David with our favorite type of sign!!!
Today was the day that we started our new route, heading north as soon as possible, getting off of Rt 20 and getting as close to Lake Ontario as we coul
d. We hadn't mapped out any of this area so other than where we were staying we didn't know much about what was to come. The day began meandering through the hills and then coasting at 40mph down a huge hill to the flats. Again our favorite sign!!! We came to Rt 5 soon after this and were in heaven, flat, flat, flat. It was awesome!!!!
Awesome until we hit Utica which was no fun because our nice Rt 5 turned into a 4 lane elevated highway through the city, so we quickly were in territory we didn't feel comfortable with and needed to reroute. As we were heading off the highway David got a flat :-( The first of the trip. We were prepared with all the right tools, stopped at a Dunkin Donuts (another sad face), replenished with lattes, bagels, water and sunscreen and then got to work on the tube. We also learned there was a bike shop two blocks away so w
hile David fixed his tire I headed to the bike shop to grab a coup
le things we needed (another tube, brake cable and directions for a safe way through Utica). And this is what I found when I got to the shop...
This crazy bike shop in Utica
Chaos!!! It was like nothing I had ever seen, and every single bike that was piled high to the ceiling was locked to the one next to it... incredible. The owner who was slightly deaf was helpful, provided us with what we needed and a map with a bike route to find us safely on the other side of the city and back onto Rt 5 when it was smaller again. Quite the experience.
The afternoon was pretty uneventful, we biked hard because we wanted to get to Green Lakes State Park early enough to run some errands, do laundry and get to bed early. We saw some beautiful scenery, watched yet another predicted rain storm pass us by leaving us dry and rolled into camp around 4pm, perfect.
A beautiful barn David caught on camera
After setting up camp, showered and were clean we headed to town where we new there was an EMS where we stocked up on GU packs, energy bars, a new water bottle for David and a couple other things and then we went to celebrate at Pizzeria Uno's...why celebrate? We were officially half way through our trip!!! We treated ourselves to good beer and good pizza. It was wonderful and so much fun.
David and I at Uno's enjoying great food and beer
After enjoying a wonderful dinner we headed out of town and back toward the campground with a quick stop at a Village called Minoa where there was a laundry mat. Now this laundry mat comes with a great story and this laundry mat seriously is near nothing, we biked 2-3mi down this street to get to it and there was nothing on the road and probably nothing beyond it...this was the village center...a laundry mat (at least we assume so). And at this laundry mat we met a wonderful couple who shared there detergent with us and for about an hour we enjoyed their company. They were coming from a family reunion and visiting more family before heading home. Just as they were leaving David asked where they were from and coincidently they are come Crawfordsville, IN, the same small town that my grandparents live in. And not only do they know my grandparents but they go to the same church, Michael worked with my grandfather for years and Erleen worked at the country club that my grandparents were/are members of. Incredible how small this world is. It was great to meet you guys and we hope we can see you again in the future and maybe enjoy some more "Friendship Bread" (a wonderful cinnamon and sugar sweet bread) because it was delicious.
Michael, Erleen and I
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