Montour Falls to Witney's Point, NY

So after I huge breakfast at Melissa and Steve's I was on the road by 10am, Thank you for your hospitality! Climbing a huge hill right of the bat got me to a good start in the day, as I headed up the Ithaca and Witneys point, the ride was good with lots of up and downs...

I pasted Witney's Point by a couple of miles and stated looking for a place to camp. Ended up at the maple syrup sugar shack, I'm glad I had previous knowledge, as it was my conversation stater with Dina Snider... All well it was not very hard to convince her to camp on their yard for the night, soon after meeting Frank, and their son Brad, friendly and lovely people... To make a long story short, Frank took me for a flight on his Ultra-Light, and it was easily one of the coolest thing I've done. See the pictures:

Manchester to Montour Falls, NY

This is a picture of a picture of the triplets I met in Manchester where I camped on the back of the Ice Cream Shop and I wanted thank Tim, Kuran and Kelly for hosting me that day...
The next morning I was on the road by 10:30 and biked down on HWY 14 and stopped by a winery to ask if they needed any work, thinking I could stay in the area and work for a day. The nice lady, Melissa told me that there was no work, but we got talking about my trip and next thing you know I she invited me to camp on her back yard, gave me directions and the whole nine yards.
Later at her home I met her husband, Steve and their two kids, Jeremy and Jordan. I actually slept on their tree fort.

They feed me food and wine and were so friendly that I diceted to take the day off cycling today and stay in Montour Falls an extra day to enjoy the surrondings. I introduced them to "yerba matte" and they gave a glimpse of an American family life!
As I'm writing this they are playing pictionary and it is a funny thing to wittiness!!
This is a shot of the moon at Watkins Glen:

Tomorrow morning after a good breakfast I'll hit the road again!!!

Day 3 & 4 - USA

Welcome to the United States of America!

Crossing the bridge into the States was a very scary as I had to ride my bicycle in the middle of the road, between the 3 lanes of going trafic and 2 lanes coming. The officer at the USA side was satisfied in letting me in, after a few dozen questions and surprisingly no inspection of my gear.

Coming into the states, a rush of mixed emotions and pre-conceived ideas come to my mind. I did not really know how to feel. Trying to stay non-bias as I traveled along hwy 31, which has treaded my very well with nice wide bicycle lane shoulder.

At about 4:30pm yesterday I saw a crow landing on a tree and there it stayed poised with presence. I thought to myself "that is an omen", a sign telling me something... That night I ended up sleeping on a farmers field in Albion, NY.

The good part is that I woke up early and was on the road at 8:30, rode through Rochester and arrived here, in Manchester. I'm in this lovely ice cream place, and will camp out in their back yard tonight... finally I found some friendly faces...

tomorrow will be a glorious ride...

Day 2: Niagara River

I spent the day in zig-zag along the southern shore of lake Ontario on the so called water front trail. Beautiful but winding between shore path and busy streets... I purchased something to help my along the way, a AA battery solar charger, have not used yet but you can go wrong with $15, long live Canadian Tire... hehe
I when for one 30 second dip in the lake just to say I've done it, although for those that know me, know that it does not take my long to get in the water.

After riding for 81km I was just on the bike path beside Niagara River Park Way, I followed a paved path in the forest as in was just a dirt path then and I found my self in this lovely peaceful camp where I met Dan, who began to teach my about the fungi in the area. He welcomed me to camp there stoked the fire and gave me water and a grapefruit. Soon after he had to attend to his pre-arranged commitments. So there I stayed blessed with such beautiful surroundings

I am planning the cross the Queenston Lewiston Bridge to the States and head down towards Rochester, NY tomorrow.