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After the long day yesterday we looked forward to a shorter day today.
Eunice and Doug brought us back to Canajoharie High School for an early
breakfast, and we hit the road a bit after 7:00 am. We sped down the hill
and then got on the trail again; it started out paved and then became stone
dust. There were a few spots where the floods of two weeks ago had washed
out the trail, but the folks responsible for trail maintenance had pulled
out all the stops and gotten it in reasonable condition for riding. We made
a quick stop at the first rest stop, and then shortly thereafter stopped at
the station of one of the local volunteer fire departments, they were
fundraising for new equipment by selling hot dogs and ice cream to the
cyclists. We ate and then toured the fire fighting apparatus, Liam spent
some time asking very good questions about how things worked. The second
rest stop was only a couple miles after the fire station, so we passed it by
and continued on into Scotia. We are staying at Collins Park which is right
in town. We arrived around 11:00 am and quickly pitched the tent, as they
were predicting that a rain storm was to move through town. We timed it just
right, as I put the rain fly on it started to sprinkle. It rained lightly
off-and-on, but not very hard, so we got organized and took our showers.
After getting cleaned up we walked into town to see "Over the Hedge" at the
local movie theater; it was the second time Liam had seen the movie but my
first, and I slept through part of it. What I did see I really enjoyed.
After the movie we discovered that the rain had increased, and us without
rain gear. But it was warm enough and the rain wasn't coming down that hard,
so we walked toward the park and stopped at a drive-in for soft ice cream
cones. Back to camp, where Liam played with some of the other kids on the
ride and I worked on my laptop. Then dinner (pasta and salad), and the final
ride meeting complete with talent show (the term "talent" being used
loosely) and awards presentations. The rain came down very hard during
dinner, but by the time the festivities were over it had abated. Back to the
tent, where the camp site was at 100% humidity and still quite warm. The
tent felt like a sauna and I wasn't sure I would be able to sleep well, but
we both dropped off quickly and slept soundly - such is life after multiple
days of riding.
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