Hyde park to Congers

We got up at 630 this morning. We had to go over a bridge 6 miles from camp that didn't open till 7am. So we weren't in a big hurry. 

The bridge was awesome. No traffic and a beautiful view. 

Right over the Hudson 

It's not exactly a small river. 

We got over the river and onto a trail. It used to be a train line. 

This was at the road where we came out. 

We had lots of big hills to climb today. It was not what I expected. 

The scenery was great and I expected to ride in the suburbs of the city but it was more like the mountains in Colorado. 

We climbed this long hill and celebrated at the top. 

We went across the hyway and took a pic of the awesome view. Jumped back on our bikes and found out that around the corner after a little down hill it went right back up. I actually laughed out loud. 

We finally went down hill and this is Jane screaming down the hill in front of me. 

This little motel was at the bottom of the hill. It looks right out of the fifties. 

We came to a bridge and off to our left was a bridge and the river. 

If you look closely you can see both the seatosea trucks on the bridge. They just happen to be driving over as we were driving over our bridge. Cool or what. 

Here's a couple of anchors along the shore. 

A bunch of warriors at carries sag stop. Probably the last sag stop of the tour. 

We celebrated with a little mc Donald's. 

another big climb.  

Just before camp we met up with Allen. 

We set up camp right on the water. I new we were in camp when I heard the train go by on the other side of the lake. It's just fitting for there to be a train on the last day. Well thanks for following along on this journey. I've had a great time sharing it with everyone. Talk to you tommorow   Len. 

Today bonus pic is a Buick la salle I saw along the way. It was under a car port so the lighting wasn't the greatest.    

Albany to Hyde park

I think some habits are hard to break. At six were up and getting ready to go.  Staying at the YMCA meant we got a few     Luxuries. Hot showers. A pool to swim in. A hot tub. We even had a spinner in the change room to dry tour bathing suit. 

Riding along this morning we saw something we usually don't see. Our shadows. Most times we were always going in a direction that we don't see it. 

We biked along the river for a while this morning. 

The views were spectacular. However in order to get a good view you must climb. 

And climb we did. Lots of climbing today. 

Came across a bunch of signs. This one struck me because we are following the Hudson River. 

We went past a surprising amount of farms and orchards today. 

We met another couple from Switzerland. I invited them to our sag stop and we chatted for a while. They started in Seattle so they didn't go through the heat we did. 

We went past some nice old farms. 

I think in their day these farms we important to the communities along the river. 

Billy's always out the looking out for us and checking up on us. Nice job billy. Billy didn't just ride the whole way, he goes back and forth all day. I think he did  10 times the distance. 

We came to the best sag ever. Got some water and kissed the driver. 

A little later we came past a county fair. I mean nothing says a fair like a Ferris wheel. 

I thought we'd be riding in more suburbs. I wasn't expecting farm country. See the horse in the distance. 

We went past the Vanderbilt estate. I think they had money because this place was not spectacular. 

We made it to camp and are chilling out. Cold showers , a pool we can't use. It looks clean but it has " no chlorine". I thinks that's local for we don't want you in our pool. It's kinda like bringing out a bunch of freshly baked cinnamon rolls and saying don't touch. There just for looking. 

Good thing our ladies in the kitchen are so awesome. It makes us forget about the pool. Off to set up the tent. Len 

Today bonus pics are a couple of trucks we saw along the way. 

Whitehill to Albany YMCA

We stayed at the marina RV park last night. Everyone went to bed early last night. They were all beat from all the hills yesterday. 

It was a little tight at the park. Carrie gets her ice in the morning and fruit. Then she heads out to whatever sag stop she is that day. 

The marina was at the edge of lake Champlain. The first lock of the Hudson River starts here. 

The first sag stop was busy. A little bit of a lineup for the crapper. 

On the way to the next stop we went through some construction and a few small towns. 

I saw this road sign today and figured they might have to change it at the end of the tour. 

We were in quite a group after the construction. The road was along side the river and we had a headwind. I saw this as an opportunity to get away from the pack. I took of with Harold and Jane in tow. We were going between 30-35 km per hour. George hooked on and so did two other guys. We went about 15 km. till we hit carries sag stop. 

She had a nice spot along the river.

We went back and forth over the rivers today. 

We stopped for coffee and hot chocolate.

Saw these cool bikes in this town. 

And a nice barn along the way. There was also corn but I figured you've seen enough corn for a while. I know I have. 

The next sag stop we saw the green shirts. Kinda cool because we're raising money for supplies so that these awesome volunteers can help people rebuild their homes and lives. 

And among the shirts we found my favourites, Lawrence and Marie. Thanks to them for being there and cheering us on. 

There are lots of old farts along the way, I mean forts and as I was taking a pic of this a young fellow came by and asked what's with all the bikers. 

We told him about it and gave him a seatosea bracelet. Neat kid. 

A minute down the road I got a flat. Now that a nail in your tire. There was only one thing to cure that. 

Yup you guessed it. A Big Mac. Ten minutes after leaving mcds I saw a nice mustang for sale. 

One minute after this pic I went through two pot holes that were 6" deep. Almost over the handle bars again. Water bottle went flying. My brake levers were forced down and my back tire locked up. I'm not sure why I didn't crash. Needless to say my neck is a little sore again 

Crossed another bridge. 

We biked on a trail along the river coming into Albany. By the look on Janes face she can't believe that were almost done 9 weeks of cycling. 

The last bridge for the day. This one was a high one. Nice view though. Climbing today wasn't bad but my body took a beating just the same. I wore my same jersey I wiped out on last week. I'm thinking I might retire that one. 

 See you all tomorrow. Len. 

Today's bounds pics are of an old gas station. 

This car would not look out of place on front of this gas station.