Day 52-- Manchester, NH to Portsmouth, NH - THE LAST DAY -- 61.66 miles

Hello Everyone!!!

Well, yesterday was my last day!!!! It turned out to be a perfect day weather wise! It was sunny and hot, with no threat of rain!! An absolutely PERFECT day!!!! There were some hills, but it only totaled to be around a 300 foot climb for the entire ride, and they were not nearly as challenging as the day before had been. After around 35 miles, the route was pretty much downhill, and we arrived to our meeting point just 3 miles out from Wallis Sands State Beach.

We all lined up, and they had a police escort for all the bikers to get us there. It was quite cool when the sirens started as we started down the last 3 miles of our journey!

What I found really amazing was the feeling I felt when I saw the first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean -- I don't think it ever had looked so beautiful to me as it did at that moment!!!! We all turned into the parking lot of the beach, took off our biking shoes and carried our bikes to the ocean to dip our front wheel in!!! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!!!

After all the hugs and pictures, we hopped back on our bikes and rode a few more miles, crossing the North Bridge which brought us into Kittery, Maine... the last state line crossed on this trip!!! It is the oldest town in Maine, established in 1647! I also later came to find out, they have amazing lobster here as well!

After riding a bit through Maine, I had to return to the hotel and check in, and go to the bike shop to have my bike be shipped back home. After this, I along with some of the other bikers on this trip went out to celebrate. We started in downtown Portsmouth, which is a very cute town. Later, we again walked over the North bridge to Maine, to have lobster at Warren's, a restaurant that's there along the river. It was just a perfect way to end a perfect day!!!

So, some of the pics of the last day, I will post on facebook...as I am not able to download anything right now. One thing some of us talked about yesterday, is that all of us now will be suffering from -- now what syndrome. We've all prepared for this and looked foward to this trip for so long, now that it is over, we are all asking ourselves...now what?

I'd like to thank all my friends and family for your support and encouragement throughout my preparation and training for this ride, and during this ride as well!!! This has been an AMAZING experience!!!! 52 days seems so long ago, and I can't believe it is already over!

Take care all! Meiri.

Day 51-- Brattleboro, VT to Manchester, NH --86 miles!!!

Hi Everyone!

Today was another really great day!! The sun was shining most of the day, it was nice and hot and it was a pretty challenging ride. The first 40 miles were the most challenging with lots of steep hills, grade was at 10% for the first one, but seemed more like 20% steep for the second one. It was tough, but fun and rewarding to go down. My fastest speed today downhill was at 42.5 miles per hour! I don't think I've done that since day 5 when riding down Mt. Rose Summit!!!

We stopped for a very unhealthy lunch today, and kept going downhill the rest of the way. We passed the New Hampshire state line early on in the morning. Both New Hamshire and Vermont are really two of the most beautiful states I have ever seen. I've just been so impressed with the scenery here in NH today all day, as well as Vermont yesterday!!!

I got into the hotel fairly early today. It was cloudy and stormy with thunder the last 20 minutes into the hotel. When it did start to rain, I was right across the street from the hotel (Comfort Inn) that I am staying at. By the time I crossed the street, and made it inside, the downpour began!!! LUCKY!!!!!! And very fortunate, that I did not get caught up in that!!! I later met up with my friend, who I've known since Jr. High School, Lynn. It was fun to see her again, and to catch up with her after all these years!!! Afterwards, some of the other bikers and I had some drinks at the bar.

We are all very excited about tomorrow! OUR LAST DAY!!!!! Tomorrow we ride from Manchester, NH to Portsmouth , NH -- for a total of 61 miles. We will have a police escort to the atlantic ocean-- time will be approx. at noon when we dip our wheels in, and go totally and completly crazy!!! Afterwards, we will take a short 2 or 3 mile trip to Maine, just to cross another state line before we go back to the hotel to celebrate! It will be a fun day!

No time to load pics today... will do maybe tomorrow!!! Less than 24 hours to goal!!! Hope you are all well!!!

Meiri.

Day 50-- Latham, NY to Brattleboro, VT --79.79 miles!!!

Hey Everyone!

Well, today was an absolutely amazing day. I was so happy that the sun came out behind the clouds after the first few hours of riding, and enjoyed riding in the hot, humid, heat!

The first 30 miles was just more NY towns, and not a whole lot of scenery. At mile 31 we took a right turn, and a mile later crossed over into Vermont! It seemed to me that the scenery changed instantaneously!!!!! (did I spell that right???) I could not stop taking pictures --I was just in awe of the beauty of the mountains out here!! You'd think I had never seen one before that way I was taking pictures!!!! I just could not put my camera down!!!





I finally did tho, as we approached The Maple Hill festival. It was a place outside of Bennington, where vendors from all over Vermont get together to sell their products, many of course which was maple products. I bought a piece of maple candy, and tho it was soooooooo heavenly sweet, can you believe I, Meiri, did not buy any more because it was too sweet????!!!! There is something to put into the record books!!! They were also selling authentic maple syrup at one of the booths too. I thought of getting one, but then realized, right--when am I ever going to make pancakes or french toast? I thought I could maybe put it in my plain yogurt, but decided to stay with the agave necter. They had live music playing, and had different crafts, etc.. at some of the other booths. It was quite fun!

We then stopped off to see a monument that was built in honor of a man named Sparks, from the revolutionary war. Apparently, he fought in a battle which was a turning point in this war. There are streets named after his wife, Mary Sparks-- apparently she was a nurse back in the day, who also happened to be a mother of 11 kids!!!(Personally, I think any mother of 11 kids deserves to have a street named after them)!!!










I found this next picture to be quite amusing! Typically, one does not usually see a sign like this while driving down the street!









We supposedly climbed our last mountain today. It really wasn't too terrible-- I still think Mt. Rose was the worst on day 5, and Monarch Pass came in at a close second. The climbs today don't even measure up to these mountains. Plus, I was enjoying the scenery so much, I wasn't really minding the climb so much. We finally reach the top of the summit, where we could see 3 different states from our vantage point. Someone had told me that the states were Massachusettes, New Hampshire, and ----ooops-- I forgot the last one. Either way, if any of you can point out which state is which in these photos posted, it would be greatly appreciated!!! :)
I just thought the view in and of itself was amazing!!!







It was kind of funny, cuz Norb and I ran into Gordon and Dave again today-- twice--- once at the bottom of the mountain, and again at the top! Gordon and Dave, if you don't remember, are the two men who are doing the self-supported bike tour across the country from Washington state to New Hampshire. They have the same destination as we do.. Portsmouth!

Well, from what I hear, tomorrow is suppose to be more challenging than today was, so I am going to sign off! Tomorrow I ride 84 miels to Manchester, NH! Afterwards, I am very much looking foward to meeting up with my friend Lynn!

Hope you are all doing well!!! 48 hours to goal!!!!!

Adios!!!! Meiri.

Day 49 --Little Falls, NY to Latham, NY -- 78.46 miles!!

Hello Everyone!

Today was a perfect day of riding. It started out chilly, but once the fog cleared, the sun came out, and it was a perfect, hot, summer day! FINALLY!!!!!

Our first stop was at Fort Klock, this is a fort that was built in 1750. It was a safe haven for many back in the day!



Later, I rode through small towns of Fonda, and Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, we saw another lock, which was transporting a boat across the river... it was pretty cool to see since I had missed it yesterday. Later I ate at Russo's, a restaurant which has been there since 1920.

I continued on, onto an amazing bike path that lasted for about 15 miles. It was so nice to be on a bike path again, and with such wonderful weather too!

The streets we rode on were really amazing, I was surrounded by lots of green, and trees..it was so nice to see.





Later on, Norb and I ran into Gordon and Dave, the two men which we ran into yesterday who are doing their own self-supported tour from Washington. It turns out that Gordon and I have the same bikes... we both thought that was pretty cool!






As we were leaving the bike path, I got a better pic of my shadow...

We ate at another buffet tonight. Afterwards, we all got together for a t-shirt exchange...The two shirts that I wanted were taken away from me, so I ended up choosing my own shirt in the end....which I found kind-of funny.

Well, tomorrow there is rain in the forcast again... :( Hopefully, it won't be too bad. Tomorrow we will be entering Vermont!!! This will be my first time visiting this state. We will be riding from Latham, NY to Brattleboro, VT! Total miles for tomorrow will be around 80 miles.

So, the countdown begins! 72 hours til I complete my journey and accomplish my goal!

Meiri.

Day 48 -- Liverpool, NY to Little Falls NY -- 79.76 miles!!

Hey Everyone,

Today was a good day. It was cool and overcast...actually it felt more like April. From what I hear, it downpoured on some of the faster riders today. It sometimes pays to pedal slow...I barely got wet!! Just a light sprinkle about 15 miles from my destination...by the time I got to Little Falls, I had actually forgotten that it had rained a bit!

The route today was fairly easy, I was however, pretty tired, but I made it!

Today we passed by a pumpkin patch...clearly no pumpkins yet, just big yellow leaves!!!






We also passed the smallest church ever...floating on a swampy algae lake! The church fits only 2 people. I found it interesting, but not enough to swim out to it!


We also passed by what was at one time the Erie canal. It was pretty cool to see as well.






We ate lunch at Knuckleheads brewhouse. They had pretty good food there...it was near a town called Westmoreland. Clearly an indian name, where they used to say..."West, more land!!!"

I had to take a photo of the Mack truck sign. You can see in the background is the super deluxe version of my model Mack Trek, which I am standing next to.





We also visited a lock station, which is still in use. It is used for boats, and when they come in, they lock the boat in a gate and raise the water, so it can continue to float/sail through the next gate. I found that to be interesting, and something that I really never knew much about prior to today's trip.






We passed an old bridge, which I assume was at one time a bridge for a train.
We then made it into Little Falls. This is a really cute little town if you've never been here. It is very small where everyone knows everybody. It is about 2 1/2 hours away from the city from what some of the townspeople told me.

When arriving to the hotel today (the Knight's Inn), I met two people, Gordon and Dave who started their self-supported cross country bike trip on June 15th. They started in Washington state and have taken the northern route to get here, going through Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, etc. They too are ending their trip in just 4 days in Portsmouth, NH, which I found to be ironic. It was fun talking to them about their adventures too.



Tomorrow is also going to be about 76.2 miles. We are going from Little Falls to Latham, NY.

Will post pics maybe tomorrow. This hotel is hit or miss with internet service.

That's all for now! Adios!

Meiri.

Day 46-- Hamburg, NY to Canadaigua, NY -- 96.49 miles!!! Day 47 -- Canadaigua, NY to Liverpool, NY -- 71.49 miles!!!!

Hello Everyone!

Well, today the reality of this trip finally hit me, and I got really excited. I can't believe in just 5 more days, I will reach my goal of biking across the country! I am sad that it is coming to an end, and at the same time excited that it is coming to an end. Yeah, mixed emotions!

Yesterday's ride totaled 96.49 miles. This is the last ride of this trip that will be 90 + miles -- (unless I decide to take another wrong turn of course!!!) And, our century rides for this trip are now over. Over the next 5 plus days remaining, we will be in the 80 +, 70+, or 60+ range in miles per day.

Yesterday's ride was long, and overall pretty uneventful. We started out the day at The Pedaling History Museum. Here they have a bunch of antique bicycles, and had a tour of the evolution of the bicycle. I unfortunetly, happened to fall asleep during the tour....(hey it was 8:30 in the morning!!!--Give me a break!!!) But, the parts which I did not fall asleep through, I found quite interesting.

Afterwards we just pedaled through some towns, took a break at a place maybe 20 miles from Avon, NY -- and had some ice cream for lunch. About 25 miles later we stopped for a snack and had more ice-cream. (Yeah, I know, I have such a rough life!! -- Biking and eating ice-cream all day!!!!)...


Here are a few street signs that I saw along the way that we usually don't see everyday...







I also got really confused when I saw this sign yesterday... I thought I was back in Colorado for a moment!!!!







I was happy that yesterday it didn't rain on us, not one drop. It stayed cool and was overcast, but I was just relieved it wasn't raining like the day before!!!

We finally made it into the town of Canadigua, NY -- we ended up eating at the Ponderosa, and afterwards, I just did laundry. This took precedence over my blog yesterday.

Today- day 47-- I woke up at 6:00 am to the sound of pitter patter on the windows. I thought it was going to be an awful day full of rain, but the weather again surprised me, and the rain stopped by the time I rode to the local Denny's for breakfast. I kept my rain gear on all day-- you know Murphey's Law.... for most of the day though, it did stay dry!

I hit mile 13.45 today, when, oh, such a terrible event occurred!!! Yes, I got my first flat on the trip! My front tire was cut deep by a piece of glass, and also ripped into my innertube! I was, trying to go for no flats during this whole trip. I was only 6 days away!!! Well, putting it into perspective, I've gone 3500 miles with one flat! There is one biker here on this trip, Steve, who holds the record for the most flats on this trip, with a total of 13 thus far!!! Hearing this, I was able to get over it pretty quickly!!!

We rode through Seneca Falls today -- it is a lovely part of NY if you've never driven through this way. There is a beautiful lake there too -- Seneca Lake.


We also went through Waterloo, where they claim is the birthplace of Memorial Day. However, Norb, who lives in Pennsylvania, says there is a city in PA that claims they are the birthplace of Memorial Day. Another fact to google someday. We went into the National Memorial Day Museum. Here there was just some interesting memorabilia on display. Seneca Falls, is the birthplace of women's rights-- here too they have a museum... but I missed it. I thought I could find it on my own just by riding into town, apparently it was right next to the visitor's center which I saw. Those who went, told me it is very much worth going to. I'm glad it's just upstate from where I am at, I figure I can go visit on a 3 day weekend sometime!!!

We also went through the town of Camillus. Right outside of this town, we stopped at Giffords ice-cream shop... it is in a building built in 1835. Inside the restaurant was this sign, that really just cracked me up!!!!

Afterwards, the rain started to fall. For the first 10 miles it was just a light drizzle, and the next 10 miles was a bit more heavy. It of course stopped when we were 5 miles or so from the hotel! It wasn't so bad since the weather up to this point cooperated... it still wasn't super fun to ride in the rain, but it was definetly not as bad as the other day had been!!

Tonight we are staying at the Clarion Hotel, and ate at a chinese buffet! After dinner, I enjoyed some nice ice-wine. It is a delicious dessert wine for those of you who have never tried it.... I do highly recommend it! But, I know for some it is just too sweet tasting... I however, (as most of you know) have the BIGGEST sweet tooth in the world!

Tomorrow is day 48 of our ride. We are traveling 79 miles from Liverpool, NY to Little Falls, NY -- with only a small 370 foot climb over a 25 mile stretch, so it should not be too bad of a ride. I still haven't checked the weather report tho, and there will be a lot of right and left turns throughout most of the day. Not much else really to report tonight! Hope you are all doing well. Talk to you all later!!!

Meiri.

Day 45 -- Erie, PA to Hamburg, NY -- 81 miles!!

Hello all!

Today bit bad!!!! It rained on us all day long, all but 20 miles that is! The last 3 miles it just downpoured! There was at least a half-inch of water on the roads as we came into our hotel!!! I hate rain, even when I am indoors...so the start of the day, I was kind-of grumpy. Things turned around a bit when at around mile 17 or so, we stopped off at Mazza Vineyards at 9:30 am for some wine tasting. It was fun, and it got us out of the rain for a bit!






Still raining, but not as hard as it had been, we continued on and two miles later, we crossed the state line, and entered New York!!!!

We continued on and not too long after crossing the state line, we rode upon Sparkling Ponds Winery. After tasting samples here, we realized we really didn't care so much anymore about getting rained on.

We took a slight detour off our given map to try yet a third winery, this one was called Johnson Winery, and was the best of the four that we went to, in my opinion!








Afterwards, we biked into a small New York town, and ate at the town diner. I had hot chocolate and tried to get warm!







For the next twenty miles it stopped raining and it was starting to turn into a nice afternoon. It was nice to see nothing but vineyards. What a change from all the weeks of cornfields that I've seen!!!!






When the rain started again, we ducked into Liberty Vineyards Winery, here they also had really good tasting wines!
But, the rain continued, and with less than 30 miles to go at that point we continued on in the rain. This part of the ride, was really not very fun. And, as I said before the rain towards the end of the ride was downpouring! A hot shower never felt so good as it did after today's ride!!!

After checking into the hotel we went and ate at Kings Buffet. The rest of the night, I've just been relaxing, and drying out my clothes....and hoping for no rain for tomorrow! Tomorrow is a longer ride, 94 miles to Canandaigua, NY! That's all for now!!!

Meiri.

Day 43-- Youngstown, OH to Erie, PA -- 97.70 miles! Day 44-- Erie, PA --Rest Day-- 25 miles!

Hello Everyone.

Well, I am now in Pennsylvania! Yesterday we crossed another state line! We started out in Youngstown, OH and went into the town of Niles, OH where President McKinley was from. We continued on through a few other small towns along the way to Pennsylvania. It was still pretty cool yesterday, I needed my jacket for the majority of the ride. It was nice riding for most of the morning yesterday. Since it was Sunday, there was hardly any traffic on the country roads we were on. It was great!

I got excited when we passed this road.











Here is another pic...in case you can't figure it out....














Okay, here is a close up.....

Yeah, it doesn't take much to tickle me!







35 miles later...I thought it would be a cool to get a picture of my shadow....









We passed a covered bridge...








And finally made it to the Tarsitano Winery and Cafe....


Here we had some appetizers and a few samples of wine prior to going to lunch.

8 miles later we stopped here....

It is a rootbeer stand with fast food.

1 mile later we crossed the state line....



We also passed the old state line...before the purchase of the Erie Triangle in 1792.

I took a picture of this pretty flower along the side of Route 5...does anyone know what kind of flower this is?

When we made it into Erie, a group of us again decided to go out to eat. We ended up eating at a restaurant called The Wharf, which is alongside the Erie peninsula. They had really good food there, and it was fun just hanging out. Here is a pic of the sun setting there by the restaurant.



Day 44: Rest Day...

Today was rest day. I slept in and went to starbucks. I then went with Brian, another biker here, down to Lake Erie for a harbor boat ride. We learned little interesting facts about the harbor and the lake. I also fell asleep on this hour and a-half boat ride (hey, its rest day!). There is a bike path that goes around the peninsula and along the beach of Lake Erie that was really lovely. It was very much worth doing, and I saw some really beautiful scenery. I found this sign to be a bit amusing while biking along the path...


We then went and ate dinner at Joe Roots Grill, by the suggestion of the captain of the boat tour we were on. If interested, you can go to their website www.joerootsgrill.com and can read a quick blurb of the story about Joe Root.

Overall, it was a very relaxing and fun rest day. Tomorrow, we don't start riding until 7:30 am, that means a whole extra half-hour of sleep for me!!! Tomorrow our destination is to Hamburg, NY. Total mileage is suppose to be approx. 81 miles. Today is our final rest day until we make it to our destination-- Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I can't believe we are entering into our last week!!!!

That's all I've got for now!!! Adios.

Meiri.

Day 42 -- Wooster, OH to Youngstown, OH --94.01 miles!

Hello from Youngstown, Ohio!

Today turned out to be a good day. I was kind of tired and cranky, and thought that I was going to get rained on today because it was overcast this morning and quite cool out. I also thought today was going to be full of as many hills as yesterday, but the cue sheet was a bit misleading, and tho there were some hills, there were not nearly as many, and they were not nearly as steep as yesterday's were. The weather cooperated, and there was no headwind (that I can now remember), just was a cool, overcast day. It actually felt like autumn cuz it was so unusally cool out. I ended up wearing my jacket throughout the whole ride.

Really not much happened on the bike route today...

we passed by a park, and we stopped at a local shop for ice-cream for lunch. There was also a candy shop/bakery that we stopped at in a small town along the way (I forgot the name of the small town tho). We also rode along a nice bike path once we got into Youngstown, OH. This was only the fourth bike path that we could remember being on throughout this whole trip!

I was quite excited to see the starbucks that was right across the street from our hotel that we are staying at today.

Usually I have to ride anywhere from a few blocks to a few miles to get my daily latte! It was quite a treat to just walk right across the street!

I also was very excited when I saw this sign....

It is the first sign I have seen pointing me to home!!!

It was kind of funny, cuz when Norb, Leigh, Hans and I were at starbucks this evening, we saw a poster board of two baristas who are doing a self-supported bike trip across the country. They went on parts of the same route we took, but they traveled from east to west. Here is a pic of their adventure on display.

We found it ironic that even though we are doing something similar (tho not self-supported), that we are just as intrigued to read about other people who do this. I found it funny too, that the two baristas who are doing this cross-country ride are 19 and 21, and I am 38. Just goes to show you, I will never grow up!!!

This last pic is a photo of a map on our bulletin board, showing us the progress we made thus far on our trip. We are definitely getting close!!!


Tomorrow is to be 97 miles however, the profile shows it will be downhill for a good part of the way, with only a few hills. Tomorrow we cross another state line too, into Pennsylvania! Our destination is Erie!

We are staying at Country Inn and Suites tonight. This place has a cool system where you can take a book to read off of their bookshelf and can return the book to any Country Inn and Suite at your next visit! I am starting to read a book by Helen Keller, an autobiography of her life which was originally published in 1902!

K, that's all I've got for tonight! Hope you are all doing well!!

Meiri.

Day 41 -- Marysville, OH to Wooster, OH -- 103.03 miles!!!

Good evening from Wooster, OH!

Today was a long and busy day. I was correctly informed that today would be a bit harder of a ride. I was expecting hard like climbing Mt. Rose or Monarch pass hard. It wasn't nearly as difficult as those mountains were however, I've been riding on flat lands for almost a good week, so the steep hills that I was faced with, I did at times find challenging, and it did cause a few explicit words to be spoken (imagine that)!!!!!

There was lots of turning and going through farm lands throughout the day. A good half of the day was cool and overcast as rain was expected. By 1pm though, when we stopped for lunch, I really thought we were in the clear. It suddenly was very hot and the sun came out. We stopped to eat in the very small town of Frederictown, OH. As I was going inside another Mennonite/Amish buggy went by with about 4 women in it, dressed in long dresses and prairie hoods. Unfortunetly tho, I couldn't get my camera out quickly enough to take a pic! :(

Prior to entering Frederictown, we passed by a llama farm. This man had 10 llamas as pets, which he had bought and raised for show. They all turned out to be too small to be winners or worth much money. In stopping and talking with this man, I did learn that we can use the wool from llamas to make warm sweaters and from their coat also comes the felt hats! Here is a pic of a few of the llamas.

After lunch, around mile 60 or so, the climbing of the hills began, and so did the rain. We put on our rain gear, so it did keep us warm, but it did downpour on us none the less for a good 1/2 hour. By the time we made it to the next sag stop at mile 75 it was sunny and warm again, so really, it could have been a lot lot worse than what it was. This also is really only the 4th day out of 41 days that its rained on us, so I think we've been really lucky weather wise thus far.

Here is yet another picture of a corn field I passed by today in Ohio. Cool huh?

I also passed what I believe to be another christmas tree farm. It looked like some blue spruce trees along with some other kinds of trees that were all neatly pruned. Here are a few pics of that too.

Tonight, Norb, Brian, and I decided to go into town to eat at one of the local restaurants rather than eat at the buffet again. Wooster is a nice, quaint toan, and we ate at a place called Broken Rocks Cafe and Bakery. It was quite good!

Well, tomorrow is going to be another long day, and probably still challenging as the profile shows many hills. Tomorrow I will be riding from Wooster, OH to Youngstown, OH. Total mileage is roughly around 92 miles, so I am gonna sign off now!

Adios!!! Meiri.