Day24: In Watertown, going to urgent care

Tuesday July 9, 2019

I'm in Watertown NY after the easiest entry I've ever had into the US. It took all of 30 seconds after the agent ran my passport. "Where are you going in the US?" 'Watertown.' ""Why?" 'I hurt my back and I want to get it checked.' "Chiropractor?" 'No, probably just some muscle relaxant.'

Then after adjusting to the fact that Gmaps on my new phone was now useless since it needed a net connection, I had a really nice 24 mile ride to Watertown on NY 12 E. It had almost no traffic for the first 10 miles, a great shoulder, nice scenery - much like Ontario - and lots of curves and, mostly gentle, hills. Roughly half way it had a Subway for lunch and a Dollar General for supplies. Life don't get much better than that!

Nearing Watertown, the quality of life went down as the traffic picked up and the shoulders narrowed. My loss of phone data meant that I lost the Gmap info that showed me how to get to the urgent care place I had choosen and the long delay at each of the two ferries I used meant that I got to Watertown in rush hour and decided to put that visit off to tomorrow morning. That meant I had to get to the Motel - a Motel 6 - that I had chosen because it was reasonable and near the place I'd stayed when I first rode through here in '97.

It was also on US 11 which starting on my first long tours had become on of my favorite 'getting on down the road' roads in the US. It is now officially "Bike 11" in NY state. I had to ride 5 miles north from Watertown to Calcium to get to the motel, but, while it wasn't as peaceful as NY 12 E, I enjoyed riding it almost as much.

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