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Tuesday, October 14, 2008, behind fire station, Milford, Massachusetts
Got an early start, about 7:15. The rolling hills tired us slightly but overwhelmed the bottom bracket of the tandem...again, and it was loosening. A major problem if it came undone, so we pedaled as gently as we could and hoped it would remain intact until we could reach a bike shop. Unfortunately, there wasn't one nearby so we rode another 20 miles or so before we could have it looked at. The weather was getting cooler, leaves were falling from the colorful trees; it was quite a pleasant ride, nice and cool. We stopped after crossing the Massachusetts border for pictures. We also take pictures of license plates every time we cross into a new state, Adriana's idea. We made good time to MIlford and made it to the bike store where the mechanic fixed the bottom bracket with Lock Tight to permanently cement the threads. I hope it works. After that, we asked the local fire department if we could pitch the tent around back on the grass; they said yes. So we decided to eat at a Chinese buffet. Gloria didn't want to because of the MSG, but the rest of the kids, minus Becky, did when she said she would only charge us lunchtime prices. Gloria and Becky ate at Quiznos. Then we went back to the tent to sleep.
68 miles.

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Monday, October 13, 2008, behind big old white church, Einsfield, Massechusetts
Michelle woke up early and made all of us delicious French toast with their own homemade maple syrup. Uuummm Good! I'm not sure how many I ate, but I was the last to leave the table and was well fed. After breakfast we went for a walk to see the sugar maple trees and see the plugs that were tapped for the syrup. Going down the road with both families looked like a school field trip. A neighborhood dog scared some of the kids, but meant no harm. Before saying goodbye, the Slates accompanied us to a park next to a beautiful lake on our way toward Massachusetts and I gave the kids rides on the back of the tandem. We all had a good time and it was hard to say goodbye to our new friends. They are a great family, and I hope we see them again. The road to Rhode Island was very busy, and we didn't have a detailed map to show us other options, so we decided to bypass R.I. and go directly northeast to Massachusetts. We stopped at a gas station with a picnic table to eat all of the food that our generous friends had given us. When it started getting late, we found a place to stay at a church. The pastor gave us permission to camp behind a big old building out of sight on the grass. I cooked up some egg goulash concoction which everyone seemed to like; then we went to bed. Oh, I forgot to mention that I discovered taped to my handlebars two fifty dollar bills. I don't know for sure who taped it there, but it was another reminder that God provides. 41 miles.

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Sunday, October 12, 2008, with the Slate family, New Hartford, Connecticut
We woke up early enough to get ready for the morning church service at 10:00. Actually, we decided to splurge and eat breakfast at a cozy local restaurant, Caralee's. Lots of Green Bay Packers pictures and memorabilia. It was pretty full, so at first, we had to sit at three separate tables, until it cleared out a little. We are pretty frugal and usually share plates, so all the food is always eaten, and the plates are sticky but clean when we finish. We made it to the service early and met the pastor, Melinda, and other members. They were very nice and invited us to their brunch after the service, delicious; smoked salmon and other designer foods, not your typical pot luck items. Afterwards they gave us the leftovers to take with us. We discovered that someone had stolen Paul's gel seat last night, mysterious; the only thing that has been stolen so far. The ride was hilly and beautiful. We were told to watch out for the "foliage followers" who drive around looking at the beauty instead of watching the road. We had one 3-4 mile downhill section that reminded me of the Rockies, the best downhill since Colorado. All the uphill/downhill climbs and descents loosened once again the bottom bracket of the crank of our tandem. Fortunately, it happened a mile from Brumell's Cycling and Fitness. The owner, Randy, was very helpful and although he didn't have the tool he needed, he managed to fix it enough to get us going; all for no charge. The repair stop took some time, so it was time to start looking for a place to tent. Since we were flying downhill fast, I didn't stop at the big church on the left with lots of people; we settled for a smaller older church further down the road. The pastor and his wife were there. He gave us permission to put our tent up in back for the night. So we stayed for the evening service. Only a few families were there, but they were very nice people. We met the Slate family who had four girls and three boys, just like us. They even had a five-year-old daughter, Sarah, just like we did. They invited us to spend the night with them. Dave is a contractor and was remodeling the house. He has lots of unique decor throughout his house. His wife Michelle was from South Africa and had the neatest accent. The children were younger than ours, the oldest was Mariam, 11 years old and the youngest was Elizabeth, only a baby. Such a nice family. They made us feel so welcome and fed us real well. The kids played together. Dave showed us his small, homemade maple syrup factory on the property and we had some with French toast in the morning. The kids slept in their RV and Gloria and I slept on a bed down stairs. The Slates home school their children and they have no television (Hooray for them); the children love to read. We enjoyed our stay with them a lot and wished we could have stayed longer, but we had to press on. I took a relaxing hot tub bath before going to bed. 36 miles.

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Saturday, October 11, 2008, First Congregational Church of Kent, Connecticut
Last night I had to get up around midnight and go tell a camper to turn down his "music." He had his car stereo going with the bass reverberating through the mountains. Irritating. Don't people go camping to hear the sounds of nature? Adriana and I are sick, sore throats and congestion, nothing to stop us from riding, just something to deal with. After reconnecting with our bikes, we crossed the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River into Connecticut. Every day should be a beautiful ride now with Fall in full color. John was having trouble with his bike chain coming off. Apparently, the front sprocket is slightly warped and wobbles enough to throw the chain off. We need to have it bent back. We reached the town of Kent before dusk and found a church with some people standing in front of it, so I asked permission to put up the tent there and after calling the pastor, they said we could spend the night in the church building next door. Ah, warm and cozy, with bathrooms. With the nights being so cold now, it was greatly appreciated. 56 miles.

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Friday, October 10, 2008, Beaver Pond Campground, New York
After showering and eating, we got a later start riding today, but all rode, which is always an entertaining treat. It was a sunny, cool morning. I had to stop and get directions from some policemen who were at the site of car accident; a man had run into a telephone pole and had a bloody face. So we were on our way to Connecticut. The autumn scene was beautiful, making a routine ride into a gallery of warm colors. At around 4:30, we stopped at Bear Mountain Lodge to see about staying there for the night. The nice lady in charge said we could put our bikes there if we needed, but there was no place to camp, park rules. So we ended up leaving our bikes there and returning to Beaver Pond Campground one more night. Because it was Friday night, the place was almost full, even though it was cold and almost the middle of October. We found a nice place. That night, Sarah closed the back van hatch on me, bloodying my head; no stitches were needed though. 20 miles.

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Thursday, October 9, 2008, Beaver Pond Campground, New York
We wanted to get an early start looking around New York City, but we didn't get out in time. We ended up arriving at 10:02, two minutes past the cheap parking rate. Oh well. After parking, we walked to the subway to begin our tour. It was a bright, cool, sunny day, perfect for walking around. Times square was bustling with activity and sights to see. Just walking down the streets was interesting. We stopped and took pictures of the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden, then took a ferry to Staten Island and saw the Statue of Liberty. Later we saw Ground Zero where the Twin Towers used to be then ate in China Town. In the evening, we went to the Rockefeller Center, the three-story Toys R Us, and visited Sacs Fifth Avenue with all of its luxurious items. Adriana tried on a fur coat. A famous midget, a Michael Jackson imitator, put on a Billie Jean dance show in the subway. We got a picture of him with John. We saw some wax statues of famous people that we used for photo opportunities. Before we left, we had to eat a New York pizza because we heard they were so good; and boy it was. we visited other things, too many to name here, but the girls wrote them down in their diaries.

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008, Beaver Pond Campground, New York
This morning we woke up and cleaned out the van because we had to take the bench seat out to fit the tandem in. The van was a complete mess so it took a couple hours to do it right. Finally we were in New York and at a bike store where the guy tightened up my bottom bracket and charged me only $5. I can't fix it myself without special tools I don't have. Anyway, it gave me peace of mind knowing it was done. We parked the car in an all-day parking garage for only $15, not bad, and walked to Central Park to see the Balto statue. New York seemed like a nice place to visit, so we decided to bite the bullet and come again tomorrow using an all-day subway pass to see the sights. We stopped at Sam's Club and bought pizzas for dinner.