Day 47, July 17, 69 miles, Liverpool, NY

Today was much better than yesterday. Much better.

I went to bed at 9 last night and woke up at six feeling refreshed and ready to go. My legs were strong when I hit the road. Since we only had 69 miles to ride, we could take it easy and stop to see the sights and attractions; the kind of day that populates the fantasy of cycling across the country.

The first stop was a Lake Geneva, another one of the finger lakes. The sun sparkled on the water to the East, and the mountains in the West were reflected in its surface. I picked up a trail that went along the lake but still kept Route 5 in sight. (Most of the day we followed route 20E/5E, which made navigating pretty easy.)

The birthplace of the Woman’s Suffragette Movement is in Seneca Falls, right on the route. The women in the group flew right by the National Parks Service monument and museum. The statue of Harriet Tubman was my highlight. Otherwise, it wasn’t that exciting; the museum was just a lot of stuff without a coherent story to go with it. If I hadn’t stopped, I would have always wondered. Beside, I was back on the road in 15 minutes. The landscape was now low rolling mid-size dairy farms, or low acreage corn. There was some gentle rain at the 20 mile mark that lasted for about 45 minutes. It wasn’t a big deal, but I’ll have to wash my bike.

Lunch was at Nick’s, a new pizza/sandwich place in Camillus. The special was steak sandwich with fries, it was very special. Nick was impressed with what we were doing and came out from behind the counter to talk. He called his son out from the kitchen and made sure that we were well taken care of.

The last stop of the day was the Erie Canal Park and Museum. The Delaware and Raritan Canal in NJ is in much better shape, probably because its whole length is a state park. The Erie is pretty much the responsibility of whatever town it is in. In many places it’s stagnant and overgrown. The tow path ranges from rough dirt to cinder. We were warned not to hop onto it; it’s not made for bikes like ours. Still, the museum was quite nice. It was a reproduction of a store that stood at that site and had some outbuildings and canal implements. I learned that the Erie Canal ran from Albany to Buffalo and had nothing to do with Lake Erie. The woman who opened up the museum reminded me of Carl, or the guy at the Sod House; elderly, full of knowledge, and willing to talk to you all day if you let them. They are something of a national treasure. I hope that their knowledge doesn’t die with them. It seems that every small town and burg has its historical museum. That’s kind of cool too. There will never be one in North Brunswick.

That’s about it for the day. Our Super8 is in Liverpool, a suburb of Syracuse. The staff had water, Propel, and fruit for us and a hose and towels for our bikes. Not a bad end to a good day.