A Tail Wind

To Lockport, NY -- 55.7 miles, 13.8 mph, 1425 ft

Woo Hoo!  Today, a light but consistent easterly wind was blowing, and we enjoyed every minute. Whenever we find ourselves cruising along at 15 to 20 mph, we’re either going down hill, or we have a tail wind. Today, was a tail wind.

When we awoke, Jeff was already downstairs preparing a wonderful breakfast: omelets, bacon, bagels, and OJ. Jackie returned from her early morning workout so we all had a chance to eat and say goodbye. It was absolutely fabulous meeting and staying with Jackie, Jeff and their housemates, Hillary and Marie.

With a great breakfast and sunny skies, we were ready to go. To make things even better, we spent the entire day on the small back roads here in western New York. The scenery was great and the traffic light. This made it easier to chat on the bikes.  Kylie and I are reviewing US presidents again so our conversation wandered from the four elections of FDR, to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to the atomic bomb, and North Korea.

True to our normal routine, we stopped at a diner at the halfway point. The Elba Diner hit the spot. The waitress was friendly and outgoing, pretty much a requirement for this sort of place, and helped settle our family bet about the origins "OK." Meg thought it was a military term while Dex, Kylie and I thought it was due to a president. The waitress looked it up (we had no service) to confirm that Meg would be buying each of the rest of us the candy bar of our choice.

To pass the time after lunch, Kylie and I started counting the five pointed metal stars commonly hung on houses as decorations. At each count, I’d quiz her on whether the number was prime and, if not, ask for all the factors. She was apparently in a pretty good mood so put up with the constant questions.

When we arrived at the Quality Inn in Lockport, we were a bit surprised to learn we had were actually reserved for a fourteen day stay and our bill was over a thousand bucks!  Um, as nice as it was, I'm afraid we really needed to be in Minneapolis in two weeks.