Day 11

Stats
Net Elevation gain: -20 ft.
Average Speed: 8.1 mph
Top Speed: 27.7 mph
Time spent biking: 6 hours 2 minutes
Total time for the day's travels: 10 hours
Miles biked today: 49.3
Total for trip: 423.9 miles

We had our earliest start of the trip this morning, leaving the house by 7:20 A.M! This is really exciting, as we've been hoping to leave earlier every day. We both slept well and ate a good breakfast of yogurt, granola, fruit and left over pizza before we got on the bike. It was a beautiful day for riding and our rain coats stayed packed the whole day.

A yummy breakfast at 7:00 A.M.!

A train, a train! We even saw two at once (in opposite directions)!

We were amazed how quickly the miles piled up in the morning. We headed North on Rt 14 out of Geneva, and then west on Rt. 31 before making an educated guess and finding the well-maintained tow paths along the Erie Canal. Before noon we had biked over 25 miles! Once on path we were free of cars and things seemed easier, but the path is not paved in that region, so it might have been a bit slower than normal. More than anything, though, we've found that the terrain matters less than how we FEEL (about the terrain, or just in general).

A cute billboard before we got the Erie Canal.

Brett points to our current location on the map of the Canalway Trail.

Jenny enjoys the greenery along the trail.

While we were taking a break on the path, Brett took a few minutes and called his mom. It makes us happy to stay connected to our family and friends, especially when we can't update the blog every day. We may even talk to some members of our family more when we're out here than we do from home!

Brett takes time to stretch. It seems to be helping, as the knees are holding up.

We stopped for lunch at the Muddy Waters Cafe, just off the canal path. It was really hot, so it was nice to get a chance to go inside and drink ice water and eat some nice sandwiches. In the restaurant and along the path, we talked with so many friendly people about our trip.

A neat shot while riding! Yet another advantage of the tandem.

Along the path we found black raspberries, but they weren't ripe yet. Soon we'll find some that are, we hope! The path alongside the Erie Canal is really relaxing and fun. It's not quite as flat as we had guessed, but it sure beats hills! Also, at one point, across the canal from Fairport, we stopped under some trees to escape the sun for a bit. We opened up the computer and amazingly found wireless Internet! It was so nice to be able to check our email and work on the blog while resting outdoors in the shade at the same time.

Shade *and* Internet? A happy Jenny!

Beautiful berries, but not quite ripe yet.

As we neared our destination for the night, we saw nine cute baby ducklings in the canal. Soon after, we crossed a bridge into Pittsford, NY where Jenny's friend Denise lives.

Cute ducklings and their mama.

We found Denise's house but she and her boyfriend Aaron were out at a wedding for the evening, so we biked a short distance into town to find some dinner. We ate pizza (Jenny) and a tuna sub (Brett), and then went back to set up the tent, take a shower and brush our teeth, write Denise a poem, and head to bed. On our way to the tent in the backyard, we noticed that her moon flower had opened! What a nice way to end the evening.

Brett relaxes after a shower.

A beautiful moon flower opened just for us!