Big Bird's Adventures

This is it. The final part of my cross country adventure on my Lynsky GR 300 gravel bike. In my last post I had zero’d for 3 days at my friend’s cabin in the woods on the edge of Bald Eagle State Forest near Woodward, PA. Some friends were up to hang out with us as well, and now they have returned to Northern Virginia, and it’s time for me to hit the road again. The plan is a simple one but perhaps not one you guess, knowing that I live in Monmouth County New Jersey not too far from the Jersey Shore. You might expect as much of a Bee line as could be made, trust me when I say the mountains do not support that kind of a journey. Anyway, my plan was to continue North on the PANTS route until I intersect the JORTS route where I will head East through some of the toughest riding in PA if not the country. That will put me on the same route as my prep ride that I finished in May. Hancock NY, across the Catskills and down the Empire State Trail into NYC to Pier 11. It was a nice ride in May, it should be a nice ride in August too. As hard as I tried to coordinate getting friends to meet me at Bear Mountain State Park to finish this ride off the only person I could get was my friend John L and the details of that meetup are still in the works. The Bear Mountain Inn was full because it was a weekend that I would be coming through, and so no vacancy means no friends. I thought detouring there and climbing Bear Mountain would be a nice diversion from the May route, but it was not meant to be.

August 18th, Day 63 Larry’s Cabin to Cedar Run – I still have some other logs to catch up on but I am going to write this one anyway seeing as how I have WiFi and it is all fresh in my head.

Larry was going to join me until we crested Jone’s Mountain however when we were ready to ride, his front tire was flat and as an added headache the rain that came through the night prior showed him that he has a leak in the stove pipe from his wood stove as there was a puddle of water under the stove. This gave him reason to open the firebox where he found the remains of 3 birds (babies) so that meant there is some compromise up there which allows both the birds and hence, the rain, to get in. Maintenance issues. Sadly I headed off alone once I had downloaded the routes for offline use because pretty much once I reached the end of his driveway the likelihood of losing service completely increased as the day wore on.

As I was climbing Jones Mountain something occurred to me. I was getting the “Off Course” sound in my ear from the navigation and I realized I hadn’t actually received any navigation orders from the nice lady in my ear. I thought it was just GPS drift, but it was actually more serious. I was navigating the PA North to South route (PANTS) in reverse which means I am going the wrong way all the time and am indeed “off course”. For fixed pre-loaded routes RideWithGps doesn’t do re-routing on the fly so I wasn’t getting instructions to turn around, I was just getting the annoying off course alert and if I happened to stop, since I wasn’t moving it figured I was back on course, so I would get the happy sound that goes with that alert only to be told I was off course as soon as I started to move again. So, I needed to fix this since I wanted the correct turn-by-turn in my ear, though technically what I needed to navigate wasn’t actually all that hard.

On top of Jones Mtn I managed to have 2 bars of service, enough that I could do the routing that was needed. The process was basically to put the current route into the Route Planner in the RideWithGps app and choose the correct task to reverse the route, save that and then choose to navigate that saved route, however it really doesn’t work the way you would think it should. Ideally you would think that it would simply take all the tracking points of the original route and simply reverse the order of those points and that would be your route, however that isn’t how it actually works. Some parts of the original route could be on one way streets and you wouldn’t really want to go against traffic in that situation so what gets done is that the original waypoints that were set down and fed to the route engine were reversed and those reversed points sent to the routing engine to determine a new route and if you thought you would get the reversed route you would be wrong. I had to go through and examine the new route and “fix” it. For example the stupid routing engine routed me off of the Pine Creek Trail many times and onto PA 44 which has no shoulder, has hills, and fast traffic, so I looked for all of those and added waypoints to force the tool to route back onto the trail. That effort gives you a lot of “In x.y miles continue straight” messages. Annoying yes, but necessary. There was at least one other error where I knew the route had to go through Logantown and not up route 880 which has a lot of truck traffic on it, so I had to force that edit as well. Once I was done, 30 minutes had passed but at least all the turn by turn was correct and i was navigating in the correct direction. Yea!!

Coming down off Jones Mountain was a hoot as the road conditions were great. Want to know what else was great? My legs were great, and it was so much easier pedaling since I got the brakes adjusted at Freeze Thaw Cycles in State College. Down off the Mountain onto Rt 192 I was on that for 1/4 miles before pulling into Raymond B Winter State Park, a park that myself and a friend, Sue Chambers, had bike packed out to for a one night stay back in 1981 or 1982. It’s a nice State Park facility but I wasn’t staying and on I proceeded onto McCall Dam Road, another familiar road from a Mtn bike visit a few years back. I knew the climb fairly well but beyond that it was all virgin territory. S as turned out there was an additional long climb on McCall that eventually dumped me onto a road that had more Amish farms, the main one I saw, the Amish family were all out harvesting tobacco. The Amish grow tobacco in PA in fairly large amounts and I wonder who their main customer(s) is(are). You don’t really think of Pennsylvania as a tobacco state but it is.

In Logangton the route turned right and I was climbing right past my second crossing of Route 80 on this trip (the first near Chicago) and on for another three to four miles, always gaining elevation, but never all that steep. Eventually I turned onto a road and the lady in my ear said “in 6 and 3/4 miles turn left” so I thought that meant there was more climbing ahead because of the amount of distance. It’s too much to keep descending without having to climb again. I was mostly wrong. While there were a few slight upticks, none were hard and I ended up losing 1200’ of elevation, bringing me all the way down to 576’ on the West Bank of the Susquehanna River. As I write this I have gained 300’ back but I will have to gain more of it back tomorrow.

I rolled into Jersey Shore PA and hit the Weiss market there to load up on some food for tonight and the morning figuring I would be camping. Far from Jersey this town got its name when a group of settlers from New Jersey decided to settle there on the West Branch of the Susquehana River. Loaded up I hit the pine creek trail, a 60 mile rail trail that follows Pine Creek. Surprise!! After I finished my journey I found that a new section of the trail had just opened Fall 2026 adding another 20+ miles to the trail.

Pine Creek is beautiful and runs through many of Pennsylvania’s finest public lands including Tiadaghton State Forest and the PA Grand Canyon, as well as The Black Forest. In the Spring runoff you have water that is a good kayak challenge and in summer is a nice float on a tube. It’s an outdoor Disneyland.

By the end of the day I had gained back only 300’ in 30 miles on the trail. That’s basically flat and probably one of the reasons pine creek doesn’t do a terrible amount of damage in high water. I am sure there are exceptionally high water times when it does, but for the most part the potential energy just isn’t there. The trail meanders back and forth across the creek as well as PA 44 and had pretty nice toilet facilities well spaced along it. I passed up two state campsites in favor of a private place closer to where I jump off the trail the next day.

I want to note that up upon the ridge to the West is the West Rim Trail, a 4 day backpacking trail that I have been trying to get to for 40 years. I almost got my friends to commit this Fall 2026 but then the plan changed to just getting a weekend in the woods that more people could enjoy and once again, the WRT is back on the shelf.

I passed a large group of three couples and their kids all riding south. They were headed to tomb flats, a site just south of where I met them so their day was nearly over. It was very nice to see large families out enjoying the trail as a multi-day camping experience!!

My day ended in Cedar Run at Pette Coat Junction, a very nice mostly RV park with some tent sites. Beautifully laid out and up against the creek it offered very clean and nice shower/bathroom facilities and had a very nice group of campers around. Some look like they have permanent sites. I greeted my neighbors and set myself up and then showered and dressed and then sat down to write this log when Todd came over and introduced himself and asked about my trip. We chatted a bit and he returned to his camper when a couple of dudes my age drove up and set up their tent. Jim and ??? were up from DC area to ride the entire Pine creek trail in two efforts. Returning to my travel log I noted to Larry that it appeared my evening would be beer free as no one had recognized my need for a beer when about five minutes later Todd shouted over “Eric! Do you need a beer?” I laughed and accepted and sat and talked with his group till the sun went down and I retired for the evening.

Tomorrow I am shooting for a big day and attempting Wylusing PA. It will be about 100 miles and will get me to the West side of the Poconos, which will be a very hard day the day after. That’s the plan! Day 63 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

August 19th, Day 64 Cedar Run PA to Wyalusing PA – I am spent!!!

Pennsylvania is not an easy state to ride a bicycle, especially directionally West to East (or vice versa). From Pittsburgh Larry and I were very lucky to have the Westmoreland, Ghost Town, and Lower trails to ride taking much of the hill undulation out of the equation, but today when I left the Pine Creek Trail and began the ascent of Big Run Road all that help and aid was gone. I got a fairly early start out from Cedar Run at 7:30 latest, but had made it only 25ish miles to the West side of Liberty when I stopped for a break at a country market place and fortunately chowed down on some calories. Ahead still lay 75 miles but a lot less daylight to cover it in. My savior today was a very long stretch of descent that followed Shreader Creek for about 20+ miles and that getting up over 2K of elevation out of Liberty was a fairly long and gradual gain until I ended up on the Ridge where it undulated up some fairly steep sections for 15 miles. By the time Shreader Creek ended I had 13 miles left, was very very tired, but by no means finished. And there were hardly (as in zero) any services in the towns I passed through, so no Dr Pepper to suck down for quick calories.

Today I got onto 414 a little early when I got to the edge of a drop, and looking across the drop/gulley/abyss the road resembles a wall on the other side. I looked at the route and could see that turning left now would save me one of those steep ascents so I took it. Out on 414 I started seeing something that I had seen in Amish country the week prior and that was an occasional green bean on the shoulder of the road every so often as if metal wheeled Amish cart was rolled along the road with bushels of green beans. I guess some popped out the back and onto the road. The only difference being that in Penns Valley the tell tale sign of Amish transportation was very apparent while here on 414 there was no such evidence. I am assuming Amish, but what else could it be? The destination was the country market I was headed for, Martin’s Pantry. The attire inside was very dated but it wasn’t Amish. Maybe Mennonites.

After my early lunch, I ignored the “Road Closed” sign that lay between me and the town of Liberty after reading that it was road work and not a missing bridge. They were at it and I was happy to walk through the grass and bypass them, but they halted work and called me over to use the road instead. I told them I had too many miles today to take the detour route which they indicated was about 16 miles. I told them that with 3600 miles behind me I didn’t need 16 more and they queried me for some of the details. Not wanting to delay their work any longer than needed I thanked them and moved on.

The climb out of Liberty was not too bad, but I wasn’t expecting it as I thought I saw that the road followed the contours along a creek. The truth was it did but it did all that about 300’ above the creek and did indeed follow the contours fairly closely before dropping me off onto SR 14 which I had to ride for about 2 miles. The Northbound truck traffic was heavy while I was lucky to be free of that heading South. I wasn’t completely free of it and while the shoulder was a good one there were sections where it was narrower and bordered by guard rail where I felt a bit more vulnerable. Again, fortunate to not have any trucks pass on that section.
Turned off and through the town of Ralston where I could have ridden further into it to get to a convenience store, but made the mistake to continue on instead. The exit from town was kind of a hidden gem that dumped me into the Big Run Valley State Park which was a very nice section with nothing overly steep but i was running against the flow of Big Run and so was gaining elevation until I hit Yellow Dog Road, then the climb became more real as I was taken up to 2100’ to gain the plateau. Gaining the plateau did not mean “flat” but this is where the terrain undulated for about 15 miles taking me below and finally delivering me to the other edge at 2200’ where I began the descent that was enhanced by Shreader Creek.

Shreader Creek was bookended by two gates (closed) and was a gravel road with a grass strip dividing the road into two lanes. I wasn’t riding the right lane long before I spotted a porcupine hanging out in my lane. They are not aggressive but I wanted to give him/her/it plenty of space so I cut across the grass to the other lane. It just looked at me as I passed, and I was too tired to stop for a pic. A memory pic it will remain.

The descent ended in Powell where I found no services and barely a bar of cell service regretting my decision back in Ralston. Onward was the only choice. I was back on 414 and while I examined the map to see if there was an easier route to finish this day, it would have added a lot of extra mileage and so I set off into the final 13 miles.

Once off 414 I knew the road was upward bound however that was never to exceed about 3-4 hundred feet. The fact that some of that final distance was one hill after another where again each one looks like a literal wall in front of you didn’t help. I walked many of those final climbs in their steepest parts which was usually the last 300’ of linear distance, getting as far as possible before clipping out. Clipping out when you are moving so slowly is tough, even tougher when that climb is gravel. I am a right foot out first guy so you have to make sure you’re leaning into that side when you clip out as you come to a stop pretty damn fast. If you are leaning the wrong direction, well that means you are falling over 100% guaranteed. I haven’t fallen since the Rocky Mountains :).

The undulations continued longer than I thought possible but eventually I climbed through a small pass and I knew it was downhill all the way to the East Branch of the Susquehanna River. There I turned South and followed the West bank until a bridge presented itself to take me across. A girls softball game was just finishing up in one of the athletic fields associated with Wyalusing High School and my mood brightened as I knew I had made it.

Ten minutes later I was trying to figure out the Wyalusing Hotel. There didn’t appear to be a front desk and I couldn’t find any other door that offered any option other than to walk all the way into the bar so I retreated back outside to change out my sunglasses, which by this time were making it harder to see where I was going, for my normal ones and went inside.
It was busy as it was the main dinner hour and being the only place of its kind in town, had a loyal following that treated themselves by coming in regularly (Again, if you have a place like this and want to keep it, then you have to patronize it). The bartender was a late 20’s early 30’s blond woman who acknowledged me and recognized my need for a room by virtue of my attire and asked my patience to get that together. I let her know that patience I have in spades and an All Day IPA would also be appreciated and to take her time.

My beer arrived fairly quickly and eventually a request for id and a card were made and she began the check-in process. I was given room 25 and given a tour to find the rear entrance that would take me there. I paid for the room and my beer so that I could get cleaned up and then come down for the much needed caloric replenishment that I needed. With my bike I approached the rear stairs and was about to be dismayed when one of the kitchen workers who was outside at the time asked me if I wanted to put that in the “shed”, a large barn like garage structure. “You bet!” I said and he opened it up for me, and I took everything I needed and carried that up to my room rather than the whole bike.

My room was cozy, the shower was fairly new and the volume and pressure were good. I clean up nicely, electing not to shave, dressed and went back to the bar for dinner where I ordered the fish and chips. What I didn’t realize was that though the dining room is only open on the weekends the full menu is available in the pub area, so I limited myself to just the “Pub Menu” side. All was good. I retired early and fell asleep almost immediately.

While the next day was going to be hard, it was also going to be wet, and I would probably decide to stay another day. Hancock may have to wait. Day 64 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

August 21st, Day 66 Wyalusing PA to Hancock NY – The Endless Mountains.

What do you think that actually means? Yes it is the Poconos, but unless you have been there you would never really understand that it’s like a maze. Any direction you turn you will encounter some kind of elevation change. It’s crazy. Look, if you were pushed out of an airplane and managed to land without breaking anything then sure, find flowing water and follow it downstream and you will find somewhere to get out of there. That is true, but the Poconos are a weird set of mountains. There is no real basin/range definition like out west. No, it’s very random. Almost like they have been around for 500 million years or longer. Oh wait, They have!!!

How I took so many pictures today is amazing as I was in energy conservation mode all day. I knew it would be a long hard day, and guess what? It was!!! I finished with long shadows cast and my sunglasses making everything just a wee bit darker than was necessary.

The zero day yesterday was an absolute gift as though the mileage is less today, the elevation gain over the course of the day will be the most of my entire adventure as I head into the heart of The Endless Mountains. If you have ever been here then you know why it is called that as it is kind of a unique terrain where there is no real rhyme or reason to the way in which the area has been shaped over the millenia of time. When you get to the top of one climb all you see is more climbs as far as the eye can see. This is not the same as a place like Montana or Colorado. Yes you can see climbs there but what you also see are the big valleys in between, whereas here in this part of Pennsylvania, everything is a LOT closer and steeper. Standing at the top and looking across the down/up ahead of you makes the road on the other side literally look like a wall. It is a wall, but it is an 18-20% wall and not the 90 degree wall it looks like from high up. Also, whether you look East, North, West or South all you see are the down/ups of another climb. There almost seems like there is no escape, and in many places there wasn’t. I did a lot of walking today as did I let gravity to its thing and didn’t push any of the downhill sections. I would need my legs for all the ascents this day, and because I did have 80 miles to go I would have to ride as much of these ascents as I could before stepping off the bike for the steepest parts.
As I came down one road, a local man was crossing the street to get to his barn and I stopped to chat. Ed was as tall as me and we had a nice talk when he asked me if I wanted some fresh baked blueberry muffins. “Sure!” was all I could mutter and he disaapeared inside returning with a baggie that had 3 as well as some tomatoes. I thanked him and rode off in the direction that his wife was out walking their dog. I turned and there she was, so I stopped a respectable distance from the dog and thanked her for the muffins and rode off. Up. And up again.

Just to give you an idea of how dense the climbing was on this day, this day did indeed have some rail trail built into it near the end of the route. Enough that if it hadn’t been there I don’t think I would have made it, but eventually I got onto the D&H (Delaware and Hudson) which at the start was very dodgy (Tom said sketchy) with some chunky sections, and other sections that were completely covered in grass, but was obvious to be a graded rail trail. Eventually it opened up in a newly managed section that was a dream of fine packed cinder. There was a section coming up that was very un-railtrail-like with a lot of switchbacks and it wasn’t until I got there that I understood that there was a long missing viaduct that used to span the gorge that needs to be replaced when money can be raised for that effort. Until then it was 6-8 tight switchbacks down and an equal number up the other side until the grade of the trail was reached again. The D&H took me all the way to Starruca (Confluence in Native tongue) where I was back onto local roads until the route came to a closed bridge where I needed to unpack my bike to get across. The bridge was actually falling into the creek, but it would bear my weight on this day and that gave me fairly clear gravel road on the other side as I worked my way towards the O&W trail. The O&W you may recall from my May prep trip was an awful trail that has been developed for ATV usage and you can see immediately why ATVs are not good for back country trail beauty as they tear the shit out of the trail and while the landscape around might be nice, the trail itself is not where as non-ATV trails are usually quite beautiful in themselves because the surrounding flora doesn’t get covered in dust and die off. Do I have an opinion? You bet!
I had to climb to get up onto the O&W and though it was ugly, it took me right down the hillside and dropped me just on the other side of the Delaware from Hancock. I crossed yet another river in my journey each one bringing me closer to home turf.
I went straight to Hancock House, as I was exhausted and the sun was setting, where I found four mature motorcycle dudes getting rooms ahead of me. One of them asked me where I started from, and rather than give him the day’s starting point I gave the journey’s starting point of “Kalispell Montana” which caused the other three to stop what they were doing and to turn around mouths agape. We chatted while they checked in, with one of their party indicating to me that they had gottent he last rooms. “HaHa!” I knew that was a lie but it was a funny lie indeed and I got a room after they left to get their stuff. The desk was personed by three young ladies in their teens, family members of the owners I presumed, and we chatted while they checked me in and then I took the elevator to the third floor where my room, 34 was easily opened with a real key. The routine was well, routine and I got cleaned up quickly and got my ass downstaires and into their bar as fast as I could. I needed to replace calories and have a couple of beers. The bartender was a skinny mature woman with short hair who took good care of me. The motorcycle dudes walked in a while later and we nodded to each other. I can’t recall what I had, but it filled me up. Though I had brought my keyboards down to type this up, I was too tired to do so and all this text was added one week after finishing this adventure when I realized the first paragraph was all I had written. The day deserved a full recounting and now that has been achieved.

Tomorrow I repeat May’s route down Old 17 to Livingston Manor where I turn East and climb over the Catskills. I don’t have a clear objective yet as I haven’t made a reservation anywhere yet. That I will do tomorrow while I still have service (Ha!!! Just read tomorrows blog to find out how foolish that was) but for today, I just want to get some rest. Day 66 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

August 22nd, Day 67 Hancock NY to Phonecia NY – Getting so close to home. As I write this, I sit in a B&B in Phonecia on the Hudson drainage side of the Catskills. 2 days and I am back in NJ, maybe home if I choose, or I stay with D1 and ride home early in the am Monday. I like that idea. No fanfare, little traffic whereas Sunday evening and it being a fantastic weekend no telling what the traffic will be like down Ocean ave. If I go Ocean. Seems like an argument for the Oceanic Bridge. That will be a game day decision. It all depends on who is waiting at the dock when the ferry pulls in. If we hang out too long, then I can’t ride home, however since it docks after 5 it seems almost inevitable that we will sit longer and leave me no time to finish the ride until the morning. We shall see.

I did this same ride in May during my 8 day prep ride for this trip. So you could say I knew the route and road but that really is misleading because remembering the route is different than knowing the route. I knew there were some hills along the two of the three main waterways, however the extent and number of those undulations was beyond what I could recall. Until I got to Livingston Manor it was up and down pretty much the entire way. Way more than you would expect for a “River” road. The nice thing about the route is it follows the new 17 or whatever “I” number it has, the entire way so there really isn’t any heavy traffic let alone truck traffic on it and that is good thing. The road surface is okay at best with sections that are in clear need of long term geo maintenance where the structure of the foundation needs to be shored up. Whether NY has the money for it is unclear, but it is more than passable.
The upper Delaware (East Branch) and the Beaver Kill are BIG fly fishing havens for fisherpeople. Other than invasive plant species it is an incredibly healthy ecosystem and the fishing is supposed to be tops. Even the Willowemec is a fine trout stream well up into the Catskills from which it drains. The last time I rode through here Caddis flies were out in abundance and the streams/rivers had a healthy number of fisherpeople clad in the cladding that fisherpeople clad themselves in. It is quite picturesque.
I remembered that the dining room opens 7am and was very good and on this day it was probably in my interest to have a proper breakfast so I brought the bike down the elevator, sat it against the wall and in my dirty cycling outfit was the only person in the room and ordered up a meal that would allow me to forego lunch and rely on snacks throughout the day. That strategy was perfect though I had to stop with about 3 miles left to eat a protein bar as I was bonking. I stopped in Roscoe again and picked up a sandwich which I carried the rest of the day and consumed as dinner before walking across the street to get some beer.
Let’s talk timing. It’s summer, and it’s a fantastic weekend and here I am traveling through the Catskills area on a fucking Summer Friday. That means Saturday is just as hard to find a place, and though I was pretty sure what my needs would be when I was in Wyalusing probably if I had called all these places still would have been “No Vacancy”. Let’s eliminate the 1 star places like Slide Mountain Inn on 28 which had horrible reviews and just didn’t grab my economical fancy. The one place I had called ahead to when I was at the cabin had vacancies for Thursday but since I had the rain day, that now meant I was in need on a Friday and while I was awaiting a call from them that they had no vacancy, I got a call from Tom at The Phonecian Belle, a B&B on Main street right in the heart of Phonecia’s downtown. “Sure! I’ll take your King room” That conversation took place as a wifi call from The Urban Cowboy Lodge which was the only place I could get a Wifi connection.
My plan was to stop in Livingston Manor, however the knuckleheadism disease struck me again and it wasn’t until I was a mile off Old 17 riding along side Willowemec Creek when I remembered and stopped to check my phone for service. SOS only. Fuuuuuuck. I knew I wouldn’t get LTE or 5G again until I made it all the way to 28 however I was making good time, and why don’t I just stop into the Urban Cowboy Lodge to have a beer and see Eric the bartender who I had a nice chat with in May. They have Wifi, and I am sure they didn’t change the password, so I could use that to solve my living arrangements for the night.
Though the road follows the creek it was by no means a flat road at all. It had many rises, but none of them were very steep and over the course of the run I kept gaining elevation as I rode. An opportunity to go check out a covered bridge arose, and I remember the last time through here I passed on that, so I took advantage this time and detoured off route to check it out. It is not one of the Covered Bridges in PA that are well maintained, in fact this bridge wasn’t even open to cars, and it wouldn’t be easy to get a bike through it either but while I was there I ran into a young man with his sons who was parked there. They had just stayed the night in the campground that adjoined the bridge site and he saw my shit and immediately queried me as to what I had been up to. When I told him I was 67 days into an adventure he walked over to his truck and opened the rear door and called into his boys “Did you hear that boys? This guy rode that bike all the way from Montana.” and then we talked another 15 minutes before they rode off and I returned to my task.
Though the road I was on was pretty much the same road, it changed name 3 times I think, each time getting a little more rural and more elevation gained. It all looked familiar and when I saw the lake I knew that the end of this road was soon after. The lake looked like it might have a business, but it did not, and then I dropped down off the hill losing some elevation when I intersected Frost Valley Road where I had an encounter with a young lady driver. I was ahead, descending and slowing for the sharp left and this young lady passed me less than 30 yards from the stop sign. WTF!?!? It’s not that she meant to do harm or be an asshole. It just doesn’t even occur to some people that they could make different decisions. To her I was just someone on a bike, and bikes can be passed without consequence. There are a LOT of people like this. They just don’t even consider the possibility of an alternate decision process.
Frost Valley Road is the main road to Frost Valley YMCA, a huge YMCA camp that has operated in the Catskills for decades and has property on both sides of the road along the Western Branch of the Neversink River. When I first got on the road it was a tight fit through a gorge area but eventually rose into the valley that is Frost Valley and is the measured approach to the Slide Wilderness. Funny, when I was on Pole Road I saw a rental truck going very fast in the opposite direction that I knew had delivered some shit to Frost Valley. I saw the same truck in May on Frost Valley Road where it had passed me in that narrow section with little regard to my life and by the time I got to FV I could see it on the property and here it was again being driven with reckless abandon on small roads which reminds me of an incident earlier in the day on the road following the Willowemec where a fucking home oil delivery truck was driving so fucking fast in the opposite direction that when it appeared coming around a turn like it was going to lose control. The driver’s window was open and I screamed shit at the dude as he barely held that hunk of metal on the road. What a dick.
Personally I have never been to Frost Valley but I seem to recall that maybe there were trips there from one of my schools growing up. I know for sure we had trips to Stokes State Forest in NJ, but Frost Valley sounded familiar enough. The road all the way there and past it was littered with signs “Send a child to camp”. Not sure who the target audience is however some of the best hikes in the Catskills are off that road, and if you planted yourself in chair alongside the road with a notebook, the number of luxury brand vehicles that drive by to use those trails is very high, so maybe those signs pull their weight. As I was riding past, they were welcoming all the new arrivals, kids with a beautiful week ahead of them. An information sign along the road said “Free Wifi” so I stopped, and indeed I was able to get 2 rings of wifi. This was enough to make some calls one of which was a no answer to The Phonecian Belle. I was also routed to a service for The Catskills Season Inn which took my information for a text back later.
From FV the road climbed out of the valley and into the wildernesses defined by Big Indian, and Slide following the head waters of the Neversink past Biscuit Brook and up and over. Once you go over the top you realize quickly that the Western approach is the more gentle of the two. A lake at the top is the sourse of Esopus Creek and the road turns North, away from home as there is too much Catskills to put a road through, so follow the creek North. It’s mostly downhill, but you would be surprised that even at the speed I was traveling, that isn’t fast enough for some drivers. “I MUST PASS” seems burned into their brains, and they will pass on blind curves. I don’t really want to be there when that strategy leads to tragedy.
Anyway, the Urban Cowboy was coming up and I was committed to stopping in at the very least for a beer. It would be worth the climb up the driveway for that if nothing else worked out. The place was busy, as you would expect on one of the finest weekends of the Summer weatherwise. Hot is nice for the beach, but when you are in the Mountains, cool is the name of the game and it was a cool weekend. I parked my bike, hung my helmet from my bars and climbed the steps inside where to my dismay Eric the bartender was not working that day however the nice young man who gave me a room the last time was, and after I had ordered my beer he came over and said “Why do you look so familiar?”. “Ha! Deja Vu it feels like does it not? Well your observations don’t deceive you because I stopped here just after the Memorial Day weekend.” We had a laugh and when I asked if I could get the same rate again, sadly they were all booked up. I took my beer and went out on the deck and that is when my phone rang. It was Tom from The Phonecian Belle and yes he had a room. “I’ll take it!!” That would make today longer and tomorrow shorter so win win I say. I finished my beer, said my goodbyes and promised to return for a weekend in the Catskills this winter and got on my bike for the quick run down to 28. I was at the end of my day, and though my route crossed 28 to follow the Esopus more closely I turned right onto 28 and took the more direct route. There were still some miles to go and I already had enough of them racked up for the day.
A left turn across 28 and I emerged into the downtown that was Phonecia. It was very active with plenty of places to eat, a Valero which would aid me in the morning and there a couple of blocks in was my B&B. Really it was just a B as the other B was suspended until the cooler months.
Another guest was sitting on the porch when I pulled up. “You must be Eric, Tom left a note for you there on the door.” and we chatted while I sat down and finally ate the sandwich I purchased way back in Roscoe earlier that day. Joy was her name, and she and her husband were visiting from New Jersey, I think they said Clifton. Her husband returned with their dog, a cutie of a doodle type hybrid named Spookie. Spookie was very interested in my sandwich of course but was restrained by his owners. We chatted about my trip and then I retired to my room to get cleaned up so I could go find myself a beer or two.
This B&B was not the museum quality B&B we had in Holidaysburg but it was nice enough with a good sized bed and plenty of outlets to charge my things. The clawfoot tub and shower was a classic and had decent volume as I washed away the tiredness and soreness of the day’s ride.
Dressed, I grabbed my things and walked across the street to the Cantina which I found to be very busy with one empty seat at the bar and a bartender who was very busy. I would say they could have used a second bartender for the busy hours, but I suppose that is hard to realize without having them be idle when it isn’t the busy hours. Anyway I eventually was able to get an order in and enjoyed a few locally brewed IPAs as I tried to capture the moments of the day. It’s true that I thought I captured all of them that day, but the truth is, I only started the log and didn’t realize that until I was home trying to catch up on my posts.
The next day was still kind of vague. I didn’t have a place reserved yet as I needed to make a decision regarding whether to shorten up and have a long day into Manhattan, or like today, go a little further and shorten up the last day. I was originally shooting for Pawling Station Inn, but then I saw their rates and coughed up a loogoie. I am not paying that for one night so I will figure it out tomorrow. It will be somewhere near Brewster. Day 67 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

August 23rd, Day 68 Phonecia NY to Brewster NY – In many ways today was the penultimate day. The over under that I will consume too many beers at The Sandbox in Highlands is about 98 and really depends on who if anyone is there when I disembark from the ferry. If a crowd greater than 1 is there then I foresee a 0% chance of finishing the last 16 miles and I will simply stay with D1 and her hubby in Highlands. What’s one more day?
With 90 miles on the table for the day, and all the breakfast joints not opening until 8am in town that meant starting with no breakfast other than what could be purchased at the Valero convenience store next door and there were no breakfast sandwiches to be had there. So, a protein pop tart (Yes they exist), and a blueberry muffin were added to a can of Starbucks and I was on the road. My route was immediately detoured back onto 28 because of a bridge repair and so it was Rt 28 for the next 10 miles. It is a designated bicycle route, with wide shoulders but that doesn’t make it idea. Nor does NY devote huge sums of money to making sure all of their “Bicycle Routes” are clear of debris. Fortunately I have tubeless tires so, less of a worry all the debris was.
Major work still going on where the beginning of the Ashokan Rail Trail begins but since I was familiar with it already, it wasn’t an issue today. If you have never driven up to walk or ride that then you are missing a treat. 10+ miles of flat bliss with shade. It was early so it’s not like it was hot and humid, but it was very nice. It was also very busy as it was Saturday and plenty of people know what a resource it is and they use it.
I was in touch with an old friend and neighbor, Seth McKee who lives in New Paltz (Hope that doesn’t ruin his witness protection), and since this time riding through I am doing it on a weekend, the likelihood of being able to meet and chat was much greater. I tried last May, but I came through on a Wednesday so no dice. He was at work and busy.
I was making good time, and when I was 10 miles N of him I shared my location and told him “less than an hour for sure”. He texted me the location of Dry Fly, a coffee shop/cafe literally right on the Wallkill River Trail (aka Empire State Traill) so how could I miss that? Don’t fret because I didn’t miss it. However I got a call from my B&B guy the previous night that the card didn’t process, and so we figured out he copied down the second set of numbers wrong, but that convo took place 20’ from the access to Dry Fly. I mounted the bike, looked at the map locale and said to myself out loud “Looks like I am here!” and there was Seth waiting. I tried to protect him, but he insisted on shaking hands with me as I am a stinky dude, I have showered every night but my clothing is in desparate need of laundry and that ain’t happening tonight either. We went in, I ordered something to eat and a coffee and he a piece of lemon pound cake (poppy seeds) and a matcha and we grabbed a seat in the “Please don’t sit next to this guy section”. We spent an hour chatting before I said I needed to hit the trail again. While I was 40 miles in already, I still had 50 to go and those miles don’t ride themselves. We got a selfie, and said our goodbyes and off I went. I am pretty sure that he passed me in his car giving a honk on the horn, or that was someone completely random.
From New Paltz the Wallkill continues South however the Empire State Trail hangs a Left, goes over some local hills and then descends all the way to the Hudson RIver Walkway. Another destination resource that if you haven’t paid it a visit, put it on your radar. It’s only 1.75 miles across but the views are fantastic and it’s worth an excursion if you are in the area. Anyway, getting there was mostly downhill and along the way I was passed by a dude on an e-bike. He wasn’t going that much faster than me so I kept him in sight without wasting too much energy that I would need the end of the day. A few times I was on his wheel but I didn’t want to pass him. Better to keep him in front of me. We arrived on the West side of the walkway and I peeled off to sit in the food truck area and take in some refreshment. Got an iced coffee, 16 oz which I downed so fast the cup was still all ice so I added water to chill it and drank that, and then repeated. I felt like I was sufficiently hydrated to continue and so I filled up my empty water bottle, used the facilities and carried on. As I was walking by an info desk I was queried as to my adventure and so I chatted those folks up a bit, receiving a walkway sticker to add to my collection (small though it is) of stickers and moved on.
Slowly across the walkway I proceeded as though the walkway was wide, people walking it were all over the place, walking in groups 5 or 6 wide in places taking up a significant portion of the trail. It was a little like the Ashokan trail where it seemed like people took the “Bicycles yield to Pedestrians” sign a little too far. Look people. I yield to one of you walking in each direction. If you are walking 3 abreast, then I don’t have to yield, I just say “ON YOUR LEFT” loudly and you should move the fuck over, however these people were not moving over. Very annoying. This is not the same as riding double paceline in a group on the road. Riding single file says “Go ahead and pass us like you want to kill us” whereas taking the lane is safer for us and for you. If we are a group riding double paceline then the group you have to pass is now shorter by half, so when you do have a safe opportunity to pass, it can be done quicker. I digress. The walkway was crowded and I took my time getting over it.
Before I reached the other side I came upon a dude my age on an old Serotta frame that was a beauty and I told him so, and then he mentioned he over heard me talking to the info guys and we rode along for a few miles chatting as he probed questions. Turns out he was stage 4 colon cancer fighting it with immuno-therapy and was out for a 70 mile ride. So far it was working on keeping it in check but at some point he realized that he was going to fast to keep up with me and we bade each other farewell, but we were both headed for Brewster and I would see him 3 more times.
On the other side it is the Dutchess Rail Trail and it heads away from the river and slowly gains elevation at about 1% for 10 miles until Hopewell Junction where it turns into another trail that ramps up to 4% at some point to get up and over a hill that contains a higher elevation lake. The lake made it impossible to ease the grade any more than it was and so that 4% went on for almost 10 miles before finally topping out and starting the long descent into Brewster. That was a relief. I stopped once for calories when the Serotta dude caught up and passed me, and I caught him again and passed him until I met a couple from Brooklyn trying out minimalist bike packing for the weekend. Javi and Meghan were camping on their journey down from Albany where they had taken to the train. They didn’t have a place picked out yet but were still hopeful. At some point I went back to my pace and moved on until I my feet said they needed a break, and then those two passed me as did the Serotta dude again. Leap Frog.
With my feet feeling better it was time to get this over with and I moved along at a decent clip through the now losing elevation section of the trail until I passed the Serotta dude again. Later on the outskirts of Brewster I came across Javi and Meghan as they stared disappointed at a closed gate preventing them from camping on a beach area on some lake. I gave them some advice about asking people who they see that live along the trail how they might get them to be invited to camp right there. It worked for me 44 years ago, why wouldn’t it work for them? When you think about the number of serial killers who were also bike packers, you can understand people’s reluctance to entertain the thought, oh wait!! That number is 0. Yes 0. So, it should still work. Anyway I moved on and soon was on local roads again. Hilly local roads and I was tired, but at least I didn’t have far to go. The only obstruction was NY 22. When I came to it I could hear the cars and it sounded like a 4 lane hwy but when I got there it was only 2 however the northbound lane was one unending steady stream of cars going somewhere. I stood there for 10 minutes awaiting an opportunity that never arose so I started riding up the shoulder of the Southbound side. It was wide and the Southbound traffic was less busy and did have some breaks. When I reached a point in the road opposite a Valero, which I knew had Gatorade, I tried again, and when there was a break in the Southbound side I said “Fuck it!” And started to cross. In the middle I stuck up my hand in a stop signal and the 4th car stopped, holding everyone else behind them so I could cross. Yea.
I picked up a Gatorade and a 28 oz Dogfishhead 60 minute IPA and rode up the hill to my hotel where I checked in.
In my room I undressed, sat in a chair and popped the beer and enjoyed a beer (no pictures) and my Gatorade.
After a shower, I dressed and walked next door to Las Mañitas which had a wedding going on and also seemed to be a popular destination for a Friday night. The outdoor grounds were jammed with cars overflowing onto the grass sections. There was a line of people outside waiting 30 minutes or more to get inside but I was able to get a seat at the bar. Yea! The bartenders were busy AF but I was able to get an order in and finally started to feel like a whole person again.
Tomorrow is it. My friend John Lewer is in Yonkers tonight at his Mom’s and he will ride North and meet me as I ride South. We did this on my prep ride in May and it worked fine. It was nice to have company. Joanne Pellegi is planning on taking the ferry tomorrow and will do the same thing except she will intersect us up near Dyckman Street, so I will have two companions riding down the West Side. We’ll see tomorrow who comes out to play at The Sandbox. Bob and Stacy already said they would be there, and I expect D1 and Kevin (as well as Petey) to be there too. Remember the over/under is 98 so expect there to be a Day 70 post as well. 🙂 Day 68 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

August 24th, Day 69 (Team Drink!!) Brewster NY to Highlands NJ – The last big day. The over/under is 98% that I will consume too many beers at The Sandbox when I disembark the ferry to want to get back on my bike and ride the last 15 miles home. I think it should be 100%. Even if no one was there, and I know there will be a few, I would have a couple of beers anyway, and then go staight to Alyson’s and Kevin’s house and leave the ride home to a quiet tomorrow morning, just me and the sights, and all the people living and vacationing at the Jersey Shore.
Where I left it with John was he would call when he knew what he was doing and we would meet again along the way. I had thrown out the suggestion that he ask his brother to drive him up to Brewster to the Heidi’s Inn and simply do the whole day with me, but he wasn’t sure his brother would go for that. “You can ask. What are brothers for?” Also in the mix was Joanne Pillegi who was going to take the ferry and ride North to intercept us, hopefully at the GW bridge. It’s a weekend and the ferry runs every 2 hours, so if she caught the Noon, she’d be riding by 1, and with our return ferry at 4:15 then I wouldn’t have to leave until 9am to make that all work. I felt like there was a limit to how far North beyond the GW I would ask Joanne to ride, though in reality, she had a tailwind the entire way so the only real obstacle was Broadway into the Bronx and the possibility that in Van Courtland park we could miss each other.
So, 9 am was the departure time and so I got up around 6:30 and went to get the provided breakfast Heidi’s was offering up. It was actually quite tasty and diverse and way more European than anything I had had at my other hotels that had breakfast. I got a call from John, he was 10 minutes away and what room number was I in he had to pee. Badly. I hurried back to my room and started to get things together, leaving the door open and when I took a glance out to see if he had arrived yet, he was just pulling in with his brother Jeff as a passenger. Introductions made, John disappeared quickly leaving Jeff and I to get acquianted. Jeff appears to be the older calmer brother to the young hot rod that is his brother. Years ago before Covid when Cliff did his Pac tour x-country trip and I organized a group to intercept him John was one of those people and he caughgt a ride up with Cliff’s friend Mike, who was going to sag us home. Mike said “I wasn’t sure on the way up if I shouldn’t pull over and let him out to run around a bit, he was so excited all the way up. So much energy!” That’s John to a tee.
Group picture taken, we said our farewells to Jeff and took off. Rt 22 was a lot quieter this morning than it was the previous evening when I wanted to get from one side to the other. Crikey. We were not on it long anyway turning off onto Sodom (Yes Sodom) for a slightly rolling route into Brewster where we followed the Empire State Trail signs once we found them and as I remembered, it was two stiff climbs to get to the start of the Putnam trail. While the Putnam trail technically is a rail trail, it is missing a lot of the old infrastructure and there are many places along it which clearly show that many viaduct and road crossings are gone and so it is a steeper descent/ascent at each of these intersections and so the Putnam is not an easy rail trail by any means. There are some real huffers and puffers along it until eventually it turns into the North County Trail where it becomes a real railroad graded trail and lasts that way all the way to Van Courtland Park in Da Bronx. While the Putnam is harder than most rail trails, it is certainly loaded with plenty of lakes and beauty. There was no shortage of beauty, and it being a beautiful Sunday day, there were plenty of folks out enjoying the Putnam this morning, both walkers and cyclists.
John was wondering if any of the cyclists coming the other way started in Manhattan to which I responded “Unlikely I would think unless they are riding one way, but seing how most people would need to ride back, riding this far north would be a 120+ mile trip so I didn’t think we would see anyone from the city proper for at least an hour.
I could be wrong here, but I think 15 minutes after we departed John had to find a tree again. I think that boy does a #1 more than me and that is pretty often. We rode along and chatted about my trip, kind of more the Q&A where John posed the Q’s and I provided the A’s but as we talked the miles slipped by and soon we were on the North County Trail when I elected to bypass a deli in favor of one I knew was a little further down the line in Millwood. Unfortunately when we got there it was closed. Sunday hours. Around the corner was a coffee shop so we went there and I had a breakfast sandwich and some lousy coffee. John had an Oat Milk latte that didn’t agree with him so he tossed that and we continued after killing enough time that I was pretty sure we would meet Joanne at the GW.
If you have never been on the two trails (North/South County) they are really quite nice in many respects. Yes, the trail follows the Saw Mill and the Taconic, in some places you have one on the left and the other on the right but that small corridor is wher the railroad ran and it goes all the way to the Bronx. Most of the time it is shaded, and there is enough vegetation (read trees) to deaden the noise of all the vehicular traffic. There are also spurs off the trail that go into the local towns along the way, though my main concern was going South. Passing others whether they are walking or riding I was surprised at how many people don’t wave. John and I said Good Morning or Hello to almost everyone we passed and my guess is less than half responded. Those that did at least smiled, and that was nice to see.
As we got into the Yonkers area where John Grew up, his face lit up with excitement pointing out all the local places that provided comfort/memories for him. He probably repeated everything he told me in May, but it all sounded new to me :).
When we started on the Putnam I think the mile markers were in the high 40’s and maybe even low 50’s so as the numbers decreased through the “Tee” barriers, Forty, Thirty etc I got very excited when it was down to single digits however that was where the trail actually climbed for about 3-4 miles. On and on it seemed, I was ready for a day of losing elevation but there was over 1500′ gained today! Finally mile 0 came at the border with Van Courtland Park where the trail diminishes to a width that barely can accomodate 2 bikes passing each other let alone bikes and pedestrians. Most of the Pedestrians in the park don’t go that far up the trail so when you do see them you know that section is coming to an end and sure enough around the corner we came to the parking area where we dodge under an elevated section and into the open park area at the Southern end of the park where we hopped onto Broadway.
Last time we came this way I tried to follow the Empire State Trail signs properly but those just take you up into the hilly parts of the Bronx only to bring you back down to Broadway to cross the East River. I could be wrong here but the EST may actually head over to the Henry Hudson Drive bridge and cross there. We didn’t do that. My experience from a couple of Juneteenth rides with Two River Cycling gave me the gonads to tackle Broadway underneath the elevated subway tracks weaving in and out of the main lane mixed with the lane where everyone double parks. It seems chaotic, but no one can drive fast here so it is actually pretty safe. There is construction on the bridge into Manhattan and we got a jump on the traffic by not needing to stop at the light and so we were halfway across when other cars started to come by us. A wide berth was given and we arrived in Manhattan easily. While there may be a carless way to get over to where we needed to be, through a hilly Inwood Hill Park (Hill is in the name!!!) it was easier to simply stay on Broadway all the way to Dyckman (Pronounced Dike Man and not Dick Man as I had called it leading Jeff to wonder “What street is he talking about?”) Dyckman is flat and is also where the green bike lanes begin that take you to the Fort Washington Greenway, which is open again after some extensive renovation and sinkhole repairs. That greenway dumps you seamlessly onto the Hudson River Greenway (aka West Side Bike Path) right by the GW bridge. Most people haven’t a clue there is an old lighthouse underneath the GW on the Manhattan side but that is where we said we would meet Joanne and we got there before she did.
While we were waiting for her John noticed a kayak out in the Hudson. Now you might be thinking “What’s so unusual about that?” except that the South winds were very strong and the Hudson was super choppy and it was not ideal kayak conditions. Hell, it wasn’t even Kayak condition. The Hudson looked like it was flowing North while the kayak was clearly heading South. Then John saw another kayak and that is when a couple who were out on a bike ride heard us and informed us that the kayaks were there supporting the swimmers. Swimmers!!! Today was the open water swim around Manhattan swim. 28 miles! They still had 12 to go to get to Pier A, their endpoint. Once we knew that we could spot more kayaks out there, each one supporting a swimmer. If you can imagine what they are going through then you can imagine what the Endless Mountains felt like to me three days prior :).
Joanne pulled in around 10 minutes later, we took some pictures and then we headed South into the wind. Joanne didn’t realize she had been riding a tailwind all the way up the path so at first she said “Tailwind back”, at least I thought she said that. No headwind was denying me my Pier 11 goal, and I rode point most of the way down the greenway. Yes there were a lot of folks, and in some places the path has to accomodate both pedestrians and cyclists (okay roller bladers as well and those scooter people too), but a good portion had divided sections so I find it annoying when people are walking in the bikeway. In The Netherlands they would be run over and yelled at but here in NY they simply continue to be an annoyance. We managed the path without incident as the streets counted down from the 100’s into the 90’s soon I saw the 40’s and the 20’s and then the Freedom Tower finally came into view. It was a beautiful day indeed. Battery Park city and then Battery Park where the path takes you right around and past the Staten Island Ferry Terminals and then there it is Pier 11 right there in front of you. Yee Haa!
We were early by about 45 minutes. John wanted to up his mileage to 70 for the day so he wanted to ride a little more North on the Eastside and return. Joanne wanted to visit a bakery that was just up the street. I wanted a smoothie from the smoothie truck that was right there next to Pier 11 and to be honest, I didn’t want to ride my bike any more :). 4100 miles was enough for now, and 68 today was also enough. So I took my smoothie and became the first person in line for the Ferry while John and Joanne went off to do their excursions. Joanne returned first with bag of cookies and a delicious croissant which we dived into and John returned a little later to join in the cookie fest. The second people in line were also on bikes, a couple from the highlands that brought their bikes up to Manhattan for the nice day and we chatted them up while we waited. As mentioned earlier the winds were out of the South, and that makes for choppy water which I don’t know how that affects a catamaran ferry like Seastreak but they seemed to be running later than their schedule indicates. I have since reviewed the schedule to make sure I did not mis-read it so it was running late on this day. The wind made me feel cool so I was happy to sit in the sun on the ground chatting and eating the cookies. The highlands couple had a lot of questions about my trip and one of those questions was “How much weight did you lose?” Before I could answer, John chimed in “When he started this trip he had a girlfriend!” which was met with a tremendous roar from everyone that heard it including myself. Great timing. Note, this is not in any way a reference to the fact that I did start this adventure with two lovely women none of whom I am involved with in any way other than as a riding companion. I was a guest on their adventure. This was simply a great joke delivered with perfect timing.
The ferry finally arrived and we embarked, parking our bikes on the front as is normally done on this ferry. We secure our bikes to the rails, and one mistake I made was to leave my camelback hanging from the seat. I knew it was wrong but fortunately I didn’t pay a great price for that mistake as the bag did fall furing the voyage, but fell and got stuck between the bike and the railing thus not going overboard taking my Garmin Explorer+ and my Garmin Varia radar device with it. Phew!
As usual it was cold inside the ferry cabin, and because of the wind it wasn’t any warmer outside either, and once the ferry was moving the front doors are battened down so there was no getting a jacket out. I would be able to live the 45 minute journey without losing too much body heat. John bought me a beer on the ferry and we all sat inside during the journey. Both John and I did try to see what the roof was like but it was impossible to stay up there very long and we both retreated quickly back to the safety of the cabin.
It was hard not to feel emotional as Sandy Hook came into view and our destination became more than a distant dot on the horizon. Docked, we retrieved our bikes and merged into the exiting throng of passengers through the terminal and out onto the connecting pier. Waiting at the end I could see family and friends waiting while on the beach side I noticed Jen and Alex waving up at me as well. It’s hard to remember, did I rest my bike against something and hug people or did I hold onto the bike with one hand and hug people with the other arm? A small detail yes, but a detail nonetheless. Waiting in the group was Cary, Alyson and Kevin, Shery (With an S!), Stacy and Bob, Kathy and then Gerry showed up as well. Over inside The Sandbox Susan was waiting with the chairs on the beach where we all gathered for an evening of music food and beers and as much chat as I could provide answering questions. I hope I answered everyone’s and showed attention to all of them. It was quite overwhelming at times. I went off to get some pizza and though it’s not a typical Jersey pizza it is a wood fired oven where they make great Neopolitan style pizza and I asked the young man working there “Do you know how long I have been thinking about THIS particular pizza?” since I knew from the beginning of this journey that I was going to end this day here at The Sandbox with the known food trucks that support it. The young man was clueless of course, and so I answered “Since I started June 17th in Montana when I started riding my bike home.” which elicited a question from the woman behind me “Are you Eric Hallander?”. The surprise on my face must have been apparent because she followed that up with “The band made an announcement that Eric Hallander just finished a 4100 mile bike ride across the country and is in the audience here this evening” and there I am standing in obvious cycling clothing so she put two and two together and asked me. I found out later that Sheryl (With an S!) had asked the band to make an announcement and they did, but none of us actually heard it because the band was in the background to the conversations we were all involved in.
As the evenoing wore on it was time to move on. It was getting cooler and I wanted to get back to Alyson’s and Kevin’s place to shower, do laundry and spend the night before riding home the next day.
I want to thank everyone who came out to welcome me home at the ferry terminal as well as to John and Joanne for the company riding home on this day. A trip like this is a fairly lonely experience, and by lonely I mean being among people I do not know so it is very comforting to have family and friends there on the last day. I do want to note that the complete journey wasn’t always lonely as I had the company of Denise and Rebecca for two weeks, and then when I got to Iowa I had Pete, Robert, Hayley, Molly, Ally, Amber and Parker, Natalie and Garret , and finally Ted the Diplomat. Beyond that my company included my Aunt and Cousin in Anderson IN, Larry’s sister Mary Beth in Beaver Creek OH, and reconnecting with Blake Kaplan who opened his home to me in Upper Arlington OH. When I crossed the border into Pennsylvania Frank and Lisa hosted me for 2 days, and then I met Larry and Drew in Pittsburgh where Larry rode with me for the next 4 days while Drew sagged us, culminating in a long weekend at the Butler cabin in Bald Eagle State Forest where Terry, Bruce and Ed joined us. Let’s not forget Melanie who was also in the mix there in Central Pennsylvania and I even managed a vist to see her father Gerry (97) there in Pleasant Gap. So no, I wasn’t alone the entire journey, only those gaps interspersed in between. The question does arise that can I do another of these adventures knowing how much I prefer the company of others. That is a good question and we shall have to see what the answer is.
Back at Ally’s and Kevin’s rather than burn my clothing Ally put them in the washer and set the super duper mode which ran for more than an hour. I stayed up to move that stuff to the dryer before finally retiring for the evening.
A big day it was!! Day 69 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

August 25th, Day 70 Highlands NJ to Ocean Township NJ via Rook Coffee in Oakhurst – Though I could have gotten home last night I chose not to and stayed with Alyson and Kevin in Highlands. I was up early and as I emerged from the guest room, so to was Kevin just closing their bedroom door to go make the morning coffee. I wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere, Joanne and I made tentative plans to ride South this morning so I would check in with her later to see if that was still on. Kevin and I chatted for a while and I folded my clean laundry until Aly finally came down with Pete who was excited and loaded with energy after a nights rest. Clean cycling clothes with no salt stains. Yea!

Around 8ish I texted Joanne, and Julian, her son who was also in on this ride South, was not even awake yet (I probably wasn’t awake this early when I was his age either) and so I elected to simply get dressed and do this last part solo. After packing up my things and dressing I came downstairs and found Aly and Keving doing morning yoga stretches in the kitchen and I did my best to follow along. I did better than I thought I could and will have to give that a go more often on my own.

With the bike all loaded up, my shoes upon my feet and all helmeted up it was time to depart. Before leaving, Aly asked me if I wanted to take some veggies home to try, like her peppers and some cherry tomatoes. “Sure!” and she went outside and picked me a few of the hot ones, serrano, habanero, Jalapeno and she threw in a sweet italian in case my lips burned off. With that added to my pack I departed as Aly and Keving looked on with Pete wondering why I was leaving so soon after just getting there.

As I rolled away, and turned right onto Bay Ave I felt a little like George Bailey all the way home as I passed familiar businesses and landmarks that I was so happy to see again.

Hello Lusty Lobster
Hello Chubby Pickle
Hello Barrs, Mobys and Highlands Bridge
Hello Shrewsbury River
Hello Sandy Hook and Atlantic Ocean
Hello Charly Rooney’s (And Maris’s) house
Hello Tommy’s in Sea Bright
Hello Donovan’s Reef still a dive bar even though you don’t look it anymore
Hello Edgewater Beach Club
Hello Driftwood Beach Club
Hello EvenTide Grille
Hello former Coast Guard building in Monmouth Beach
Hello big estate houses in Monmouth Beach
Hello Big Monmouth Beach Club
Hello Little Monmouth Beach Club
Hello Long Branch
Hello North Long Branch Beach
Hello Lighthouse
Hello Seven Presidents Park
Hello Sheryl’s Beach (what we always called it)
Hello Long Branch Boardwalk and Bikeway
Hello Rooneys (No relation to Charley)
Hello Pier Village
Hello Sirena (Good memories)
Hello Turning Point
Hello South Long Branch Walkway
Hello Atlantic Surf
Hello Monmouth University Beachside Student Apartments
Hello Windmill
Hello West End Long Branch
Hello San Alonso Retreat House
Hello Saint Michaels RCC
Hello Takanasee Lake
Hello Saint Stepanos Armenian Apostolic Church
Hello Presidents Church (Is anything happening there yet?)
Hello Deal and Roosevelt Ave
Hello Whalepond and Joe Palaia Park
Hello Ocean Twp Elementary School (Order all my Rook coffee in the lot)
Hello Oakhurst Shopping Center
Hello Big Oakhurst Rook Coffee!!!
Hello Cobblestone Village
Hello What About a Bagel (NJ Bagels are the bestest!!!)
Hello Cotswold Cir
Hello Home

Day 70 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

Tagged: Bicycle Touring, Bike About 2025, Bike Adventure, Bike Packing, bike-touring, Bikepacking, Camping, Cycling, Friends