Day 42, Sunday, August 10.
Sharon, CT to Abington, CT
Daily Mileage: 90.21 miles
Total Mileage: 3,779.0 miles
Daily Time on Bike: 6:46 hours
Average Speed: 13.3 mph
Maximum Speed: 41.6 mph
Today began with us hitting the snooze button a number of times. About halfway through the trip we discovered why our alarm clock wasn't working properly. Every morning, we'd set it for some insanely early hour, and every morning we'd wake up a couple hours past the original time. It seems that each time the alarm went off, one of us would roll over and unconsciously hit snooze, or assume the other person heard the alarm as well and any minute we'd both get up; however, only to fall back asleep again. This morning was one of those early mornings though when we had to get up and out because it was a Sunday and Mass was starting—we could already hear a lot of activity happening outside of the garage. David woke and went outside to hunt for a “Public Restroom” (i.e., someone's yard). I went upstairs to change just in case anyone decided to open the unlocked garage door.
From the church we biked over to the Firemen's Breakfast and helped them purchase a new ambulance—there you go people of Sharon, CT. The pancakes were pretty good and made with freshly picked blueberries. We stretched out in the driveway, trying to avoid the swarms of gnats and finally hit the road at 9:30AM. We made our way down the road and up our first big hill of the day, stopping about nine miles down the road for some caffeine. Both of us had a liter to drink while we sat and finished reading our magazines purchased the night before.
We knew that we were going to meet up with David's parents today and the celebration was going to start as the trip began to wrap up. The roads seemed to be lined with huge, long hills today, but we didn't mind all that much. We stopped in Torrington to find the town doesn't have public restrooms. This had become more prevalent the further east we traveled. Before people would say, "we don't have public restrooms, but you can use the one right here." Now there’s nothing. So we went to a McDonald's. On our way out of town we spotted our first Wal-Mart of New England, and New York for that matter. I went in to grab whistles that we could use as our horn or communication device. It was about thirty miles from Hartford, but the miles went quickly because they were essentially city miles.
We made it to Hartford and thought it looked a bit like Minneapolis. We were heading through a number of the run-down areas and eventually ended up right in the heart of downtown. Faced with an Interstate and being hungry, we stopped at a Wendy's to eat. We had a small problem after we ate because our highway joined the Interstate to cross the river. Finally, we ignored the prohibited signs and bit the bullet. Going around this would have meant adding countless miles to our day—it was only a bridge, but it was pretty scary nonetheless. We were faced with four or five lanes of traffic, on our side alone, over a bridge. Luckily, we were the first exit on the other side. On the outskirts of Hartford we were once again faced with breaking the law in order to take the right highway. From here on out the highway never strayed too far from towns and the town just ran one after the other.
Our last forty miles of the day went relatively fast, except for being extremely thirsty and a bit tired. We made two stops before calling it a day. We pulled into town around 7PM and were right on schedule with our quitting time from the past couple of days. There was a closed general store with picnic table that would serve well as the rendezvous point with David’s parents.
They arrive right on schedule and after the usual greetings that accompany not seeing your parents for two months and biking across the country in the meantime, we loaded up our gear and started out to find a restaurant and hotel. They brought a hundred pounds of food and drinks after hearing from Steve all the stuff we consumed when he spent the day with us back near Cleveland, wow!
We found a pizza place for dinner and then after several more stops found a place to stay the night. David’s dad got two rooms, and while we insisted that it wasn't necessary, I think it was his way of politely saying thanks, but you guys stink.
Today was our last "normal" day of biking and tomorrow is our last full day on the bikes. I'm a bit bummed as our trip comes to an end. It has been an incredible way to spend the summer, and now we only have a day and a half left. I could go on about it, but I want to shower before today becomes tomorrow.
(Photo: David’s “action” shot.)
Daily Mileage: 90.21 miles
Total Mileage: 3,779.0 miles
Daily Time on Bike: 6:46 hours
Average Speed: 13.3 mph
Maximum Speed: 41.6 mph
Today began with us hitting the snooze button a number of times. About halfway through the trip we discovered why our alarm clock wasn't working properly. Every morning, we'd set it for some insanely early hour, and every morning we'd wake up a couple hours past the original time. It seems that each time the alarm went off, one of us would roll over and unconsciously hit snooze, or assume the other person heard the alarm as well and any minute we'd both get up; however, only to fall back asleep again. This morning was one of those early mornings though when we had to get up and out because it was a Sunday and Mass was starting—we could already hear a lot of activity happening outside of the garage. David woke and went outside to hunt for a “Public Restroom” (i.e., someone's yard). I went upstairs to change just in case anyone decided to open the unlocked garage door.
From the church we biked over to the Firemen's Breakfast and helped them purchase a new ambulance—there you go people of Sharon, CT. The pancakes were pretty good and made with freshly picked blueberries. We stretched out in the driveway, trying to avoid the swarms of gnats and finally hit the road at 9:30AM. We made our way down the road and up our first big hill of the day, stopping about nine miles down the road for some caffeine. Both of us had a liter to drink while we sat and finished reading our magazines purchased the night before.
We knew that we were going to meet up with David's parents today and the celebration was going to start as the trip began to wrap up. The roads seemed to be lined with huge, long hills today, but we didn't mind all that much. We stopped in Torrington to find the town doesn't have public restrooms. This had become more prevalent the further east we traveled. Before people would say, "we don't have public restrooms, but you can use the one right here." Now there’s nothing. So we went to a McDonald's. On our way out of town we spotted our first Wal-Mart of New England, and New York for that matter. I went in to grab whistles that we could use as our horn or communication device. It was about thirty miles from Hartford, but the miles went quickly because they were essentially city miles.
We made it to Hartford and thought it looked a bit like Minneapolis. We were heading through a number of the run-down areas and eventually ended up right in the heart of downtown. Faced with an Interstate and being hungry, we stopped at a Wendy's to eat. We had a small problem after we ate because our highway joined the Interstate to cross the river. Finally, we ignored the prohibited signs and bit the bullet. Going around this would have meant adding countless miles to our day—it was only a bridge, but it was pretty scary nonetheless. We were faced with four or five lanes of traffic, on our side alone, over a bridge. Luckily, we were the first exit on the other side. On the outskirts of Hartford we were once again faced with breaking the law in order to take the right highway. From here on out the highway never strayed too far from towns and the town just ran one after the other.
Our last forty miles of the day went relatively fast, except for being extremely thirsty and a bit tired. We made two stops before calling it a day. We pulled into town around 7PM and were right on schedule with our quitting time from the past couple of days. There was a closed general store with picnic table that would serve well as the rendezvous point with David’s parents.
They arrive right on schedule and after the usual greetings that accompany not seeing your parents for two months and biking across the country in the meantime, we loaded up our gear and started out to find a restaurant and hotel. They brought a hundred pounds of food and drinks after hearing from Steve all the stuff we consumed when he spent the day with us back near Cleveland, wow!
We found a pizza place for dinner and then after several more stops found a place to stay the night. David’s dad got two rooms, and while we insisted that it wasn't necessary, I think it was his way of politely saying thanks, but you guys stink.
Today was our last "normal" day of biking and tomorrow is our last full day on the bikes. I'm a bit bummed as our trip comes to an end. It has been an incredible way to spend the summer, and now we only have a day and a half left. I could go on about it, but I want to shower before today becomes tomorrow.
(Photo: David’s “action” shot.)
