As you may be able to tell by the typos, we're here! We decided to consolidate our biking and get here a day early, so now we are at a luxorious hotel just outside of Montreal. They keyboard has all kinds of accent keys and the punctuation marks are not where they should be!
Getting in after the border, we biked along some gorgeous bike paths along lakes and canals-- this place was made for bikers. It's flat, paved, and off the road. We cooked up some penne alla vodka on the lawn in front of our hotel then watched this weekend's display of fireworks that are part of the ongoing international fireworks competition that Montreal hosts.
We've had plenty of adventure in getting here. After leaving New York City we biked towns in New Jersey that did not seem to have grocery stores, then slept among the deer in Nyack Beach State park. Later on we met some friendly folks in Wappinger Falls, NY who let us camp out in their back yard and use their RV to take showers... THANKS DEB! Bear mountain was a beastly climb, but we all felt accomplished making it up, and coasted down then next half mile into a New York state bird sanctuary. We got into our next campsite as it started raining, but manage to keep our tents relatively dry as we set them up. The park ranger warned us about racoons so we wrapped up our food and fit as much as we could into our pot. The rest stayed in tightly wrapped plastic bags next to the pot. The racoons feasted on some butterfingers and nature valley bars (they seem to be excellent at opening wrappers), but the food in the pot was safe and we had a nice warm breakfast before we hit the road again.
We stopped for lunch at a swimming hole just off a creek where we dried out our tents and went for a dip. Along the way we met a fellow bike tourist who had made his way there from San Francisco! We made our way to beautiful Newton (or Nutton) Hook park where we had hoped to phantom. We encountered the park ranger and his family on our way in. The ranger was happy to help and gave us a permit to camp on the beach next door. We were right on the water in one of the most serene settings imaginable. Some nearby campers brought us over some corn on the cobb in the evening and some coffee and breakfast in the morning.
The night at the econo-lodge in Albany was a treat. We managed to do some laundry, hit the State Museum, grab some pizza, cool off in the pool, SLEEP IN BEDS and hit the road refreshed to make it into Vermont.
Our first night in Vermont was a wet one. We ate in the grocery store at Fair Haven as it was just coming down too hard to try to cook outside. So we made our way to the campground where a local pointed us to the next best thing: a picnic pavillion where we could stay dry while setting up our tents. It worked perfectly and we slept soundly next to some boisterous frogs.
The next day was the most challenging day of biking we had on the trip. Over 50 miles of hills hills hills, including closing the day at Mt. Philco State Park-- a campsite up a mountain. The sun had come out and we dried off ourselves and our stuff. Back in New Jersey we had done a little over 20 miles on relatively flat terraine, but and had a few sore muscles at the end; now we were coasting down and pushing up hill after hill with trucks going by and pulling it off like champs. We hit the hay knowing we'd be in Burlington in the morning and have some Ben and Jerry's waiting for us.
And indeed we did. For those of you unfamiliar with The Vermonster, it consists of 20 scoops of ice cream, 4 ladles of hot fudge, whipped cream, 3 cookies and 4 toppings. All nine of us did not even come close to finishing it. But we made a valiant effort and headed to the campsite with a full sugar high.
In the morning we made our way down the Burlington bike path and caught the ferry to Port Kent, and took in the scenic views along the way. After trudging up a steep hill at the beginning of Port Kent we were worried we were in for another challenging day of hills, but that soon proved to be unwarranted as the rest of the day was flat and sunny with Lake Champlain keeping us company on our ride. We ended the day at a campsite between Champlain and Rouses Point, NY. The accents in the area were increasingly French as we were just a few miles from the border.
Which pretty much brings us to where I started. We crossed the border and made our way towards Montreal, stopping to find motel vacancies or any other ideas for places to stay. Again, it was a huge contrast to the first days of the the trip when 15-25 miles was a challenge. We started off almost 60 miles away from the city, but everyone wanted to push on to get there in time for the fireworks. There was a car show this weekend so most of the hotel rooms were booked up. Today we head in to the city, check into the hostel and explore!
