“Whimsy doesn’t care if you are the driver or the passenger; all that matters is that you are on your way.” ― Bob Goff

I took my time leaving Courtney and Bella’s apartment, I slept in, ate breakfast, and packed up all my belongings nice and snug. I stepped out on the porch, locked the door behind me, and realized I had a flat tire! So I got to unpack my gear, break down the bike, patch the tube, put the bike back together, and pack it all up. Oh well, better here than out on the road somewhere!

Patching the flat

Heading into Vermont I had a long, slow climb up Killington as I headed deep into the green mountains, still with a little snow at the ski resort on the peak. I was due for a lunch break as I passed a house with a couch at the end of their driveway with a sign reading, “FREE”. I sat down, enjoyed the mountain view and chowed down on camp food and water. After a minute or two, the owners of the house pulled up and had a good chuckle, stopping to ask for a picture and were glad that someone was using the couch they were trying to get rid of. Further up the climb, I popped into a bike/ski store to fill up on water when a woman said, “Hey! It’s the couch guy we told you about!” The owners of the house with the couch were in the bike store!

On the way down Killington, on the East side, I passed the legendary Appalachian Trail, my dear old friend. It was towards the end of the day, so of course I stopped to spend the night on hallowed ground. I got to hike around a little bit, and for once I wasn’t worried about getting discovered by people in my tent through the night…I was on home turf! It was a chilly night up at elevation.

In Vermont, I had some long straights before heading down some dirt roads to a relatives house. Beautiful mountain views, spacious farms, and another NASCAR track! Diane and her husband Tim were extremely hospitable…shower, laundry, and lots of rest! Tim cooked up a magnificent dinner then Diane took me for a tour of the property on an off road vehicle. We watched the sun set over the Adirondack Mountains from the living room and traded lovely stories of past travels. Homemade waffles for breakfast with Vermont Maple Syrup, come on, this journey is a challenge, I swear.

I saw my first other bike packers in White Hall, NY. They were heading the other way and shouted, “Where you heading?” I replied, “West, and you?”…”North”. They we were past, such a simple conversation, but it felt wonderful to feel like I wasn’t the only lunatic out there!

To break up the long trip from Vermont to Buffalo, NY, I found a few waterfalls to put on the route. The first was Canajoharie Falls, pretty nice, but I couldn’t get anywhere near them because of the steep terrain. I walked around for nearly two hours looking for a place to camp, but came up empty handed. Towards the end of the afternoon I had to settle for a little section cut out off the side of a power line, but it actually had a splendid view. I heard the mysterious animal from a few days back that sounded like a loud horn in the night, hunch confirmed…it’s a deer.

My butt began feeling a little bit less sore. Still very sore, but at the end of the day it no longer consumes my every thought. What more could you ask for?!?

Along the Erie Canalway Trail, I ran into my first cross-country bike packers. Two woman, one about my age, and the other is 65! They are heading to Seattle along the Northern states and are moving at 25 miles per day to start. Very cool to talk to these two inspiring women!

I stopped at one of the locks along the Erie Canalway and watched them flood the lock to bring a large ship up the canal. Took about 15 minutes to flood the lock full of 10 million gallons of water and the boat to be on it’s way, completely gravity fed!

My second waterfall led me down Carry’s Hill road, the longest and steepest decent I’ve had so far, straight down for 1 miles, I was flying, what a sensational feeling of excitement. At the bottom was Chittenango Falls and my jaw hit the ground, absolutely beautiful cascades streaming down the cliff side.

Leaving Chittenango Falls, I had about 10 miles of a canal trail that I was hoping to find a place to camp, especially because the sky was getting dark and the forecast was calling for rain. The trail was a little too populated, there wasn’t much woodland nearby, and the nearby forest was very much a marsh. So I kept pushing on looking for a place to camp. Unfortunately, I quickly found myself in downtown Syracuse where everything was cement and I knew I would have to get a considerable way out the other side before there was any chance of some woods.

As things became a bit more rural, I went up an access road to a water tower looking for a camp site. I scouted a little side trail, it looked somewhat maintained, but I was overdue to settle down, so I grabbed my bike and headed down the trail. Just down the trail I startled a man in a red shirt, he took off sprinting away from me, and I turned around and immediately sprinted away from him. I have no idea what he was up to, but neither of us wanted to stick around to find out! So I ticked off more miles and crept back into farm land. I saw a farm nearby that had some people outside, I even saw the name of the farm on an Adopt-a-highway sign, so I thought this might be a good place to ask for my first sleep over on private land. “Excuse me mam, I am cycling cross country and was looking for a place to set up my tent for the night, any chance I could stay in the corner of one of your fields?”…she stares at the smelly hobo on a bicycle…”I don’t know, I’d have to ask my husband and he’s not here right now.” We exchanged a little more small talk, but I got the message, the answer was no…back to the road! Around 7:00pm, I finally found an empty boy scout camp where I set up my tent deep in the woods. It was a lovely site, but it was a long day on the road.

I work up at the boy scout camp during first light and hear small footsteps around my tent. Out of curiosity, I stuck my head out to see a flock of 12 huge turkeys walking through the woods with rays of light shining through the trees.

In Skaneateles, NY, I stopped for breakfast and treated myself after the long day before. Eggs, toast, sausage, potatoes and all you can drink water!

Near the end of a day, I was deep in farm country and didn’t have many options for forest camping nearby. I decided to try my luck again with asking a local for a favor. That’s where I met Larry, a 75 year old farmer with 55 acres who let me set up my tent next to his barn for the night. It was nice to read and relax without worry to getting caught for trespassing, and I walked around a bit watching some farmers run their equipment before seeing the sunset in the distance.

After leaving Vermont the pain I had experienced in my knees had nearly diminished, sometimes it was gone completely! The last three days into Buffalo however it crept back and at times gave me shooting jolts of pain from under my knee cap. I could shut out the pain and pedal through it for the most part, but anytime I rested and started again, I felt it strongly.

I took my time the next few days, trying to spin the pedals in an easy gear as much as possible, I knew I could limp into Buffalo and get a good rest and recovery if I could make it there. To be sure, I made a reroute to bypass a nearby state park, for a more direct route. I battled into strong headwinds all day, every mile felt like three, the climbs were one after the other, I could feel myself mentally drifting into a dark place. The knee pain twinged so hard one time that I got the sensation that I needed to vomit. In the emotional roller coaster of adventure, this was a low point. Luckily, there is nowhere to go but up from there!

The next morning I had a half day into Hamburg, NY to visit my friend Emily from the Peace Corps. She welcomed me into her home before heading into Buffalo to check out Niagara falls and meeting her boyfriend, Dave, for dinner at the La Nova, the best wings and pizza in Buffalo, and boy of boy was I in heaven! The falls were remarkable, we walked the Cave of the Winds and were able to get close enough to stick your head right into the falls! The following day was a rest day, so I sat around and did absolutely nothing for as long as possible. When Emily got home from work we took her beautiful dog, Athena, for a walk on the beach, you should have seen this dog fly when catching a Frisbee, she was remarkable! Later in the Afternoon we met up with Dave to race go-karts. Not just any go-carts, this suckers were 0-45 mph in 3 seconds flat! It blew me away how fast those things could hold corners and accelerate out the other side, both Dave and Emily beat me, but that’s some serious fun. We stayed up playing card games late into the night before drifting off into sweet, peaceful sleep in a warm, dry house.

And I wish you all a very happy Memorial Day from the town that started it!!!