Twenty One Miles from Canandaigua to Lima, New York

We had a good day today.  We covered twenty-one miles from Canandaigua to Lima, New York, and we have officially passed out of the Finger Lakes region and into western New York.

Once again, the environment has subtly shifted, and spring just keeps getting closer and closer.  We met some great folks today including Bernadette, Steve, and James. We saw deer and a rabbit. The scenery wasn’t so much spectacular, but it was consistently very nice.

Yurt on a River - Lima, NY

This Yurt perched on the bank of a river really caught me by surprise, but it was pretty cool.

Grouchy old hiker caught unawares in his natural habitat

There was even a rare sighting of a crotchety old hiker in his natural habitat holding down a guardrail.  Though this is a fairly rare sighting, these scenes are more prevalent in the late afternoon after a long day of hiking.  Keep your eyes peeled. You may see one too.

Overall, we had a good day, and we’ll see how we can recover tonight and hit the trail strong again tomorrow.

Dealing with a Day of Rest

I’m not gonna fib to you.  Dealing with these days of rest are hard on me.  Don’t get me wrong. I know they’re absolutely necessary, but even given their value to the overall effort, I end up feeling a little trapped as we sit tight and make no obvious forward progress.

When we’re on the road, there is always something new to experience and take in.  Once we become static in one area, my perception is that we’re really limited in the things we can do or see.  That perception is not correct, but it takes energy to overcome that perspective. Today I had to make a real effort to get out of our motel room and seek out the beauty around me.  The beauty was there when I looked.

Cherry blossoms right out the front door of our motel room

My friends back in Washington, DC saw the cherry blossoms come and go several weeks ago.  As the spring warmed and the blossoms peaked, I was able to share in their excitement as they made their own annual pilgrimage to the Jefferson Memorial or even just out in their own neighborhoods to see the peak of the cherry blossom season.

Now, I get to experience that same excitement again, because here in the Finger Lakes region of New York the cherry blossoms are beginning to slowly make their way toward their peak.  I’m no expert, but I’d say we’re about seven days out from a real peak of the season. The picture of the tree above was a bit of anomaly. She had to be out in a particularly sunny or warm spot because here blooms are fully filled out.  Some of her neighbors were just beginning to bud out.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the road.  We’ve got a twenty or twenty one mile leg planned, so I’ll be back in my nomadic happy place soon enough.  Until then….

Day 33

Rory (Jay) posting again, finally.

We decided earler this week to make Fri, 03 May a rest/recovery day.  Wx forecasts for several days said today would bring heavy rain all day:  we've gotten a few light sprinkles intermittenty.   But, Rory needed the rest.  The previous 5 days walking had worn him down significantly.   All told, in the last 17 days prior to today, we have walked 233.7+ miles.  That 17 days included the 2 non-walking days we spent in Syracuse to attend the Irish feis.    

I was getting down on myself because of my declining ability to recover physically overnight.   Josh brought it into perspective  be pointing out that we were averaging the equivalent of 15.6 miles per walking day -- more than a half marathon -- while carrying packs weighing in excess of 25#   Elite runners pretty much don't accomplish that.  It was a much needed admonition.   It doesn't make recovery any faster or easier.  But it does ameliorate the discouragement some.  

There isn't a bottom line yet, or even one in sight,  but what is apparent to me is that the the Lord is actively interceding and facilitating this current activity.   Not only for Josh and I, but equally as much for Sarah in Plano.   I struggled in arriving at the decision to follow through with attempting this endeavor after considering it for a few years -- but early indications are that it is consistent with the life planned for me.   And inasmuch as my life intersects greatly with that of others (Sarah, Ruthanne, Josh...), it must be consistent with their life plans also.   Hmmm.  

I don't know how to show or express my appreciation for the support, help and encouragement we've had (and are receiving) from Sarah especially, and from our families, our friends, our coworkers, and our acquaintances  (many new).  THANK YOU, and PLEASE CONTINUE !! .. must suffice !!       Jay
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Onward to Canadaigua

Today, we slogged out thirteen miles.  Basically, it was our only choice. Neither Dad nor I wanted to stay in Geneva any longer, the weather for the day was mostly dry and warm, and we needed to put some miles under our feet before rain moved in on Friday.  That’s where we both wanted to take a day off the road.

The morning started off with a little rain, but it ended quickly.  It actually freshened the air and the colors of the grass, the newly budding trees, and the barns….especially the red ones.  

Red barn with sunflower after the rain

Dad was tired at the beginning of the day, and about five miles into the distance his port list came back pretty noticeably.  After that happens, hiking is just going to get progressively more difficult for him as the miles add up. Today was no exception.

Eight miles of pure grinding is what followed, and I’m pretty proud of the way he handled himself.  It took us over nine hours, but we finally pulled into a Super 8 Motel to spend at least the evening and probably a day tomorrow resting up.  We headed on over to the Wegmans for a slightly overpriced, but tasty, burger from their burger bar. Now, we’re wrapping things up for a much needed night of rest.  Here’s to recovery….and staying mostly dry.

Back to My Roots

We had a relatively short day today covering eleven miles from Seneca Falls to Geneva, NY.  Coming into Geneva, we crossed the north end of Seneca Lake. The lake is the largest of the glacially carved "Finger Lakes," and it's the deepest lake to reside entirely in the state of New York at 600 feet.  There's even a Navy connection as the depth allows the controlled testing of sonar transducers and arrays.

Signs of spring in Waterloo, NY on the way out of Seneca Falls

Seneca lake is just under two miles wide and almost forty miles long and generally runs from  north to south. The south wind was kicking today, and the long south-north fetch was allowing some pretty impressive wave to build in what, for all practical purposes, is a freshwater inland sea.

South wind breakers at the north end of Seneca Lake

It felt good to be back near the water.  We left the edge of the Atlantic exactly a month ago, and apart from streams, rivers, ponds, and small lakes we haven't seen any truly significant expanses of water since abandoning the coast.

Back near the water, and I’m still being photobombed by the grizzled old man - Just can’t seem to shake him

Geneva, NY felt like a port town with the Seneca-Cayuga Canal, the lake, the highway and rail lines running through the hustle and bustle of hotels, hostels, pubs and eateries, warehouses, manufacturing plants, seagulls, sailboats, and evidence of fishing and other water related industry scattered about.  In short, it felt a little like returning to my roots.

The lake, the railroad, the canal, and the bustle of a port city all felt very much like being home

I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the water, but today was a good reminder of the influence that oceans and seas (even inland ones) have exerted on my life.  I'm drawn to the water, and today felt like home.

Last of the First

Today is the last day of the first month of the Newport to Newport Transcontinental Pilgrimage.  In the standard fashion, it’s time to review some statistics from the first thirty days. We covered a total of 396.5 miles, the longest day was 25.2 miles, each of us have replaced our shoes one time, and four “zero days” with no forward progress,

We’re having fun in general, and we’re coming up the learning curve pretty quickly.  I’ve also proven to myself that given enough time, I can actually grow a beard.

Day 30 beard picture….entering Seneca Falls, NY

The other things that we’ve learned are more philosophical.  I’ve learned to stop worrying as much. Let’s face it. When you’re moving forward at a blistering pace of 2.5 miles per hour, not much is going to happen very quickly.  Sure, there’s always some danger with traffic, but the shoulders are wide, we are only travelling during daylight hours (except for that one time, and we learned that lesson), and people are very good at giving us a wide berth.  Worrying doesn’t help anyway. If things suck on any given day, and they have sucked, the only thing for it is to embrace the suck and put one foot in front of the other.

I’ve also learned to enjoy being outside.  If it’s sunny, great. If it’s cloudy, great.  Cold, warm, windy, or rainy. All great. No matter what weather we’re having, I’ve got my gear dialed into the point that there is no such thing as ba weather.  Being outside and in the heart of the action is infinitely better than viewing some watered down abstraction of reality from behind a screen.

That’s about it for now.  I’ve learned to be tired and to listen to my body when that happens.  It’ll tell you when it’s time to go to bed, and you’ll be much better off when you listen.

Sometimes You Grind

Not every day on the road is sunshine and unicorns.  Today started off clear, cold, and sunny, but it didn’t take long for the temps to warm up, the clouds to roll in, and the gray to descend on the walk.

Dad pulling into the town limits of Auburn, NY under gray and cloudy skies.

Shortly after the gray rolled in, we found ourselves slogging through about five miles of urban terrain.  Sometimes it just works out that way. Sometimes there aren’t a lot of glorious scenes. Sometimes the only animals you see are the ones not lucky enough to make it across the highway.  Sometimes you just have to grind because that’s all there is to do on that particular day.

Today was one of those days, and grind we did.  Just under seventeen miles, and Dad ground through them like a champ.  Sometimes I forget that he’s seventy eight years old. He certainly doesn’t act like it.  He’s young at heart, and I’m proud of his effort and amazed at his resilience.

At the end of the day today, we’d managed to grind through a total of three hundred seventy-four point eight miles since leaving Newport, Rhode Island a little less than a month ago.  There were times that I wondered how far we’d be able to go, but those concerns are gone now. If we want to finish this trip, I now know that we can. All we have to do is keep grinding.  

Days like today are a good reminder of that truth.

Back on the Road - Art and Fun in Syracuse

We finally left Syracuse, and it’s good to get back on the road and making forward progress.  We started off a little slow today. We had to catch a ride back to the place we left the trail, and the sky was spitting a cold misty rain.  Tough to get going, but we finally stepped out.

One of the best things about being back on the road was that we started to pick up some of our pilgrimage habits.  Based on a clever Instagram follower, Dad’s taken up the challenge of photobombing any selfie I take during the trip.  It’s become a bit of a game, and he turned in what I think were some comic genius performances this afternoon.

This old dude keeps photobombing me no matter where I go!

I couldn’t stop laughing at his antics.  Good stuff.

I also am glad we’ve cleared the city to the west.  There are great advantages to walking in a city. Restrooms are easy to come by, and just about any service you need (and some that you don’t) are never too far away.

On the other hand, the traffic is worse, the shoulders of the roads are generally narrower, and the scenery is generally not quite as nice.  One exception to the scenery bit are the public displays of artwork. I love coming across these islands of creative genius during our urban explorations.

You never can tell what you might stumble upon while wandering around a city.

People are really endlessly fun, and today was no exception.

It’s good to be back on the road, and we’re looking forward to getting back into our travelling rhythm.