And we are off!

 

First Day! Left a couple hours later than I wanted, and given the temperatures on Wednesday, 22 May 24, that was not good as temperatures rose to mid-summer levels.  Pedaling in upper 80's F was draining.  Carrying supplies for a year has made my bicycle heavy and riding Route 7 up Martin Hill with such a load was every bit as bad as I expected.  Riding down the other side was a pleasure!  I crossed the Susquehanna at Nineveh (picture looking down the river from the bridge) and rode the back road all the way to Sidney.  It became obvious I would not make it to the campground I had set as my destination, so in Bainbridge I called the Hampton Inn in Oneonta to see if they had rooms available if I made it that far.  Kerry told me that they did.  Bad luck in Sidney - my rear rack rotated off the back of my bike!!  I was able to get it re-mounted and started off for Oneonta and had an unwanted noise.  It was my rear fender scraping the rear tire because of the rack failure.  I decided to have dinner and see about finding a place to buy some zip-ties.  I asked the gentleman at the next table if he knew of a place that would have zip-ties and he said "no", but thought he had some.  He ended up giving me two, and I was able to fix the fender issue.  I decided it was too late to ride to Oneonta and headed to the Super 8 Motel in Sidney.  There I found out that they were experiencing a Spectrum failure and had no internet, no TV and, since the system was down, couldn't even tell me what a room would cost, Off to Oneonta at a hour when I should have been done for the day.  I ended up riding for about an hour after dark - which I had wanted to avoid doing at all on this trip.  The day ended well - Kerry, the evening clerk I had talked with on the phone, and Anthony Forte, the night manager, were great when I explained what my ride was all about, and ended up giving my room for free! Good ending to a fairly trying first day.

 

Day 2

I slept about 9 hours and got up fairly late.  Breakfast was over by the time I left the Hampton Inn, so I asked about a good place to have breakfast and was told Nick's Diner.  If you're ever in Oneonta and want a good breakfast, to to Nick's Diner.  Outstanding breakfast.  I decided (my legs helped me make my decision - they made it clear they weren't up for a long day) that I would just try to get to the campground I was aiming to make on day 1.  Back roads into the Catskills and riding along Charlotte Creek (picture) was pretty and peaceful.  Legs were not happy with the rolling terrain but it was short day and I made it to the campground in good shape.  Ordered dinner from a place that delivered, and had a short chat with the fellow veteran (ex-Marine) that brought the food.  New tent and camping gear worked like a charm.  I zonked out early and got another good night's sleep.