Upstate new york is notthing your hear about back in portland. Its always the "Big Apple" that is brought into the portlanders mind to travel. After our ride to Rochester, I feel a need to inform the west coast of a peaceful, beautiful, and kind area of New York. We rode a bike trail that followes the Erie Canel for 200 miles. On the way we stayed at three diffrent towns, each almost identical in aperrance. Hank's Dad grew up in rochester new york and planned for us to stay with his old friends from his college days, with the oppurtunity to stay in a house with a warm shower got us very excited. Riding away from the peace of no motor vechiels, we headed onto a main street and towards lake ontario. where we planned to meet Ed's friends.
We climbed up and down rollers, a fast coast into a hard pedal up the hills, north we road, heading towards Hank's Dad's friends. Upon arriving we found an empty house, wondering towards the back the hung out and waited for the owners. Staring at long pond and relaxing for 5 mintues we heard a load scream, " oh my god, they are here!". Martha ran down the stairs and gave us each a hug. Tim walked down the stairs after Martha and invited us inside. after our intrductions, we walked inside and found huge leather couches that attracted us, almost more than the showers and laundry. Tim walked inside with a 12 pack of creme ale, apparently a memory of hank's dad. Soon the food begun to simmer, boil, fry, and broil. Gathering around the diner table we drooled over the home cooked meal of grilled steak, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, sauted mushrooms and steamed broocli covered in a swiss cheese. Can we ask for more, no! beau and charles sat for an hour trying to finish everything while thier stomaches complained about the task. Later in the night we got excited to watch the very new two and a half men, with Ashton Kuther, follwed by the roast of charlie sheen. Tim and Martha stayed awake as long as they could, and drank probably more than they should of, but the night ended well, and we all were happy to have a rest day with martha, a lake, and a couple of kayaks.
We woke very late, all of us sprawled over the house, tim left for work early, and the Grand children came soon after. We woke to the kids asking thier grandmother who we were, and if we were nice. Playing thier secrect agent games as we slept, doing thier best not to wake us, we soon crawled from our slumber. A kid dressed as batman, and another as spider man, had us running around, shooting laser beams at them as we toasted our bagles. Once they got use to the big kids, we sat down and played with playdo for a couple of hours. As charles and beau made sculptures hank and donald headed out on the kayaks, paddling into the silence of a quiet lake. Soaking in the freedom and calmness of the water we waddled around the lake. Relaxing for the day we got ready to head out for the day following. A 40 miles day should shake off the laziness and get us back into shape. So we hope...
In Rochester Tim and Martha showed me my Fathers stoping grounds, the house he grew up in, the high school he atended, and the bars he drank at, and some very great stories. Dad, dont worry, they wouldnt tell me the good stories, they said that the good ones would be left for you to tell me. A parent feel, and kindness made us not wanting to leave, but the ride must continue and so we had to leave. A sad face, wrinkles in a frown, and not wanting to mounts our bikes, we did just that, riding off in the distance we rode, upstate new york awaited.