Day 56 - Jul 19, North East, PA to Hamburg, NY

DAY 56 - July 19, NORTH EAST, PA TO HAMBURG, NY

59.4 mi

3.28.43 st

17 avg

TTD-2865.13

“My Jesus, my Savior, Lord, there is none like You.

In every day I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love…

Shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing

Power and majesty, praise to the King!

Mountains bow down and the seas roar at the sound of Your name.

I sing for joy at the work of Your hand,

Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand.

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.”

These are the words the Lord kept bringing to my mind today as we pedaled along. He knew I would need the encouragement they would bring later in the day.

God woke us up just after 6:00 so we were up and packing shortly after. We went to the lobby to get “breakfast” (cereal, donuts (ugh), juice, milk) where a motorcyclist dude made it clear that he didn’t like bicyclists who ride in traffic. Instead of going back up to hwy 5, we stayed on 20, which turned out to be a good idea. The road was nice with a 8-10’ shoulder and hardly any traffic and we were able to cruise along at 18-20 mph. Riding this early on a Saturday usually insures that we’re on the road by ourselves at least for an hour or so. It’s fun to glide unnoticed through towns that are still asleep. The traffic didn’t start until we were close to Brocton where we took a break. When we got outside of Silver Creek, a highway patrolman had the road going into town blocked because of an 8K race going on. However, he let us go through and it was great having the road all to ourselves.

When we got into town, the last few runners were just coming into the finish line. The town square was filled with people and vendors and music and it reminded me of the times I ran in the Bridge to Braves 5K in Idaho Falls.

In the middle of town, we looked to the right and saw a VERY steep hill that we would need to go up and we just sighed. But...there was a truck alternate route that took us the other way... around that hill.

We talked about staying in Angola but, as we rode by, we decided to go on to Hamburg which would put us closer to Niagara Falls for tomorrow.

We rode by vineyards the entire way to Hamburg today. We saw signs for the Chautauqua Wine trail all along. Some of the winery names that I liked: “Sparkling Ponds”, “Butternut Hollow”, “Schloess Deopken ".

Outside of Hamburg we stopped at an RV place to ask about which way to go for a motel. They told us that we most likely wouldn’t get a room because there’s a bass fishing tournament this weekend. They were right. Gerry called several and they were full. One had a smoking room for $90+tax. Mmmmmm, not acceptable. He called up near Blasdell. Nothing. Our options were running out. Finally, he asked, “Is there any camping around?” The guy just looked at him, dumfounded. “Right out back.” You’re kidding. He wasn’t. Right out behind the shop was a campground with RVs. So that’s where we ended up. This was real hard for me because it was SO humid and we were both very tired and sweaty and in great need of some air conditioning. I had to push back tears a couple times.

Margaret took us out to find a spot (and to make sure we didn’t put our tent stakes through any water lines). Before we even got the tent up, Tom from next door, came over to see if we needed anything. He was VERY friendly and willing to give us anything. He offered to take us to town to the grocery store, he offered tools and he brought over a couple of patio chairs for us to use.

We finished setting up the tent then went to the shower trailer. This is a little trailer that has been divided into men's and women's shower rooms. They weren't too bad: roomy, with a RV toilet and a decent shower. But they were hot with not ventilation. Plus the shower didn't drain at all in the women's, so the floor tray filled up.

After the shower, we took everything out of BOB and headed into the village for the Burgerfest (This IS Hamburg, you know.) and some food. The village was about three miles. They had the main street closed off, there were vendors, a classic car show, a food court, a live band and a rummage sale going on.The first person that came up to us handed us a bottle of cold water and a salvation tract. We spent the next 20 minutes talking with Kevin, the pastor at the church right there. Another lady, Becky, came up and asked us about the bike and what we were doing and we talked with her for a few minutes also. We then found a grocery store and a place to eat on the other side of town. The sky was looking darker and darker so we hustled back to the campground. We were able to sit outside for only a few minutes before the raindrops started. I stayed out for about a half hour longer than Gerry because I was sitting under a tree. But I finally had to go inside; It was STIFLING in there. It stopped raining around 9:00. Gerry spent the time reading and I journaled and we made some phone calls. Then it was time to take a shower- again - before bed. (Hope you get a kick out of our laundry drying out - I didn't.)After we got situated in bed (which consisted of moving stuff away from the tent walls and getting just the bag liners under us), we settled down and tried not to sweat too much more. It rained, then it let up enough to allow us to get to sleep. Then it rained and woke us up. This went on all night so neither of us got a good night’s sleep. The good thing is that we know that everything has an end, and this would too.

We rode by several dog grooming businesses today. I liked the names of two of them: Puppie Detailing, Pawsitively.

I saw a lot of these trees alongside the road. I have no idea what they are but I like to think of them as being "fully-clothed". And, believe me, in these hot summer days, it's nice to see something fully clothed!Still and always in His hand,

Gerry and Pat