The Final Days Back to Boston

Sorry it has taken us 3 months to publish this entry -- time ran away on us. We are officially finished the trip and are now up in Maine working for the summer having a different adventure. We plan on having a follow up/reflections entry about the bike trip and a map route posted sometime soon. Hope you are all doing well! 

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It has been a wonderful trip down the Erie Canal and we have been accompanied by some delightful weather.  Each day we have headed out expecting to encounter rain but we haven't seen a drop. 

On Friday we were fighting a persistent headwind which made biking quite unpleasant.  Instead of grudgingly pushing along we took a shorter day and stopped at a campground in Montezuma, NY. The stay at the campground was just what the doctor ordered.  It had a pool, showers (which we needed quite desperately after biking along a dusty trail) and all the 25 cent ice cream cups that we could eat! The only downside to the campground was that the water tasted strongly like rotten eggs (because of the sulfur) so we ended up buying a bag of ice and melting it for drinking water. We felt so proud of ourselves for thinking of that (I think our college education is starting to show its dividends). 

The next day we continued along the Erie Canal Trail and we tried to make up for some lost time so we biked from 8am to 8pm -- we took some breaks in the day, but it was still a long day in the saddle and our posteriors are not holding up well. 

The Erie Canalway Trail is proving to be everything that we hoped for. Even though it is only paved on certain sections, riding off road for most of the day through beautiful greenery is a quite relaxing experience (in its own strenuous kind of way).  

On Sunday evening we met up with Josh’s parents at a campground along the canal and we camped together for the evening. The next morning Josh’s dad drove the van down the trail a bit and then biked in our direction. It was Memorial Day so we watched a small town parade (with a surprising amount of candy) and then biked towards a town called Amsterdam. There were some foreboding clouds chasing us in the morning but the storm was going southeast and we were going east so we pedaled as fast as we could and we got hit with a few drops but we biked right into blue skies.  After having lunch in a cute roadside stand/diner we continued the rest of the way to the van. We ended up missing the town the car was parked in and biked until the sidewalk ended -- it was only about a 1/2 mile too far but it seemed fitting to stop where we ran out of trail. 

 above: where the sidewalk ended

We decided to head back to Boston with Josh’s parents because our butts are really sore and the weather is looking rainy so we are officially finished the trip. It has been quite the amazing adventure and we want to say thank-you to our family and the many strangers who helped us along the way.  This was a trip that we will never forget! 

Biking over the Border Back to Boston

May 23,

After saying goodbye we headed of Wellandport towards Niagara Falls. We got about 5 miles away when we noticed that out tires could use a little air so we pulled into a church parking lot to pump them up. What we forgot was that we had changed the attachment on our pump and we couldn't figure out why it wasn't working (oops). After a little bit we figured it out and pumped up the front tire, but while pumping up the rear tire we broke the valve off. It was still holding air so we decided to keep on going. We rode for another mile until Chatale's pedal fell off, but that was a quick fix. We rode about 15 miles to Welland to visit Chantale's sister, Lynette, at work for a delicious cup of coffee. From there we said goodbye and headed on our way to the Falls.
When we got into the downtown area in Niagara Falls we starting hearing some noise from the chain. We dismounted the bike and saw that one of the links was broken. We weren't sure the best thing to do to fix it so we just popped of the link and kept going towards the border.

It was a beautiful day to see the falls and we got some great views from the rainbow bridge. We thought that we would have to walk our bike at the pedestrian crossing but it turned out that we just biked along with the cars. It was a really quick and easy border crossing.



We biked on some great paths along the American side of the Niagara river and made it easily to the start of the erie canalway trail in Lockport, NY (a 400 mile bike trail with a few on road segments). At the start of the trail we bought a book with maps and information about all the towns along the Erie canal. This is the first real map we have had since our first day of the trip in San Francisco!



The trail is really flat because it's right along the canal and is mostly composed of crushed stone which isn't too bad for biking. There's also a nice on-road bike route that parallels the canal so when we get sick of the crushed stone we will probably switch to the roadway. Right now we are in Middleport, NY and are camped right along the canal in a free campsite. Apparently there are a bunch of free or suggested donation campsites along the way it should be a really pleasant stretch. Tomorrow we will continue along the trail and hopefully will be able to go an entire day without getting lost.

Homeward Bound

May 12-20,

It has been quite a while since our last post because we have spent less time biking and more time in the presence of great company. After the storm passed in Vasser, MI we biked about 30 miles until the rain started again. We took shelter in a park and played euchre as the storm blew by. When there was a break in the clouds we started back up again and went 20 miles until google maps tried to take us down a private, grown over dirt trail. We stopped in a small country store to ask for directions and were approached by a father and his daughter who offered us a place to camp for the night. We were quite soaked by that point and happily took them up on the offer. We packed up our bike on their trailer and rode a couple miles down the road to their property.

We had an absolutely wonderful time at their house. When we arrived, we set up our tent in their heated garage, took showers, washed our clothes and they barbecued a delicious dinner and even let us ride one of their horses with the help from the daughter Rachel (who is an amazing horseback rider).








In the morning the weather was still rainy and the family offered to take us farther in the direction of the border. We happily complied with their offer because the three of them were already headed to church in the same direction. The mother, Mary, even packed us a bag full of snacks to take along with us on our ride! We arrived at the church and expected to get out of the vehicle but instead the father, Chuck, offered to take us as far as he could and ended up driving us another 25 miles out of his way all the way to Marine City. We tried to express our thanks (which was extremely abundant) as much as we could and packed our bike back up for the border crossing.







On a little side note, one of the most amazing things that we are experiencing on this trip is the incredible kindness and generosity presented by complete strangers. These sort of encounters with people are the type of thing that will remain in our memory far longer than any typical, fairly uneventful day of biking. We have found that contrary to popular belief, people are quite amazing and good most of the time.

Our crossing into Canada was our most positive border experience ever. The ferry runs from Marine City, MI across the St Clair river to Sombra, Ontario. It is about a 5 minute ride and only cost a dollar per person.



We crossed the river with only one other car on the boat, chatted with the border guards and set off, riding along the river toward blue Canadian skies.



It was a delightful day for biking once the rain passes and we rode about thirty miles to the house of Danielle and Matt (one of Chantale's best friends from high school and her husband) a little east of Sarnia. We had a great one day visit with them, hoping their baby would be born any minute (Mothers' day would have been a good day for that).

On Monday we set off towards Brantford, Ontario. We had a very ambitious day planned, hoping to cover 120 miles so that we could make it to Chantale's aunt and uncle's house for dinner, where we would meet up with Chantale's parents and then ride the rest of the way to Wellandport, Ontario. The day started off exactly as planned and we were optimistic about our chances of making it Uncle Mel and Aunt Betty's on time. However, right after a mid morning snack break, we tried to take a detour around a gravel road, got a little lost and went about 15 miles out of the way in total. Then right after lunch we got lost in a huge complex of suburbia right outside London and added another few miles onto our day.

By this point we were much less optimistic that we would make it anywhere close to dinner time so we sought out wifi to call Chantale's parents for an update on timing and to devise a plan. Normally we would have just kept on going and cut the day a bit shorter but we wanted to see Chantale's mom before she headed to Iowa the next day (for five days). We arranged for a limo service and a few hours later were greeted with many hugs and drove the rest of the way to Brantford.

We were treated to a wonderful feast (asparagus and rhubarb are in season out here and we had been eyeing the fresh produce at farm stands along the way but had no way to cook it, but Aunt Betty had made both of those dishes and then some!). We chatted with Uncle Mel and Aunt Betty, toured their beautiful home, said goodbye and headed off to Wellandport. (Hopefully another time we can visit for longer and do a bike tour of Southern Ontario). Our arrival in Wellandport was not exactly as we had envisioned it throughout the rest of our trip, rolling up on our tandem into familiar territory and being greeted by awaiting family. However, it was still great to be home to see Chantale's mom before she headed out.

In Wellandport we have been keeping ourselves busy by doing a bit of yard work and painting, meeting up with our friend Samantha and walking around Dundas Point outside Hamilton Ontario (which is apparently the waterfall capital of the world), playing games, cooking in a fully stocked kitchen with more than just our jetboil, going on a biking wine tour in the Niagara Region and spending lots of time with family (Ann, Lydell, Jeff and Lynette, Weston, Kailyn and parents).



















Yesterday, Chantale's mom returned from Iowa so we will be spending a couple more days here and then heading out on Wednesday for the last leg of our trip. We are antsy to get biking again but are making sure to savour every moment with family.

Location:Michigan to Wellandport

Grand Rapids, Grand Times / On the Road Again

The drive from Iowa to Grand Rapids went by in a flash. We were entertained by constant large thunderstorms and lots of lightning along the way. When we arrived in Grand Rapids we reassembled the bike, set up our tent (with our Alma Mater as the base camp), dropped off our car and then wandered around for 3 days. Our time in Grand Rapids was filled with hanging out with friends, visiting some of our favourite spots from college, tulip time festival, tasting wonderful local beer (Founders Brewing Co) and searching for places on Calvin's campus to get free food and coffee. It was absolutely wonderful.

Below: Pictures from Tulip Time Festival in Holland, MI rated the best small town festival in the US, and maybe the world?)








(disclaimer: the above photo is actually from Orange City, Iowa. They had no tulips left in Holland, MI.)

On Thursday, it was finally time to get back on the bike! It felt really great to actually pedal around with the fully loaded tandem. On our way out of the city we stopped to watch a minor league baseball game (the West Michigan Whitecaps) with our friend and my former roommate, Zach. The sun was shining and despite the thousands of children on field trips swarming around the ballpark, it was a quite enjoyable way to spent the last of our time in Grand Rapids.




We left the ballpark at 2:30 and headed north on the White Pine Trail, a beautiful paved bike path that runs north out of Grand Rapids. It was a very pleasant ride until the path turned to gravel about 25 miles north. Thankfully, the trail intersected a bike route that traverses mid Michigan. We took that paved route and headed the last 25 miles over some beautiful rolling hills to our destination in Blanchard, MI. We met some very friendly people in town that guided us to the campground and we settled down for the night in a field with our own private gazebo!




The next day we were planning to follow the mid-Michigan bicycle route that would take us toward Saginaw bay but then we looked at a map and realised that it made a lot more sense to take a straighter path toward Marine City, MI (our border crossing location). We stopped in a small town along the way, got some google map biking directions and headed on on way. We had a tailwind for most of the day and arrived 80 miles later at our campground near Vassar, MI. We were the only ones camping there for the night so we had our own private little place. The manager was really kind and came to our site delivering free wood and kindling. It was only our second campfire of the entire trip!




This morning we woke up to the sound of thunder in the distance so we quickly packed up camp and took shelter under an awning. Now we sit, waiting for the the storm to pass (hopefully) and we plan to split the ride to Sarnia, Ontario into two sections (probably taking a shorter day today so we can ride in the sun tomorrow.

R&R in the Center of America

Sorry that it has been a while since our last post -- we have done a lot of relaxing and not too much biking. The whirlwind drive from New Mexico to Iowa went by in a flash. In just 24 hours we nearly doubled the distance we had traveled for the entire ride (cars are amazing).  We left the desolate southwest landscape, watched the sun set over the Rockies and when it rose we were driving through fields in the mid-west.  Quite the change of scenery in such a relatively short amount of time. We returned the rental car in Omaha with an hour to spare and then found a park and napped for a few hours until we were picked up.

We are currently staying in Orange City with my sister, Julie, and her husband, Tim. It has been a really wonderful past few days full of fresh homemade bread, and delicious food in general. We went into Sioux Center yesterday to find a bike shop because we were doing some bike maintenance and found 2 broken spokes on the rear wheel that needed some attention. We spent the day wandering around the town and reading in the library, we also experienced our first tornado warning later in the afternoon. Julie got off from work a little early and came to pick us up and then we stopped in at the post office for a minute. While we were sending out some mail the tornado warning sirens went off and we took shelter in the back of the post office with the other customers that were in there at the time.  It was neat to see what goes on behind the closed doors of the postal system. Within a matter of minutes it went from a blue sunny day to a incredibly dark, windy and raging thunderstorm. We were quite thankful that we weren't biking through the middle of nowhere during that storm.

Today we have been on a Cinco de Mayo theme full of homemade cheddar and jalapeno bagels, tortillas, salsa, bean dip, sangria, and other wonderfully festive foods. The time here has flown by and tomorrow afternoon we will rent another car and head off to Michigan to visit our some friends and our Alma Mater for a few days, then we'll hop on our bike again and continue our touring adventure!  We are getting a little antsy to get back on our wheels again.

Shaping Up and Shipping Out

April 27 - 30,
After talking with the ranger at the campground, we found out that it was 100 miles to the next closest campground. The map showed one mountain pass and fairly hilly terrain, so we were prepared to hitchhike for a few miles at some point (not a habit we want to get into though). Fortunately, we had a strong tailwind and the pass that was on the map was nonexistent so we made the first 30 miles in a little over an hour. After that we just had 69 miles to go and that sounded a lot more reasonable. We had a tailwind for a few more miles, but when we took our next turn it turned into a crosswind and that slowed us down a bit. The road we were riding on had some beautiful scenery and we rode by sand dunes, cliffs, and canyons. At one point when we descended into a canyon there was a pretty steep hill and our odometer read 51mph -- our fasted speed yet! Thankfully the climb out of the canyon was a little more gradual. By the end of the day our pace had slowed down a bit and there was still one last hill into the campground, we weren't sure if we were going to make it up by pedalling but out of nowhere came 3 dogs barking and biting at our heels -- that was just the motivation we needed to speed up the hill and into camp.



The next morning we did some bike maintenance and that led to a slightly later start. We talked to the ranger and found out that the next major town was 90 miles away and that the first 25 miles of our ride would be a gradual but steady incline gaining 2,000 ft. We had our work cut out for us . There were some smaller towns listed on the map so we were hopeful that we could find somewhere to stay that was closer than 90 miles. We made it up the hill and had our usual lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The map we had didn't show terrain, so we had no idea what lay ahead of us for the next 65 miles. It turned out to be fairly hilly but there were also a lot of tall pine trees along the road which was a welcomed change of scenery -- it had been a long time since we had seen a forest. We kept on trekking along for another 45 miles until the next small town hoping to stay there for the night. Unfortunately the town had a gas station and a small grocery store but no campgrounds or motels. After talking to some of the locals we found out that the closest place to stay was a town called Window Rock, another 20 miles down the road. After going 170 miles in 2 days we did not feel like going any further, but we bought an energy drink and made the last 20 miles in an hour. We treated ourselves to a hotel (and a much needed shower) before collapsing into bed.

The next morning we planned out our route to Albuquerque and it was 130 miles of busy frontage roads. That sort of biking is pretty stressful and more mentally tiring than physically tiring because the roads are not bike-friendly so we have to be very aware of the traffic around us while making sure that we are finding all our turns. Instead, we decided to bike Gallup which is just west of Albuquerque and buy a greyhound ticket into the city to pick up the rental car. The ride to Gallup was a short 25 miles and we crossed into New Mexico but we were fighting traffic and wind the whole time and when we got to our campsite we were really glad we opted for the bus.

After setting up camp, we took the bike apart (so that it will fit in the car) and we realised that we are not ready to be finished biking and we are really glad the trip is not over yet. The past 2 days were our highest milage yet (and we're not even sore) so we can safely say that we are in good biking shape. We are excited that we still have another 1,000 miles ahead of us from Michigan to Massachusetts.

Ahead of us today we have a 20 hour drive and car rented for 24 hours -- it's going to be a whirl wind tour through Colorado and the Rockies and then up to Iowa. It would be neat to say that we rode up the Rockies with our bike, but this early in the year we don't want to get caught in bad weather up there. Maybe someday we'll come back and bike it (without 60 lbs of gear). We have found that we have a much greater appreciation for vehicles now -- what would take us a little more than 2 weeks on a bike will take 20 hours in a car. What amazing inventions! We are really looking forward to some R & R with family for a few days and hoping to get rid of our ridiculous farmers tans and sock tans.

Raining, Biking, and Hitchhiking

April 26,

We packed up the tent this morning and were on the road by 7:30. We were well rested and well fed and the sun was shining. We were hoping that the forecasted thunderstorms and wind wouldn't come to fruition -- but they did.
Despite a strong headwind, we proceeded with high spirits and strong legs. Then we turned around the bend. The wind hit us like a wall. We struggled against it, uphill for another hour until we felt the first drops of rain. We pulled to the side put on our rain gear, looked at each other and stuck out our thumbs to hitch. There wasn't much traffic on the road but the third truck that passed us (about 5 minutes later) stopped and offered us a ride about 15 miles to their ranch. The people in the truck were a wonderful older Navajo couple with their grandson. We tossed the bike in the back and rode off. We started talking and they offered to take us an extra 35 miles to the next road junction and we happily accepted. Along the way they told us stories about growing up in Navajo Nation and pointed out all the interesting cliff formations. Some notable ones were a big glass bottle, the profile of a big man laying on a mountain, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln with a big nose. It was really great and we were extremely thankful to get out of the headwinds and rain (which had started to steadily fall). When they dropped us off there was a break in the clouds and the wind was at our backs!



We peddled along the last 25 mile stretch toward our campground at Navajo National Monument. There were some more showers as we went along, but nothing strong enough to dampen our spirits. As we climbed toward the campground, the showers turned into a downpour and at every curve in the road we longingly looked for the visitor's center. Soaked to the bone from the cold 35 degree rain and winds, we arrived and warmed ourselves under the hand dryers in the bathroom. By the time we had explored the exhibits in the visitor's center, the rain had let up and the sun was peaking through. We set up our tent, ate an early feast and napped until the sun shining on the tent beckoned us to go and explore a bit.







We went for a short hike, saw some Anastazi ruins (from afar) and headed back for a nice hot cup of tea before bed.



It was really wonderful that we were able to hitch a ride for part of the way because it would have been a cold, wet and windy 90 mile ride. For the next couple days we will continue riding through Navajo Nation which means that we are only allowed to camp in the few campgrounds scattered about the region so will need to do some longer (but forecasted sunny) days.

Looking at a map of the country we are starting to realise how big it is. Realistically, we can't make it all the way across in the time we have left. What we are planning to do is rent a car in Albuquerque, drive to Iowa to visit family... and then we will take it from there.