Current Location: Silver Creek, New York
Time, which was my amigo is once again the enemy. The days which were so long in Europe have become noticeably shorter here and I’ve had more than a few locals tell me that I’m headed in the wrong direction. They go on to explain that most tourers they see this time of year are headed in the other direction just about finishing in Bar Harbor. So I definitely feel the pressure to keep up the distance each day.
Riding along the Erie canal was a nice change of pace and gave my legs some rest after the hills and mountains of the Adarondacs. The towns along the canal are small and quiet by 8:30p except for the trains that parallel the canal, which I think use their horn far too much.
I inquired at the state park I rode by last night what the cost of setting up my little tent would be, the answer was 26$ for one night. I scoffed at that and rode away, so far the average across the states I’ve been has been 24$ a night. Far too expensive for me, and a good incentive to free camp as I go along. Along the Erie canal a few towns have embraced the hiker/biker and provide the town common for camping which I think is a great idea to bring custom to these little towns which otherwise wouldn’t see that money, if only more towns would embrace the hiker/biker they might see the benifits too.
The ride past Niagara Falls was cool, I won’t enthuse too much about it but it was a big waterfall. I’ll give it that, touristy to the max. Hot dogs for 5$, you must be kidding me. There wasn’t as many people as I thought might be there which was nice, because if it was wall to wall people I wouldn’t have even bothered to stop. I did meet a few cyclists along the cycle path and we had a nice chat, they shared some homemade cookies and told me how to best get through Buffalo. The border crossings weren’t as bad as they were made out to be, though the guy on the American side didn’t believe the photo was me for a very long time. I had to explain that I had been cycling fairly seriously and the drivers license looked no better. After a while he lightened up and let me pass.
I’m just about done with New York at this point and the ride through Pennsylvania should be done in just a few hours (I think the total distance through Pennsylvania is 40 miles.) After that it’s Ohio and Cleveland. Another big city to navigate, I got minorly lost yesterday after going through Buffalo but some locals pointed me onto the right road and I got through with little pain. Just a few days away from a real roof over my head again and my hammock!