I Broke The Bed!

 

Let me just say that today was a great day for biking.  Kelli may feel a little differently, but overall I think everyone really enjoyed our ride to Liverpool.  For the first 26 miles we followed the Erie Canal which was just amazing.  There were so many cute communities and spectacular views that before I knew it we were leaving the bike path for the busy roads of New York.  Kelli didn’t appreciate the dirt trail and the sandy points that cause you to lose control of your bike, but she agreed that the views were worth it. 

 

 

While riding into our second stop I noticed an aircraft flying low to the ground and realized that it was a crop duster and he was dusting near the road.  I hoped to get a couple of pictures of the duster in action so I stopped to watch for a little while.  The pilot must have noticed that I stopped on the road because he flew right over my head and returned and gave me a little show.  He even dusted the same position three times so that I could get a good shot of him.  Unfortunately I didn’t get him in focus but you will see that he was close and that if I had a better camera I would have captured quite a shot. 

 

 

Some of the riders were a little worried about the ride since the staff had to add 10 miles to the route because of the location of our hotel.  Once you tell yourself that there are no more rides over 90 miles and then have a 95 mile day it kind of demotivates you.  Even though we had 95 miles to cover before calling it a day, Kelli was feeling strong and pushing me to go faster.  We were climbing rolling hills at 18 miles an hour and cruising on the down hills at about 25.  Kelli’s knee was giving her problems but at higher speeds the pain went away.  Regardless, Kelli and I were in the front of the group for most of the day.  We decided to stop in a small town to have lunch and boy was I happy we did that.  Kelli and I split a hamburger and buffalo chicken and ended our lunch with two desserts!  Now we did share the desserts with Diane (another rider) but I made sure not to let anything go to waste.  Now you know why I haven’t lost any weight. 

 

 

After arriving at our hotel Kelli and I quickly got all of our luggage to the room so that we could relax before attending our nightly meeting.  As I was laying on the bed Kelli asked me to move over.  Well, I guess the two desserts were too much for the bed to handle and it collapsed.  It was broken to the point that the hotel staff just gave us another room instead of trying to fix it.  Nothing says “go on a diet” like breaking a bed.  Good thing I’m not a quitter and will continue my splurge until the end of the trip. 

Semper Fidelis.