September 30

I spent a restful two nights at the home of my friend Bill and his wife Lisa in East Stroudsburg.  Friday morning I awakened to heavy rain, wind, and 40 degree temperatures.  Bill informed me (told me!!) I wasn't leaving in that weather - it was too cold and too dangerous to be on the roads.  Although I grumbled a little I'm glad he made me wait out the storm.  Around noon the storm had mostly passed and it was time to go.  I put on 2 long sleeve shirts, a rain jacket, rain pants, waterproof shoe covers, and Bill gave me a pair of waterproof shells to wear over my gloves.  With all that stuff on there was no way I was stopping to take any pictures - sorry - just a narrative today!
Only covered 41 miles today but because of the rain and cold I wimped out and scheduled a hotel room instead of sleeping in the tent.  I really hadn't planned on 40 degree temperatures at this time of the year.  The hotel, however, was not the first moment of weakness.  Two days ago, after riding about 70 miles, I encountered a hill that I just could not ride up.  That was the first time I've had to get off the bike and push it up a hill.  Just not as young as I used to be!!
56.5 miles scheduled for tomorrow.

September 28

Stayed the night in New Paltz camping in the yard of my hosts, Matt and Amanda.  They live on an organic vegetable farm which was very interesting to tour and learn about.
Here's their home with my tent set up in front:

Matt's parents live next door so I went over and sat on the porch to have a snack for dinner (banana, trail mix, and a protein bar).  Matt's mother brought out and organic pepper, an apple, and a nice cup of tea which was really nice of her.  She and I and her husband then had a long talk about the farm and the organic food industry.

In the morning I packed my bags, rolled up the wet tent, and walked out to the road - only to find my back tire was flat!  I walked back to Matt's house and removed the back wheel but found out that I had left my tire levers (required to change the tube) at home.  Luckily Matt was once a bike mechanic and helped me out and even gave me a spare pair or his tire levers.
With the flat fixed it was back on the road.  The sun came out for about 30 minutes  in the morning so I got this picture just before the clouds rolled in.  Very pretty countryside.  You can see the clouds approaching from the right side of the picture.

I had planned to ride 65 miles today and now had to push because of the delay in fixing the flat.  Decided to stop after about 20 miles to get a cup of coffee and a donut.  The coffee was absolutely atrocious but I was so cold that I would have been happy drinking a cup of hot water!!  Luckily, after about 27 miles I was following the Delaware river, bordering New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so the terrain really leveled out and let me move a little faster.

My plans changed when I decided to go past the 65 miles and try to make it to my friend Bill's house in East Stroudsburg.  Unfortunately the hills came back, the rain came down and I didn't make it.  But after 79 miles of riding Bill came and picked me up and brought me to his home.  Bill was my first roommate in college and is a really great guy.  I will stay at his house the next two nights before moving on.

September 27

I had a great stay last night with my hosts, Tom and Cece, in New Milford, CT.  Tom is doing a lot of work on establishing bicycle trails in the New Milford area.  It's a long, long process getting these bike trails and rail trails established when you have to work with multiple municipalities, zoning boards, get Right-of-Ways or easements, and of course, get funding.  I applaud Tom for all his efforts.

After leaving New Milford, Tom rode out with me for about 7-8 miles and then headed for home.  Before long I was in New York:

   After about 15 miles the hills showed up.  I start to sweat when I see these elevation charts show up on the Garmin!

 The hills just keep going up, up,up.

After the hills were finished I was sweaty and cold so I stopped and made some hot oatmeal to warm up.  Really hit the spot.  A few miles later I was on a nice system of rail trails.

The rail trails led just about all the way into Poughkeepsie, NY.  After getting a little lost I finally found the Hudson River Walkway, an elevated pedestrian pathway across the river.  Just beautiful.

Well, that's all for now.  Have to get back on the bike and find my hosts for the night, somewhere south of New Paltz, NY.

September 26

Back on the road again.  Had a kind of nervous feeling this morning about getting on the road again.  Same feeling I had the morning I started the trip on September 13th.  But despite the butterflies, my sister drove me back to the Port Jefferson ferry for the ride back to Connecticut.

This is looking out of the harbor into the Long Island Sound:

Goodbye Port Jefferson:

Well it wasn't long before I rode out of Bridgeport, Connecticut and out into the country.  Quiet roads, rock walls, and big hills.  I had no idea the Rocky Mountains ran through Connecticut but I'm quite sure I rode over them somewhere between Bridgeport and Danbury!!

I'm staying tonight in New Milford, Connecticut.  It feels good to be riding again.

September 24

I left West Haven today after a nice night with my host, Joe Jeffrey, and his family.  We took a bike ride along the West Haven waterfront which is really pretty.  Then went out for pizza at Zuppardi's which is a West Haven hotspot.  I have to say the pizza was terrific, especially the white pizza with clams.
In the morning it was off to Bridgeport to catch the ferry to Long Island.  I had an 11:30am ticket but I just made it in time to board the 9:30am ferry.
Goodbye Bridgeport, Connecticut:

Hello Port Jefferson, New York:

Going to relax for 2 days then get back on the ferry to return to Connecticut and pick up the trail of the Adventure Cycling Atlantic Coast route.

September 23

After a strange night's accommodations and not too much sleep is was off to West Haven.  So far the best roads in New England are in Connecticut - not all perfect - but pretty good and many of them with bike lanes.  First went through New Britain which appeared economically depressed and not a place to linger in.  For a blighted area there seemed to be an inordinate number of Cadillac SUV's all pumping out the loudest noise (couldn't really call it music) I have ever heard coming from a vehicle!!  Once out of the city it was back to country roads where I passed this enormous farm of Mums:

After that I rode on miles (about 20) of canal paths:

I have a bell on my bike to warm people ahead of me that I'm approaching but it is essentially useless because almost everyone I encountered on these trails was hooked up to some kind of device so they couldn't hear me ringing the bell.  They couldn't hear me say good morning either so we just resorted to a nod of the head.  It doesn't seem right to me but that's the way of the world.

Finally made it into New Haven and went past Yale University.

I saw this sign on campus which was hysterical since almost everyone going past it was texting!!

 I'm excited to be in West Haven only because it means that tomorrow I will get on the ferry at Bridgeport and it will take me to Port Jefferson, NY.  From there I will ride to my parents and sister's houses in Northport, NY and take a break for a few days.

Bushnell Park in Hartford

Some pictures of Bushnell Park in the center of Hartford:

That's the state capital building in the backround with the dome of gold.  Nothing too good for the lawmakers of this nation!

Here is the Carousel in the center of the park.  It is a vintage 1914 corousel and has 48 hand carved wooden horses.

This brownstone arch was constructed in the late 1800's as a memorial to those who fought in the civil war to aid the Union.

September 22

On the road at 7am.  A little chilly but it's supposed to get up to 80 degrees today.
Me and my shadow in the morning light:

 Entered Connecticut:

Stopped at the Woodstock (Connecticut) Country Store and had a blueberry muffin and a container of milk.  13 miles done, 51 to go for today.

Rode for several miles on different trails.  Most were crushed stone, some paved, but all of them were in pretty good shape.  Most of these are part of the East Coast Greenway, a project to link the entire east coast with bike friendly trails.

Staying tonight in Hartford, Connecticut after 64.7 miles and a little over 3000 feet of elevation.
Random stuff:
- saw a group of 5 white feathered turkeys.
- got hit with an acorn falling out of an Oak tree.  I just imagined a squirrel up there who saw me coming and            then nailed me.  I imagined him laughing with delight!
- rode up a monster hill, 3.5 miles long, that peaked at a 14% grade.  At times I was going so slow that my              Garmin automatically paused because it didn't sense any motion!!

September 21

Another short day as far as miles go.  When I planned this first week I wasn't quite sure how my legs would hold up so I scheduled a few slower, rest days.  However, I feel like I'm doing pretty well so I could have gone a lot farther today but I have a host family planned for Dudley, Massuchussets.

I rode around Oxford, Massachusetts a little and found this grave marker from 1696.  Now that's old!

My hosts, Aurelien and his wife, Marie-Laure, (he's French, she's Canadian) are cheesemakers. They are really passionate about cheese and I learned a lot about it in just our one night together.
Here's their home:

September 20

Today was scheduled as a recovery day so I didn't cover too many miles.  My legs need the rest!!

It seems every back road and side street in Massachusetts is lined with stone walls.  Even some of the property lines are delineated with stone walls - very reminiscent of Ireland.

Now at the Westborough Library updating the blog and writing out some thank you notes.

My hosts for the night were Matt Kilroy and his family.  It has been so great to meet all these very nice and interesting people.  Here's Matt and his son, "Herbie":