We finally had beautiful weather today! We woke up early to catch the Mohican boat from Lake George to Baldwin, which was a 3 hour trip. The sun was shining, the blue water glimmered, and the Adirondack mountains towered over the lake. We enjoyed lunch on the boat and a few of us played cards. After departing the boat, we went into the town of Ticonderoga to buy groceries for dinner. We still had a long ride ahead of us, so we picked up the pace and had a smooth and quick ride towards the campground. The ride today consisted of quiet, rolling country roads, and a bridge took us over Lake Champlain and into Vermont. We are staying at Button Bay State Park, a spectacular campground on the lake. We all went swimming off of a rocky point, and we ended off the night with a lovely fire and delicious s’mores. What an amazing day!
Today was a day of transitions and a start to a new adventure. We started off the morning saying goodbye to Dylan, as the Cape Cod Trek came to an end in Providence. The rest of the group ate breakfast at a delicious diner, then walked around eclectic streets in downtown Providence. Finally, it was time for the rest of the Cape Cod crew to head to the Amtrak station to meet their families in Boston. Everyone hugged and made sure to get each others contact info before the New England Shore Trekkers split ways. After ten days of bonding, it is bittersweet to say goodbye, but there is more journey ahead. The NES trekkers biked off with new leaders, Katie and Trevor, and explored more of Providence as we had a day off before our next leg of the trip. We biked to see Brown University and Thayer Street, a fun college-town road with trendy shops. Then we biked through Benefit Street, per the recommendation of locals, who said some of the oldest houses in America resided on this street. It was like rolling back in time. Later, we checked into our next hotel in East Providence and immediately hit up the swimming pool, playing Jackpot with a frisbee. Ben towered over the rest of us and snatched frisbees from everyone’s hands with his snake-like arms. We came up with an ongoing challenge of gathering “adventure points.” So from now on, whoever wins games and challenges or does something awesome and “adventure-worthy” collects adventure points, all to be cashed in at the end of the trip for something undecided but spectacular! After swimming, we had a mean appetite for some Chipotle, and then biked to a local putt-putt course where Trevor kicked our butts and racked up 4 adventure points for the day. However, Ben still takes the lead as he jumped in some water today and ran in the rain yesterday, earning him a superior collection of points. The games and activities shall continue as we bike on to Block Island tomorrow.
We started the morning bright and early (except for Henry), ignorant of the troubles that would plague us later in the day. We leisurely enjoyed a delicious breakfast in our antique hostel, overlooking the beautiful canals of Gent (spelt without the h in Belgium), and the many grand cathedrals. After breakfast we enjoyed an hour of window shopping and sight seeing in the quickly rising temperatures (this would become somewhat of a theme later on, though I’m getting ahead of myself). At around twelve we regrouped at the hostel and began preparations for our journey to the city of love, classy and chic, Paris. By half past twelve we arrived at Gent’s frankly underwhelming train station. We had planned to depart at 4, but we hastily made our way to the platform and hopped on an early train to Brussels, the capital of the European Union. We arrived at 2 pm at what we thought to be a wonderful and modern train station. But of course, something had to go wrong. Both elevators were out of order, so we lugged our bikes down a steep and dangerous flight of stairs. Then we moved to platform four, and began the arduous task of disassembling our bikes, careful not to damage the delicate machinery. While none of us particularly enjoyed taking apart our bikes (or getting covered in chain grease), we took comfort in knowing we had plenty of time. But of course, something had to go wrong. We were on the wrong platform! We strenuously heaved our bikes and bags to the next platform over, barely getting everything on board, the doors shutting right behind us. We enjoyed a relatively peaceful and scenic hour-long ride through the French countryside to the beautiful and historic Paris train station. We set to the unpleasant task of reassembling our bikes, with the sun beating down on us from above, and the baking Parisian cobblestone street below us. After an hour of hard work we thought we were ready to get to a delicious meal of Thai street food. But of course, something went wrong yet again. I (Henry) cross threaded the screws on my bike handle bars, meaning we couldn’t fully tighten it. We had no way to fix it, and all the bike shops were closed for the day, so I had to bike with my handle bars wobbling perilously beneath me. Luckily it wasn’t too far to dinner. We enjoyed scrumptious and authentic Thai street food. We sat on the curb on a peaceful Paris street as we enjoyed our food and the sunset, now not quite so hot. We made our way to our comfortable and modern hostel, The People le Marais. We explored the hostels numerous floors, enjoying the cool air conditioning, and hot showers. By twelve we were all exhausted, I mean absolutely pooped, kaput, completely tuckered out, and ready for bed. We slept well, excited for the adventures the of next day at the opulent Chateau de Versailles.
The last twenty four hours in Montana have seen us welcomed with open arms by individuals, businesses, families and institutions. Genuine kindness seems to roll off the mountains. Today we had a gentle thirty mile ride over flat ground into Great Falls. Noah replaced his bicycle, a huge weight off, his shoulders, and we then headed for the home of Joe and his family, a pastor we met in Lincoln who invited us into his beautiful home for a pizza and ice cream feast.
Music from our resident guitarist Sachin and surprise virtuoso pianist Dane mingled with pleasant conversation between trekkers and local family and friends. Showered and full, we settled down for second dinners and desserts over board games and comfy sleep within warm walls. We won’t soon forget Joe and his family’s generosity, and with our spirits lifted, we glide into a deep, blissful rest… Lovely to let the world turn and our tires rest
Blog time! We woke up in Taunton, Massachusetts, at a state park. Trip Leaders Katie and Trevor had joined us the night before, so we all packed up camp together. We got on the road early at 9 AM, after a breakfast of Dunkin’ Donuts and muffins, and headed out towards Providence. Dylan and Tessa were our Points for the day, and we made really good mileage – 15 miles! – before the rain started to fall. Just when it seemed all hope was lost for our dry bags, a man rolled by in his pickup truck and offered us his car port to wait out the rain. We rolled to his driveway just as the it began to POUR and happily sat dry under the roof. Donny and his wife Pam were incredibly kind and insisted we come in to cook ramen. Pam made us grilled cheese and iced tea, and was like the grandma we all needed during the rain storm. It was such a great lunch! We then headed out as the rain stopped, and booked it towards Providence. We again made very good time and arrived at our super bougie The Dean Hotel at around 3:00. We had some time to chill and get our bikes up to the room, before we headed out for a nice group dinner at a Mexican restaurant. After dinner we walked around East Providence, went to the river, visited the capital building and finally headed home for some much needed rest. A great day!
We woke up mostly dry despite the thunderstorm around us. The first night of six straight nights of camping went well. In the rain we ate a not so healthy breakfast of English muffins and pop tarts; then we set out for our first stop of the day, a bike shop. One of us had a broken derailleur and another had loose handlebars. We took an unintentional detour but got there nonetheless. While the bikes were being fixed we headed over to a Denny’s. While there we got food and shelter from the apparent monsoon around us. From there we climbed a mountain and then descended into Lake George. However, something had changed from our previous plan. We pulled over on the side of the road and we found out that we were no longer camping. We were staying at a motel. Church bells rang in the streets, a choir sang songs of pure joy, and we were happy. We dumped all of our stuff, got some halal, and visited our favorite place, Stewart’s. With ice cream in our hands we watched a couple of movies and went to sleep dry and happy.
Today, I woke up quite late, at least by my standards. It was hot in our hostel, despite the three fans that whirred away nearby. Most of the day, I walked around with a few fellow Trekkers. We bought various souvenirs, including clothing and postcards. For dinner, we originally planned to buy ingredients from Albert Heijn (yes, this chain is in Belgium as well), but we learned that most of these particular stores are not open on Sundays. Instead, we went out and bought Hawaiian poké bowls. I got a bowl with mango, avocado, rice, chili flakes, and chili mayo. There were definitely more ingredients, but I don’t remember them. When we returned to the hostel, I found myself to be very unlucky while playing Exploding Kittens. Then, we packed up all our bags in the hostel and cleaned up, heading to sleep soon after.
An early start from Clearwater set the stage for an ambitious day of mileage – our first century! 100 miles in a day put us in Simms, MT, where we sniffed out plush high school football field grass and hot showers and finished off our Mac and Cheese reserves.
Going the distance today positioned us for an easy ride into Great Falls tomorrow, where we’ll recuperate and take stock of our equipment.
Locals’ eyes continue to bulge wider and wider as our total distance approaches 1000 miles. If only their pie eyes were edible, we’d never have to stop for dessert. Tomorrow we bike a short distance, launder out fetid rags and rest. Until tomorrow.
“Our tent set-up last night. Everyone actually stayed quite dry”
This morning’s ride followed a beautiful and flat bike path heading north from Albany, right along the edge of the Hudson River. We biked through Peebles Island State Park and then explored the quaint harbor-front of Waterford. There was a little farmers market and many fascinating boats lining the canal. We stopped for lunch in Mechanicville and then biked onward towards Saratoga Lake. Unfortunately one of our trekkers was having some rear derailleur issues, and Aaron stayed back to try to fix the issue. Luckily a very lovely gentleman offered to drive them to Moreau Lake State Park …hopefully the bike can be repaired in town tomorrow! Shannon and the rest of the group ventured onward, but were met with some very unfortunate weather. Dark clouds suddenly surrounded us, and soon enough, the rain began to pound down. We took shelter for a few minutes under a stranger’s gazebo, and continued to ride once the rain became lighter. After many hours of wet conditions, we finally made it to the campground. We were able to pick up a tarp to put over our tents, so hopefully we can stay dry tonight! Burritos for dinner and cookies for dessert put smiles back on everyone’s faces after a long and hard day of riding.
We woke up in Sandwich, MA to a dry morning. Juliet strapped a tire to herself to go repair it at a nearby bike shop. Everybody had a pre-breakfast of banana bread and then we were off to a Stop and Shop to get muffins for the group. Afterwards we rode the bike path to a bridge with too many cars. We biked through a lot of roads and small towns with sidewalks in poor condition. We stopped for Ice cream in the sweltering heat and ate lunch at the ice cream place with the sandwiches we bought in the morning. After that stop we just powered through the biking for the rest of the day. We got to the campsite and we set it up. We then had a delicious dinner made by Tessa and were joined by the famous Teen Treks’ Katie and co-leader Trevor! We ended the night with some lantern conversations!
