Day 37 - Queenston, ON to Rochester, NY

What a great way to wrap up our stay in Niagara on the Lake.  A beautiful sunrise welcomed us as we packed the car.

Jitters were in abundance when Gwen and I dropped the guys off at the parking area to the bridge over the Niagara River - last stop before leaving Canada and returning to U.S.A.  We passed through customs and after four right turns, were on our way into New York.  Still not sure how we made four right turns and still ended up going east.
The landscape was different as we passed through each township and village.  The guys were on a recreation / bike path, we were on local and state highways that wound in and arround small towns.  In one town, I loved the sign!

All is good, we arrived in Rochester - in our hotel and ready to begin our final week of cycling.
Patty in New York

Notes from Tom:  As Patty said, we were a little iffy about riding our bikes across the bridge into NY, but it turned out to be really simple and it was good to get back to the US.

We hadn't realized that we were in Tracy's territory, but we saw a sign that made us wonder about that..

When we got onto the Erie Canal Canalway Trail, we had to pass by a lock, and were surprised by the elevation difference at the lock, and the fact that we never passed another one in the 40 miles we rode along the canal.  Overall we rode 88 miles today.

I think I've wished for flat roads in the past, but this one was so flat that I got tired of riding the same speed in the same gear for so long.

We've seen a lot of draw bridges on this whole trip, but we finally were in the right place to see one raise and lower.

Notes from Jerry:  Our stay in Niagara on the Lake was excellent but I think we were all looking forward to getting back in the USA.  As Tom and Patty said we did a very good job of navigating the bridge and getting onto the Erie Canal Tow Path which is now a very nice bike path that starts in the town of Lockport (which has the lock that Tom has a photo of above),  and goes for many miles past Rochester and Syracuse. 

Despite a thunder shower that had us huddling under a bridge, the ride was surprisingly smooth for riding on crushed rock.  We probably averaged above 16 mph but it was pretty noisy, and believe it or not despite the beauty and cooling of the water, it got a little boring, except for the fact that the slightest turn on the slippery surface in an unbalanced position  meant you were probably going down.  It was nice not having to worry about traffic!

Short Note From Gwen:  The guys saw an interesting microbrewery from the road and, of course, we had to drive back there after showers (and thunder showers) for dinner and their I.P.A. (India Pale Ale) draft beer fix for the day.  We all enjoyed a great pub dinner fare with carbo-loading by the guys.