Day 44 - From Niagara to Rochester

We bid a fond farewell to both our last rest day and to Niagara Falls on Tuesday.  It's hard to believe we are in the last week of this incredible journey across our homeland.  Once outside the commercial Niagara area, we rode through the lovely farmland that links that and our new destination of Rochester, NY.  We again saw beautiful fields of crops along the way.

In some cases, we saw fields of recently harvested crops, with evidence of farmers' equipment not far away from the scene.

We rode our 86 miles quickly again, stopping only to chat with local folks along the way or to stop at the SAGs to replenish our water and snacks.

As we entered the outskirts of the outer area of Rochester where our motel was located, we noticed a sculpture that was made out of a dead tree.  This one was rather huge, with a base for the tree and animals carved from the tree trunk, and the animals (deer and two owls) all carved from the trunk of the same tree.  Nice work!

One of the disadvantages of leaving so early in the morning is that our rooms at the destination motel are sometimes not ready. This was the case on Tuesday.  We turned lemons into lemonade by having lunch at the local "European" cafe and bakery.   We were able to toast our rider from Israel, Phillippe, who on this day became a grandfather for the 11th time.  Congrats, Phillippe (At table's end)!

The early hotel arrival also allowed time for some needed bicycle cleaning and discussing the day's ride with friends.

Tomorrow it is on to Liverpool--and our last 90+ mile day--a community very close to Syracuse.