May 20, 2021
Day 15: Old Forge, NY to Redfield, NY
Finally Getting Our Sea Legs
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We knew we had a long day with some hills today, and it's been getting hotter, so we set the alarm to wake us at 05:45 this morning. The Pine Knoll Lodge was a great place to stay, and Vicki and Joe went out of their way to offer whatever help we might need to find lodging further along the route - Vicki even said we should call her if we had any problems! We would have liked to stay longer, but, you know, we're on a journey and have to keep moving. We were both up at 05:30 this morning ahead of the alarm, anxious to get rolling early. Our sleep was interrupted last night when my cell phone started dinging at 01:30; 1st 1 ding, then another, and another, until about 10 dings rolled in over the space of a couple of minutes. Cell phone coverage is spotty and iffy here in the Adirondacks, and I had been included in a group text that was sent mid-day yesterday but for some reason it arrived 13 hours later! It's kind of humorous now; I knew Oklahoma and Arkansas were still using the telegraph wires, but I figured New York state would be a little more advanced! I guess that's one of the many things I have been wrong about...
Walt's Diner was located only about 1/4 mile from the Pine Knoll Lodge, so we were there by 06:30 - several pickup trucks parked out front confirmed that this was the place for breakfast. I had eggs and corned beef hash and spiced it up with their homemade hot sauce and it was incredibly good - if I wasn't traveling on a bicycle I would have bought some of that hot sauce to take home. The local folks were quite friendly and interested in our little adventure, and we had a good time talking with them. When we got ready to pay the tab, we were told that Mike, who had left a few minutes prior, had paid our bill! I was flabbergasted and told the waitress that he shouldn't have done that, but that act of kindness lifted our spirits and we set out with renewed vigor. Have I mentioned how much I like the folks of New York? At least in upstate New York, the folks here are as kind and friendly as the folks in Virginia, and that's saying a lot.
The ride was probably the most pleasant we have had so far. With only limited exception, when we were on a state highway we had a nice clean shoulder to ride on, and the rural roads that the ACA map had us follow were almost devoid of traffic. It was a tiring day, but the climbing mostly consisted of gentle grades and the only negative was the black flies.
The black flies can be a BIG negative, by the way. They left big welts on my legs, and I got bit under my right eye as well. You don't really feel them biting you, but later on it itches like crazy. And sometimes when you try to stop for a break, they swarm you and make it impossible to rest for long. Doc wasn't affected as badly as me from the bites, so I guess it varies with the person. I learned my lesson after the first day, and I bought some spray with 25% DEET, and that helps keep them away. But they had already done a number on me, and I itched and scratched all last night - I know you shouldn't scratch the bites, but it's pretty hard not to do that. So today when we passed near a Walgreen's I picked up some industrial strength Benadryl lotion, and that helps control the itch.
We rode on Moose River road as we made our way towards Boonville, but I didn't see a moose. This is the closest I have came;
Boonville was almost halfway on today's ride, and we had "second breakfast" at Dunkin' Donuts before continuing. But it wasn't quite that simple; I was leading and first I rode into town, made the Walgreen's stop and asked where we might eat nearby and they directed us to Freddie's Diner. But when we got to Freddie's Diner we discovered they didn't open for another 45 minutes, so we rode 1.25 miles back the way we had came into town and just a little further to the Dunkin' Donuts. Then we retraced our steps to leave town on our route, thereby adding about 2.5 miles to the journey. Not much in a car, but significant to us.
The route had a lot of climbing after Boonville, and the sun had risen enough that we had lost the shade from the trees, so we were getting a bit warm when we reached West Leyden. The general store was open and we grabbed some cold drinks and sat outside on a picnic table and rested a bit before continuing.
From West Leyden we marched slowly along under the sun, and finally rolled into Osceola. The Osceola Hotel is actually mostly a bar and restaurant that is being restored and will have their grand opening in 2 days. But they are sort of open now and we enjoyed an ice cream in the shade of a big tree.
Leaving Osceola we made our way to Redfield and stopped at the store to get something to eat for dinner. Doc got a burger and I picked up some pizza slices - both were made for lunch and were several hours old now, but it was certainly better than nothing. We loaded up our food and made the final push of the day and arrived about 4 miles west of Redfield at the Tug Hill Resort. It's a nice place and we have access to the kitchen and some breakfast items for tomorrow morning, so we are happy.
As usual, there is so much more I could say about today. But we have to get up in less than 8 hours for another big day, so maybe tomorrow I'll have more time - right? There's only so many tomorrows. May you all have lots of tomorrows and use them wisely. Good night all, we'll talk tomorrow...in the meantime here's some video snippets from today.
Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 652 miles (1,049 km)
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