Today we got a late start, buying a new tire, and getting groceries
and laundry done that we should have accomplished the night before.
But we made up for it by riding along Lake Erie, and camping on a bluff
500 (from cody: more like 75 feet:) feet above the water, getting a gorgeous
sunset in the bargain. The countryside varied from palatial estates along
the lake near Buffalo, to grape vine filled fields farther south. Welch's
apparently had its start near Westfield, just five miles from here.
We must be on a main bike
route, as we passed many day riders, and several long-distance, fully-loaded
tourers going East. We only saw one going our way, our friend from several
days earlier who was still weaving around the shoulder. We caught up to
him at the entrance to the park, and introduced ourselves. His name was
Hiroyaki, from Osaka. Using our sign language, and our son's rudimentary
Japanese, along with Hiro's 8 years of English training, we learned where
we each were going, where we
were from, and exchanged addresses. Hiroyaki is a student, who came to
New York City, and is now biking across the USA and Canada to see a friend
in Vancouver, BC. From there, he will fly back home. We think he is very
brave and lucky. He says Americans are very kind to him, but it is still
hard communicating. He will be going on along the lake into Ohio tomorrow,
while we will head south, so this is the last we will see of him on this
trip.
Annie and Shaine got a chance to swim in the lake before dinner. Annie
perfected her rock-skipping technique, with a little help from dad. We
discovered that holding the flat rock parallel to the water surface, resting
on a crooked middle finger, between thumb and forefinger, had the best
results. Shaine dunked herself a few times and tried to induce Annie to
do the same, but Ann has had too many tricks pulled on her by big sister,
and so declined.
The northern latitude
produced a prolonged sunset over the lake between 8:30 and 10:30 PM - reminded
us all a bit of camping near Del Mar outside of San Diego last Christmas.
The sparkle of fireflies in the growth near the cliff's edge was mingled
with the twinkling of moonlight reflected off the water below. This was
a special campsite, and we have some reluctance to leave, but we all decided
to keep on with the journey, and not dawdle here.
Miles: Will, 43; Al (Tandem), 43; Shaine (Tandem), 22; Cheryl (Tandem),
21.
Total Miles: 587
