2 mph. Back to surface streets, where
we both kind of hit a wall as we ran out of energy. Rest stop #2 with it's
air conditioning and watermelon revived us. After the rest stop we ended up
on a busy highway with rolling hills, but despite the heat we did pretty
well. We took the highway bypass thinking it shaved off a few miles, but in
fact it did not, and the final stretch of paved trail led us to the town of
Canajoharie. The town experienced severe flooding 2 weeks ago and has not
recovered, but the high school that is hosting Tent City is on the top of a
hill and escaped damage. We climbed a very steep and long hill (adding
insult to injury after 60+ miles in hot weather), and arrived at Tent City
exhausted but proud we had made it.
I called Sandy's Aunt Eunice, who lives about 10 miles away, and while
waiting for her to pick us up we took showers, got changed, and had
smoothies. Eunice and her husband Doug took us to their home in Sprakers, NY
where I sat with them on their porch and drank iced tea while Liam played in
their pond, and where he had his first experience with leeches. We ate a
delicious home-cooked lasagna dinner,
dessert, and slept in an air conditioned bedroom (good thing since it's over 85°
and very humid).
They are going to take us and our gear back to Tent City early in the
morning.
|
