Miles: 49.68 Today / 164.13 Total

Elevation Gain: 338 ft. Today / 1264 ft. Total

We cycled even less miles today than we did yesterday, and at the end of it we were even more tired than yesterday. Could it have been the insane heat and humidity? How do people live in Florida when it turns warm and when it rains and when there are hurricanes, and, and, and?

We awoke at 6:30 AM, which, if you know me, you know is REALLY early for me. But we scored almost 7 hours of sleep, which might be just barely enough sleep for a couple of mid 60s goofs riding bikes. For our first breakfast, we had some of the steel cut oats I’ve been carrying in my food and cooking pannier. And I’m proud to say that we lubed our chains and were loaded up and on the road by 8:15. Not bad, eh?

The morning traffic in Marathon was 4 lanes of heavy traffic, forcing us to ride on the sidewalks and bike paths, some of which are not the best riding surfaces. Thankfully, as the day progressed, traffic got lighter and lighter.

The famous Seven Mile Bridge was first up on our route. We had heard conflicting accounts on whether there was a parallel path for bikes, and a young gal we spoke to at our hotel told us that she had just seen a sign in a bike shop saying that the old highway was open, so we could ride on it, instead of the brigade shoulder. Ed and I had both read that the old highway was only open a short distance, and there were no signs posted to warn cyclists about that, so they listen to people who tell them it is open the full length, then end up having to backtrack.

Well here’s the reality: The old bridge cycle path ended at about 2 miles, where a span of the bridge was missing. We heard that from a local who was right by the bridge, and we verified that with our own eyeballs. And that was not the only span missing from the bridge. There were several.

Another thing we had read about the bridge, in various blogs, was that there is little to no shoulder on the bridge and that the shoulder is heavily littered with tire hazards. Fortunately, that too proved to be wrong. The shoulder was 4-5 ft wide, with very little litter. And the wind was also cooperative, as in a gentle 6 mph cross wind from the south.

Though cars can’t stop on the bridge, for obvious reasons, we did—several times—to check out the scenery and snap a few photos.

The heat was picking up as we finished the bridge and our first 10 miles of riding, and we were already thinking about second breakfast. Sadly, there weren’t going to be any good food choices till we got to Big Pine Key—another 10 miles down the road. We muscled through it and found ourselves a super delish breakfast spot.

The rest of the ride was just chugging along from Key to bridge to Key to bridge, repeat, repeat, repeat, etc. Nothing memorable, but the heat, humidity and unquenchable thirst, until we heard the rumble of jet engines overhead. The Blue Angels were practicing for an upcoming airshow, and they seemed to be locked onto our GPS coordinates, because they buzzed us from every direction, as we pedaled onward.

Those jets roaring by lifted our spirits and took our minds off the problem at hand that was sapping our energy. We were hearing and seeing them till we hit Key West and checked into our campground at Sigsbee Island Naval Air Station Annex.

After dropping our panniers at our campsite, we hopped back on our bikes to find Mile 0 (zero) of US Highway 1, the monument for the southernmost point of the Continental US, and to run a few errands.

My number one errand was to pick up a rental car to shuttle my bike and self back up to Miami tomorrow norming. Number two—I needed a new power cable for my MacBook, which they luckily had exactly one of at the Navy Exchange near our campground.

It’s been fun riding with Ed. He’ll be in the campground alone tomorrow night, then will be joined by a fellow named Lenny to ride a variation of the route I’m taking up the Atlantic Coast. Best of luck with your ride, Ed and Lenny!

Tomorrow, my route from Miami to Boca Raton takes me through the flooded US Highway A1A beachfront of Ft. Lauderdale. I don’t yet know how I will get through or around that area, so wish me luck. I’m 100% positive I’ll need it.

One final word. If you are enjoying my blog, please consider donating to the cause I am pedaling to raise funds for: Bike the US for MS

Miles: 51.04 Today / 114.45 Total

Elevation Gain: 358 ft. /926 ft. Total

Spoiler: Today was a much better day than yesterday. We slept in, because the rain caused us to reserve the only hotel room further down the Keys that cost less than $250 a night. It would only be a 32 mile day, but we weren’t going to go to bed wet after another day of riding in the rain, which the weather forecasts were predicting. When we woke up, our hotel had breakfast and a nice outdoor seating area overlooking an inlet.

And just when we were finishing up, Susan and Rafe from Colorado stopped by our table to inquire about what we were up to. They are adventurers in their own right, and seemed pretty interested, so we chatted for a while and exchanged information. While we were talking a torrential downpour began, and we had snag some plastic garbage bags from the hotel to get back to our room and finish getting ready.

We were planning to hit the road in the rain, but by the time we got out the door, the rain had cleared and now the sky was clearing too. Can you believe it? We were definitely good for more than 32 miles and were hoping to go a little farther, and coincidentally, Ed’s credit card was rejected on his booking of the room for the night, so we lined up something further down the route for the night and started peddling.

Here’s where things got good. No malfunctions. No rain. And we enjoyed a bit of tailwind for most of the day, then a quartering headwind for the last part of the day. For some reason, 51 miles took forever and felt really hard, which isn’t exactly good, is it.

We passed some cool stuff along the way, like the biggest crab you ever saw in your life, the biggest conch shell I’ve ever seen (sorry, no photo), some iguanas, three statues of who knows what and more funky stuff than I can even get into. The coolest thing was all the blue water we saw as we rode from Key to Key to Key and crossed bridges, bridges and more bridges. There is nothing like the Florida Keys. I need to bring my grandkids here!

And I learned something new today, which I’ll put into play the next time I visit my sister Janette in North Richland Hills, Texas. She catches some pretty big fish in the lakes near her house, and I’ve never really known the real official way to measure a fish until now. I know I’ll go far with this additional knowledge!

Tomorrow, we cycle less than 50 miles to get to Key West, where I’ll pick up a rental car to shuttle myself back to that rental car center in Miami the following day. Who comes up with these complicated plans anyhow?

Have you noticed my Jersey? I’m riding to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis research, treatment and patient home modification. You can support this great cause by donating here.

Miles: 63.41 Elevation Gain: 568 ft

First day of my 49 day ride up the Atlantic Coast, and you’ll never believe this: there were some major MAJOR malfunctions right out of the chute!

My flight arrived a few minutes late, then when I went to assemble my bike, my really cool Topeak Mini Morph Pump would not push air into the tires. The result was one tire losing so much air that it lost it’s seal and went flat. My tires are tubeless, so it takes a big initial puff of air to seal the tire to the wheel. When the one tire lost it’s seal, that just was not going to happen with my tiny malfunctioning pump.

I was dead in the water, sitting at the airport with no way to air up the tire that had its seal and no way to get any air into the other tire. So I emptied the sealant out of the one tire that lost its seal and put an inner tube in it, like most people do. I was able to get about 25 PSI into both tires, which is definitely not enough pressure to do anything more than load my 57+ lbs of gear onto the bike and push it to the MIA Mover rail system that was taking me to meet Ed at the rental car center.

Once in the center, I took the panniers off one side of the bike so Ed could get to the valve stems, and he used his identical Topeka pump to fill my tires up to 60 PSI. Just a few minutes later, we were cycling out from the rental car center to navigate to the Adventure Cycling route. We scoped out a bike shop that was just a bit out of the way, so I could get my one tire converted back to tubeless and buy a new pump. After going a couple of miles out of our way, we arrived the bike shop and learned that it was so low tech, they didn’t even know about tubeless bike tires, and their single pump choice was a completely absurd floor pump. I coughed up $12.95 for another spare tube (outrageous!!!), and we headed for the door of the bike shop, and that’s when I noticed that I was missing one of my front panniers. What the heck!

In the course of riding to the bike shop, which was just 3-4 miles from the rental center, we hadn’t done anything that would have caused my pannier to fall off, and if it had fallen off, both of us would have noticed. Ed remembered me setting a pannier on a planter, back at the rental car center. I remembered that when we left there, there was nothing left laying around. So that’s when we found a McDonalds for Ed to take a break in and keep his eye on both bikes, while I caught an Uber back to the rental car center to hopefully find my pannier sitting on a planter.

I was having a crisis, in case you hadn’t noticed, and my Uber driver, Gloria, knew it. She went off the clock at the rental care center, while I went inside looking for my pannier, which I fortunately found—nicely camouflaged in a planter. Then she drove me back to the McDonalds, in exchange for a very generous tip. I was so appreciative!!!

Back on the road, we cycled on three different bike paths that covered almost 47 miles of our route to Key Largo. One was built under the raised Miami Metro Rail line, a second was a road built just for bus traffic that paralleled US Highway 1, and the third paralleled Highway 1 through Key Largo. Regarding the middle bike path—the road just for buses—there were signs posted on it saying, “No Bikes, Roller Skates or Skate Boards”. Confession: We ignored those signs. There actually was a bike path adjacent to the bus road, but it was torn up in so many places that we gave up on it, and the bus drivers and two police officers we passed didn’t seem to mind.

And here’s where I must digress, because I forgot to talk about the weather. There was non stop rain all day long, and the previous day, Miami got more rain in one day than they have ever had on that date. A lot of roads were flooded and there was water pooled up everywhere. Okay, so do you have the visual of us two drenched cyclists getting pounded by rain, splashed and spayed by cars and careening through puddles for an entire day?

Now add to that the wind. For most of the day, we had a bit of a tail wind, but on one 3-4 mile section of road approaching Key Largo, we changed directions, and the wind didn’t, putting is in a 23 MPH head and cross wind. Several times, I felt like I was going to be blown off the road, which was very scary. But we survived it all and will live to see another day.

Our lodging for this evening was all arranged with a lovely Warm Shower’s host, Jacquelyn Bello, who was going to let us camp in her back yard, take a shower and use her bathroom. But when you’re having a day of malfunctions, why stop? Jaqueline flaked out on us, leaving us with no lodging for the night. There are three nearby campgrounds, but being soaked to the bones, as we were, we decided to get a hotel room so we could get a warm shower and dry our clothes, bikes and gear.

And this was all on day one of my 49 day bike ride up the Atlantic Coast. I’m afraid of what tomorrow will bring. Do you think I should be more optimistic?

Here’s something I’m optimistic about. My goal to raise $5000 for the Bike the US for MS non profit. You can support me by donating here:

I’m not much of a social media poster, so unless you talk to me, you probably don’t known that I have been training and gearing up to complete my circumnavigation of the US on a bicycle, by cycling up the Atlantic Coast from Key West to Canada.

My training partner, Lisa Stapley, and I rode the Tour de Tucson late last year and have been pushing ourselves longer and harder than we used to.

My favorite mechanic and friend Jay Stewart has worked his magic on my bike and replaced tires, chains, my cassette and who knows what else. He’s the pro. I just trust him.

I’m doing this ride a little differently than my past rides. The majority of the ride will be with a team of cyclists from Bike the US for MS, a non profit that raises funds for MS research, treatment and home modifications for patients. My Aunt Betty died of MS a few years ago, so my ride is dedicated to her. (Hint, Hint: Feel free to support me in this effort by clicking the donate link at the bottom of this page.)

So back to the ride. Starting April 20th, I’ll be riding from St Augustine, Florida to Bar Harbor, Maine with that team of MS fund raisers, but my goal is a little bigger than theirs. I will be riding the entire coast, including the additional distance from Key West to St Augustine and Bar Harbor to Canada on my own—another 900 miles.

The wind in the Florida Keys comes out of the East, so I’m doing that section of the route backwards, starting in Miami, then shuttling my bike back to Miami to begin riding northbound toward St. Augustine, where I’ll meet up with the MS team. After we arrive Bar Harbor, on May 26th, hopefully, one or more of that team will join me for the 1-2 day 103 mile ride to Canada.

This morning and afternoon were a flurry of activity, making final preparations for my flight. I packed my bike into a huge electric bike box and somehow thought I wouldn’t have to remove any wheels, fenders or racks, but I was wrong on all counts. Assembly will now be a bit more challenging than I was hoping it would be.

And I had to do my all important gear lay down, right? Why is there so much more gear? Well, I am anticipating more cold and wet weather on this trip than I’ve encountered on past tours. And there will be stops to do service projects for MS patients, so I am bringing more off bike clothes than I ever have in the past. Oh, and this year, I have braces, so I have a rechargeable water flosser to attempt to keep my teeth clean.

While I was fiddling around with all my gear and clothes, the time was ticking away, and that’s when a true angel arrived at my house. I had asked my friend Heather Johnson to print some little signs for my panniers and a laniard I plan to wear on her color printer, but Heather’s an overachiever. She didn’t just print them, she also delivered them. And when she arrived and saw the state of my preparation, she dug in and helped me out BIG TIME! Thank you so much for all your help, Heather! I would have missed my flight without you!

I had about 5 minutes left for a shower, after Heather left, so no shower. My ex husband Jerry was now here to take me, my 49.5 lb. box of panniers and my 49.5 lb. box of bike to the airport. I just barely had time to change my clothes and wash my face, then we were on our way to the airport, where I boarded a plane for Miami, Florida—a red eye special.

After I land, at 5:45 AM tomorrow, I’ll be assembling my bike in the airport, hopping on a people mover to take me to the rental car center, and meeting up with my good friend Ed Craft, who I cycled with on both my Northern and Southern Tier tours. Ed’s joining in for just the three day ride to Key West, which will be three solid days of cycling and camping in the rain—something we are both a little nervous about. The silver lining? It looks like we’ll have three days of tailwind! Wish us luck!

Donate to Bike the US for MS

55.79 Miles / 4171.29 Total Miles

3176 Ft. Elevation Gain / 146,397 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

Spoiler!!!!!  The last day of our second insane odyssey is complete!  Tomorrow, Chris and Linda will be picking us up in his van to drive us around Acadia, which will be MUCH more enjoyable than cycling around the National Park, and a wonderful ending to the trip.  They will then drop us off in Bangor to catch our flights home. 

The missing days in this blog?  I will catch them up, when I catch up on sleep, mail, my daughter and grandkids, and a few other things that await me in Arizona.

Here’s what happened today:

We got off to an early start.  I had already eaten breakfast, back at the motel, but Ed was through with oatmeal and wanted a REAL breakfast.  So before we even got out of Searsport, we stopped at “The Best Kept Secret,”—Just Barb’s. Restaurant.   I ate one super delicious blueberry pancake, that was completely loaded with fresh blueberries, then it was time to get on the road for what we though would be a relatively easy 53 mile day, with 2800 ft of climbing.  

The day was a sampler of all the things I enjoy, while riding–some art, some funk, some history, some architecture, some great food, some nice and helpful people, some memorials, some challenging cycling and a miracle.  It also delivered up some things I would be happy to never see again in my entire life (a girl can dream):  Busy, congested roads, with no shoulder, and super steep hills.  Not complaining.  The good WAY outweighed the bad, making for a very fine day on the bike.

Our first big surprise of the day was stumbling onto the bridge over the Penobscot Narrows and the Fort Knox State Historic Site, which are adjacent to each other. The bridge is an engineering marvel, that was built in just 42 months, after the previous historic bridge was found to be unsound, during one of its maintenance inspections. The design of the new bridge included an elevator in one of the two towers and an observatory at the top, so people could enjoy spectacular views of the river, Bucksport, and Fort Knox.

One of the best preserved fortifications on the New England seacoast, Fort Knox was built between 1844 and 1869—the first fort in Maine built entirely of granite.  It is named after Major General Henry Knox, the first U.S. Secretary of War and Commander of Artillery during the American Revolutionary War, who at the end of his life lived nearby.  The fort was manned during the Civil War and the Spanish American War, but was never involved in combat.

After spending some time in the Observation Tower and exploring the Fort, we rode across the bridge, into Bucksport, and it was time for lunch. So we asked some total strangers, on the street for recommendations, and each ended up ordering a Boss Hog burrito at 86This! I couldn’t eat the whole thing, but I definitely bagged enough carbs to make it through the rest of the day.

After stopping to take a photos of the yard art, below, we had only ridden short distance, when Ed noticed his music wasn’t playing. When he looked down to figure out why, he noticed his phone had fallen off his bike. He flipped his bike around on a dime, sped back toward the dragons, and quickly spotted his phone laying on the ground, 2-3 feet out in the traffic lane of US Highway 1. Yikes! Did I mention that we were riding in busy, end of season, weekend traffic, on the only road leading to Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor? As Ed rode toward the oncoming traffic, he signaled desperately to the cars, to get them to move over, so they wouldn’t crush his phone. Just as he was catching up to the phone, a car was heading right toward it. And that’s when Ed got the miracle. Somehow, he caught the driver’s attention, and at the last second, the car swerved and missed the phone and Ed, and he was able to snatch that beloved phone from impending doom. Hallelujah, and well executed, Ed!

Once on the island, US Highway 1 branched off to the left, and we branched off to the right on Maine Route 3, which, thankfully, had slightly less traffic. We still had a ways to go to get to Bar Harbor, and this is where I discovered that the route I was anticipating on my GPS was not the route we were taking. Our route was a couple of miles longer and had more and steeper hills. Why? Why? Why? My legs were tired of steep hills, but now, both Ed and I had some strange form of adrenalin fueling us. We were muscling our way up hills that we normally would havre shifted into an easier gear for, because we were like horses headed for the barn. We pulled into Bar Harbor, found our way to the rocky beach, at the harbor, and made history–history for us, that is.

We wished we could take some time to celebrate, but we were under the gun. We had to take our bikes to the local bike shop, before they closed, in a little over an hour, but before we could do that, we had to ride to our motel, check in, drop off all our bags, shower and change into clean clothes, and ride back to said bike shop. We made it! Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop will be packing our bikes in boxes and shipping them for us, and their super speedy process had us out the door in under 5 minutes. Amazing! I’ll miss you, my trusty bike, till we meet again!

With the bikes set for shipping, we walked a couple of blocks to the downtown area of Bar Harbor. Ed started his celebrating, with a stop at a brewery and several other stops to enjoy the local vibe, and I checked out the park, memorials and shops. I had to buy myself a souvenir t-shirt and one last round of post cards for my loved ones.

We met up with Chris and Linda at Geddy’s, for our celebratory dinner. Linda is a hoot! She ordered the biggest item on the menu–the Lobster Dinner, and somehow managed to eat the whole thing. Well no, actually, she shared her blueberry pie with all of us, because that’s the kind of gal she is. She and Chris dropped us off at the Days Inn on their way to their lodging, a little further down the road, which was much appreciated! Thanks for the great time, this evening, Chris and Linda!

This has been one heck of a journey! Thanks for riding it with me, Ed! As I said above, I have some catching up to do on this blog, some thank yous to write to amazing Warm Showers hosts, and a daughter and grandkids to hug on a bit. Once I accomplish all that, I’ll be back with my final thoughts on this trip.

46.28 Miles / 3691.62 Total Miles

2260 Ft. Elevation Gain / 118,943 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

Today was one of my favorite days of the trip. I rode alone, after an awesome day off in Schroon Lake. Started out with a wonderful “continental breakfast,” courtesy of Tammy, the owner of the Blue Ridge Motel. She makes fresh scones every night, for her guests, and puts out the best spread I’ve seen on the trail. On a personal level, Tammy really helped me out–letting me.borrow a hair dryer to dry my wet clothes; picking up an item I really needed from the store; advising me on the route; assisting me on some personal matters; making sure I had a real bowl to cook my dinner in, in the microwave oven–basically, being a friend to a complete stranger. I have a feeling she is a friend to lots of strangers, who pop into her motel. I gave her a big hug, before leaving. I also had to say goodbye to Maggie and Mark, who made yesterday’s adventures possible. They too are awesome people. All of you–remember how nice it is in Arizona during your cold winters. My guest room awaits, and you are welcome to come visit any time.

Yesterday, I scoped out the route Tammy recommended, on the way to Fort Ticonderoga. Then I received a text message from Ed, regarding the route he and Chris took, which was the more hilly route, with less traffic. I decided to go for the hilly route. My legs are pretty strong, these days, and traffic is my enemy. In the end, I actually enjoyed the route. It had a few good hills, but overall, it was easier than most of the hilly days we’ve had lately, and the lack of cars was really nice.

The route went north, then east, then south–to the only bridge for miles that crosses Lake Champlain and the Hudson River that flows out of it, because all the ferries that normally take cars across are closed, for some reason. Once again, I think Covid is being used as an excuse to stop offering ferry service. You can blame a lot of things on Covid, but closing all the ferries across a river, and forcing people to drive dozens of miles out of their way to cross a major river?

The first town I came to was Moriah, which is along the river, a few miles north of the bridge. It’s a nice little town, with lots of historic buildings, several murals, a great ice cream shop (I imbibed), and even a log of all the Champ sightings. Champ is a Lock Ness Monster-like creature that was first sighted by Samuel de Champlain, back in 1602, but then not seen again, till 1924. The most recent sighting was in 1990, so maybe Champ has died of old age. Wait–do monsters die, or do they live forever?

Leaving town, I followed the scenic byway below, as I rode south along Lake Champlain for 4-6 miles, before riding east onto Crown Point, the peninsula leading to the Lake Champlain. Bridge.

Just before Lake Champlain lies Crown Point Historic Site, which consists of two forts, a lighthouse, and a few other small buildings.   Prior to the Revolutionary War, between 1734 and 1737, the French built Fort St. Frederic, where Lake Champlain narrows to just 1/4 mile at the Crown Point peninsula.  The narrowed waterway enabled control of the transportation of people and supplies between Quebec and the British Colonies, but the fort was also conveniently located so the French could run raids on British settlements in New York and New England.  The British didn’t like that too much, so they mounted various expeditions to take control of Crown Point, and in 1759 they finally succeeded.  Before the French retreated from the fort, they burned it down, and rather than rebuild, the British immediately began building a new, bigger fort, further up the hill–“His Majesty’s Fort of Crown Point.”  In 1775, the day after taking Fort Ticonderoga, American forces captured the new fort from the British and moved the cannons and heavy ordnance to Boston, where it was needed to defend against attacks there. 

The Crown Point Light House.

Lake Champlain and the Hudson River separate New York from Vermont, so when I crossed the Lake Champlain Bridge, I passed over into Vermont, and no kidding, the terrain changed instantly from forested Adirondack hills to farm land on less steep hills.  The buildings changed from often poorly maintained houses, barns, churches and commercial buildings, to nicely maintained everything. 

Another delightful changed in Vermont was that the majority of the houses, barns and buildings sporting flags were sporting US flags, instead of Trump flags.  Nice!  This is the country I know and love!

Remember the mud pull at the street fair a few states back? This farm had a semi rig and trailer to haul its tractor pulling getup to competitions.

As I entered Middlebury, I passed through Middlebury College, a liberal arts university, founded in 1800, and the first operating college in Vermont. It was flush with historic stone buildings.  

My bike was needing a little love, so I stopped in at the local bike shop, downtown, which happened to be owned by a guy who went to college in Arizona.  I asked to have my derailleurs adjusted, but came back to find the mechanics messing with my shifters, which I wasn’t too happy about.  There is some serious climbing, up ahead, and I wasn’t happy with the major irreversible changes they made to how my gears shift.  Grrrrrr–as if I wouldn’t notice?  

I met up with Ed and Chris at the Marriot Courtyard–the only available hotel room in town.   They had saved a nice spot for me–on the floor, just inside the door of our room–to park my bike and to lay out my tent footprint, Thermarest and sleeping bag.  I know it sounds spartan, but it is a really comfortable sleeping setup.  I settled in for a good night of rest.

Sudden change of plans, this morning. I got up, packed and loaded everything up, then headed to the motel lobby for breakfast and a “map meeting,” to discuss our route for the day. We were facing another entire day of rain and a route not vetted by Adventure Cycling (ACA). Their route would have taken us to Ticonderoga, where we would have taken a ferry across Lake Champlain, but the ferries are all closed down, for some reason, so your have to find your way to a bridge to get across the Hudson River, and there are 3 possible routes. The owner of the motel was familiar with all 3 routes and was of the opinion that the route proposed by ACA was the best route, because it is less hilly, but it is on a busy road with little or no shoulder. We leaned toward the route that had less traffic, 8 less miles, but more hills and climbing. Hills never killed a cyclist, but traffic does all the time.

When I headed back to my motel room to put my rain clothes on, my brain came to a screeching halt. Tomorrow was going to be a zero day in Middlebury, and, per the weather forecast, it most likely was not going to be raining tomorrow. Why ride in the rain, when I could take that zero day today at this little motel, then ride in dry weather tomorrow. I looked out the window, and both Ed and Chris were standing over their bikes, ready to go. I called Ed, on his cell phone, and told him I wanted to stay back at the motel and ride tomorrow, and within seconds, he and Chris were in their saddles, and moving down the road.

It took about a minute to extend my stay one more day, with Tammy, the owner of the motel, and now that I was going to be around for another day, she wanted to know if I needed anything from town, because she was headed there later in the day. I was out of dental floss, so she added that to her list of things to pick up. Once back in my room, I called my sister and girlfriends, took a nap, then went outside to check the weather. A couple, from one of the neighbouring rooms, was having a steak dinner they’d prepared out on the porch in front of their room, so I stopped over to say hello.

Mark and Maggie were about to head over to Fort Ticonderoga, and when I asked if I could tag along, they graciously agreed. I put on my fastest drying clothes and rain jacket, and we hit the road a little after 2 PM, with me sitting on a folding chair in the back of Mark’s Honda Element. On the way there, I checked out that busy road I mentioned up above, and it was a definite no go for riding on tomorrow. Beyond being busy, it was hilly; sometimes did not have a shoulder; and it had foliage growing all the way up to the edge of the road, in a lot of places, that would force a cyclist to have to ride in the lane. This would not be my top route choice, if I had other options.

We had a little over 2 hours to see the fort, so we had to be efficient. Unfortunately, the exhibits and museums didn’t lay out the history of the fort, which is significant, for our country. Its capture from the British, back on May 10, 1775, was the first rebel victory in the Revolutionary War. It kicked off a string of other successful attacks, and the armaments from the fort were relocated to fortify locations that used them successfully against the British. Tomorrow I’ll be going to Crown Point, which US troops captured the following day.

Just before the Fort closed, we drove over to the King’s Garden to see what we could, before they closed the grounds at 5 PM. We ended up being the last men standing, when the buildings closed and all the employees left. We were able to walk around the gardens and take our sweet time looking around, but it was raining nonstop, and we were soaked and getting cold, so we headed back to Mark’s vehicle..

As we headed out of Fort Ticonderoga to head toward our motel, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the ferry landing, where we could see for ourselves that the ferry was indeed closed for the season. .

When Mark was a kid, he spent his summers in Schroon (pronounced “Skroon”) Lake, so he knew everything about everything, there, and wanted to show Maggie. He headed that way, stopping to check out the little lakes along the way. In town, we circled the downtown area and checked out the waterfront, then made a few little stops for treats and groceries, and, of course, to take in the local veterans memorial.

And here we are, back at the Blue Ridge Motel. Thank you, Mark and Maggie for taking me with you today! I enjoyed meeting you and seeing sights I would never have been able to see without you. Mark, I enjoyed your sense of serendipity and never ending interest in seeing everything there is to see, while you can. Maggie, I love your curiosity; your quiet, calm nature; and your courage to speak up when it’s needed. Best of luck to you in your travels together!

65.51 Miles / 3645.34 Total Miles

4118 Ft. Elevation Gain / 116,683 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

Today was like Groundhog Day–another day of being soaked by rain–all day long. And it was a long hard day in the saddle, with a lot of miles and a lot of climbing, in the form of endless hills. When we started out, we rode along Racquette Lake, and I got to see some the other scenery around the lake.

We took a short break at Blue Mountain Lake, ducking under a gazebo, to get out of the rain, for a few minutes. We rode through numerous high-end resort areas, as we ambled down the route. Are there enough of them to support all the people in the northeast US who night want to enjoy a quiet lake vacation? I doubt it.

In Long Lake, we stopped for second breakfast at The Park. We were soaking wet, but the rain had slowed, briefly, so we could sit out in the open, but it was chilly. If we had known this was going to be the last food we would see for 5 hours, we would have bought more than beverages and/or ice cream. Later, I was starving, and towns with food were non existent. Mind you, I always have cookies, Sweet & Salty Bars and M&Ms, in my feed bag, but after a while, I need some REAL food, as in protein, fruits and vegetables.

While waiting for Chris and Ed to finish their break, I started getting cold, and the owner of The Park saw me shivering. So she offered to let me come into the kitchen and stand by the stoves to get warm, and I took her up on her offer. It was a little awkward, but I sure did appreciate her kindness and the warmth of that stove.

Somewhere in the hinterlands that we rode through, there was a little tiny market on the side of the road. Ed and Chris buzzed by it, but I was hungry and thought that maybe, just maybe it would have something simple to eat, like a hot dog or a frozen burrito, so I pulled over. Remember, it was still raining, and I was soaking wet, when I walked in the place. It was maybe 14′ x 14′, inside, and there were only a handful of items for sale–things like a few cans of food, fancy gourmet chocolate bars, and soft drinks–nothing of substance. I spoke to the gal, who was the owner/operator, and she told me that the only food between there and where we were staying, was a gas station convenience store about 25 miles up the road, and Paradox Brewery another .5 miles further.

Ed circled back, to see if I had scored any food at the market, and I told him about the food up ahead. He sped off, and I didn’t see him again, until I pulled into that gas station convenience store. Remember, we were all soaking wet, and it was still raining. Ed and Chris were just as hungry as I was, and they had bought food for now and food for dinner at the motel. I went inside and did the same, then we pulled out of the parking lot together, with just a couple of miles left to go, to get to our motel–so we through.

About a mile down the road, we ran into the Paradox Brewery, and believe me–it was a paradox! Standing, in the middle of nowhere, was a large multi million dollar building, with its own very large outdoor party tent, equipped with big screen TVs. The huge parking lot was packed with cars, and inside, probably 80-100 people were eating pizza, drinking beer and other beverages, playing board games, or just hanging out. Unbelievable! Unless these people were all local, how did they even know about this place? And if they were local, where did they all come from, and why were so many of them hanging out in a brewery in the hinterlands in the middle of the day?

It didn’t matter to us. We took off our wet rain gear and drug our wet bodies into the place, and even though we had just eaten, we ordered the biggest pizza they had–an extra large buffalo wing pizza and beverages. The pizza was tasty, but super greasy. We chowed down on it anyway, and now we were REALLY full. After donning our wet rain gear, we continued down the road another mile to our motel.

Each of us had a separate room, so we could have space to dry all out gear, and with the owner’s permission, we used her hose to wash all the grit and mud off our bikes and gear, before takin them into our rooms. I borrowed a hair dryer, at the front desk, to dry the things that were really REALLY wet, like my cycling shoes and the insides of a couple of my paneers. Once I was clean and warm, I climbed between the sheets and took a nice, long nap, then woke up and worked on my blog for a while.

47.22 Miles / 3579.83Total Miles

2034 Ft. Elevation Gain / 112,565 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

While we were tucked away–dry, warm, safe and sound, last night, the forecasted rain arrived on schedule, at 3 AM. We woke up at 5:30 AM to get ready for the day. With access to a kitchen, fixing breakfast was a breeze. The weather forecast for today was showing a full day of rain. You know, I’m from Arizona, and I would NEVER ride a bike in the rain–normally. But we have a schedule to keep, and who knows how many days of rain there will be. We can’t really stop to wait it out, if you know what I mean. As we pulled out of Stysh’s Brown Barn, we were completely rain suited up, and it was drizzling. And it continued to rain and drizzle through the entire day.

When we got to Thendara, it was time for second breakfast, so we pulled into a convenience market, that turned out to be a convenience market on steroids. It had fresh pastries and baked goods, gourmet sandwiches, breakfast sandwiches, and all kinds of hot and cold beverages, I was completely soaked, cold and shivering, so being indoors helped–a little. I ordered a huge sandwich, but could only eat half of it. And while I was eating that half, the rain turned to a torrential downpour.

We looked at the radar of the storm, and the heavy rain was going to pass us, within the hour, so we decided to hunker down, under the large covered outdoor dining area, and wait it out. And while waiting it out, we booked rooms at Raquette Lake Hotel & Tap Room, so we could dry ourselves, our clothes, bikes and gear out, and be ready for another day of cycling tomorrow.

When the rain throttled back to a drizzle, we started riding again. Everything around us was wet and getting wetter, including us, our phones and our gear, so it was hard to take photos. But there have to be photos, right? We were cycling on a scenic byway through the Adirondacks, and that cannot be forgotten.

Our rooms were above the Tap Room and General Store. We had everything we needed, right there, in that building. I ate the other half of my sandwich, from our morning convenience store stop, for lunch, then went down to the Tap Room for dinner.

After dinner, the rain died down to a very light drizzle, so I was able to walk around a little and check out the lake. Raquette Lake used to be a vacation hot spot for the Carnegies and other ultra rich industrialists, and I can see why. It is a very peaceful, beautiful, friendly place. After my little walk, I stopped by the General Store to get myself a couple of scoops of ice cream, and headed up to bed. With no TV, WIFI, or phone service, I was guaranteed a long restful night.

72.9 Miles / 3257.67 Total Miles

1693 Ft. Elevation Gain / 102,487 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

52.40 Miles / 3532.61Total Miles

2710 Ft. Elevation Gain / 110,531 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

Kit and Lou–I love you the most! Thank you so much to giving this birthday girl the gift of sleeping in a bed, indoors, last night. I slept so well, and while the guys were taking down wet tent rain flys and footprints, this morning, I was stuffing my silk sleeping bag liner back into its dry little stuff sack with ease.

We got on the road a little later than usual, because we could–we had a shorter day ahead of us. Our first stop was a diner in Pulaski. While waiting for breakfast, we checked the weather forecast, and it was a definite for rain tonight. Before looking for a motel, we put a call in to Can, our campground host at Stysh’s Brown Barn Campground, to see if he had a pavilion we could sleep under, to keep us out fo the rain. He said no to the pavilion, but told us we could sleep in the barn they use for events. We were wondering if there were animals in the barn, or if it was strictly for people.

We spent the majority of the day climbing Tug Hill, which is really a region, not a hill. Located between Lake Ontario and the Adirondack mountains, Tug Hill is 2100 square miles of heavily forested land with the highest amount of snowfall in the Eastern US and the lowest concentration of people. There were a lot of snowmobiles parked outside homes and signs for snowmobile routes.

The scenery of the day was typical–forests and lots off little towns, almost all with a veterans memorial monument of some kind. Nothing in particular stood out, but maybe I’m not paying as close of attention to the scenery, after over 2 months of riding through it. We planned for lunch in Osceola, the mid point of our ride, but when we arrived Osceola, all the businesses in town were closed–yes, all of them. We also needed a restroom, and were lucky to find a nice, clean outhouse behind the one business that was just closed for the day–not permanently. We took a break to eat, drink, rest and talk to a few of the people, nearby, then we pushed ahead to West Leyden, a much bigger town, that we hoped would have at least one restaurant.

When we got there, I stopped to ask a local what our food possibilities were, and he pointed down the street to the Milk Plant Tavern. Two minutes later, we were parking our bikes and heading indoors. Inside were a lot of friendly local folk, who looked like they were regulars, there, and several of them were interested in our ride. All 3 of us ordered the daily special, which was all-you-can eat spaghetti for $4.00. What a deal! But, of course, there were meatballs and beverages, and since it was my birthday, yesterday, I ordered a piece of pie for dessert. The service was great, and the food hit the spot.

After lunch, we only had only 10 miles left to go. When we arrived Boonville, we headed over to the TOPS grocery store, to pick up needed supplies, as well as food for dinner. Then we followed Google Maps to our campground. The app provided a couple of routes for bicycles, so naturally, I picked the shortest one, and we were surprised to again be on the tow path of a 19th century canal.

This canal, the Black River Canal, connected the Black River, which runs through Boonville, to the Erie Canal. In its day, the canal had a world record 109 locks, 70 of which raised boats up a 693 foot gorge, and 39 that lowered them down a 386 foot descent. It was a very complicated engineering feat and construction project, due to the terrain, the types of soil involved, and the water levels of the bodies of water being connected. I found the image below online, so you can see how multiple locks were built in succession to accomplish a big rise or drop in the terrain. Fascinating stuff, eh?

The map then took us off the canal and onto a little country road that took us to Stysh’s, and our barn awaited us. And it was a HUGE barn, where a large wedding party had been held the previous night. We were offered the entire upstairs, to sleep in, then downstairs were the bathrooms, showers, a large fully stocked kitchen and an even larger recreation and game area. It was cool, in the basement, but upstairs, was pretty steamy, till the sun went down, so we only set up our sleeping zones in the area that had large fans. We prepared dinner in the kitchen, sat at the tables to work on our blogs, and had a nice quiet evening–tucked away safely in the barn, with everything we needed to be comfortable for the night.

The torrential downpour hit during the night and lasted for hours.

74.58 Miles / 3480.21 Total Miles

3445 Ft. Elevation Gain / 107,821 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

Today is my 65th birthday and Ed and Dianne’s 40th wedding anniversary. There may be a party, later, but today, there was some cycling to be done. Turning 65 is just a matter of survival, but staying happily married for 40 years, isn’t just about surviving. Both partners really have to work at it. I am really happy for Ed and Dianne and this milestone they have attained. Congratulations, to both of you!

Today was just another ordinary day on the road. Other than the two special events, it was typical of all the days lately, with lots of beautiful scenery, long miles, hilly roads, and a lot of little towns, resort areas and veterans memorials. Two things stood out, though. (1) We passed a lot of apple orchards and tree farms, and (2) We had more amazing Warm Showers hosts.

We were pretty wasted, when we pulled in to Kit and Lou’s place, just south of Pulaski. Kit pretty quickly had a pitcher of ice cold water out for us, as well as fresh pineapple, and cheese and crackers. She showed us where to dry our wet tents, from last night, let us do a load of laundry, brought out the bleach so we could get the grunge out of our bottles, and, special for my birthday, she let me sleep in a bed in the house, which was wonderful. While Kit and Lou worked together to prepare and serve up an amazing, delicious feast, we got to love on their dogs–Blue and Asker. Kit and Lou: Thank you so much for your generosity and amazing hospitality. You are awesome hosts!

69 Miles / 3405.63 Total Miles

1148 Ft. Elevation Gain / 104,376 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

Boy did it rain, last night! A storm snuck up on us just after midnight, while we were sleeping. And again, we had thunder and lightening striking almost simultaneously, which, as you know, is not a good thing. It was hot and humid when I went to bed, so I was stretched out in my skivies with my rain fly openings up to let as much air as possible flow in. When the rain started pouring in, I had to be quick at getting the tent buttoned up tight. By the morning, the rain fly was still wet, but the skies had cleared, and the air was fresh, and it was cool and dry out–as in little to no humidity. What a treat.

Changing the topic, briefly, let’s talk about Gloria and her cooking. This morning, she prepared two different varieties of Dutch Baby pancakes–one with sliced apples, and the other, a chocolate pancake with cherries. They were scrumptious! And that was breakfast–not dessert. Dutch Babies are my favorite menu item at my favourite breakfast spot, Original Pancake House, next to Scottsdale Fashion Square, in Arizona. Note to self: I need to treat myself to breakfast there ASAP, when I get home.

Following breakfast, Gloria and Darrel pulled out their electric assist recumbent trikes and led us out of their neighborhood and through the first 15 miles of our route. We continued along the Erie Canal, but that smooth limestone cinder path, that we flew down, yesterday, was now soaked with water, and we were bogged down for the first few hours of the day, as we dodged deep puddles, and frequently had to ride up on the grass to avoid getting mired in mud. Luckily, no one fell, but I can tell you that I had a few close calls. At one point, the puddles were so bad, that Darrel guided us down sides streets, for a few miles, to avoid them.

We met up with a super cool granddad, who had his two grandsons, ages 11 and 13, out on their first bike tour, covering a long section of the Erie Canal. I was impressed with how engaged the boys were in the logistics of their ride and in finding their way. They rode with us for a while, and when we stopped for second breakfast, they joined us at Tom Horton’s. While we were stopped, Gloria and Darrel let them try out their recumbents.

After second breakfast we stopped for photos, then parted ways with Gloria and Darrel, and they headed home. They have absolutely been the best at looking out for us, and we truly appreciate it. When I get home, I’m going to put Gloria’s phone number on speed dial, so I can get recipes from her.

At our lunch stop, Fairport, we encountered our first bridge being raised, to let a tall boat pass beneath. A boat ride down the canal would be fun, if I ever get back this way.

After lunch, I met up with a gal named Heidi, as we left our lunch spot, and we rode together for about 1/2 hour. In 18 months, when she retires, she plans to do some long bike tours, so she had a lot of questions. And I had a lot of ideas and suggestions for her. Heidi told me about a song, about the Erie Canal, that all the kids at her elementary school had to learn, and she sang it to me. It was hilarious. We sped up to catch up to Ed, so he could hear it too. Any woman who is willing to bust out in song with a stranger, is my kind of girl. Heidi, you need to reach out to me, when you get around to doing one of those bike tours. I would love to join you.

And finally, we came up on a lock that we could see up close and personal. Earlier in the day, we encountered a lock that was in service, lowering a boat, but there was such a large fenced barrier, that we couldn’t get close enough to see anything. We could actually ride our bikes over this one, and we did.

In Palmyra, our route exited the canal path and headed north toward Lake Ontario, with 20 steady miles of headwind blowing off the lake, to humble us and zap our energy.

When we reached Lake Ontario, in Pultneyville, we turned east and sailed to our campground, Hughes Campground and Marina. The owner led us out to a remote grassy spot adjacent to both the marina and the lake, where we had plenty of room to spread out and our own gazebo that we strung 3 clotheslines across to dry wet laundry.

Our gazebo is in the background below, and this large anchor was close to our picnic table. If you zoom in on the plaque, in front of the anchor and boulder, you’ll see that it is the headstone of the dad of the owner of the campground. That’s one heck of a grave marker, don’t you think?

78.96 Miles / 3336.63Total Miles

741 Ft. Elevation Gain / 103,228 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

Once again, we got an early start to allow time to work our way through 70+ miles of riding. We picked up the same bike path that led to our hotel and the falls, and continued on it for 6 miles, as it followed the Niagara Gorge on our way out of Niagara Falls. The roar of the falls could be heard for a few miles.

When we got off the bike path, we had a nice tailwind pushing us down roads that led us past rural areas and through a section of Indian reservation to Lockport, where we planned to get second breakfast. As we pulled into the downtown area, we ran into a couple of the many bicycle tourists we would see, today, who were on shorter trips. As I spoke with the wife, I looked down and noticed that my phone was not on its mount. Not this again!

The phone mount is finicky, and I have to fiddle with it every time I attach my phone to my bike, which happens every time I take a photo. The problem is, it can seem attached, but not be, so I usually twist and pull on it, before assuming it is attached, and I apparently did not do that at my last stop, where I had taken a photo of the sign leading into Lockport.

So while Ed and Chris ate their second breakfast and kicked back, I peddled like a maniac to backtrack 4-5 miles to look for it. It could have fallen anywhere I rode. The entire ride, I was thinking through my options. What if I could not find it? Or what if it fell on the road and was crushed by a vehicle? None of them were good. I backtracked all the way to the location of the photo and starting riding back toward Lockport, and then–dah dah DAH–I found it!!! It had fallen off and bounced into some grass, so it thankfully did not get crushed by a vehicle or picked up by a passer by.

I sent a text message to Ed and Chris and told them I had found my phone and to go on without me, as I didn’t want to hold them up further. When I pulled back into Lockport, there they were–waiting for me.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat and using the restroom at a convenience market, I was ready to go again, but not rested in any way. We found a ramp to take us down to a canal, and started following a bike path that ran adjacent to it. And it was at about this point that I realised we were going to be riding on the towpaths of the Erie Canal today and tomorrow. I really had no idea that was happening on this trip. I remember learning about the Erie Canal in all my elementary school history classes, but now I was seeing it first hand. What an amazing engineering feat it was, in its time, and now, in our time, the former tow path is an amazing bike and pedestrian path.

The first order of business was following the guys past a tiny Erie Canal museum and the actual canal lock at Lockport. These are the types of places where I normally would stop, but I had already held the guys up for over an hour, so I didn’t feel like I could stop and hold them up further. But wait. I had messaged them–actually twice–and told them to ride on without me, and they chose not to. For me, there was no reason to fly past things of interest, just to make good time, but I had already missed a museum and the first canal lock to do that. So the ride along the canal got off to a weird start.

If, like me, you can’t remember what you learned about the Erie Canal, back in elementary school, a refresher follows.

The first few miles of the canal tow path were paved, then it turned into a super smooth cinder path, except for the high traffic areas around bridges, that were paved. I normally don’t like riding my bike on surfaces with loose stone, because my tires have very little tread, so they can easily lose traction, which could lead to a fall, and I don’t like falling. But this path was different. It was hard packed, with just a light layer of cinder, and my bike rolled nicely and felt stable, as I rode down it.

Boats can enter the canal from the Hudson River and other canals that connect to this one, so throughout the day, a variety of boats passed by.

In Middleport, I caught up to the guys, and we stopped for a delicious lunch at Alternative Grounds Cafe. The people in this town were so nice! And curious. Several of them asked about our bikes, trip and/or brims. We seriously get more questions about our DaBrims, than anything.

And Ed, who badly misses his standard poodle Clancy, made friends with a golden doodle named Cadberry, who just wanted to love on Ed.

The bridges over the canal can all be raised to allow taller boats to pass under them. There are state employees whose job is to respond to calls from boaters for the bridges to be raised.

Ed and Chris were long gone, when I got to Brockport. I used Google Maps to find my way to the home of Gloria and Darrel, our Warm Showers hosts for the evening. Their home backs up to the canal and is just a couple of blocks from the quaint downtown area.

Gloria is a gourmet cook who loves entertaining, so she had cold beverages and fresh watermelon out, when I arrived, and was working on a dinner feast in her kitchen. She had graciously invited our friends Dee and Lee Staley, who we met on the second night of our trip, at Colonial Creek Campground in Washington, to join us for dinner, but only Dee was going to be able to make it..

We set up our tents in the back yard, cooled off on the patio and took showers. And just as I was about to have my turn in the shower, Dee arrived. It was so great to see her! She and I made a connection, back in Washington, and we picked right up where we left off. I had been struggling with some issues, and she was a lifeline for me, with her encouragement and advice, and I really appreciated it! Thank you, Dee, for taking the time to drive down from Rochester to spend time with us. I loved every minute of it, and look forward to meeting up with you again in the future. We will make it happen!

Gloria and Darrel are amazing hosts. She served up a wonderful dinner, and both of them entertained us with their many interests and exploits. After dinner, I walked into town with them to get some ice cream, and we took a nice stroll along the canal path. Thanks Gloria and Darrel for making this such an enjoyable evening and for your kindness and generosity and above all, your most excellent hospitality. Let me know, if you are ever heading my way. I will do my best to reciprocate,

It was time for a day off–most definitely. I went to bed pretty early, last night, and set an alarm, in case I completely forgot to wake up, but alas, I didn’t need it. I think I slept till 7:30, then fixed myself some oatmeal with the coffee maker, and got ready to take a walking tour of Niagara Falls State Park. The three of us went to the park together, and headed straight for the Maid of the Mist boat excursion.

We were directed to the observation tower, to catch an elevator down 200 feet to the river level, where we were given rain ponchos to wear, before we boarded the boat. I’ve been to Niagara Falls 2 other times, but never taken this boat ride, and for the life of me, I don’t know why I didn’t. It was a blast! The boat took us right up to the American Falls, and let us get thoroughly misted. I thought that might be all we got, out of the tour, but it wasn’t. Our boat captain took us further down to the Canadian Falls, and yes, without a Covid test, we crossed over into Canadian waters, for a few minutes, to ride right up into the horseshoe shaped falls for a few minutes. And we got up close and personal with the falls–really REALLY personal. It seemed like we were just a few feet from where the 600,000 gallons of water per second crash into the river below, and it was deafening, and you could barely see ahead of you, due to the mist. I wasn’t scared, but I’m sure there were people on the boat who were.

Once we survived the boat tour, we walked over the pedestrian bridge to Goat Island, to do the Cave of the Winds ‘tour’. There, you again take an elevator down–this time, 175 feet, don another poncho and some Made-in-China sandals, then walk down several wet, mossy flights of wooden stairs to platforms where you get soaked and blown to smithereens by the gusts of mist generated by the falls. I watched Ed get completely soaked and blown and decided–no way am I doing that! And no one twisted my arm, so I just watched and laughed as other people got blown around like little puppets. I will never forget or not laugh, when I think of the images of the people I watched get soaked and blown. I’ll put that on my list of things I never want to do–right up there with bungee jumping.

After the Cave of the Winds, we had pretty much seen it all, so we caught a ride share up to a corner with grocery and drug stores, and knocked out a little shopping. On the way back, our Uber driver was taking forever to make an 11 minute drive to pick us up. A closer look at the map, Uber provides, showed he was stuck on the Canadian side of the border. We could have waited all day, for him. About the time we figured this out, a taxi pulled up to take some grocery shoppers home. When I asked the driver how much it would cost to get a taxi to our hotel, and he said “About $7.” Whoa. That is way cheaper than our Uber was going to cost. He ordered us up a taxi, and it arrived about 15 seconds later.

Then we headed back down to the Hard Rock Cafe, for lunch. After lunch, it was time for a little siesta, then a call to one of my sisters. The siesta was amazing! I rested up, with hopes that I would be able to catch up on my blog, this evening, but we know that will probably never happen.