307 Miles on the Erie Canal - Days 2 and 3

Day 2 – Fultonville to Utica

Escape from Purgatory

We woke up early, eager to be on our way.  We walked down the road a bit for our McBreakfast, then came back to check out of the room.  There was supposed to be a breakfast available at the hotel, so we thought we’d take a look at it.  We had to go to the front desk anyway to get into our room, since the key card machine wasn’t working.  The same woman, dressed in the same clothes only this time in bare feet, came to the desk.  She put out the breakfast – a pot of coffee and a large box of donuts with about 5 donuts left.  They were frozen, and one of them had a bite out of it.  Needless to say, we passed on the breakfast.  We got on our bikes as quickly as we could and got out of town!  I’d suggest you find someplace other than Fultonville to stay if you take this tour.

We continue on the stone dust trail.  The scenery is beautiful.  We pass by The Noses – two steep escarpments facing each other across the Mohawk River.  They are formed by a spur of the Adirondacks which forces the Mohawk to bend and narrow.  This stretch of the trail is filled with lots of beautiful scenery.

We are beginning to get thirsty by the time we get to Canajoharie.  We didn’t fill our Camelbacks at the hotel because the water didn’t look like anything we wanted to drink.  Canajoharie is home to the Beech-Nut company, and unlike a lot of other businesses along the canal, this one is still in operation.  We find a little food mart just off the trail where we buy a couple gallons of water.  There is a picnic table outside, so we decide to eat some of the supplies we’ve brought along – peanut butter and jam burritos.  A pleasant break, and then we are back on the road. 

 A Blurry Afternoon

We have a paved path for a little way out of Canajoharie, and then we are back on a combination of roads and stone dust paths for the rest of the day.  We have set Utica as our target but hold off for a while before we call for a hotel.  We stop later on the path and call a couple of hotels in Utica before we find one that seems right for a couple of wet bikers.  It’s the Scottish Inn, and a very kind, polite Indian woman takes our reservation.

This part of the trip gets kind of confusing for us.  For some reason, we get confused about where we are.  We pass by Little Falls and decide not to take the detour into town.  The weather looks threatening, and it begins to rain a little.  We can’t find any signs indicating where the path is, and eventually we just go on blind faith.  We think we’ve passed Ilion, but then discover it is still ahead of us.  Somewhere in the midst of this confusion, I take my third fall.  This time the problem is that I get confused about which foot to step off with, and I try to step off with the same foot I am standing on the bike pedal with.  Sounds stupid, I know.  But being tired can make one stupid.  Fortunately, I again come through with only a few bruises.

It isn’t long before it is pouring down rain – and we are on the highways.  It’s pretty stressful riding on roads with big trucks when it’s raining so hard, even with a decent berm along the side of the road.  There are frogs hopping all over the place, and I’m careful not to run over them.  (I accidentally ran over two little snakes the day before, and I don’t want to accumulate any more bad karma.) 

We eventually pull over into a little roadside park.  We have no idea where we are.  We are tired, exhausted, lost and wet.  There is a porta-pot and a shelter – both welcome finds.  We sit and eat some snacks – the last of our turkey jerky from Trader Joe’s, a cheese stick, and some dried figs – with dark chocolate peanut M&M’s to top it off.   Who wouldn’t be happier after a snack like that!  Choche does some exploring and finds the trail!  We are back on track, and very happy that we just happened to pull off the road here for a break.

Limping into Utica with Screaming Red Soft Parts

Most of the rest of the afternoon is spent in heavy rain on highways.  It is beginning to feel like we will never get to Utica; even the map isn’t cooperating.  As we near Utica, we find Ferguson, the road we are supposed to take to cut over to Bleecker Street, but it is a dead end.  So we stay on the road we are on – Old Route 5S, until it dead ends at a Post Office.  Then Choche leads us into town, staying on back roads through the industrial section most of the way.  We finally get into the heart of downtown with lots of traffic and stoplights, and start searching for Genesee Street. 

By this time, I am pretty well fried.  I can handle being wet and tired and hungry – but Utica feels like a large, busy city right now, and the traffic is more than I can handle.  Besides, I am SORE!  My soft parts (as Choche calls them) are screaming and threatening to knock me flat on my butt if I get off and back on my bike just one more time.  Choche goes off in search of Genesee road while I stay put.  He comes back to report that he has found Genesee just up from where we are, but not our hotel.  So I call them again to ask them how to get there.  The woman is very kind, says we aren’t far away and tells us which way to go -- across the bridge and then down the street a ways.  I walk my bike across the bridge and on for a while.  Still we don’t see the hotel and it starts to rain even harder, so we take shelter outside the lobby of a different hotel.  My phone rings – and it is the woman from the Scottish Inn wanting to make sure we aren’t lost – what a dear person!  I tell her where we are, and she says it’s just a bit further.  Turns out we have to cross the river, but we finally make it there.  We are a sight and so are our bikes – wet and dirty.  The people at the desk are very kind, giving us rags to clean up our bikes and letting us bring them into the room once they are clean.   We rinse out and hang up our wet clothes, hoping they will dry.

Lying in bed after a warm shower we feel somewhat better.  We rode 61 miles today, and our bodies are feeling it.  Choche ices down his knee, which is bothering him.  I put antibiotic cream on my screaming red soft parts.  I swear they are so red they’d glow in the dark, and I’m wondering how I’ll ever get on the bike the next morning.  There is only one thing to make us feel better – order a large pizza and eat it all.    The veggie pizza delivered by Pizza Classic was excellent – and so big we had two pieces left over in spite of our best efforts.  We are so tired we fall asleep early, after deciding that we’ll make tomorrow a short ride.

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

Day Three – Utica to Rome

Lowering the Seat

We aren’t in a big hurry to get started in the morning.  We decide to take a short ride today – just 18 miles down the road to Rome.  So we call ahead to the Angels Nest Bed and Breakfast to see if she has any rooms.  Mary says yes, but wants to make sure we know that this is an old convent and the bathrooms are shared.  Fine with us, and we book a room, saying we’ll get there about 2 P.M.  Mary says this is a big day in Rome – the Honor America Days.  There is a parade in the morning, barbecues and socials throughout the day, and a concert in the evening.  We hope to be able to enjoy some of those events.

We enjoy breakfast at the hotel – coffee and an English muffin.  Then Choche lubes the bicycles and checks them over to make sure we are ready to go.  Our laundry is still wet, so we tie it down on top of our dry sacks and let the sun and wind dry them.  The weather is wonderful – blue skies and reasonable temperatures.  The start of the trail is just down the road – we find it easily and are on our way.

We haven’t gone far when I stop and ask Choche to lower my seat.  I’m hoping it will help my soft parts make it through the day better.  My seat was too low when I first got the bike, and Annie from Twin Sisters helped me get it adjusted right when I went to visit her.  Then I shipped the bike and had to have the seat removed.  This problem started after that, so I’m thinking that maybe I guessed wrong at the height of the seat when I put it back on and got it too high.  At this point, anything is worth a try.

Canals and Locks

It isn’t long before we come to a little park with an operating lock.  There is a boat about to enter the lock, so we stop to watch it.  It’s amazing to us that they keep the locks operating.  We’ve seen only pleasure boats on the canal, so it can’t be profitable to keep the locks in operation.  We decide it must be mostly for tourism and to preserve the history of the Canal.  Later we find out that the canal system is supported partially by lock fees and partially by tolls collected on the New York State Thruway.

The canal in operation today is the Barge Canal, which was completed in 1918.  It takes advantage of rivers such as the Mohawk, Oswego, Seneca and Genesee, which the Erie Canal had bypassed.  In some areas, the Barge Canal follows the same channel as the original Erie Canal, but enlarged.  In many places the old Erie Canal is nothing more than a ditch filled with algae covered water, and in other places it has been entirely filled in or covered over with a road. 

We watch the lock operator as he lets the boats in and out.  Choche looks longingly at him, thinking this must be the best job in the world.  We cross the lock to get to the restroom on the other side of the canal, and on the way back we stop to chat with the lock operator.  He is eager to share information with us, and tells us that he has the best job in the world!  (Just as Choche suspected.) 

Everywhere there is a dedicated path, there are little informational postings with a map of the current location, several historical pictures and historical information.  We stop for almost all of these, because they always have interesting information.  A very nice addition to the path.

We stay at the park a bit longer and eat our cold pizza.  Then we get back on the path, which is paved here for a ways.  In fact, we are on a path, either paved or stone dust, until we get almost into Rome.   As usual, our guidebook maps aren’t really enough when we get into a town, so we stop to ask directions.  While we are stopped, Choche spots an old guy (which means even older than us) dressed in shorts and an old sport coat.  He appears to be living out of his bicycle.  It’s a nice bike, and he tells Choche he found it somewhere.  We encourage him to keep on riding.

The Angels Nest and Mary

It isn’t too far to the Angels Nest.  It is off the beaten path, back in a residential area, but kind of a loud one.  Mary is a very gracious hostess and a fascinating woman.  She taught with the U.S. Department of Defense, teaching expats’ kids around the world.  She is intelligent, easy to talk with, devoted to doing good, well-traveled and gracious.  And her B&B is very comfortable and interesting.  There is even a chapel room!

We get cleaned up and head out to DiCastro’s for dinner, at Mary’s suggestion.  The food is good, but not great.  Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and we order more than we can eat.  We have learned that we are best off ordering one entrée and splitting it – and maybe an appetizer.  Even with all the energy we use on the bike, portions in restaurants are more than we need.  In fact, we both end up gaining a couple pounds on this trip!

Back in our room, our bed beckons to us and we take a nice long nap.  We only traveled 18 miles today, but we are both tired.  Choche’s knee is still bothering him, but we don’t think to get ice for it, so he just rests it.  My soft parts are feeling a little better.  Maybe it’s just because we didn’t spend so many hours on the bike, but I’m hopeful that it’s also because we lowered my seat.

We wake up from our naps still feeling pretty lazy.  We think about going to the evening concert but decide against it.  It just feels way too good to just relax and read a little.  Later that night, we hear the fireworks and even manage to watch a few of them from our bedroom window.  In spite of our long naps, we fall asleep early and sleep well.

Oh, where would I be if I lost my pal?
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al.
Oh, I'd like to see a mule as good as Sal,
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
A friend of mine once got her sore,
Now he's got a busted jaw,
'Cause she let fly with her iron toe,
And kicked him in to Buff-a-lo OH