Day 58: Bryon to Romulus 122km Uphill 2889 ft Downhill 2991 ft

It’s amazing what one forgets; like what its like to pack up a wet, wet tent….unpleasant sums it up pretty good.

I should back track and add that last evening we were treated to some wonderful music. Some people that were staying in the RV camp belong to a 4 piece band and they just happen to have their instruments with them plus an extra violin for Vonda to use. Since the campground had already donated a bucket full of free firewood they thought why not add a sing-a-long. Small groups were cancelled and instead we enjoyed a variety of gospel (or should I say, gossip) music. They also played some lively tunes that made you want to get up and move around. The kitchen staff had purchased enough supplies for smores for everyone. So it was a true campfire experience. I went to sleep with the sound of music still playing in my mind.

As I stated earlier, it was a wet this morning. I managed to have everything packed up and ready to go on the bike shortly before 7a.m. The guys were already hanging over their handbars asking what took me sooooo long. Not to fear, as it turned out we waited around 4 minutes for Louie ……miscommunication as to where we were too meet. Oh well, better Louie than me!

We split up the pace line for safety reasons, so today I started out with Andy, Jake and Rick D from Hamilton. Barb, John, Gerry and Pete were always in our sight. Lunch is being served along the route by the East Palmyra CRC members, but it doesn’t start till 10 a.m. So we killed some time at a gas station drinking some coffee.

The route for the first part of the day was up and down. Wonderful to ride the hills down and then coast up the majority of the way up. It wasn’t difficult and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We are seeing a lot of dairy farms on our route today. Someone also mentioned that this area has a lot of high tech industry as well.

We were the first group in for lunch. What a spread! Coffee, cold drinks, sloppy joes on a bun, baked beans (not great when you’re at the back of the line….if you get my drift!). They also had a lettuce salad, pasta salad, fresh fruit and a ton of baked goods. We took a good bite out of the cherry cheese cake pan, everything tasted great. It was also good to visit with the people gathered there to support, cheer and feed us. I should add that some women started to talk to John Vandersteen and pretty soon I think they had come up with a way that they were related. Go figure, dutch bingo at it’s best! When we left the lunch spot it was Andy, Rick and I but we lost Rick when we stopped to talk to Andy’s son Chris and his wife (Amanda) with their two children. They stayed in the RV camp last evening and are traveling to the State park that we are staying at tonight. Julian is excited. He’s three and he has promised to set up Andy’s tent.

We caught up with the gang at a sag stop with under 15km to go. Andy, Pete and I started off before the rest because we said that they would catch up with us. I wish they had….instead we ended up missing the turn onto Lake Rd E and traveled to the town of Seneca Falls. We received several directions as to how to head back onto the right track. One got us onto a side road that started out paved and turned into gravel; very bumpy and slow going. We ended up flagging down a woman in a yellow mustang. Her was name Kathy Felis and she was very familiar with the area. She gave us great directions and told us a bit of history about the park that we are staying at. It used to be a military base and her dad actually bought one of the barracks and dismantled it for wood. Not too worry we only added an additional 30km to todays route. That translates to 153.3km and a total time of 5:47:22 on the bike. We weren't the only ones that did a bit extra mileage. Here the bikers are waiting for the gear truck and kitchen truck that got lost. The kitchen staff is busy peeling eggs for tomorrows egg salad that will available for us to pack in our lunches.

We are staying at Sampson State park. Lots of trees, a grassy site and an enclosed picnic shelter to eat in. It will probably get cool tonight, so great for sleeping. The tour technical support has told us that we will probably not have internet serviced for the remaining of the tour, very sad news for those of us who regularly blog. I’m feeling really good. The biking is not too much of a problem. After 4 hours it does get uncomfortable in the seat so tomorrow I’ll try to look out for those orange arrows that mark the route and maybe I should pull out my map once or twice rather than relying on the guys to get me there. Currently I’m sitting on an ice pack. The kitchen staff is generously allowing me to store it in their freezer so it’s ready to use whenever I need it.

Now it’s time to collect my laundry and make sure everything is set to go in my tent. Last evening when I went into my tent it was very dark so I put on my head lamp only to discover that the batteries had died. I hadn’t used it since my crash. It was very interesting smearing face cream on my face (was it really face cream or some form of butt butter?)

P.S. Marti DP (a cyclists) and her husband (he has been marking the route for the past couple of weeks) became Canadian citizens yesterday. Tonight they served cake to everyone. They also hung up that t-shirt that I quoted from in yesterday’s blog. It’s great to see how happy they are to be Canadians.

Till later, Cynthia