Day 47-51 Leaving Lake Ontario

 

Day 47 – Cape Vincent to Selkirk Shores SP ~55 miles

We woke up a bit late after spending the night with Ken and Joanne. We got up around 10 and headed downstairs for breakfast. Ken made us crepes and Joanne had made fresh muffins! It was so good and we ate as much as we could to fuel up for the day ahead. After breakfast we gathered our things and packed a lunch from the leftovers from last night. Before we left we took a picture together and they gave us two flags to put on our bikes! They are half Canadian and half USA, perfect! We said goodbye and took off toward Selkirk.

We left around 12:30 and it was already a really hot day. We crept along and battled through the sun and wind. We took a shortcut that Ken and Joanne told us about that cut about 5 miles from our day.

It was one of those days for us where we were just kind of feeling out of it. Both body and mind. But there isnt much we can do but take it slow and keep pushing on. We eventually stopped for lunch and got out of the sun for a bit. We had roast beef sandwiches and fruit and tried a new flavor of vitamin water. It was a blessing to get out of the sun, but we had to keep going.

It has been flat for so long we really forgot what hills were like, but today we were unpleasantly reminded. They were hard in the rain and cold of Northern Superior, but they are worse when it is 85 degrees with the sun beating down.

We arrived in Selkirk around six and stopped for dinner at the only place around which was a gas station. We ate and then headed into the State Park about a mile down the road. We pulled in and got set up and showered and made a few phone calls.

There was another bike tourist named Mike staying at the park as well. He is from a town called Wellington which is about 70 miles west of here. He is finishing up his trip around Lake Ontario in the next couple days. It is nice to finally be able to talk to another tourist. Hopefully we will be seeing more on the last half of our trip!

We treated ourselves to a campfire and enjoyed the nice night. We are going to bed exhausted. We are in need of a rest day which we are going to take in Buffalo, NY in a couple of days. We are making good progress though and are very happy about that.

Day 48 – Selkirk Shores SP to Rochester, NY ~ 93 miles

We woke up this morning around 9 to the sounds of the loud campground around us. We got us and ate the rest of the bagels and Nutella we have been carrying for a couple days. We could tell right away it was going to be another hot day today, more so than yesterday.

We ate and then headed out. Our plan was to head to Beechwood State Park, but we learned last night from Mike that there isn't camping there. So we were going to plan to find a private campground to stay in tonight.

Right away we were into the hills and they lasted all day. Just like a roller coaster, up and down and repeat. We stopped at a gas station about 7 miles or so down the road for an energy drink and then continued on our way. Today we feel much similar to yesterday, a bit empty and exhausted and cranky. Long days of nonstop biking can have that effect.

We went through the city of Oswego and kept pushing on through the hills. We stopped in a small town for lunch and sat in the grass, in the shade, for a bit while we ate. We have to say that it is a bit disappointing that even though we are on the roads closest the lake we don't get to see it that much. We are getting a bit tired of farm fields all day long.

We reached Sodus Point, which is where we planned to look for a private campground, at around 65 miles. There wasn't anything there. We drank some water and got out of the sun while we thought about it and decided to push on to Rochester. It is going to put us in a better spot to make it to Buffalo on Tuesday.

We rode another 30 miles or so into Rochester through some really nice neighborhoods right on the lake on a nice road. We found the nearest motel, which we thought we deserved after a 93 mile day in the sun. $55 dollars...sold. We ordered a pizza and are catching up on a few things and getting stuff sorted to send another package home along with our footage from Sault Ste. Marie to now.

We are hoping tomorrow will be better to us! Can't waiit to make it to Buffalo! We are goi ng to the Anchor which is the home of the Buffalo Wing! Today was our half way point! We are proud of our achievement so far, but still have a ways to go! We should be entering Michigan in a week or so!

Day 49 – Rochester, NY to Golden Hill State Park ~ 65 miles

Woke up today and got ready to leave. We ate the rest of our pizza for breakfast and then left to go to the UPS store. At UPS, we sent home around 10lbs of things that we didn't need anymore like winter clothing and our new footage. After that we navigated through Rochester and made our way out of the city. We had a nice wide shoulder the entire way and as we headed west, we saw the rain coming.

We packed everything in our waterproof trailers and then it hit. It rained pretty hard for about half an hour and then the sun came out to start drying us off. The only problem was it was drying everything and it was so humid. We stopped to take a leak and thats when Kris got his first flat of the trip. Even though it was a crappy time to get one we were pretty amazed that he had gone almost 3000 miles without one. He quickly found the source, a small shark tooth looking rock. He fixed the tire and then we were on our way again.

There was nothing where we planned to have lunch, which was late anyways so we had to keep going very hungry. We stopped for ice cream a little while later and that helped get us to a gas station where we got lunch/dinner, breakfast for the next day, and snacks. The subs we got were enormous and you couldn't even finish half. They were probably 16 inch subs. We then headed to Golden Hill State park and set up camp right next to the water. There was a nice little lighthouse as well that was close by. We spent the night making calls, snacking, and trying to relax. Some of the other campers came by to talk to us about what we were doing and the couple next to us gave us some home made chocolate and granola bars. They were amazing! We went to bed and got woken up to the sound of thunder around 1am. We quickly got up and threw everything in the tent and then then storm hit. The rain was intense but not as intense as the lightning. It was less than a mile away at certain points and kept us up worrying for quite a while. We finally went to bed after the storm passed.

Tomorrow we will make it to Buffalo, NY and take a rest day the next day. We will be saying goodbye to Lake Ontario and looking across the Niagara river at the shore we were on only a couple of weeks ago. Its crazy to think about how much ground we have covered in that short time!

Day 50 – Golden Hill State Park to Buffalo, NY ~ 70 miles

We got up and had breakfast in the rising heat. It was going to be a scorcher today. We went to the front entrance to try and pay but there was no one there to take our money and no drop box so we left. Free camping is always the best! We headed west and we were struggling. Our bodies are worn out and the heat was really getting to us. We could have used a good nap. We rode apart for a while and didn't meet back up for a few hours. We said goodbye to lake ontario and I went ahead to film being back on the river again. When I met Zach in Lewistown he was far behind because he stopped to swim in the lake before we left it. I guess it was pretty polluted, gross. We stopped and had a late lunch at Subway and then we headed out again towards Buffalo. When we reached Niagara on the US side we were in a pretty scary area but we stopped at the falls and got a great close look at the American falls. With all the rain they were roaring. It was amazing how quiet it was in during the weekday. When we were on the Canadian side there were so many people. The American side also wasn't a circus like the Canadian side was either. We headed up the river in amazement at how fast the rapids were.

We made our way into Buffalo and ended up in a pretty bad part of town. We got dinner and then hastily made our way towards a community bike shop where we were to meet Adam who was going to put us up for the night. The traffic was crazy and we were still in a bad part of town but we made it and met Adam. We were amazed at the community bike shop. They are open 3 days a week and the diversity of people who come there is incredible. People come in to get parts and to fix their bikes. They have to fix the bikes themselves with the help of the mechanics. This way they learn how to do it themselves. They also have volunteers who are there all the time to help. It is funded by the city to promote bicycle riding and commuting in town. Really a neat place! We made some calls and got interviewed by Sam Cook back in Duluth. I guess it is really pouring there and the city is in a state of emergency. I hope everyone is alright and we are thinking of you all. Right before they closed we got a chance to use the stands and clean our bikes and tune them up. After they closed the doors we had to wait until almost 11pm for a guy to leave but we headed out back to Adam's house to drop off our stuff and get changed. We then headed to a local bar and listened to people sing. We left later and went to bed in the hot upper apartment.

Tomorrow we will head to the south side of town and get a hotel to get out of the heat and do nothing but relax and recover for the next couple of weeks.

Day 51 – Rest Day Buffalo, NY ~ 10 miles

Got up late this morning and Zach looked at some close by hotels and booked one. We got packed up in the heat and headed out down the road. We made out way through downtown and then headed off south towards the hotel. We headed a little too far east and had to backtrack a little towards our hotel. We stopped at a Tim Hortons and had lunch and got some directions to get on our way again. We finally made it to a mall area and there was our destination. We spent the day catching up on computer work, getting dinner, and relaxing in the AC as the heat kept going up outside. We watched some news about the flooding in Duluth. Pretty crazy to see, we wish we could have seen it but seeing lake Erie isn't so bad......

Tomorrow we will be heading west towards Pennsylvania. We will be in Michigan in under a week and making our way through Detroit, I hope were ready.