D&R Canal Trekkers Attend Princeton for the Day

When we woke up, we had yummy bagels for a good morning start. Then we got on our bicycles and started bicycling down the D&R Canal (Delaware and Raritan Canal). We biked through the trails for about two hours, not really stopping at all. Then we came across a fallen tree. We made our way through and started back up again. All of us started to get tired so we decided to take a pit stop at a canoe rental and ate more bagels some apples and left over turkey. After resting a few more minutes we started riding through bumpy trails. Around 12ish all of us decided that it was time to have lunch. Our leaders found the nearest supermarket called Shop Right (get it drop right hehe) Anyways when we were on our way we had to go up a hill. It was definitely a struggle, well at least for me but in the end it was worth it when we got to go down. We went through a couple more trails and then biked up to Princeton. It was so beautiful, we even got to have a picnic there. We tried to get to the last campus tour on time but we just missed it. It didn't matter though we created our own tour and it was probably way better then the regular ones, even if we got lost. This nice college student took us to an area called the slums, they were the older dorms that looked like castles from long ago. She said that that was where the juniors stayed and it was called the slums because there was no air conditioning and a lot of cockroaches. All of the other dorms were re done on the inside. We got to look around at the beautiful architecture. It was very pretty but we got very tired after a while. So when we came across an art museum we went right inside. It had the three things we felt we needed; air conditioning, a water fountain, and a place to sit. After that we rode about two miles to get to the hotel. We had a pretty nice time in the pool; playing games and stuff. Then we played a bunch of games and went to bed. We are all really excited for all the days to come. -- written by Trekkers Sheyla & Zosia

Update from the Across America Trekkers

Hello from Helena, Montana! We've had patchy cell service for the past couple of days but we are alive and well. Here's what we've been up to:

7/12- after waking up in Lolo we rode along beautiful route 12 to Missoula, the Adventure Cycling capital of the USA. Unfortunately, the headquarters were closed, so we ended up visiting Bicycle Hangar, a local bike shop that entertained us with free unicycle rides and suggested an incredible route to follow to Montana's capital, Helena. We set out later that day and rode along a scenic (and mostly flat!) route that followed the Blackfoot river. We stopped for a late lunch at a fishing spot where we enjoyed burritos and befriended the local fisherman, then pedaled on to Copenhaver Park where we camped for the night under a sky full of stars.

7/13- We started our morning early and completed the majority of our miles before lunch, a new feat! We rode along scenic route 141 where we passed by a handful of cyclists riding all the way to Boston. We stopped for lunch just outside of Avon, MT at a tiny diner; we were treated like royalty by the staff-they gave us free key lime pie and fruit roll ups! After filling our water bottles, we rode on towards Helena in an attempt to outrun the huge thunderstorm at our backs. We fought through an icy, rainy climb on the last leg of our day and made it to the 6235 Summit where we were greeted with a rainbow and incredible views! We zoomed down the mountain, stopping briefly at a scenic overlook, and celebrated reaching the capital city with a big gallon of ice cream and warm showers at a hotel.

7/14- we started our morning with a huge complimentary breakfast and set out to reach the Lewis and Clark Caverns Park by nightfall. We are riding out east towards Bozeman and hope to be there tomorrow night. Sometime within the next 2 days we will have made it 1,000 miles from Seaside ! We are on a roll :) 

 -- Trip Leader Lydia

Across America Trekkers Have Gotten a Rhythm

Across America Trekkers have overcome heat waves and mountains.  Stayed last night in Copenhaver Park east of Ovando, 30 miles from Helena now and just finished a big lunch, should make it there by nightfall no problem.

New York-Montreal Trekkers Visit FDR House

What an eventful third day! The team unfortunately lost a member, Conner, who was feeling ill. We gave our goodbyes before he was picked up and taken home. We all had fun with the short period of time with him, and we'll miss him! 
With that sad statement, we can move on to talk about everything that transpired today! We all woke up from a good night's sleep at the Hampton Inn, and went down to the lobby for a continental breakfast. While we had waffles, omelettes, and milk, we chatted about a variety of topics. After the filling breakfast, we all packed up our stuff and left the inn. After getting some food in preparation for lunch, the team headed out in two groups for our first stop: The house of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

On the way to the house, some of the trekkers made some wrong turns. The two groups met up at the beginning of the Dutchess Rail Trail, which offered the riders a nice, flat road to travel through; much better than the long, grueling hills the previous day. When we stopped for lunch, we encountered various characters that were also biking on the trail, including the mother of a trekker that had gone on one of last years Cape Cod Treks! Gabe and Eian cut open a few avocados, after which Gabe got his knife stuck in the pit of the avocado , resulting in hilarity.--Trekker Jonathan

The Hudson Walkway