Written by Dave

Day 71 – August 7 – 64 Miles,  740 feet climbing (Red Rock Pond RV Park, near Albion, NY to Whispering Winds RV, near Newark)

Yesterday was a restful rest day. We did some laundry and last tune-ups on the bikes. We should be ready for our last push, 9 days more riding. Jim and Kayrl produced a couple more delicious meals and we had some nice campsite visiting time with everyone. It rained most of the day be we didn’t care as we were in the camp rec room for most of the day. Most importantly, we didn’t ride – legs and bums got the day off.

Today everyone was ready to leave camp. Andrea and Will were heading west towards Oregon. Jim, Kayrl and Jacob were heading west to Niagara Falls (then east back to join us). And finally us, we were heading east on the Erie Canal towpath. Skies were clear and blue, what a nice change over our rest day. To make sure that everyone had appropriate energy levels for the day, Jim grilled up a nice brekkie. Cooking for eight in a campground is not easy, though Jim makes it look that way.

Our second day on the canal was more or less the same as the first day for the first 20 miles and for the last 20 miles. That is, lots of crop fields or forest lots on one side, the canal on the other. There may be a few more bridges on this section but it’s hard to say. We had a little more pavement but mostly the surface continued to be crushed stone. The middle 20 miles we rode through the city of Rochester, a city with about 200,000 folks. We left the canal a little bit more, had to ride through some light industry and past the airport. The canal routing folks did a nice job keeping us out of traffic and away from danger. We only had to cross a couple busy roads but never had to ride on any.

On the part of the path after Rochester we stopped at a junction to check our maps. A chap riding the other way saw us and stopped to have a chat. He was a real character telling us that he lived in Florida but was up in New York visiting his “kid brother”. He said that he normally rides 30 to 60 miles per day. He had a fancy, ultra-light carbon fibre bike. He gave us lots of tips about the canal path ahead of us, road surfaces, dangerous sections, etc.

We eventually got around to asking him his name and age. We figured he was at the most early 70’s. Well, we were wrong – Ron was 87 years young. Are you kidding me! All of us almost simultaneously said, “wow, when I’m your age, I want to be like you…” Ron told us that his daughter was 63 and that his “gal” had ridden across the US multiple times. We eventually parted ways with Ron saying “ be safe kids” – sure, that’s right, 87 year old Ron telling us to be safe – what a fun encounter.

We arrived at the campground before Jim and Karyl, they had fun at Niagara Falls but it turned out to be a long day of driving. We arrived when the camp office was open and got all the information. The Whispering Winds campground is quite the place. It’s 95% permanents (or seasonal) with a few bookable sites out in the middle of the long-termers. It’s billed as a family fun center but it’s probably more of working person’s home. Jacob enjoyed the pool, the rest of us agreed that it’s good that we only have one night here. Nancy and I are certainly happy that we have everyone else to keep us company. It would feel a little odd being in our little tent stuck between a bunch of permanent campers. All part of the adventure experience I guess.

We spent some time looking at our plan this afternoon after learning that Tropical Storm Debi is heading our way.  Looks like we may get some more rain – bummer.  So we have booked another hotel room for Friday, which looks like the worst weather day, and we’ll keep an eye to see if we have to make some more adjustments.

Tomorrow we have another camping night with Jim and Karyl and then we are on our own again.  Hopefully we can remember how to cook our own meals!