The Largest State Park in America, aka the Adirondacks

Greetings blueberries and long johns,

   We left our night abode in Utica (Bills house) after typing our blog and made our way to the post office for a special treat! Those cookies were amazing, thanks Daphne! The note in the box was from Daphne's son, Carter. I told a group of the kids at the JA Conference an impossible goal I set for myself to achieve was to shake everyone in the worlds hand. This comment was met with a response of shaking lots of hands, which put a huge smile on my face. I knew the goal to be impossible, but I didn't know the length of time that it would take to shake all those hands. Carter wrote in the letter that it would take 19,178,083 years to accomplish the goal I set for myself... At least I'll have an eternity to strive for something, a goal in my head that I will always have to work towards, which I find to be a great lesson in life. Along with the the stunning statistic, Carter also wrote that I am an inspiration to him. Well, Carter, kids like you are an inspiration to help push me to achieve something like bicycling across the United States.

    We left the post office feeling happy to have homemade cookies in our bellies and made our way to Welch's Bike Shop. This bike shop could not have had a more kind group of people working/owning the place. It's the kind of bike shop that has hidden treasures, like a used bookstore that has the smallest possibility of unknowingly having a leather first print copy of Don Quixote. To some, just heaps of bicycles... To kids that have wanted a bike their whole life, a haven. The three guys working there said right away that they would let us clean up our bikes, which they seriously needed! We got to cleaning the bikes and conversing the with 2 employees, then the owner who showed up a bit later from the other Welch's Bike Shop he owns in another part of town. They were amazed at our journey, and I believe we even inspired these gentlemen to get out and do some more riding of their own. Thanks heaps and heaps for allowing us to clean our machines, they truly needed it. Also, thank you for starting your organization too help kids get bicycles, you guys are heroes!

   The hill climbing out of Utica was a slow drag and a long morning haul. But once we hit the plateau, we actually still just climbed. Then we made our way into the Adirondacks... Simply amazing, the feeling of MOUNTAINS! Though we only cruised into the south foothills, it was still a mountainous feeling we had inside. The wind was cool, almost cold. The amount of people we didn't see made us happy. 

   All was dandy, the ride amazing, the sights gorgeous when all of a sudden it happened... RAIN IN THE MOUNTAINS! Whew, cold rain in the mountains. When your descended a good hill and its raining with the wind and the cold and the shivers and the brrrrrrs and the splashing and chillyness. I think you get it. Being sweet as sugar like we are, we managed to outrun the rain and leave it in the wet dust, which may be called mud... We reached our destination of Lake Pleasant and started to check out places for us to stay, which just involved biking until we found a place to stay.

   By chance, we rolled up on a giant house with cars parked out and a sign that read something like "Christian Bible Ministries Home". We asked ourselves if we should stop and see if we could camp on their lawn. Well, not only did we get to camp, we were welcomed with open arms! We came in at dinner time, so we got some spaghetti, salad, cupcakes, and pear crumble. Not to mention some good stories and kind folks to chat with! The Building is part of the church in Piseco. This specific building was bought and renovated and turned into a place, from what I gathered, as a place to find yourself. A place to come and get closer to God, if that is what your looking for. Yet they said they take in drug addicts, depressed people, families, broken marriages, and just help them. It is a place where, I felt, that you can find home even if you've never had a home.

   In the morning we left, but before we got too far, we stopped and had Breakfast with Ken. We met him the night before and he offered us breakfast which a cyclists just can never resist. We found his place a okay because he was standing in front with a dog he is dog sitting. We the awesome canoe that a 9th grade class made for a project and they won in a raffle... Really really awesome canoe! Then we had a great breakfast of eggs, potatoes fresh from the garden with onions, toast, and Jersey Handroll (which is bacon, but not bacon, but still just as good as bacon). After being filled up and chatting for awhile with Ken and his family, we once again made got what I call home now a days, my saddle. "Home may not always be comfortable, but its where you want to be the most." My quote about my bike seat being my summer vacation home.

   Thus the ride today was gorgeous, the Adirondacks were beautiful and we were sad to leave. Before we got to Glens Falls though, we did stop at a brewery, Adirondacks brewery and restaurant! We had a beer and our server, Nick, hooked it up with some free chips! Then we met some folks, shouted out our story, and we ended up getting free stickers and t-shirts! SO COOL! Not only was the beer great, which it was, the service awesome, which it was, but we also got things for free. Who doesn't like free things?

   Now we are at my Great Uncle Jacks house in Glens Falls. It is always good to be at familys, a place that feels more home than my summer vacation spot! Though I have only met my Great Uncle Jack and his wife Aileen (sp?) once before when I was seven, it just makes it better that I get to meet them again 15 years later! We chatted about my grandmother and grandfather and it made me happy to hear these things. I never really knew my grandfather because I was so little when he passed away, so it was good to hear stories of him. Also, stories of my grandmother that brought a chuckle to me vocal chords! We got back from some great food in town at "Talk of the Town" Cafe a little while ago and now I am here. Upstairs, sitting on a bed, in a house that I haven't been in in 15 years and I am typing this blog for you all and I couldn't be happier.

   Thanks everyone for following! Please donate, we are inches away from Portland on a map! Tomorrow is the Green Mountains in Vermont, so we may not blog... Check anyway! Life is a dream, that is why I love it so dearly.

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 Utica bike shop baby

 THE DACKS

 Magpies pizza reactions the Adirondacks!

 Just great, great riding

 its just great

 thats just a big hill

 Pretty sure they are filming "The Hobbit" Here

 Ken, his wife and son with us!

 Biking hard

 Wonder what Nate is doing on the edge of the woods?

 ...

 That is Nate, he is great, he poops 4 times before noon hits

 THE HUDSON IN THE DACKS

SHOUT OUT FOR THE SHIRTS BEER AND CHIPS!!!!

Greetings hairy and hairless folk,

   We jolted out of Ithica New York with the idea of making it half way to Utaca. The intial climb out of Ithaca is probably a solid 10% climb. Then as we got lost, twice climbing the same hill and ending back up at the road we were just riding on (both climbs were at least 14% grades), our day got a tad bit longer. Though getting lost just means that fate, if real, can only happen.

   Back on track and biking into Cortland, a mere 25 miles from Ithaca, we came up to a Brockway truck show. "Should we stop?" The words were said by all of us, and the reply was all the same. "Yes." As we strolled slowly through Cortlands Main Street checking out all the trucks we got bombarded by some roller derby girls, just a great thing to happen in any situation. 

   "HEY! You guys look like you want to go to our bout tonight?"

   "Well, we are just kinda passing through... We weren't really planning to stop, we are just checking out the truck show." We replied with some hesitation.

   "Where are you guys biking from?" Their question rising like all the other times before when people see our loaded bikes and supreme gusto.

   "California! We actually left Ithaca this morning and we are planning on making it to Utaca tomorrow. So we are only 25 miles into the trip and that would make it a 70 mile day tomorrow if we stayed..."

   "Well, you should come to our bout tonight anyways.' All the while knowing inside that, of course, we were already planning on going either way. 'I have a backyard you can crash in! And there's an after party, then an after after party at my house!" Hook line and sinker, we were staying!

   The bout wasn't until 7, so we cruised around Cortland getting internet and just hanging out. We made our way to Dana's house, the roller derby girl who was letting us crash at her place. She wasn't there but she said we could take showers and get cleaned up before we took off for the bout. 

   6:30 rolled around and we made our way to the roller derby. The "Royal Pains", the home team we were there to watch, are undefeated. This bout was their closest match, pretty much neck and neck the whole time... It came down to the last two minutes when the Royal Pains, with flare and gusto, came back and got the crowd cheering as they scored points and more points! Undefeated still, the Royal Pains are a team to be scared of!

   The after party was at a bar just down the street, we had some pizza and beers and celebrated the Royal Pains royal victory. There was a band, $1 spankings from the team with either hand or paddle and merriment enjoyed by all. As it got a tad later in the night, it became time for the after, after party. We made our way back to Dana's house and continued the celebration long into the night. Games were played, laughs were shared, delicious pumpkin pie pudding shots were had, and team Wisconsin held up like Roman pillars in flippy cup. Eventually, everyone either left, or made their way to sleep somewhere and the night ended.

   Come morning, we awoke pretty late but enjoyed a great breakfast of strawberries, blueberries, bacon, and bananas! Dana and Erin hooked us up with some munchies for the road, and then we said our goodbyes and set off! Before we left Cortland, we stopped at NY Jets training camp and watched Mark Sanchez throw passes and Tim Tebow screw up throwing passes. We didn't stay long though, it was getting to be past noon and we had 70 miles to go until Utica, so we hit the road.

   Along the way to Utaca we stopped at DeRUYTER (our original plan for the night before) at their fireman's picnic and had some AWESOME BBQ chicken, noodles, beans, bread, and the best part of peaches and cream! We were full, tired, and didn't want to bike another mile... We all wanted to sleep, but we had to continue.

   We were going to get to Utica late as it was, but we decided unknowingly to take a wrong turn and get lost again. Thus, turning a 70 mile day into an 80 mile day! WAHOO! We can't complain though, the scenery of the NY countryside was beautiful, the air cool, and the road smooth.

   As we finally got to Utaca, it was around 9 p.m. and we already had a place to stay at Bill's house. His son we met in Ithaca and said he could stay with his dad in Utaca. So we got to his house, changed, and went out to grab a some grub. Thanks Dave for contacting your dad, and thanks Bill for the food last night, and the coffee this morning! 

   It is getting to be another pretty late start, and we still have to go to the post office to get some cookies sent to us from Daphne, someone we met at the JA Conference! WOOP! We love cookies! Thanks bunches Daphne! So as always to everyone, Thanks for keeping posted as we keep you posted. We are 9 days from Portland, then another 8 days from Portland as we continue our journey deep into Maine for our celebratory ride. It is time to get those donations in, so don't wait, DONATE!

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 Brockway truck show in Cortland

 Roller derby captors

 What happens after roller derby, goes to our blog...

 Matt and Erin

 Dana, Erin, and Guy we forgot your name....

 NY Jets practice

 Doing football things

 NY Countryside

 The rain got us again on the ride

 AAA AAA AAAAHHHHH OOO AAAA LEEEE

 BLING BLANG BLOOW

That rain will get ya if your not careful

Wine Trail of the Finger Lakes to Ithaca New York!

Greetings those of you,
   These days are beginning to wind themselves into welling joy as we begin to near our end destination of Portland Maine. We have encountered the kindest of our kind as we have traversed coast, mountain, desert, grassland, lakes, and glacial hills. That look in peoples eyes when we say what we are doing is only getting bigger. Bigger because we are getting closer. Closer to the end of the road.
   Yesterday started out just outside of Waterloo at Michelane and Mikes house. They are happy owners of a little bakery/cafe in Waterloo where we stopped to chat and get some baked goods, when they offered us their place to stay overnight. It sounded great, better than staying in our tents outside of a church when a storm was coming. So we had ourselves some cookies and then made our way to their place.
   Once there we threw around the ol' pigskin for awhile and waited until the M's got back. We chatted with them outside when they got home until the mosquitoes got the best of us and forced us inside. We continued our conversation inside and met the M's family as they slowly rolled in. We had pizza and wings for dinner, then caught the USA v.s. USA volleyball game! After that came what I think is just a wonderful part of life, sleep and restoration.
   When we awoke the next morning it was already late. We didn't mind because we had a leisure 45 mile day into Ithaca New York following along lake Cayuga. And of course, the route just so happened to be wine country! So we stopped in at the M's bakery for some more delectable sweets and then made our way into wine country.
   We stopped at a cheese shop and did cheese tasting! Then for the rest of the day we strolled along lake Cayuga and stopped at a bunch of wineries. The whole time handing out as many cards as possible and telling our story! It was a very pleasantful way to spend a day!
   Once we arrived in Ithaca, we went to my friend Mikes house, whom I met during my stint with the Montana Conservation Corps. He wasn't home yet from work, but we just hung out with one of his room mates chatting until he got home from work. Little did we know that in Mike's job description, he has to host team parties on every thursday as a morale boost. So out of nowhere, Mike and all his coworkers got back after work. Mike had been telling them about our journey, so they were all interested to hear what its been like. It was a really good time hanging out and meeting all these new people!
   This morning we awoke late, because we were planning to stay here in Ithaca another night, which we are. Mike went off to work while Matt slept and Nate and I went and got some waffles! We then checked out "the commons" of Ithaca, walking around and advocating about our journey. We met a bunch of cool people, as we tend to do. We discovered where a disc golf course was so we went back to get Matt. Woke Matt up, then went for a bike ride.
   Cornell University sits atop Ithaca, like high up on a hilltop. So our bike ride was basically just up, up and up. To bad those hills had no idea that our legs burst red giant stars when we kick them, so the hills hardly broke us a sweat... Well no, we sweat, a lot... But the disc course was found! Played 18 holes, Matt found a Star Destroyer! It was looking to be a great day!
   Once the frolfing had ended Matt and I went back to Mikes for some lunch while Nate went to go watch the Olympics. We later went to watch the Olympics with Nate as America seemed to be crushing Argentina in basketball. As much as the Olympics are awesome, we decided cliff jumping was a much better idea. Yup, Ithaca has some awesome waterfalls/forests/gorges/everything is pretty awesome in this area. But we on a new platform, as today, we have all jumped off of a super 40-50 ft. cliff! High enough up that when you are falling the air starts to rush into your ears. So high that if you don't clench your butt cheeks, you might get an unpleasant feeling. So huge that it rewrote the size of my smile after I had jumped off of it. I think that I got just a bit more manly today, I wont lie, I do have 1 more chest hair than earlier...
   Now we are hanging out back at Mikes, doing our usual end of the night drill. Ithaca has been great. Cornell University is so beautiful, if only I had money to go here... This town has a lot of life in it, so if your ever in the area, I suggest swinging on by! Thanks a bunch to all of the M's that have helped us! Mike Hennigan, Micheal, and Michelane! We are getting close to $5,000, which is short of our goal. Please help us reach our goal and DONATE! Matt was just telling me how many more miles it is until Portland people.... 560 miles! We have some celebratory riding afterwards in Maine still, which will equal to another 1,000 more, but we are close! The air is salty! Any contribution to the Arthritis Foundation will guarantee to make you feel better, because it will make me feel better, and when I feel better, you'll feel better too! Cya next time Folks and stay classy!

DONATE BELOW TO THE ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION!!!

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 sweet escape

 do ya um....

 ...WANT THIS?

 Mike and Michelane

 Cayuga Lake

 Rain and wine, so good together

 This is for me mumsies

 Please sit, and enjoy our wine!

 On Cornell Campus

 Cornell, with Ithaca below

 Cornell outer walkway

 Above the painted thing, we jumped off that cliff....

Purrty

Buffalo to Waterloo New York

Greetings sound makers,
   We left Andre's house a little before 8 a.m. and it was chilly, some might even say it was cold. Thanks a bunch Andre! The chicken and spaghetti was the best welcome a cyclists could have.
   The ride was wonderful! It was a nice and easy 70 miles into Rochester. We took the north route and followed highway 31 all the way into the city. Along the way Matt had a phone interview with CREC (Cocino County Rural Environment Corps) so we stopped at a Tim Horton's and mapped out our destinations while Matt was busy selling himself. The CREC job is actually the same job I had to call and quit just days before it started in Flagstaff due to my flare with my arthritis. The interviewer said she remembered me because Matt mentioned he was on a cross country bike trip with me. Pretty cool stuff, lets all hope Matt gets the job!
   From the Tim Horton's we made our direct route to Sol Burrito! Sol Burrito is actually owned by the brother in law of Jim, the owner of Magpie Pizza in Oberlin Ohio! So Mike, the owner of Sol, knew we were coming and saw us when he rolled up. He waited to tell us that whatever we wanted was on the house but then he had to go get his teeth brushed at the dentist, so he left. The burritos, O O O THE BURRITOS! If you are ever in Rochester, Sol Burrito is the place to be YO! Thanks a bunch Mike, we hardly ate dinner due to the utter greatness of your food!
   We originally didn't think twice about having a place to stay in Rochester because we have a friend from our hometown there. So poor planning makes for poor execution and we rolled into Rochester the night that our friend was going to a Mumford and Sons concert. Place to stay shut down! Yet, being under these basically zero stress situations of a travelling cyclists, we kept our cool.
   We went to a bar and chatted it up with the locals while getting wifi to see if we could find a place on warmshowers. We called a bunch of people on warmshowers in the Rochester area and finally got a stronghold about 8 miles east of where we were. 70 miles plus biking around town then 8 more miles to a place to stay? Meh, too dawg gawn easy!
   80 miles later we were at Dave's house just outside of Pittsford New York! We pitched our tents in his giant backyard right next to the Erie Canal, had ourselves a warm shower, a bite to eat, then a ground to sleep on. Thanks so much to Dave for our usual short notice stay! The corn was great and the dog hungry!
   That was yesterday and today was a much shorter day, more of a rest and recuperate day. We planned on leaving Dave's around our usual 7am but due to us being lazy and sleepy and comfortable we did not get up until around 8. We packed our gear and did some great yoga. Nothing like doing yoga when it's a comfortable temperature outside. Then we went inside for some breakfast cereal and coffee. The coffee was fantastic and the cereal with blueberries was great to match. Thanks Dave for everything. We had a great time and we are proud to be your only warmshowers visitors in the last two years.
   With goodbyes done we set out on the road again at around 9:30. We got on the road we were going to take all the way to our destination of Waterloo, New York and biked for a few minutes before seeing a sports store that needed to be stopped at so Joey and Nate could pick up some frisbee golf discs for the up coming frisbee golf courses that we will no doubt run into. So while Joey and Nate contemplated frisbee  decisions I (Matt) checked out packs for my potential job out in Arizona. After they completed their frisbee purchase we continued toward the finger lakes area. Only shortly after resuming biking we stopped again as a Goodwill appeared to our left. We went in to find Joey a pair of shoes. Sounds like a job for the raincyclists! Joey found his dream pair of shoes. A pair of orange Reeboks. These shoes are so cool that we can't show them to you in fear of your eyes shooting back into your brain.
   Anyways we kept on keeping on and then came to a detour in our route. Apparently the road people thought the road wasn't good enough so they were rebuilding it. This caused us to rethink our plan, check a map, and reroute. We found a suitable route and before we knew it we missed our turn. No worries we knew that all we had to do was go east and maybe a little north and we would run into a highway or the city.
   So with a little improvisation we found our way back onto the correct highway and into a roadside vege stand. We stopped and talked with the guy setting it up and he was nice enough to give us a few sweet peppers that we just ate whole right there. I (Matt) have a few stashed in my backpack for later.
   Once in town we headed for the downtown area and started asking around for a place to get some free wifi. You know standard operating procedure for us at this point. The locals told us to go to Ciccino's for the food and the Internet. So we went on over and sat down at the bar where we are now. We ordered 50 chicken wings. Once again standard operating procedure. We ate the wings and chatted up the coolest bartender ever Kayla. We asked her where we could find a place to stay and she made some calls for us and found us a place to stay at a church about 5 miles away. Thanks Kayla for being so cool and courteous and hanging out with us and for the delicious wings.
   Now we are getting ready to find our church home for the night and maybe read or take naps or whatever we want. So as always keep along with us and tell everyone you know. By the way we have biked 2900 miles thus far and raised 4000 dollars so we need to get that ratio up more towards 3400 miles biked and 20000 dollars raised. Thats right just two more days until we hit 3000 miles!!!

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 Sol Burrito. Nate holding up his Magpies shirt.

At Ciccino's with the coolest bartender ever Kayla

From Erie to our namesake being dropped on us to some water

   With coming into Pennsylvania we thought that one day would be enough and started the day with the idea of leaving Pennsylvania and going into New York. To be honest our slice of PA wasn't that big to start with so more than a day would have been excessive.
    As we headed out of Erie and toward New York we started to hit prime Lake Erie wine country. It seems like a lot of places are good wine country that you would not expect. So with beautiful vistas of endless rows of grapes on one side and endless lake on the other side we easily made our way into New York passing our new buddies going from Washington to Maine.
   We made a quick stop at the border for a photo opp and then got a tip from some golfers that a storm was on our heels and expected to be hitting us around noon. With only 30 or 40 miles left in the day and our track record of minimal rain we thought nothing of their warning and continued toward our destination of Silver Creek, New York. The rest of the day was scenic and quite easy as we continued our path along Lake Erie.
  Upon arriving in Silver Creek we first hit the grocery store as we all needed drink mix for our water bottles. When we came out of the store we were offered up a surprise as our bags were wet with some sort of liquid substance that fell from the sky. I'm talking about RAIN of course. Yes people it finally happened. We got rained on while we were biking. Ok it was when we got to our destination but we still had not found a place to stay so we had to bike in the rain to find a spot. We asked some people about a place to stay and no one really had any options for us so we took our usual route and hit up the local churches. We went to two that were locked and one said that we couldn't stay inside but that we could camp in the backyard.
   So with this in mind we went to another church and it was locked but we found a spot to sit not in the rain. So me (Matt) and Joey sat down and had some lunch while Nate went back out on the hunt for a place to stay indoors. With our bellies full we laid down for a bit but within a few minutes the rain and wind really picked up and started blowing through our spot and misting us. It was fun seeing a real storm finally. Just as the storm was at its worst we got a call from Mr. Nate who informed us that he found a place for us to stay.
    Yay Nate!! In a few minutes Nate arrived with Wayne, and me and Joey quickly biked through the rain from one church to another. Wayne was nice enough to open up the church office for us and let us stay there for the night. He then said that we should come over later for dinner. So after changing our clothes and getting cleaned up the best we could we went over to Wayne and Elaines for hotdogs and baked beans. GREAT!!
   We found out that Wayne has set up and has been running a run for handicapped kids since his daughter has Downs Syndrome. They hooked us up with Laurel run T-Shirts named after their daughter Laurel who has Downs. After dinner we went back to the church and got some good sleep before getting up for breakfast back at Wayne's house the next morning.
   The breakfast consisted of bacon eggs and toast. What else can you ask for? We took some pictures and then got on our way toward Buffalo New York. Thank you Wayne and Elaine for all of your help. It would not have been fun sleeping outside in the dampness. Also the hotdogs were great and everything you do is great so keep it up.
   With Silver Creek in the background we headed up to Buffalo and to Anchor Bar to the place where Buffalo wings were invented. It was only about 35 miles so we did it easily and got to the bar just as they opened at 11am. We got 50 wings because thats the most you could order. Half barbecue and half hot. They were great and it is worth it to go to Buffalo for them. We then called some people on warmshowers and one of them answered and said we could stay at his house for the night. So we got on the web and googled his address and made our way to his house so that we could drop off our packs before heading toward our great destination for the day, Niagara Falls!
   I'm not going to bore you with how great it is you will just have to go there to see for yourself or you can just look at the pictures below. So after seeing the falls we headed back to Andre's house and he and his wife Jenna cooked us up some delicious meat on a stick with spaghetti and sauce. As I speak we are listening to queen getting ready for bed. So for now that is that and now is then and later will come. For all you regular readers, keep it up and keep spreading the word. We are pretty close to the end now. Only about 6 or 7 hundred miles left. Thank you and good night.

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 Pennsylvania or New York wine country

 Just lovin life

 Crushin states likes it's no ones business

 GRAPES!!!!

 Wayne and Elaine with the raincyclists

 GODZILLA!!!!

 BUFFALO!!!

 Were gonna rock down to Electric Avenue, and then we take it higher

 Yes the wings were great. Totally worth going to Buffalo for

 Aparently the view from Canada is so much better

 Nate with the mist

 Joey being scared of the mist

 I guess it's kinda big

 Drink it in, It always goes down smooth

On top of the observation deck