EC_Day3

Day 3

Monday, 26 June 2006
Utica, NY to Weedsport, NY
81.6 miles, 5h52m, 13.9 mph
Elapsed Time: 8h27m, Max speed: 29.0mph
Total Climbing: 2278ft, Max elevation: 538ft
Total mileage: 209.7

The weather finally caught up with us today. It was raining when we started and rained pretty much all day. It stopped just long enough to make us think that maybe we'd be dry by the time we got to the motel. But then it started again and we were totally soaked when we got to Weedsport.

We made our earliest start yet: just after 8am. Eventually we found our way out of Utica and through Frankfort and Oriskany. We stopped at the Oriskany Battle Monument to...look at the monument. Nobody else was there. Then we continued on to Rome and stopped at Fort Stanwix. We were the only visitors there too. I guess normal people stay home when it rains. (By the way, the Battle of Oriskany was a really, really important Revolutionary War battle that effectively ended the seige of Fort Stanwix...which effectively ended the western prong of the three-prong British strategy to divide the Colonies. It's true.)

A wet day at Fort Stanwix.

After that there was nothing to do but ride to Weedsport, which was still 60 miles away. I was thinking to myself about whether flat tires are more likely to happen when it rains. No! I didn't get a flat. Kevin did.

Kevin is happy (or insane).

The only other interesting happening was the big railroad crossing signal malfunction in Clay. When we rolled up to the crossing, there were people turning around and a line of drivers being ticketed. It seems that the crossing signals malfunctioned all down the line. The traffic backed up and some people started driving around the signal. Somebody got mad and called the police. So there was an officer out there writing tickets. She didn't want to be there but she had no choice.

Well, we couldn't turn around and go somewhere else, so I asked her if we could cross. She said no. I said, "What if we cross over there?"--pointing about 10 yards down the line. "We wouldn't be crossing against the signal." She looked at me sympathetically and said, "Just don't let me see you."

So, we rode on another 40 miles and we were in Weedsport. We ate at the Old Erie Restraurant and stopped for ice cream on the walk back.

Tomorrow we ride to Rochester.

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