Pensamientos

We're juggling the duties of job, parents and planning a long-distance bicycle trip. Share the adventure!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Back to Schenectady

Leaving the Holiday Inn this morning was difficult, but at least we knew we had only about 35 miles to go. We had a great breakfast at the hotel, packed the bike and headed off. Most of the day's riding took place on very well-paved roads with wide shoulders. Eventually we hooked up with part of the Mohawk River Bike Trail. Bob and our friend Gary had ridden it years ago when they did the Erie Canal trip together. One of their rest stops was the Mabee Farm, the oldest standing house in the Mohawk Valley, built in 1680. We stopped for the tour, really the first tourist thing we'd done the whole time. The young lady who gave us the tour was very personable. She actually just moved up here two months ago from Missouri, happy to be out of the heat that we remember so well. She had to refer to her notes several times during the presentation, but her enthusiasm and obvious love of what she was doing more than made up for that. It was amazing to think that the original family that lived there had 10 children. They all lived in one small room! Someone descended from the original family owned the place until 1993; it was then rented and eventually given to the historical society for the purpose it serves now. Miraculously,in all those years no one ever did anything really stupid to ruin it. Much of the original structure is just as it has always been. It is very busy as a field trip destination, complete with re-enactors demonstrating sheep-shearing, blacksmithing, etc. as well as providing the setting (the barn!) for concerts weddings, etc. The barn has been moved there from another location and restored, but it is a Dutch-style barn, quite impressive. After our tour and wandering the grounds for a bit, we set off to finish the last 8 miles of the trip. Much of that was on the bike trail and we sailed into Schenectady without a hitch. We unloaded the bike and stashed our burden in the car, rode a lusciously light bike to lunch at Café NOLA, then proceeded to dismantle the bike for stowage in the car. That took a while, since we had to strategically arrange everything so as not to scratch the frame sections or get grease all over the inside of the Prius. After checking into the motel, we finalized our arrangements for three days in Manhattan. Life is good!

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1 Comments:

At 8:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

at this point i was aforty fine minute drive from u!!!!! if u ever do this trail again let me know in advance and we'll make arrangements to see each other. germaine

 

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