Saturday, July 25, 2009

Little Falls to Latham NY 79.6 miles - 3,738 miles cum







Today was the biking day everybody wants!!! After days of cool temperatures and rain, where we were starting to think that we missed summer, we had the perfect day! The sun was shining and we had a little bit of fog when we left at 7:45AM this morning. The fog burned off after a few miles and it quickly warmed up to the mid-seventies, eventually getting into the mid-eighties. Our first stop was Fort Klock just past St. Johnsville. It was built in 1750 and was used by the farmers and settlers as a safe house during indian raids. The walls were 2 feet thick stone and had 32 gun ports. It looked like it could be well defended. I went to the restroom which was in a little building away from the house. As I was leaving and reaching for the door knob, I saw a snake at the door trying to get out!! It gave me quite a start although it was a little garden snake. We left there and continued down the highway. It was easy riding, pretty much on the level with a good shoulder. We came to Beardslee Castle which was a restaurant and banquet hall. We couldn't go in but the grounds were impressive.
Meiri and I were riding together and we stopped at one of the locks on the Mohawk River which had a boat being locked through so we stayed and watched the process. The Lock Master gave us a pretty good description of what was happening. This lock had been constructed in 1915. Meiri was given fishing lessons by a young lad who was fishing with his uncle at the locks. She didn't catch anything. The Lock Master recommended a restaurant across the highway which we would have passed up. He was right, the food was excellent.
We crossed over the river to a bike trail which led into Schenectady. We missed a turn and were standing at a corner looking at our map when the two riders we met yesterday who are riding from Seattle to Portsmouth came riding up. We talked to them for a few minutes and set off. We were riding down a street with 1850 era row houses which have been or in the process of being restored when we realized we were going in the wrong direction so we had to turn around. We got back on track and rode the last 15 miles to the hotel on a very nice bike path. All in all a great day for riding a bike.
Check out my map, it is hard to believe that I have rode this far!

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