June 17, 2008
Day 36: Old Forge, NY to Pulaski, NY
79.01 miles, 6:10:01 Ride Time, 12.81 Average Speed, 33.82 Maximum Speed
I got up and wasted some time watching the local news on TV, paying especially close attention to the weather forecast, of course. It looked bleak for the next several days; I had hoped something had changed overnight, but no.
I finally got everything together and returned my key to the motel lobby, where the woman there semi-seriously tried to convince me to stay until the rain passed over. I actually briefly considered taking a day off, before riding out into a few sprinkles.
There was a bank just down the street from the motel, so I stopped there to do some minor business. When I walked out, the sprinkles had turned to a cold, steady drizzle, so I stayed with the bike under the awning at the front door of the bank, occasionally making conversation with customers. I called my friend Peter, the amateur meteorologist, and he confirmed (slightly gleefully, I imagined at the time) that it looked like I had several potentially rainy days ahead of me. He encouraged me (from his dry warm office) to ride on anyway.
After standing around another fifteen minutes, I rode off, looking for a combination outdoors/kayak/bike shop that one of the bank customers had told me about. I found it easily enough, and spent more unbudgeted-for money on a new rain jacket and a pair of long off-the-bike pants. One of the guys in the store told me that his brother had ridden his bike from California back home to New York on his bike, and had averaged 126 miles a day. Doesn't sound like much fun to me.
I rode about ten character-building miles in the chilly rain on State Route 28, which I had been on since yesterday morning, then turned onto the rough-surfaced but traffic-free Moose River road, which (logically enough) followed the Moose River for several miles. It quit raining briefly, so I stopped to take a few pictures of wet wildflowers by the road. I'm determined to eventually get the hang of photographing the flowers.
At some point I saw a sign that said I was leaving the Adirondacks (and the black flies too, presumably). By now, the rain had stopped, although it would remain chilly for the rest of the day. I got to Boonville (pop. 2,130) around noon, and stopped for lunch at a local downtown hangout called "Slim's", where I talked to a nice couple in the restaurant about my trip. Most people ask if I'm afraid to ride alone, or if I'm afraid of getting hit by a car; this man's concern was lightning, and what I would do if I got caught in a thunderstorm. I believe my response was some variation of my usual "I'll just hope for the best!"
After Boonville, I rode about seven miles on State Route 294, which was fairly busy with truck traffic. I saw several signs protesting a landfill ("Dumps Stink", "Overthrow the Dump", etc.) The signs were weathered and did not appear to be recent, and sure enough, I eventually passed the landfill (which explained all the truck traffic on the road). This was one of the battles that the local citizenry lost, obviously.
After West Leyden, where I stocked up on Grandma's Cookies, I got on quieter roads for the rest of the afternoon. On Osceola road, I encountered about two miles of pretty minor road construction work. The guy holding the "Stop/Slow" sign seemed bent out of shape; while I waited, I heard him complaining on his radio about how "they [the traffic?] are running all over me." The situation seemed pretty mild to me; I've seen (and ridden the bike through) much, much worse, especially in the South, so I didn't get too worried about his excited warning to me that "you'll just have to do the best you can through there." It was no big deal at all.
Later, Redfield (pop. 607), was nearly a ghost town - for the first time I can remember, I even saw an abandoned, boarded-up church in town. Around then, I got my second wind, and seemed to fly to Pulaski (pop. 2,398). I had wanted to stay at a modest motel in Port Ontario, a few miles farther, but because they never answered their phone to verify that they had a vacancy, the Super 8 in Pulaski got my business. This Super 8 was the first I've seen that featured signs everywhere warning customers not to bring fish into the room, and not to clean fish in the bathtub.
There was a supermarket conveniently located next door, where I had them make me a pizza - much cheaper, and just as good, as Dominos.
Later, I called Tina, who asked if I had ever gotten the stitches (required after my crash in Middletown, NY) taken out. I hadn't, so later I removed them myself fairly easily.
After the rainy and chilly start, a pretty good day.
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Today's ride: 79 miles (127 km)
Total: 2,593 miles (4,173 km)
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