125

Tuesday, October 7, 2008, Beaver Pond Campground, New York
We finally got to bed around 2:00 am the night before, so getting up early was hard, so we slept in till around 9:30. We all ate a big continental breakfast which the hotel provided. We got on the road before noon and the riding was pretty good until we got boxed in on a freeway. We ended up getting off, but it took us a while to figure out how to get to hwy. 202, the road we needed. Since we started so late and got lost, we didn't ride to much. A policewoman gave us directions to a campground a few miles away. What she didn't tell us was how steep the grade was. Flashbacks of Utah mountains best described the hill, and it took all of our effort to pedal. That's when Adriana mentions that the crank is starting to wobble again. NO, not again!! Yes. I walked the bike the rest of the way up the hill to the campground. We would have to remove the seats and drive the tandem to New York City tomorrow to have it fixed... again. Maybe we could do some sight seeing and kill two birds with one stone. The campground was beautiful, and the foliage was turning colors. We had our pick of camp sites since it wasn't the weekend and in October. 46 miles.

124

Monday, October 6, 2008, Best Western, near Orange, New York
A lot happened today. After packing up and getting ready to leave, we discovered that Willie's tire was flat again. While we were waiting for Willie to fix it, we had our Bible time. At around 10:30 we pedaled to a McDonalds and it occurred to me that they may have some leftover breakfast items they would like to get rid of. They did and we got them at half price since they were going to throw them out anyway. Because Willie's bike was getting so many flats, I decided to buy a couple new tires to replace them if he got another flat. The whole area leading up to New York City was pretty urbanized and congested, and we passed through some unsavory areas that I wouldn't want to be stuck in close to dark. No maps showed me how to pass safely through the city so I asked a bike shop. Nope, he didn't know either. All of the surrounding areas were seedy. It was getting close to 4:00 and we were too far away to pass safely through the city, so I decided to go around the city and when we got to the other side, we could drive back with the van and go sight seeing. So we headed west. We finally got out of the bad areas and I asked around about places to put up the tent for the night. No camping anywhere. Finally a guy told me about a wooded area that should be good for camping. It was a nice place with a grill and picnic table, pretty secluded too. We put up the tent and grilled up a bunch of chicken and turkey wings. By the time we were done, it was dark and the kids were talking in the van with the light on. Suddenly a police car pulls up and tells us we can't stay there. We explained the situation and he was sympathetic and let us stay, but "officially" told us to go, even though he wasn't going to come back to check. We went to bed late, after 11:00. After midnight, a sheriff car pulls up, then a couple more. To make a long story short, we ended up packing everything up after midnight and the sheriff escorted us to a Best Western, lights flashing. $150 a night. I was mad and wanted to ride to Connecticut through the night rather than pay that amount, but I did. The lady was going to charge us for two rooms because we had nine people, but she made the exception when we began to leave. 51 miles.

123

Well, I'm finally getting back to updating the blog. It's been almost two weeks! So much has happened. I don't know how long it's going to take to type it all in but I'll try not to leave too much out. We made it to Maine today and tomorrow we should be in Portland. I'll back up, though, and give you a day by day account as always.
Sunday, October 4, 2008, Battlefield Park in Princeton, New Jersey
Well we had a nice breakfast, said our goodbyes to the Foxes and tried to leave but Willies back tire wouldn't cooperate. We discovered it was flat right as we were ready to leave; once it was "fixed" we discovered it was still leaking. After fixing it a second time, we left, but Willie got another flat [The tires are getting thinner; that's part of the problem], so we fixed it in front of a church. Later in the day, Becky noticed that our back tire looked flat; she was right. It had developed a slow leak, so later I stopped to patch it. That's when Paul and Willie took a wrong road while no one was noticing. When we discovered they were not around, they had already gone three miles out of the way. One interesting place we went through was Washington's Crossing. It was were Washington amazingly crossed the Delaware River with his troops during the freezing cold winter and surprised the British in a nearby town and thus began the turning point for the better for the Americans during the Revolutionary War. A little history lesson for you. When we crossed the bridge into New Jersey, it was already getting late so we went another 15 miles to Princeton and began looking for a place to put the tent. We tried the Princeton Seminary, but no go. Next we went to the police station for help and they directed us to the battle field, which was dark and secluded. We ended up riding there in the night and set our tent up in the park where no one could see us. 55 miles.

122

Saturday, October 4, 2008, Cousin Mark Fox's house, Ardmore, Pennsylvania
We slept well in comfortable beds and I didn't get up till 8:30 to update the blog. Later in the morning, Mark gave me a tour of the area and bought us all some bagels and doughnuts. Then he beat me in a horseshoe type game in the backyard. We had a nice relaxing time resting. In the afternoon, Becky, John, and I rode the bikes from the police station to Mark's house, about 4 miles. Then Mark bought everyone Wendy's lunch. ...
Well, I never finished the day. It's been busy. For dinner that night, Mark picked up some pizzas and Kathy made some brownies and we had ice-cream too.

121

Friday, October 3, 2008, Cousin Mark Fox's house, Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Today we did quite a few things. We got up kind of early. Steve came by before work and gave us some jackets for the trip. Sarah, Vicky, John, and I went fishing in the morning. We caught some perch using bread. They bite pretty good in the pond using anything. Later in the morning we said goodbye to Mrs. Isles and headed to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. We had to pick up tickets in the visitor center and when we got there, we found ourselves in the midst of a big bagel fair/competition. Samples everywhere. Delicious. We stocked up and brought a bag with us. At Independence Hall, a tour guide showed us around the famous building. Then we saw the Liberty Bell. Finally, we visited the Rocky statue and ran up the stairs where he did his training in the movie. After all of that, we drove to my cousin Mark's house and met his wife Kathy and daughter Caroline. They have a nice home and made us feel very welcome and cooked a delicious barbecue dinner. Plenty to eat. I hadn't seen Mark since the last family reunion in 1997. We caught up on the family news and watched a movie. The kids had a blast in the basement playroom playing pool and Foosball. We all had nice bedrooms to sleep in and took showers.

120

Thursday, October 2, 2008, Mrs. Isles house, Monroeville, New Jersey
We decided to use regular road maps to speed up the process. We got onto Hwy. 30 as soon as possible because it was a straight route to Philadelphia. The wind was at our backs, so we made good time. John rode most of the way. Lancaster was fun. We saw lots of Amish people and businesses. Fall is in the air and it was cool riding even with the sun out. Towards evening, we stopped to eat a picnic dinner before riding the last 20 miles into Philadelphia. It was a Black neighborhood and some neighborhood kids were hanging around our bikes. Finally when it was time to leave, Willie, who had gotten another flat tire, was fixing it while we rode off. One of the kids came up and kicked him in the shoulder and ran off. Willie chased him, but Gloria called him back as there were four of them and she was worried something would happen. Gloria called me and I rode back to them. When I got there, she had already called the police and some neighbors had come out to discuss who did it. Apparently, some knew who did it, so when the police arrived, they wrote down his name. As we were only passing through, we would not return to court to press charges. Willie wasn't hurt anyway. It was just a dumb punk coward who was trying to pick on someone, but then ran off. Afterward I called up my old Liberty wrestling buddy who I hadn't seen in 27 years, Steve Isles, and made arrangements to see him at his mom's house in Monroeville, New Jersey, 30 miles away. During the summer of 1980, I lived at this house with Steve and his parents and attended summer school at Glassboro State University, so it brought back fond memories. After we secured our bikes at a nearby police station, we drove over to his house. It was dark by the time we got the bikes secured and 9:00 by the time we arrived in Monroeville. It was great to see Steve and his mom. I only wish we could have stayed longer, so I could have met the rest of his family. He looked the same, strong and trim. Mrs. Isles was nice as always and the house seemed basically the same. We talked for a while in the living room; then we set up the tent near the pond in a nice grassy area. 80 miles.

119

Wednesday, October 1, 2008, in front yard of home, Red Lion, Pennsylvania
We got up and ate a few boxes of Lucky Charms. Then Tom helped us with the route toward Philadelphia. He led us to the right road on his motorcycle. It was a nice day, chilly but sunny and pretty. We followed the Adventure Cycling maps onto hilly, scenic terrain. However, at this point we are less interested in the scenery and more interested in speed. Another problem with the maps is, although they are pretty accurate, they make more turns on and off of roads, so you have to pay more attention to street signs. Gloria missed a turn that was hard to reconnect to and some of the kids rode a different route to a rendezvous point in order to meet again, and I missed a turn, tacking on six extra miles of riding for nothing. We rode as long as we could, until almost dusk, then looked for a place to stay. Then we saw a young man standing by his barn/garage and asked if he knew of a place to we could put up a tent. He thought about it a second, then said, "Wait a minute!" He came back a minute later after asking his wife and said we could set up the tent right there on his property. He even made a fire pit for us to warm up. It is starting to get pretty chilly in the tent at night. Gloria made a big soup, using up all of the miscellaneous cans of vegetables and meat that we had. Everyone wolfed it down. Some next-door-neighbor girls came over to talk to us about our trip. After warming up around the fire for awhile, we went to bed. 77 miles.