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T2 Day 52 (Maura)

 Schenectady, NY to Lee, MA In Schenectady, we woke up at Eric’s (our amazing warm shower host) beautiful old home. It was basically a mansion from the 1700s that has been since converted into apartment units. From the front it looks like a tall brick town house, but from the back windows it overlooks the original yard, ivy-covered shed, large stone walls, patio garden, and greenhouse. The 6th mayor of New York apparently lived here! You can feel the rich history not only in this house but in the town as a whole. We had homemade yogurt parfaits by the kitchen balcony before we set off to a nearby coffee shop that Eric recommended called Arthur’s market. It was so cute! We got some great coffee and sandwiches to go. I also bought a tote bag that has prints of different shapes of pasta on it so that’s gonna be a wardrobe staple for sure when I get back. Eventually we hit the road for real and headed on towards Lee, Mass. Unfortunately we had been low key dreading this day because it was
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T2 Day 51 (Claire)

 Utica to Schenectady This morning started out with a bittersweet goodbye to our lovely host Heather, though we did get to hang out with our other host Tom for the first 20 miles of the day! That’s right he chauffeured us through Utica, giving us plenty of fun facts along the way. We stopped at a Stewarts of course, to load up on snacks (I myself also had a wonderful egg sammy). We parted ways when we met back up with the Erie Canal trail and were on our way. We had STUNNING paved roads all the way to our next destination in Schenectady! About halfway through our day, we stopped for some paninis and an early afternoon matcha, then continued along the Erie canal all the way to our destination, passing many locks and cute doggos along the way. Once we got to Schenectady, we were in absolute awe of the neighborhood where our warmshowers host lived. It looked like old Philadelphia, or Washington D.C. There were rows and rows of beautifully preserved historic homes. Our host lived in perhap
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T1 Day 60 (Kayla)

Millerton, NY - Farmington, CT August 5th I’ve been delaying writing this. Partly because I always delay writing these things, and partly because it means processing that this journey has come to an end.  After Liz left with her dad the night before Keelin and I had biked the last mile to the campsite and then set up camp. It should have been just like any other day. We had set up camp so many times at this point it was like second nature, but nothing felt right. There was a palpable emptiness without Liz being there. Plus the felling that all of this was ending was really starting to sink in. The morning was no different. I heard keelin rustling at 5a, an hour and a half before our alarm. We were both experiencing a roller coaster of emotions, but we tried to play it cool. We went through our usual morning routine, I ate my last packets of oatmeal while keelin choked down a bagel with peanut butter (keelin has since sworn off PB for a good amount of time, saying that they need a “brea
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T2 Day 50 (Audrey)

Syracuse, NY to Utica, NY We were expecting scattered thunderstorms throughout the day but woke up to sunshine instead! After a delicious (and huge) hotel breakfast, we checked out and got on the road. Syracuse is a pretty bike-friendly place, and we had a pleasant ride through the city until we reached the Erie Canal Trail again. There were still some nice stretches of well-maintained bike path along the water, but there were also a few rough patches. One detour took us a couple miles out of the way along some busy roads; another section was all loose gravel and super difficult to navigate. We stopped periodically to enjoy leftover snacks from this morning’s continental breakfast. We were in a town called Rome (no, we didn’t take a detour through Italy) about 12 miles from our Warm Showers in Utica when the sky started to get dark. One of the many lessons we’ve learned this summer is that you can’t trust the weather app. Ever. We paused before leaving Rome (I had to find my raincoat)
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T2 Day 49 (Claire)

 Brighton to Syracuse, NY After a restful sleep, we woke up in the home of our lovely host, Coleridge. He had prepared fruit and yogurt with orange juice in fancy little classes and coffee for breakfast. It was both adorable and exactly what we needed. We chatted over breakfast and made a promise to Coleridge, that we would reach back out to him to assure him we all finished school when we graduate in 2026. We all put a little note in our calendars to do so. We then sat in the living room and waited our the rain a little bit and chatted some more. Before long the rain had stopped and it was time to say goodbye. I can't express how much I loved getting to know Coleridge and getting experience his wonderful hospitality. What a wonderful person. We were then off to Syracuse! Only 88 miles to go. The first bit of the path was paved which was nice. We made a quick stop for some ibuprofen and to take off some layers, which was accompanied by an adorable little duck family on the canal. T
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T2 Day 48 (Audrey)

iagara Falls, ON to Brighton, NY As Taylor Swift says, “Welcome to New York, it’s been waiting for you!” After a big hotel breakfast (and packing up snacks for later), we crossed the Rainbow International Bridge back into the US this morning. The security checkpoint was pretty busy, so instead of riding over, it felt like we were walking through a crowd of cars. Once we got across the border, we rode through Niagara Falls, NY searching for a sound we hadn’t heard before: the Erie Canal! The first stretch of the Empire State Trail was a lovely packed gravel dust path that follows right alongside the canal. We passed through a few quaint towns and enjoyed views of beautiful weeping willow trees, old barns, and plenty more cornfields. It was a nice break from car traffic, and we used the quiet time to listen to music/audiobooks, call friends/family, and play a few rounds of “I’m going on a picnic!” It was a long ride today (nearly 90 miles), and we got a late start with the delay at the b
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T2 Day 47 (Maura)

 Cayuga to Niagara Falls, ON Today we woke up at sun retreats campground in Cayuga. It was a short day for us - just 41 miles - but we got an early start in order to get to Niagara Falls by midday. We basically went right for it and didn’t plan to take many stops. Instead of taking route 3 which we found to be pretty unpleasant because of busy cars and little shoulder, we navigated a different route and took side roads all the way there. It was much more peaceful and enjoyable. We got to see lots of gorgeous Victorian homes and bought fresh sourdough bread on the side of the road (the loaf was eaten in a few hours). We were also still in the hunt for a new tire and tube for Audrey since she had gotten another flat two days before, but with the closest bike shop being in Niagara, we were just hoping that we’d get there asap without any hiccups. Although we’re not generally a superstitious crowd, the word “flat” was not said once until we arrived. Approaching Niagara it got busier and bu
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