Dodging Ophelia

September 24, 2023

Auburn to Seneca Falls/Waterloo; Ophelia impacts us, Hwy riding, Jim finds hashbrowns

When I checked the Accuweather hourly during dinner last night, it predicted 7% chance of rain all day today. When I woke up this morning, it was drizzling and the chances of rain varied from 49 to 80% all day. What happened? Apparently tropical storm Ophelia swung further west than expected and was impacting the entire northeast.

Outside it didn’t feel very tropical though; the temperatures were in the low 50’s. We looked at the weather radar and it appeared that bands of rain would be sweeping across the region all day, and a more intense band would come across us mid-afternoon. So we decided to leave Auburn ASAP and ride directly towards Seneca Falls by the shortest route, in an attempt to avoid the worst of it.

So after a marginal breakfast at Dunkin’, we headed straight down Hwy 20. This cut our riding distance in half, as Jim had originally routed us on an “S”-shaped course of country roads for more scenery and less traffic.

Seen outside Auburn-this pic is for Kelly I.

But being Sunday, the traffic wasn’t too bad, and the scenery was similar to what we had been riding-farmland primarily. The highway had a nice big shoulder as well so it felt safe. We passed a single male and a couple on touring bikes with luggage who were headed the opposite direction-these were the first bicycle tourists that we have crossed paths with on this trip.

Although the skies looked threatening all morning, we barely got sprinkled on and we made good time to Seneca Falls. As we passed some of the Women’s Suffrage Movement historical sites, we paused to take note of them for further scrutiny tomorrow, on our rest day.

Reading the Declaration of Sentiments; those women told it like it was, and, sadly, like it still is to some degree.

Since it was early and our rooms were not ready for check-in, we rode on into Waterloo and found the only open diner, the Green Apple cafe. On the way in and inside we encountered friendly locals who were curious about our trip. Since it Sunday, the only choice is breakfast, (served all day which is until 1pm when the diner closes.) and Jim was excited to see hash browns on the menu-a first for this trip (ranch potatoes or homefries seem to dominate here in the northeast.) So we had a great second breakfast.

The rain started back up while we were eating so the bikes all got a bath while we stayed dry and cozy until 1pm. It was still raining lightly but not enough to don any more rain gear than a jacket as we returned back to the Microtel where we are staying for the next 3 nights.

Watch our video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7U1QWhSTJY

Tomorrow is a rest and laundry day; we will also explore some of the historical sites. The following day we have planned a day ride. The day after that we will move on towards Palmyra. We are on our way back to Rochester now as this tour is starting to wind down. Right now it appears that the weather will improve for the rest of the week so we expect our last few days here to be very enjoyable.

Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 419 miles (674 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	8
Comment on this entry	Comment	0