Day 64 - Sun, Jul 27, Utica to Amsterdam, NY

Day 64 - Sun, Jul 27, Utica to Amsterdam, NY

63.9 miles
4.07.16 st
15.5 avg
TTD-3222.67 mi

We woke up to thick fog and high humidity this morning. After breakfast we got on the road at 8:15.

We rode through a couple stretches that felt like we were on the movie set of “Deliverance” with the shacky houses and junky yards.

The road was great riding today – good shoulders, little traffic.

We purposely chose to continue on hwy 5 instead of getting onto 5S, the bike route, because of the three big hills on that one. We were glad we did because it was very enjoyable to ride. The road from Fonda to Amsterdam had a gradual climb up to Tribe Hill, but at the top it turned into newly constructed four lane all the way down with a 16 ft shoulder.

We checked into a motel in Amsterdam around 1:30. as the skies were darkening around us – again. The lady at the desk said it’s storming big time in Albany and is supposed to hit here. When we got to the room and turned on the weather channel, there was a severe storm warning flashing across the bottom of the screen.

Showers, journaling, then a walk. There’s really nothing around the motel for several blocks and what is here is closed. The library is only a block away. It’s Sunday so it’s closed and doesn’t open until 10:00 tomorrow morning. Isn’t that the way it goes.

This is a "self-portrait" of our reflection in the window of a business as we were riding by.

My favorite names for today: “Randazzo Road” and “Toot & Tell” grocery (??).

Just a couple of random observations:
In the west, the city signs are placed right at the edge of the city and they typically say just the town name and the population. Sometimes they’ll say “City of ____”. As we got into Michigan they said “Township of ____”. Ohio was the same. New York changed to “Village of ____” and the signs can be up to three miles out before coming to the actual town.

Churches. There are churches everywhere in the midwest and east. In Wisconsin, it seems like there’s a Lutheran church on every corner and a Catholic church on every other corner. In Michigan, we saw many, many Baptist and Evangelical churches. In Ohio, more Lutheran again, and in New York there are lots and lots of churches – Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Orthodox. The church buildings here are very old and quite beautiful.

New York's fire hydrants are green and yellow.

Into the mountains tomorrow,
Gerry and Pat