06-08 Rochester

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 Another cold start, but we warmed up with a quick infusion of joy from a trail angel.  Leaving the hotel we had a short ride to a “open 24 hours” restaurant.  When we got there, only the front seating area was lit and one person was setting up for breakfast.  We walked in only to be told that the restaurant did not open for another hour.  Mary, the manager must have seen the sad look on our faces and said, “I will make you breakfast as long as your request is simple.”  We both ordered 2 eggs over easy with wheat toast.  Mary said that 2 eggs came with potatoes which we declined.   So instead of potatoes, she cooked us some bacon and 3 eggs each.  The food was fine, but her kindness was wonderful.

We cycled through the town of Canandaigua then headed out into the country.  That is when things got confusing for us.  A little background:  Joe prepares our routes and down loads them into our GPSs (which are different Gamin models).  After riding about 10 miles of country roads, Jeff’s GPS directed that he turn right onto Mt. Payne road.  However, Joe’s GPS indicated that we should continue straight.  After our painful climbs early on, we chose not to turn onto Mt. Payne road, which was in fact, a climb.

In the town of Palmyra we got on the Erie Canal Trail.  While most of the trail was in rural areas, we did go through several interesting towns. We stopped in Pittsford for coffee and pastries.  If our Swiss friend HP was with us, we would have lingered for an hour watching the pleasure barges on the water.  We miss his “stop and smell the coffee” approach to bike touring.  We thought about him, but decided that it was to cold just to sit. In total we cycled almost 30 miles of the Canal.  Joe and his wife Nancy cycled the entire canal from Buffalo to Albany going over 400 miles.

We got off the Erie Canal Trail in Rochester to tour the city. We cycled 14 miles looking at various points of interest and seeing the downtown before getting back on the trail and going to our hotel in the western suburbs.  

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