Rochester, NY to Kingston ON

7/14:  A very hot day in Rochester with Sister Liz and family spent swimming, followed by ice cream at Orbakers drive in (since 1932), hiking in Chimney Bluffs State Park, topped off with BBQ at Sticky Lips.

Thanks to Liz, Dave and Aaron for a great time in Rochester / Pittsford.

Departed early for Oswego early Monday 7/15.  After 80 miles of hot sticky riding, settled into my hotel and collapsed.

7/16:  Left Oswego at 7:30AM.  By 8:00 it was already 80°.  Discovered that I had lost my Nook reader after I got about 10 miles down the road.  Hotel couldn't find it.  Bought a Samsung Galaxy android tablet at the Best Buy in Watertown (60 mile ride).

7/17:  Breakfast with Edie Coleman, someone I worked with at Fairchild , who lives on Chaumont Bay, about 20 minutes drive from Watertown.  Good to see a familiar face.

Took the Ferry from Cape Vincent, NY to Wolfe Island (Ontario).  $2.00 fare for a short trip.

Lots of massive windmills on Wolfe Island.   Note how small the trees are compared to the size of the windmill.

They also have a number of these small solar panel installations (note more windmills in the background).

Sunset over the 401 in Kingston, ON.  This is my first attempt to take a photo with the Galaxy.  The colors look nothing like the colors I saw.

Sunset pictures never look anything like the actual sunset.

Sarnia, ON to Rochester, NY.

7/10:  Biked 84 miles from Sarnia to Intersoll, a small town east of London.  Stayed at the Elm Hurst Inn, a very nice bed and breakfast with fine dining restaurant (left).

7/11:  Biked to Hamilton (63 miles) and caught a bus to Toronto... which a more interesting city than Hamilton to spend a night in.  Ate at the George restaurant.   1st course :  Duck breast (left)

followed by a very tasty beef tenderloin.

7/12: Took GO train/bus to Niagara falls the next morning.  (There are plenty of better pics of the falls online than I could take.) and re-entered USA on Rainbow bridge.
Biked about 65 miles to the Erie Canal Schoolhouse B&B in Albion NY. Lovely place, which included a tour of a museum which includes a miniature carnival.  Nice restaurant a short walk across a pedestrian bridge.   Owner greets every patron.  Real friendly town!

7/13:  Biked 45 miles to Pittsford, outside of Rochester.  Will be staying with my sister, Liz and her family until Monday morning.

Over 2000 miles ridden so far.

Midland to Sarnia via Lapeer

6/8 :   A fond farewell to Midland, MI starting with a  healthy breakfast, followed by a very muggy 78 mile ride.

With a reminder of home.
Ernie's is ubiquitous.


Settled in for the night to Lapeer, just 20 miles east of Flint.

6/9: Another hot, muggy ride to the Blue Water Bridge, Port Huron, MI where a nice MDOT  guy gave me a lift across the bridge to Canadian customs (no bikes allowed on bridge).

Oh Canada - the promised land of fry trucks (at least in Ontario).

...food of the Gods.

Even after an afternoon snack at the fry truck, I couldn't resist the homemade chips on Lola's menu.

About 1800 total miles bicycled so far.

Glen Arbor - Cadillac - Midland MI

Spent 4th and 5th of July with Cousins Steven, Shira and family in Glen Arbor, including:

The 4th of July Parade

Followed by outstanding citizen fireworks displays on the shores of Lake Michigan on July 4 evening.
July 5 featured a 30 mile loop around some of the local bike paths and roads through Maple City.

Headed out on July 6 to Cadillac (a hilly and hot 76 miles).   The high point of the day was dessert!

July 7:  About 47 miles SE of Cadillac is the town of Clare, famous for its donut shop (my kind of place).  Cops & Donuts was a bakery that was about to close, and was rescued by the area police force.  A unique example of crowd funding!  Today there were tons of bikers (Harleys).  The local motorcycle gangs were running a "toys for tots" fundraiser, and  Cops & Donuts were giving free donuts to bikers who donated toys.

Cool article from the SF Chron was on their wall!

From Clare, biked another 32 miles to Midland on the lovely paved Pere Marquette Rail-Trail.

Muskegon to Glen Arbor, MI

7/1.  After an 11:00 AM (opening time)  visit to Leon's to get Wisconsin's best Frozen Custard, boarded the 12:30 Lake Express to Muskegon, MI.  Arrived at 4:00 PM.

A short (20 mile) ride to Whitehall.

7/2:  Fresh Perch fish and chips for lunch at Bortell's, about 45 miles north of Whitehall.
Middle of nowhere, but draws a pretty good crowd.

Settled in to Manistee after 79 mile ride.

7/3:  Rode only 40 miles to meet Cousin Steven and Shira in Beulah at L'Chayim deli for coffee and macaroon.  
Staying at their lovely house, which is walking distance from downtown  Glen Arbor.
Grand Tour of Glen Arbor included Cherry Republic, where they have lots of samples of cherry salsa, jams, candies, and even cherry wine tasting.

Madison to Milwaukee

Big Thanks to Carl and Maryann for their hospitality in Madison during a rainy Friday evening Saturday.

Sunday's 82 mile ride included stop at Ripley's bakery in Cambridge.  Shop next door had kitties sleeping in the window.

Wisconsin is known for Frozen Custard.   Last stop before hotel was Kopp's in Brookefield..

Tomorrow (Monday, 7/1)  morning, will be dropping into my ATF custard stand, Leon's (pictured below) on my way to the ferry across lake Michigan.

LaCrosse to Madison WI / Updated route maps, La Crosse to Ottawa.

6/26-6/27:  Took Amtrak from Havre to LaCrosse WI (25 hr train ride) to:

1. Avoid Williston ND.  The oil boom in ND means there are no hotel rooms available, and too many drunks on the road to make biking through the region reasonable.
2. Accelerate my progress to line up with my cousin's availability in Glen Arbor, MI (want to be there around 7/4).
3. Enable me to visit my friends Carl and Mary Ann in Madison WI.

After arriving in Lacrosse 4 hrs late (around 3:30 PM) on Tuesday 6/26, biked about 30 miles to Sparta.  Slept like a rock that night, since I only had about 3 to 4 hrs sleep on the train.

Thurs 6/27:, followed WI 71 and the Sparta to Elroy bike trail en route to Wisconsin Dells.  The Bike Trail is a sand and dirt trail using an old railroad right of way.  It includes tunnels to get over the hills.  The price you pay is having to ride on sand/dirt.    I used the trail only for the last of the hills  (1 of the 3 tunnels).  The tunnel was 1700 ft long with no light.   Since it's pretty hard to see where the trail is, it's necessary to walk it.

Wisconsin Dells:  It's theme park tourist attraction honky tonk on steroids!!!

6/28:  Arrived in Madison with the rain on Friday afternoon.  Will stay here through Sat. night.












New Route Maps for remainder of trip:
La Crosse To Milwaukee

Ferry across Lake Michigan from Milwaukee to Muskegon, MI.  Bike to Glen Arbor, then cross into Canada at Sarnia.  Continue to Niagara Falls to Rochester NY:



The remainder of the trip follows the route outlined in the May 30 post.

Great Falls to Havre via Fort Benton

Easy ride on Sunday to Fort Benton, about 42 miles NE of Great Falls.  Tons of mosquitos.  Really bitten up.

Staying at the Grand Union, Montana’s oldest 
operating hotel.  Room overlooks the Missouri river.

Odometer indicates 1000 miles ridden since beginning this trip .

Fort Benton has a thing about this dog.

Rode 75 miles  through more mosquitos and other annoying insects to Havre.
Met 3 other older cyclists at the Super 8 here.  They are also riding Portland OR to Portland ME, and are taking the Adventure Cycling (ACA) route which veers south near Wolf Creek .

Much of ND is in the grips of a fracking oil/gas boom.  This means that there are no hotel rooms within about 100 mile radius of Williston ND.  To avoid this problem, I will be taking the train tomorrow from Havre to LaCrosse WI.  This bypasses the Williston problem, and also will enable me to see some friends in Madison, and then spend 4th of July with my cousins in Glen Arbor, MI.

Missoula to Great Falls via Lincoln

Two consecutive days of over 80 miles each.  Made it to Lincoln on Friday night.  Elevation gain of about 1000 ft.

Crossed the Continental Divide Saturday, a 1200 ft climb from Lincoln.

The road after the pass is up and down all the way to Simms (about 30 miles SE of Great Falls) where it finally flattens out.

Missoula in the Rain

Staying at my cousin's house in Missoula until the rain clears... This gives me a chance to update the blog with some pictures from Elias's phone.

New pics added to the following posts:
6/4:  Columbia River Gorge : Troutdale to Hood River OR ,   6/5: Hood River - The Dalles - Rufus,
6/10:  Moses Lake to Spokane via Odessa, with tour of Grand Coulee Dam
6/13:  Bonners Ferry, ID to Libby, MT.

Hummingbird candy shop in Arlee, en route to Missoula from Polson.

A critter grazing on the grass behind my cousin's house.

Mariah, one of Missoula's friendly folk.

Scoring breakfast (Maple Bar with Bacon)  at Treasure Donuts with Cousin Bert.