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.

Always look for - Read more - and click on it. It will open up the full blog. If there are pictures you will be able to see them all. Please remember, after biking sometimes 65 miles or more, (not necessarily in ideal conditions) Chris spends a lot of time uploading the pictures IF he can. They are camping a lot so they don't always have internet access. He updates days with pictures when he can. So watch the BentHub News at your Right. (Right now I see he has posted that he updated Day 11 with photos.) (Now click on) Read more........................................

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.

Chris, Laura, Katie, Chuck, and especially Roger...............Thank you for a wonderful visit. It was way to short, (24 hours to be exact) but very entertaining. I will never forget seeing Niagara Falls with 5 of my most favorite people; Roger, of course, is my most Bestest Favorite People. Have a great rest of your trip. I'll see you all on the flip side.

Day 13 - Leave Wisconsin, headed for Canada;
Day 14 - Arrive in Canada, meet up with my family - eat - Walmart run (really) - sleep;
Day 15 - Go see Niagara Falls (so amazing!!!!!) - load up Chuck and myself and leave for home;
Day 16 - Home.

Life of the Road-crew - 4 days of driving, 1696.0 miles (Now to get ready for the final pick up - Yup!!!)

It's all goood!!

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.

July 6, 2013

We woke up this morning in this nice, clean, yet crowded with bikes, motel room. I worried when I went to sleep last night that Chuck would step on me in the night in his venture to the WASHroom because I was sleeping at the foot of his bed, the only open floor space. But no, Chuck was courteous, Christopher kicked me. Other than that, excellent night of sleep.

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.

Pictures coming in a bit.....working on it.

July 5th, 2013

We woke up pretty early, eager to attempt to meet Dee in Fort Erie. The wind and hills and lack of sleep had slowed us down lately, but everything seemed to be turning in our favor. An awesome campsite at the Haldimand Conservation Area, tail wind, and smaller rolling hills......all waiting for us. We just had to move our stuff into the pavilion and pack while the rain stopped.

Everything near the lake seems to get damp and stay damp forever. It will perfect if we can find a nice hotel to dry out in.