Day 73 Schenectady NY to Bennington VT.

August 29, 2023

This is David. It was nice of him to come over and talk to us.

Hubs took this to show his just rewards for a tough day of riding

It was 71° when we left this morning but again there seems to be dampness in the air so we wore our jackets. It’s amazing how some of our stuff did not dry overnight from yesterday’s rain. I actually had to put my hat on under my helmet as the helmet was still wet. When we started out we went on the side roads of the town until we came to route 7 East. Hubs had looked it up and we could stay right on route 7 into Bennington VT. We didn’t realize that route 7 was a four lane road and the morning rush hour traffic was horrific. We did not have a bike lane and had to hope the cars would give us a break. The sidewalk was horrible for quite some time but when it turned better we hopped on it. We didn’t realize how big Schenectady is. When we got to Troy NY we saw that route 7 and Interstate 87 were the same road. Bikes are not allowed on the interstate so we had to do route 2. In Troy we came to this hill that we could not ride up. It actually was 1 mile up and took us 30 minutes to push the bikes up. It is right in the middle of Rensselaer Poly Tech college. It sure took a toll on us. After we got through the campus and rode for a bit we saw some big rocks and decided to take a break and have our muffins. It was actually on someone’s property and the guy started walking towards us. Uh oh, is he going to tell us to leave? No, he asked us if we needed any water or anything else. What a nice guy. His name is David and he sat on one of the rocks and chatted with us for a while. He lives in a house that is over 100 years old. He has been there since the 70’s. He also was telling us how to go and what to expect. Off we went and stopped to pick up sandwiches for lunch and found a place eventually that sold drinks and had a picnic table outside so we could enjoy our lunch. We asked the owner how far it was to VT and she said 10-14 miles. What??? I thought we only had 10 miles to Bennington. Well it was only about 7 miles to the border. Yeah, we made it to our 9th state. Seeing we rode the Erie Canal which is flat, doing the hills today we’re tough. You would think with all the biking we have done to this point we would be able to tackle the hills but oh no, it is not to be. We have more in the days to come but I am sure we will get up them somehow. Tomorrow we head to Brattleboro (in the rain ☹️).

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 534 miles (859 km)

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Phil/Ann DettwilerWe think you should sing as you hike in the rain tomorrow. Just think of all the ‘rain’ songs you could come up with: rain, rain go away/ I’m singin’ in the rain/ Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain/ somewhere over the rainbow/ raindrops keep falling on my head…you will have fun coming up with them! Come on, Hub: you will! And then your self will have you sopping wet but smiling; music does that! So does flipping the Eagle! 🤣
Wishing you a great and joyful day; wish we were there! (And Ava’s team won all three sets! Lilly’s won one,lost two…but both teams were such fun to watch!!). A&P
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8 months ago

Bob DistelbergWelcome to Vermont, and welcome to Brattleboro. If I weren’t currently out of town, I would say you should stop by and say hello. Unfortunately you’re going to deal with some pretty hefty climbing to get from Bennington to Brattleboro.
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8 months ago

Lois AlexanderTo Bob DistelbergSorry we missed you. It would have been awesome to meet you. Yes the hills were pushers but we did have a biking Angel.
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8 months ago