Last night I had a family of three camping near me at Middleport. They were cycling the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Albany. They have already done the C&O canal. There was a young man aged eleven named Jude, his mother named Treah, and Grandpa, also known as Doug. Jude impressed me so much with his enthusiasm for bike packing. The rest of his families willingness and ability to support his passion were also commendable.

Speaking of Jude, I believe that was the name of the fellow I met at the Honey Hut on day twenty eight and reported on the day twenty nine blog post. Isn’t it funny how my memory works.

The parking lot next to this campground turned out to be noisy with cars coming and going throughout the night. It was kind of surprising given how quiet the town seems. At five AM the towns fire/warning alarm turned on and stayed on for quite a long time. We never heard any emergency vehicles, so it’s hard to know what was going on with that alarm. In the Midwest, many towns signal noon with an alarm signal, but I never heard a 5AM alarm before. The worst part of this was the location of the alarm was less than a block away in direct line of sight so it was loud.

Today I cycled along the Erie Canal. Though the morning started out cool, the sun got hot and there was an easterly breeze to overcome at times. Much of the trail was surfaced with crushed limestone. Here’s a couple of pictures showing typical scenes along the canal.

I walked this short section, primarily because of the rough trail surface. I didn’t want to lose anything over either side.

There was also a series of rental motor barges passing by. I’ll have to get a picture of one as they look like a pleasant way to spend a vacation.

I solved the issue with the lost tent footprint, as the Rochester REI was right on the trail.

A real nice employee that apparently was deaf and mute topped off the air in my tires, while I found a new footprint, fuel for my stove, and some tape to mend a hole I put in the fly of my tent. We communicated by writing on a tablet or typing on a phone. The good news is that my employee discount still worked, so it seems I’ll have a job when I get home.

68 miles today got me to a motel in Fairport, New York, a bit east of Rochester. This 68 added to 3075 equals 3143 total miles passed and perhaps 400 or so to go. Seems like some storms may slow me down this week, though the forecast seems to have improved a bit when compared to a couple of days ago.