We slept soundly last night, with the cool night air and minimal bugs. At about 6:40 am, we departed the campground and rode into foggy Fulton, then headed east and north on Hwy 3. Highlights of the morning included meeting Ted Powers. Ted rides 4,000 miles a year on the local highways picking up bottles and cans. He uses the proceeds of redeeming the containers to maintain the grounds of the church he attends. We also passed a horse-drawn buggy delivering milk. Later, we passed another horse and buggy, and stopped at a roadside vegetable stand where Betsy bought beautiful summer squash from an Amish farmer.
Later in the day, we passed a horse-drawn wagon clanking along with steel wheels. There are lots of Amish farmers in these parts. In Port Ontario, we ate breakfast at Annie’s Café, then journeyed east on county roads for 20 miles to Redfield. We ate lunch on a shady picnic table in front of a C-store. Patrons wanted to know all about our bike trip. After chatting, we traveled eastward on more hilly county roads toward West Leyden. Betsy’s bike didn’t have a low enough gear to climb two of the steep hills so she walked the steepest parts.
I noticed that the streams now have clear water in contrast to the muddy water of the past few days (see photo). After a short rest in West Leyden, we rode 7 miles to Boonville on new asphalt pavement. What a treat! In Boonville, we ran into Jill, whom Betsy and I met at an ACA training in Tucson last March. After buying groceries at TOPS, we rode 3 miles to the Brown Barn Campground. We set camp under a spreading red oak tree. After showers and dinner, we revived. It was a tiring day with plenty of climbing. We have more climbing to do tomorrow.
July 15th, 2019 - Fulton, NY and Boonville, NY : 81.4 miles
