The Force Awakens

September 17, 2024

We wake, pack the bikes, and plan to depart. When Kath turns on her bike her battery level rises to only about 40%. She looks at the charger unit and sees it unpacked on the floor near her bike. It's at this exact moment she realizes she didn't charge the bike last night. She must rely on her inner force to get through the day. The Force Awakens.

Since we were departing from the central downtown district, we roll through the farmer's market and then past the courthouse and Canal St. The location of the original canal in Syracuse is now a paved road, and right outside the courthouse it's a fountain.

Fountain indicates the original location of the canal, now a road aptly named "Canal St"

The route through downtown takes us past the Erie Canal Boat museum (definitely worth a stop to understand canal life, culture, and the impact it had on 19th century). It opened at 10 and we wanted to be further down the path at that point. I stopped in the museum in 2018 so I had already seen what was there, and Kath wanted to make sure she found an outlet to charge-up. Then the path navigates along a large divided 4-lane boulevard. The path uses the central grass median through 3 miles of the city. It keeps the bicycles separated from the cars but each crossing is slow because you need to cross each road twice - once for the left-hand turn lane, and then again for the cross street.

The crossings along this boulevard require a double-cross at each intersection. Once for the left-hand turn lane, and then again for the cross traffic.

7 miles into the day's ride we connect to Wegmans grocery store via a side trail. We pull up to the store and I search for an outlet. Kath asks What are you going to do if they see you? Me: Same thing I always do - talk my way out of it. Normally if I'm using a business' electric, I'll patronize the store. It's fair enough if I'm using $0.03 of electricity to buy lunch or goods from the establishment. No problems this morning, and we get a 30-minute charge.

I also noted that our Airbnb in Sylvan Beach did not have any open breakfast establishments in the off season. So we purchased bagels and grabbed some cream cheese foil packets for the next day's first breakfast.

Crossing over this bridge, we reunite with the Empire (nee Erie Canal) Trail from our side trip to Wegmans

The sun continues to rise as we make our way east towards the Chittenango Landing museum. Again, this is one of those local places I love stopping into. It's the site of a canal boat village and repair facility. There were 3 dry-docks canal boaters used to repair their boats and get under the waterline. Buuuutt, closed on a Tuesday.

After Wegmans, the next 12 miles weaved along the canal while the trees gave peeks of agricultural farmland.

Even though we knew the museum was closed we still stopped to see if they had an exterior electrical outlet we could use to sit and recharge for an hour or so (full recharge of the bike is a little over 3 hours) so we could ride to our destination. People are counting on us. The galaxy is counting on us.

The canal landing museum is closed. Shame, because the model of the canal boat is interesting and shows where the family lived, the cargo was carried, and even the "stable" in the bow where the mules lived

We look at a park across the street which has a picnic pavilion - maybe there's an outlet there. No luck. That means riding into Canastota on what battery reserve she has remaining. I ask her how she's doing. I want to be free of this anxiety. I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it. Will you help me? I vow to help her should the battery die along the ride.

Next stop - we divert a little off the path into Canastota and a strip mall with a Subway. We order three subs - not because we're hungry but there are no places to get anything to eat near our lodging tonight. So thinking ahead we purchase the extra sandwiches for our dinner. The (force) planning is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it. You have that power, too. We stop outside the local grocery store to share one of the sandwiches and recharge Kath's battery. Ironically the grocery is called "Tops" and we're topping off the charge on her battery.

Our route takes us on lesser-traveled backroads north until we border Lake Oneida.

Here's an example of Lewis Point Rd which was one of the infrequent vehicular-traveled roads going north from Canasta

We arrive at the Airbnb a bit early. Julie, the host, is still cleaning and says she should complete in 30 min or so. We ask if we can drop our panniers and ride into Sylvan Beach and then we get into a 10 minute conversation about bike touring. It's something she wants to do when retired so it was a great conversation. It's also a really nice place to stay - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/948367896058812585

Since the lodging was a bit south of Sylvan beach proper, we rode due north to a dead-end onto a single track bike path into Verona Beach state park. Very pretty as we made our way past campsites and waved at campers.

Verona Beach state park. Nice view along the lake on our way towards Sylvan Beach

We get into Sylvan Beach and ride past the amusement park, now closed for the season. The ferris wheel had its ferris removed and the tilt-a-whirl was without its tilts or whirls. The amusement park's not complete. It's just a piece. Ever since the summer workers disappeared people have been looking for them.

Sylvan Beach Amusement Park in the off season

We make it to the lakefront and see that the Lake House is open for meals. We look at the menu and consider eating here before returning to our subs back at the airbnb, but fall victim to the sunk cost fallacy and decide to stick with our sandwiches.

The Lake House was open and serving food (mostly cuisine of the deep friend variety) so we decided to skip it and eat back at our airbnb.

Anyone else love wading into clear lake water?

Once we completed our tour of the amusement park and our "swim" in Lake Oneida, we headed back to our room. Julie left us wine coolers in the fridge and we drank those with our subs on the picnic table in the backyard watching the ducks in the duck pond. After dinner we walked over to a local (closed) bar & grill that had seating by the dock and watched the sun set over the lake. All in all, a really good day.

Watching the sunset over Lake Oneida from the docks at Gary's Restaurant

OK, you read the journal of the first five days, now you can watch the movie :-)

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Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 262 miles (422 km)

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