in the lobby of the buffalo hyatt...happyily done

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day 8 lockport to buffalo with some detours...we hit 404 miles! celebrating with glee...more details tomorrow..john and kals great adventure completed!

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

Drawbridge brockport

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one last image of the perfect ride today

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the garlic depot

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just how perfect the weather was

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raising a low bridge on the erie canal

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the canal trail in great condition

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outside medina

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day 6: rochester ro lockport 68 miles
perfect weather from dawn to dusk as we rode on trail and road and back to trail...had lunch in holley at diner where two other long haul biking couples had happened to stop. one from the state of washington headed to bar harbor from june 1 until aug 20...the other from michigan headed to the cape..our ages...we are junior trekkers by comparison..but we are feeling very happy...and a touch giddy...kind of like the bike group of 5 middle age guys huddled under an overpass smoking strong weed at 9am...not at all the troublemakers we feared...other events...passed a garlic depot...see pix...long talks with great kids in Albion who bike...and a father and son doing buffalo to albany...the beauty of western ny along the canal is striking....in residential areas and rural fields...each town with well tended 100 year old buildings..not at all like the desperate disrepair in the eastern and central towns. tomorrow we roll into buffalo at an easy 35 miles

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

bles skies finally along rochester's beautiful canal path

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the womens museum in seneca falls...

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the path we rode into the montazuma wildlife refuge

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day 5: waterloo to rochester 63 miles
the longest day and the hardest. started at 10 am in the rain for about 12 miles....we thought it might be our waterloo..a bit nervous making but the road mostly had a good paved bike lane slash shoulder...wayne county crashed down to a mere 18 inches..not pleasant ...then on what is nys bike 5 there, route 31, all the way ( 40 miles) to almost pittsford..so amazingly beautiful..sun dappled canal..gracious park like lawns on beautiful homes...children swimming in the canal and up the path up to rochester city center and on to the hyatt regency for luxe recovery...great dinner...oh, highlight of the day...went to a car wash to clean the bikes so we could take them into the lobby of the hotel...not many pix..was a hard ride and we didn't stop often ..sun and blue skies finally outside rochester...so.welcome... tomorrow on to lockport...have to admit we are both feeling somewhat sassy and surprised at our accomplishment...hit 303 miles total today

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

Pittsford tour boat over kals shoulder

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day 5: 51 miles from syracuse to waterloo (near geneva)
wild traffic...wild path..wild life...mild roads...four rides in one
started out in the middle of syracuse on the edge of the university..battled our way to the canal path some 8 miles away...then rode forever on slushy gravel..rough pitted tracks...and beautiful canalways until we came to the town of jordan...blessed bike designated highway to the montezuma wildlife refuge where a swooping bald eagle ushered us into the park and on to seneca falls and the national womens museum...then to dinner lake side in geneva via taxi..tomorrow rochester

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

Crouse College Syracuse University

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Half way on canal between albany and buffalo

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rebuilding an aqueduct outsode of camilus

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Indian land claim protested

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more of the university

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syracuse university this morning

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Cindepath to Syracuse
day 4: 50 miles from Rome to Syracuse
today we rode all the way on the canal trail...some wide and well rolled...some of it one narrow cut thru the grass...past osprey, heron, 2 foot long snapping turtles...dozens of them floating in the old canalway...and huge carp that john says were 3 feet long...mezmerizing to go hours along a narrow rural trail...lunch at the Chatterbox cafe in Canastota...a dill burger and chicken salad...a three corner town..many closed stores...we were in the town hub...maybe7 or 8 other folks also having lunch...at end of the path.mile 48... we were instantly tossed into Syracuse highway mallville...stopped in 1 bike shop to drop off the backhanded complements...they liked them a lot and will carry them. our second shop so far this trip. then headed to the hotel by the university in a gentle but persistent rain. fab accomodations with pool and whirlpool to soothe the weary limbs. feeling great..tomorrow on a detour off the canal

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

it was overcast all day but no rain until we were near the hotel

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pixelated yet acurate we rode for hours along the canal in deep woods on the narrowest of paths

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Dam near lock 16

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day 3...little falls to rome...53 miles
locks and bagels
today we had yet another encounter with northern ny food and us...it is surprisingly good..a real bagel in little falls...but so excessive that it makes the portions at the odessa in brighton beach seem nouvelle cuisine...
today we rode serious hills along route 5s and 69 and just a tad on the bike path which was paved for short way...mother nature was arrayed grotesquely along the road...one porcupine. an oriel.. a rattle snake..a beaver..a rabbit...perhaps cautionary...as roadkill...perfect summer weather...14 rain drops..lots of sun...oh..almost forgot..like hansel and gretel we followed a trail of green beans all along the shoulder of the road for about 10 miles...also cautionary...eat more greens...and so tonight i ordered escarole and got escargot...these towns are trying mightily to be sophisticated...yet utica was startling ...forlorn. And in rome, a statue of romulus and remus suckling a wolf outside our hotel

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

making lacrosse sticks

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ft.stanwix in rome ny

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in rome ny at ft. stanwix

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dam it's big

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Lock 16

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menacing sky but no more than 4 drops of rain

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Herkimer house

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lock 16

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oreo bull

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bears and bulls
day 2 47 miles from amstersam to little falls. serious hills on bike 5, the roadway that parallels the bike path. along the path we followed abear track with 5 inch wide paw prints complete with impressions of the toe pads and claws...then we came upon oreo bulls..so odd...black on the back and front with a perfectly defined white center...see pix...stopped by Herkimer House homested..more pix...built in very late 1700s. revolutionary war hero.

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

Lock 16

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In Niskayuna

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architecture and engineering.
today we saw dual locks _ locks that let two boats pass in different directions at the same time... built in the 1840s, and a few hundred feet down the path, locks built in the mid 20th century or later. as part of the lock there were hydroelectric turbines.
In Schenectady we rode through the stockade district...the original Dutch settlement...which now is home to some of the most beautifully restored american architecture...the homes are stately , and it appears that urban pioneers have successfully rejuvinated the area, in a town that has seen some pretty hard times. tomorrow we see the Herkimer house...one of the oldest homesteds just east of little falls.

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

day one albany airport to amsterdam 37 miles. We
finally pedal away from airport, where we dropped of the car, at 2 pm. the ride was beautiful, along the majestic mohawk river, past locks, vast marshes with cattails and rushes and songbirds. encounters with nature: one bee sting, dozens of rabbits and ground hogish creatures. no rain..and even blue skies and sun. now that we are snug in the hotel, torrential rain. earlier we biked to the south side of the river to an enclave of three italian restaurants all mom run and the food was fresh and home made...if excessive. these places are nestled between looming abandoned factories and houses boarded up with plywood...and then just across the street on a hill a huge brick castle with a crenalated tower and iron doors that is a b&b. we met the owners at the restaurant. tomorrow little falls.

Kalia Doner--------Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

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lock number 8

at the air port

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the restaurant in amsterdam

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what we had to get into those packages

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packing completed.the box goes ahead of us 3 days the black carryalls go on the bikes

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Ever closer to the launch, we have discovered that you can't take Amtrack to Albany with your bike--at least not reliably. They asked for $20 in cash at the baggage handlers in Penn Station to put a bike on one and only one train a day that has a baggage car--all seemed odd, particularly when we called and went on line with Amtrack and were told that there was no provision for bikes at all on any trains to Albany. And the train number that the baggage handlers told us to take isn't listed on any schedule online. Perhaps a little freelance ingenuity on the part of the baggage guys, but made us worry that we might not get the bikes on at the last moment (if that train even exists) or that, if they do get on the train, they might never arrive in Albany. So we are renting a car one way to drive there and then heading out to the path from the airport rental car return.. seems rediculous not to be able to take public transport to a bike ride, but that is the scoop so far.

The planning has started and we have determined the 8 day journey that will take us form Albany to Buffalo along the canal bike path and some bike-friendly roads. Our plans are to leave New York on the 26th of July --taking the train to Albany and then pedaling to Amsterdam (46 miles) where we will stay the night. Next day takes us to Little Falls ( 43 miles); then To Rome (35 miles); Syracuse (47 miles); Seneca Falls (48 miles); Rochester (65miles); Medina ( 40+ miles) and lastly to Buffalo ( 40 miles or so). If anyone has good friends or family along this route who we might call if we need help or advice, pass along the info please... I will check this periodically between now and when we leave but will try to file a daily) report as we pedal westward. K