Wet and Cold

To Rome, New York -- 33.6 miles, 11.4 mph, 800 ft

The watch words for today were “wet” and “cold.”  Definitely not ideal biking weather. Knowing, however, that our Warm Showers hosts wouldn't be available until 4:30 (and it would be a relatively short, 34 mile day), we didn't leave the Red Roof Inn until 11:00.

It didn't take long before the rain started to fall. Fortunately, we were never in a complete downpour, but our hands and feet were cold most of the day. After only an hour, we stopped at Dave’s Diner, just outside of Utica, to warm up. My knees were still being "difficult," particularly the left, so I tried adjusting my cleat. Interestingly, while doing this, a woman walked out off the neighboring barber shop and, seeing us, mentioned to Meg that she had ridden across the country, Seattle to Washington DC, back in ‘98. This was the very same “Big Ride” that Meg had done while still living in Texas, which convinced her to move to California. What a small world!

Two and a half hours later, we were in Rome. Since it was only 3:30 and Kylie had been complaining that her feet were freezing for the last 15 miles, we set our sights on the closest McDonald's to Anita and Dave’s house. Man, did it ever feel good to get inside. It turned out that Dave and Anita would not be back until 7:00ish, so Anita’s brother, Larry met us at the house.

Sock gloves

Erie canal boat lock

Of course, Larry immediately made us feel at home. We changed clothes and did laundry while chatting about our ride. Larry and his wife, Patty, have been hosting biker riders since 2008 and put together a scrapbook of everyone that has come through, 78 groups in all! Not only that, he took me out so we could pick up a few thing to improve our riding experience -- warmer socks for Kylie, Advil, Visine, Vaseline for Meg and me. Then he bought us a pizza and chicken wings for dinner!  One good (or bad) thing about biking is that we are almost always hungry!

When Anita and Dave arrived home from visiting their recently born granddaughter, Little Ella Rose, we were warm, full, and happy. Dex and Kylie had found Twister in the upstairs bedroom and were playing in the family room. We had just enough energy to start a game of Life, which Anita and Dave had never actually played before. Partway through, they bid us farewell. Monday, being a work day (for some), they would be up and off to work early, likely before we'd be up. Once again, we've been fortunate to meet up with such warm and gracious hosts. Thank you, Anita, Dave, and Larry.

Road grime

Playing Life with Anita and Dave