The New Fellowship

On the morning of the 7th of June, I awoke on a spring mattress with a sleeping bag and no pillow in an empty second story room. My friend Lenny, who had been bundled up in his own sleeping bag next me at the beginning of the night, had retreated to the floor. I couldn't tell if it was the springs that made him switch or my smell. We were about to start another day of touring.

Now, there were four of us. We had a nice breakfast of oatmeal, finishing off what we had and with more to spare. Stefano wasn't going to waste any of it though - we would eat oatmeal out of a plastic bag later that day. Luckily though, Stef also brought the m&m granola, which mixed well.

We packed up our bikes, still unsure of our little group and how it would fare together for the next few days, which were bound to be hard ones. We headed into Ithaca commons once again to return some bike peddles. Again, my expectations were shot as we spent the next three or four hours doing different errands in order to get our bikes into good working order.

Errands. The bane of any bike tour. Lenny had to repack some bearings. Stef had to retrue wheels. And I had no glasses. Which was really getting to me - not being able to see makes a tour kind of flat. So, in the mean time, i was making all sorts of calls. There was some time, however, for some yoga and tai chi, which was very refreshing. And of course some big burritos from the mexican place on the corner. 

Heading out of Ithaca, our wheels turned slow, going up the hill out of the gorges. Mentally, physically, and emotionally drained from the morning spent getting no where and the slow climb out of Ithaca, we stopped along the way to see the Taughannock Falls. Even in my state of apparent discomfort and frustration, the falls opened up a little light of love - for us all I'm sure. 

We spoke with some locals who told us about some of the roads on our way to Buffalo who suggested taking the Eerie canal bike trail. There are so many people on this trip, benefactors, who are so willing to help and ask questions. Its a great reminder of how cool we really are to be doing this. 

We picked up the pace however and made our way up into the Finger Lakes, starting with Seneca Lake. After a nice meal of macaroni salad and left over oatmeal, we booked it up into Samson State Park on the lake, where camping's only 15 dollars and you get free cliff crunch bars for just showing up.

A incredibly helpful man named Jerry later came out to give us a load of tips : where to get free fire wood, information about our neighbors from Montreal, where to get into the lake, information on where the white deer like to roam, and a nice route out of the camp in Geneva. 

And of course, on our way out, we did see some wildlife. Well, I guess I shouldn't say we since everything was still a blurry haze to this glasses-less cyclists, but Lenny, Lee, and Stef got to see a beautiful blue bird. 

We took our time setting up camp, again learning the different roles and how to work together. We all went down to the beach where we dunked into the cold, cold water and skipped some stones and sat in peaceful awe and enjoyment. We gathered some driftwood, I carrying an enormous piece all by myself because I'm just that badass and obnoxious, and began chopping for the fire with Stef's handy dandy hatchet. 

While cooking our meal of rice, beans, onions, and peppers that evening, we played a small game of poker. Lee spoke with the people from Montreal and we were able to afix a hanger for our pot to boil rice over the fire. After we were satiated, we pulled in for the evening.