Saddle Soar

Written by Megan What a fun day!  We left Laurie's mom Fran and Bill at Clear Lake, IN ( had a fabulous time the last few days with them) and headed west.  We had lunch at a little lake, where the boys swam. Then off to Shipshewana, IN a town with a large population of Amish.   We went to a museum, went to an Amish restaurant for dinner and rode by lots of Amish farms.   We were spoiled today with beautiful weather, a nice groomed bike trail for a good part of the day, and Goshen UMC is letting us camp on there frisbee golf course.  -69.5 miles today

Wind.  One word explanation of the past week’s physical riding experience.  Yeah, we know we’re riding the “wrong way”😊 Last week we were excited to pick up the Erie Canal trail, a flat bike trail that’s approximately 87 miles long, transecting several darling towns including Brockport and Lockport.   I was expecting to kind of “zone out”, as much as that’s possible cycling, not having to worry about traffic, crummy roads, the kids being bunched up, etc.  What we didn’t anticipate was the cruel wind tunnel the Erie Canal Trail produced.  We did a pace line which helped for a while.  Even the kids said they preferred hills to that trail.   All of the kids are now really strong.  Typically Mike or Greg lead and the other one is at the back . All the boys are clumped right behind the leader.  We rode into Niagara Falls and were tourists for a day on June 21.  Exiting Niagara Falls was a breeze compared to coming in. We had multiple bike tr...

From Greg - Given the last time I posted was a couple of weeks and five states ago, I completely understand why they call me the Bloggygagger.  A lot has happened since I posted from NH, and most of it was good. 😁 The history in this part of the country is really amazing.  We have seen many cemetaries that have graves from the before the Revolutionary War.  Here is a marker I found really interesting - it's for Col. Penfield's warhorse, which was in many battles, including Harpers Ferry, Bull Run and Gettysburg.   Here are the boys taking a break along the Erie Canal.   We spent a day in Niagra checking out the falls.  Besides Laurie, it was the first time for any of us. The falls are truly an amazing sight.   We took a ride in the Maid of the Mist.  They gave you a blue ponchos that did almost nothing to keep you dry as they steered the boat up close to the falls.   ...

By Megan This will be short because I am very tired at this moment, but wanted to let everyone know that we are safe and happy and very much alive and in Ohio at the moment! Tuesday-  We passed through Buffalo and of course got lovely buffalo wings. This is a before and after shot of Graham loving his buffalo wings. On Wednesday, we left Evangola State Park, west of Buffalo, New York and traveled to Erie Pennsylvania.   Is this the Pacific Ocean?  This picture is of our campsite on Lake Erie. On Thursday we traveled from Erie Pennsylvania to Geneva on the Lake, Ohio.  Tomorrow we head into Cleveland and we will pass 1,000 Miles! Good Night, Megan

It’s been a curveball for us all to have the sagwag this past week and a half. There have been blessings with it- less weight through the Adirondacks for the cyclists, a little bit of rest for the grown ups ( and Koen who got to sag one day with Mike), and a shelter from the crazy thunderstorm we awoke to two nights ago at Raquett Lake. This is a picture of what the evening before this storm looked like. The boys have endless energy, which we all knew ahead of time. We rode about 40 miles and then they swam for a couple of hours! Often we adults get in our tents before they do! June 12 I made some calls to figure out lodging ( sagwag duties) and we stayed with Father Peter in Newcomb NY.  He was super generous and shared his three upstairs bedrooms, showers, and dinner with us, giving us awesome pizza from the next town over.  He asked how we found out about him because he has cyclists every year but has none last year because of Covid. It was random, or maybe not He was my fi...

  Each day of travels something new and unexpected happens. Two nights ago we were woken up in the middle of the night by a thunder and lightning storm. At one point lightning hit so close to us you could feel the boom in our tents. The was raining so hard  it was difficult to hear each other talking in the same tent.   The next morning after the adults packed away their tents...just in time to wake up the boys and another downpour began. All of a sudden all of us are in the back of the U-Haul huddled up getting eaten by bugs. After that shower passed all of our bikes shoes helmets were soaked we finished packing up and we're on the road with dark clouds looming over us.   Mike and Koen road sag and we headed on very country roads out of the Adirondack mountains. Along the roads we saw a black bear peek its head out at us briefly. Then on to Old Forge, NY where we came across a diner that actually lived up to the breakfast it promised ... the pancakes were gigantic t...

    We are currently cycling our way through the Adirondacks in New York. We have set up camp in the top floor of a large barn in Boonville, NY.  Just perfect given the forecast of thunder storms through this evening and tomorrow.  A perfect time for a day off.  We crossed from Vermont to New York on Friday June 11 and celebrated Koen's 10th Birthday with dinner out at the Crab Shack and cake in a small covered out-building at the Maple Ridge Campground in Crown Point, NY.  Koen is riding on a tandem bicycle with me and was totally excited to get a new cycle computer to attach to his bars and a rear view mirror for his helmet.  Now, when riding, between announcing his frequent bathroom break needs, he checks to verify his computer stats are in sync with mine, typically while pushing up a hill.   Even though relatively early on in the trip, I wanted to note a few things about bike touring..... We are putting out a lot of energy on a daily basis....