Day 8 – Newark to Rochester
Breakfast Served – One More Time
It is a real delight to have someone serve you breakfast, especially when it is something special. Greg and Barb do an excellent job. Greg even dresses in his Chef’s coat! We have fresh fruit, frittata, homemade sausage, toast and jelly, and coffee. Very tasty and filling. I actually have to leave a little on my plate. We gather our gear, check the bikes, and start out for our final destination – the Rochester Amtrak station.
The weather has cleared up and we have a beautiful day for our last day on the trail. There are places on the trail today where they’ve used gravel instead of stone dust, and it is more difficult to ride. The first town we come to is Palmyra, Joseph Smith’s birthplace. We would like to see his home and/or the museum, so we leave the trail and head into town. As usual, our guidebook map isn’t any help once we get off the route. The main road through Palmyra has a lot of traffic, and we stick to sidewalks and back streets. Choche explores Main Street for a while, but doesn’t find the places we want to see. We finally decide to just head back to the trail.
On the Outskirts of Rochester
We are getting hungry by the time we get to Fairport, a small town just a few miles before we get to Rochester. Choche’s knee is also really bothering him. We stop at a trailside picnic table close to a commercial area, and I go in search of bathrooms and food while Choche rests. We take a bit of a break there – time to ice down the sore knee and share a delicious Lockmaster Panini made with chicken, artichoke hearts, provolone cheese, spinach, and pesto mayo from the Towpath Café (http://www.towpathcafe.com/). We save room for an ice cream cone from the Lickety Splits shop right next door.
Back on the bikes for the final leg of our journey. It is very pleasant coming into Rochester. The trail is scenic and rural all the way into the city. The guidebook has warned us that we will have some steps to navigate along the trail at Locks 32 and 33, but we are pleasantly surprised that we don’t encounter any steps. In fact, it is smooth sailing all the way to the Genesee Riverway Trail, where we turn north towards the Amtrak station. As always, our guidebook city map gives us just a vague idea of where we need to go. Fortunately, we find a city map posted along the trail, and manage to figure out what streets we think we need.
Detour!
All is going well until a security guard blocks us from entering one of the streets on our route. This is the end of the Riverway Trail, and this is the only egress. The streets are closed for some sort of street fair or celebration, and the guard is polite but firm – we can’t get through. We finally turn around and retrace our path for a mile or so before we find another way to get across the river.
By now we are in city traffic, not sure of where we are going, and feeling some time pressure. The train doesn’t leave until 11:00, but we don’t have lights on our bikes and we don’t want to be riding in city streets when it starts to get dark. The sun is setting and we hope that we can find the station without too many more detours. Choche leads the way, trying to stay away from the busiest streets – but they are all pretty busy. Luck is with us, and he finds the street we need and we turn on it. Traffic is heavy enough that we stick to sidewalks, trying to avoid the broken glass along the way. Finally we see the station, and just as we pull in Choche is approached by someone asking for money. We both manage to get off our bikes and into the station, and the guy follows us. He seems harmless enough, even though he has a half-pint sticking out of his pocket. Choche gives him a couple dollars, and we are amazed to see him actually put it in the vending machines to get food!
I start to sort through our stuff while Choche checks us in and gets the bike boxes. I call for pizza delivery, and ask them to please send a bag of ice as well – to ice down Choche’s knee. We get everything packed, sorted, and ready to go. As in Cleveland, the Amtrak workers are very friendly and helpful.
The pizza arrives and is so good we eat it all. They bring us some ice too (an extra tip for the young man!) and Choche ices down his knee. We sit and wait for the train, leaning against each other half asleep, watching the station fill up with fellow travelers. We are tired. We’ve ridden 44 miles today, for a total of 307 miles on the whole trip. The train is a little late getting into Rochester. But the seats feel wonderfully comfortable once we get into them, and we both sleep most of the way to Cleveland.
We did it!!!!!!
Low bridge ev'-ry bod-y down,
Low bridge for we're com-in to a town,
And you al-ways know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
If you've ev-er navigated on the Er-ie can-al
Low bridge for we're com-in to a town,
And you al-ways know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
If you've ev-er navigated on the Er-ie can-al
Epilogue
A Near Disaster for Choche’s Bike
We get into Cleveland about 4:30 AM. We get our bikes out of the boxes and reassembled so we can put them on the bike rack. I just recently bought a new bike rack (http://www.sportrack.com/a30901) and I really like it. However, I don’t have a lot of experience with it. We load our bikes and are on our way. After about 30 miles, we stop for gas. When I get out of the car, I see that the outside bike – Choche’s bike – is laying down in the platform, being held on only by the Velcro strips! We set it up, and find that a couple of spokes are bent – one on each tire. Somehow, the hook that holds the bike upright has come lose and the bike has fallen over. I have the locking cable they sell with it, but had been too eager to get on the road to put it on. I still love my bike rack, but I will be much more careful now, using either the cable or a bungee cord to make sure the hook can’t come lose. In the meantime, we need to get Choche’s bike in to the bike shop to make sure there was no damage to the rims or hubs.
Looking Back
Would we do it again? Yes we would! We both enjoyed the experience - the riding, the surroundings, the time together, the learning, the B&B’s, the people, the train, the food. Would we do some things differently? Yes! I’d take more rest days and more detours off the path. I’d spend more time really exploring the area, learning about all the rich history and culture that is there. I really enjoyed reading “Wedding of the Waters”, which gave a nice overview of the political and economic history and importance of the canal. But I’d like to learn more about the cultural and social influence of the canal. I’d like to know more about the current usage of the canal. In fact, Choche and I have talked about maybe renting a boat and riding part of the current canal by boat. It has also made me curious about the canals in my area. I think there are a lot of ruins not far from me, and I want to learn more about them.
I’m not sure we’ll do any of this – there are so many bike tours we’d like to take, so little time. One thing is sure – we will do more bike touring.
I’ll close with a couple quotes I just found about riding a bike.
Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere clients and consumers – those people ride a bike.
- Wolfgang Sachs
Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel… the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.
- Susan B. Anthony
I hope you’ll give it a try – and share your adventures with us here!
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