A rockin' family vacation...

After many, many miles of traveling apart from the rest of the world and all by our lonesome selves, we finally had a crowd larger, older and wiser than us. We were no longer held the majority among the expedition crowd as for five fun-filled days we shared our adventure with quite possibly the coolest crowd around. Elizabeth's family -- her mom and dad (Donna and Larry) and aunt and uncle (Kathy and Dick Hitchcock) and ultimately cousin (Whitney) and small fur-ball (Holly) joined us in taking on upstate New York and Vermont.

They didn't just load up their saddle bags like a normal tourist on bike would do -- nope, they filled up the sweetest camper-van ever made by man. A Dodge 3500 chassis built up by Westfalia and Streamline created a home away from home for four people and the pup. In short it was a a super Euro-trendy van/rv. We all camped as usual; the only difference is that we didn't have to lug our heavy baggage around. For a full six days we rode uninhibited by our bags and oh, sweet lord, it was amazing. We experienced speeds, stability, and acceleration we hadn't seen since we test-rode our Trek 520's at the shop some four months earlier. Call it cheating if you wish; we prefer to call it taking advantage of our resources. Moreover, it was quite well-timed as the East method of traversing a mountain is much different than that of the West. While the way of the West entails switchbacking up and down a mountain thereby keeping the grade to a reasonable 6-7% max the East way is to go straight up and over throwing the max grade right out the window. 12 or 13% is no big deal in these parts. We think they just like to torture loaded down bicycle tourists. Ha, we showed them!

Now for a little backpedaling here: When we last wrote we had just reentered the US in Lewiston, NY. A ton of stuff has happened since then. So, here goes...

Although we had a great time in Canada, it was nice to be back in the good 'ol U. S. of A. We promptly began pedaling our way to Rochester, NY where we stayed at Kathy and Dick's place. As is always the case, they were very welcoming, as they rolled out the red carpet for us. That night we had fresh, home-smoked turkey and sweet corn; it was delicious. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and watching the movie Munich. The next day we decided we were long due a day off and spent the day doing well, nothing and we loved it. That evening we were treated to dinner at the best barbeque place ever, Dinosaur BBQ.

That night a storm moved in and we woke up to rain. We hardly felt like pedaling and tried our best to delay it but we did eventually work up the courage and take off. We rode about 70 miles to Lake Skaneateles, one of New York's famous Finger Lakes, and stayed at the cottage of Charlie and Barb Cote, friends of the Hitchcocks. Holy cow, it was an absolutely beautiful area. The water was crystal clear, which incredibly is by no means an exaggeration. It was truly phenomenal. In fact, it was so nice we decided we had better take another day off to spend there. So, we took another rest day and loved it. We went swimming multiple times during the day and got to take out the canoe. The evening before, Charlie Cote took us out on the boat and gave us a grand tour of the lake. We saw some pretty amazing homes, including one that Bill Clinton stayed at, and then visited the shore side of town, where there was an anitque wooden boat show. There was a band playing marches in the gazebo and just as Stars and Stripes finished playing, the sun set perfectly over the horizon, leaving an orange tint to the scene. As you can tell by the pictures, we were leading a very high-stress life on the lake. Charlie, Barb, Alex, and Nick, thank you so much for sharing your incredible place on the lake. We had the most wonderful time.

The next morning the whole family met up with us at Lake Skaneateles. The van arrived with aunt, uncle, mom, dad, and fur-ball all in toe. We unstrapped the bikes from rear rack and headed north to a state park near Fulton, New York. We were sad to say goodbye to the Cotes and Skaneateles but absolutely loved the new company. We all sat down for a gourmet meal of steak and chicken fajitas, chocolate, and mead wine that we had hauled all the way from a honey farm back in Ontario. It was an occasion worth remembering as Elizabeth happily announced an engagement. Yup, Kelly and Liz, while fussing about who got to paddle on the left side of the canoe, in Lake Skineatalas, decided to get married. It was a good night.

The following evening we landed in Booneville, and found another great campground. At first the establishment looked like one from eastern Montana -- no trees, and just an open grass field with a few hook ups next to the highway. What we found only moments later around the corner was a perfect spot to plop the Silver Bullet of a camper and then a beautiful creek complete with large, flat slabs of rock and cool shallow water to sit in. All while sipping on a Coore's Light and crunching on parmasean-flavored gold fish crackers. Holly, the team cocker spaniel, liked it quite a bit too.

From there we headed east to Long Lake (one of perhaps a gazallion Long Lakes we have seen on the trip) and climbed Blue Mountain. The road, while not passing through the Rockies, definitely had us huffing and puffing. All day we battled the Adirondack's long, rolling hill (steep) after rolling hill (steep), but this one really put us to the test. Needless to say, Dick, our fine guide and driver, had stocked the cooler with a large supply of Diet Coke and Busch Beer. We sat on the dock of the lake (and in the hammock) and truely enjoyed our time together.

Day three we got lost. Well, Kelly knew exactly where we were going, but no one else wanted to listen to him, and decided a 20-mile detour would be a better idea. He isn't bitter in the least though, not one little bit. Not bitter at all. To remedy our momentary act of perdition, we found a beautiful, very remote, road that passed through huge stands of old-growth cedars, winding up and down hills and around lakes. The sun shot through in small patches on road and for the twenty miles we hardly spoke a word as we soaked in the beauty. Once we finally caught up with Kathy, Dick, Whitney, and the twelve-pound sock robber, we made our way into Ticonderoga. The fort was super cool -- too bad the weather wasn't. We found a great state campground, right on St. George Lake and then managed to eat the equivilant of six large pizzas, eight salads, twelve beers, and seven double-decker ice cream cones. The lake was cool (in both ways) and we found a nice spot to swim where large slabs of flat rock extended into the deep lake. That evening was warm; we baked and sweated, and when we finally cooled off enough to fall asleep in the heat, the good Lord gave us a solid inch of rain.

The next morning we crossed the Mighty Lake Champlain, via ferry, and headed into an amazingly welcoming state of Vermont. The lower portion of the state is only two day's ride wide. We pulled into Middlebury for a super-sandwich lunch in the van, and then down the way to spend a few hours in the cute, overpriced town. It was a short day as we headed south and completed a grand total of 39 miles. We finally parked it at a campground on Lake Dunmore and promptly found a spaghetti feed, "Thursdays only," of which we took full advantage. For the the fourth day in a row, we had a cool lake to dip our hot little feet (and also to rinse out our biking shorts). That evening we all drank beer around the campfire and roasted (more like burned) marshmellows, and enjoyed our last evening with the family together.

After MiddleBury Pass, and some of the finest riding of this trip, we ended the family vacation in Vermont with lunch in the van. The ride was beautiful and we all left wondering how Vermont could fit so much beauty in such a small state.

Well, that about does it for now.

Still alive and pedaling along,

Caleb, Kelly and Elizabeth

Bike.