It was sad to leave the cottage this morning, but we comforted ourselves by planning to return on our drive back East once we’re finished with biking, if we have the time.
We rode a tailwind up to Seneca Falls and had lunch under a pavilion which was conveniently located across the street from a small market. Leftover steak and and some mixed veggies made for a great lunch and had us energized for the afternoon.
A few days into our trip, I asked Chris, when I get homesick out here on the road, where am I homesick for? Somerville, Bozeman, Ithaca? My mom made a good point one time that it’s not where, but who. It’s the family and the friends that we miss so much.
Today, we got to not only rest our weary bodies, but also to get some awesome time with my extended family.
After listening to kids partying down the street until the wee hours of morning, we woke early and packed up camp in between rain showers. It was too convenient not to get breakfast at the store we slept behind, so we supplemented some leftover pasta salad with bananas, donuts and coffee. It was our earliest morning yet and we were feeling ambitious since comfortable beds and a rest day were only ~120 miles ahead of us, at the Hogue cottage on Lake Cayuga.
It was exciting to be out of the mountains and have gotten an early start, because we covered 44 miles before noon; our best morning yet. We enjoyed a quiet back country road to Osceola, NY where the majority of the noise came from birds chirping as we passed by.
Ralph
[ralf]
verb (used without object)
1. What I did last night outside of the tent; right outside of the tent, as in between the tent and the rain fly.
noun
1. What Chris now calls me.
Chris didn’t handle it very well; he could be heard muttering, “You’re safe now, helmet,” as he moved it away from the splash zone the following morning. Not to mention the fact that we had locked our food up in the campsite garage to dissuade bears from visiting us, and I then provided a nice incentive for them to stop on by. Chris said I was snoring at one point after the incident, and he was sure it was a bear right outside our tent.
We’re not sure why I got sick, but our theories include: bad hot chocolate and four consecutive bug bites on the back of my neck (unfortunately, I haven’t gotten any super powers yet).
Before we left the campground, another camper came by our site and gifted us a bunch of snacks for our trip! He must have sensed that I’d had a rough night.
From the campsite, we rode past a bunch of numbered lakes: Eighth Lake, Seventh Lake, etc. Apparently they got tired of naming them.
Last night was the coldest yet, and this morning had us looking forward to summer when it wouldn’t be so difficult to leave our sleeping bags. Eventually, we made it out, though, and heated up some coffee and oatmeal before saying goodbye to Jellystone.
