There was not a lot of services along our route today. We need to start carrying more food/water. We did not have a shortage of "up" however. Jeesh. I guess we are in the thick of the Adirondacks now. We did 3000 ft of climbing today.

We woke up at the Brown Barn to the sound of some very early morning birds in a very dense fog. Everything was pretty soaked. We made breakfast in the barn with Eric. We had picked up some eggs and boiled them the night before.

We left our Super 8 Motel after a SuperStart Breakfast. I thought it was good, the girls were not impressed. After a few hotels in a row, I am itching to camp. The hotels seem more cushy when deciding, but the camping experiences are what makes the better long term memories. The hotels all blend together in the mind.

I picked out a campground at just over 50 miles and confirmed it was on route and had showers. Perfect. We have not missed a nightly shower yet this trip. Amazing! The east half of Northern Tier is entirely different than the western half. We often have several options, rather than just one, for overnight stays.

Day 13 now has more information and pictures.

It is worth a look. I think it has our best pictures of the trip.

Thanks Dave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I added some pics and info to yesterday, day 18. Go check it out.

Going to take a shower now. I need it. Badly. The flies stopped bothering me so I knew it got bad.

July 9th, 2013.

We left town a bit later than we had liked, but at least we were done with the Erie Canal trail.....we sure feel like we had a short nights rest. The roads of NY are very heavily traveled, even on the back roads. Thankfully they have had full 3 to 5 foot shoulders in the areas with the most heavy traffic.

July 8th, 2013

Long day. No time for pics. Will update later. For now....

We left Middleport after a strange night. In the night the city siren went off from a building just next to our campsite. Chuck calls these brain melters.....indeed my brain melted. I scrambled to check the radar and saw nothing. The alarm continued for several minutes. Confused, we laid there listening to it blare. Eventually people started arriving in the parking lot. It was the ambulance crew; the alarm is used to call them in. They climbed into the city ambulance and sped away....and the siren subsided.

In the morning we said goodbye to Officer Swick, gave a donation to the park, and had breakfast at Darrels. Katie and I had an awesome breakfast....pics later.

I updated day 12 with more pictures and content. Click NT2013 above or to the left to see the menu for all days.

I sit here typing this with the Erie canal 12 feet behind me. Pretty neat...just read the wikipedia article about it.

Hopefully tomorrow we can do 110 miles and catch Sarah. I wonder how many gummy worms katie has to eat for that.

We miss Chuck, but he forgot a water bottle behind that we have now named Chuck.

My hotspot works a lot better here than in Ontario or Michigan. Hopefully I can be better about uploading photos.

Good night, it is 10:30pm here in Middleport on the Erie Canal.

July 7, 2013

After a wonderful rest day with Dee and saying good bye to Chuckwagon, we were awkwardly getting ready for our first day ever with such a small group. We have toured for probably 10 thousand miles together, and never had only 4 people. It sure feels strange.

Good bye Haven Motel. We won't likely find such a clean and affordable stop again.

We stopped at Katies least favorite place for breakfast, and Roger made friends like always. He is a magnet for strangers at McDonalds.

I added a ton of photos to day 11, our first day in Canada. Take a peek. Ferry, Lake Erie, strange signs, foreign country. We cut down from Lake Huron to Lake Erie in one day.