Other than the mosquitos, nobody bugged me. I t was a nice and quiet night, with occasionally the sound of a faraway loon.
I didn’t want to miss my friend in Camden, so I was packed up by 11, and headed South. It was very overcast, and it threatened to rain, but it remained dry (for a while)


Cute little library


I took some coastal detours, which weren’t as spectacular as I had hoped. It was very suburban, and there were few stretches without any houses.




Right as I hit Hwy 1 again I saw this corny little blueberry place

When I hit Elsworth I noticed a sporting good store and dropped in to get some fuel for my stove. Seems like only certain stores carry the dual fuel tanks like the MSR.
When I got out of the store it was raining and I donned my raingear.
I don’t mind riding in the rain, but it does limit the picture taking.


Another one of those spiffy bridges

I got to Camden around 5 and discovered to my dismay that I had zero phone reception! Turns out that AT&T sucks in this area. Bummer. Luckily my cheap little emergency tracfone had reception and I called my friend Geoffrey. He answered!! In itself a miracle…….
Turns out I was very close to where he was. I did have some chai and tomato basil soup before I headed out there at the local deli.

I’ve been here a few days now, relaxing (well not really) and getting some things taken care of.
My Hawaiian registration expired, and I went and registered here in Maine. So from now on I will have a Maine license plate just to throw everyone off.
I think I’ll hang my Hawaiian on my bag, just as a conversation piece.

Geoffrey, the neighbor across from him called Jorey, and I rode the bicycles to Stromsurfer’s house to go and say hi.


I really don’t like bicycling, too exhausting! So as I had hopped off to walk a hill, I noticed this gorgeous flower in someone’s yard.


The guys, Geoffrey, Jorey and Mike
Mike has a cool BMW with sidecar, I told him now he could get a dog to come along on his trips.
We spend a little while there, and he promised to swing by the next day to come check out Spirit

This morning Geof and I went up to Mnt. Battie to check out the view




A tower with a view


short little stairway t the top, but what a nice view up there


guy with yellow jacket down the hill is Geoffrey, enjoying the view




Mike came by around one to check out Spirit, and stayed for just a little while.
I had to jump on the back before he left. Very nice bike!!!
So here’s where I stop for today.
I’m not sure if I’m heading out tomorrow or the day after. It’s supposed to be nice weather for the next few days, so that’s a relief.

As I write this I am sitting in my tent, stealth camping in the Adirondack National Forest. The rain just eased off (it had been raining since last night, but I was dry and snug as a bug), and now the forest sounds reappear again. The calming rushing of the river, which is about one hundred feet from me, and sounds of the birds twittering in the trees, give me a contented and peaceful mood. An occasional car passing by make me aware that I am not too far away in to the woods.
But anyways, let me get back to where I left off.

I wanted to go to Portland to go to the Whole Foods store there, and Geoffrey said he had to return some boots at LL Bean because they hurt, so he said that if I didn’t mind his company he’d drive. Mind? Heck no, I could just kick back, relax and let him deal with traffic .
I was hoping to meet up with my friend Jen who lives there, but that unfortunately didn’t happen as we got stuck for hours right here



I am guessing that what I am about to tell you will shock you!!
You never guess what I bought………..
Well, I can only blame Legolas, Catniss, and Robin Hood for this crazy notion!
Did you guess it yet?
I went and bought a bow and arrows
I’ve always admired the character Robin Hood, and then Legolas and Catniss for their accuracy with a bow. It had been a long time wish of mine to learn how to use a bow and arrow. To be one with the arrow as a Zen quote says.
And no! I am not planning on shooting it at any living being, man or animal. Nor am I planning on using it as a weapon for defense. If my mind ever goes there, and stays there, I will ship it of to a friend and will use it once I live somewhere near a archery range.

When we were in LL Bean we walked by the counter with the bows behind it, my eye caught a beautiful wooden one. The sales guy, sensing my interest , walked up to me and asked if I’d like to try one. Try one????? It was then that I saw the closed in shooting range behind him. Wow, me, try to shoot a bow?? Yes sir!!
He took me inside, and I had to sign a piece of paper first, which I did, and then had me try one bow.
Just pull on the string and see if you can pull it to your cheek. I did, but pulled it too far as I thought it harder. Nope not the bow for you he said. It was a 20lbs bow (not in weight but pull), so he gave me a 30 lbs one. This one I pulled to my cheek as well. It wasn’t hard, but not as easy either, and I felt it was the right size.

He showed me how to hold it, how to load the arrow, and how to release.
The target was only about 15 feet away I think, maybe twenty, and I hit the square but not the circle on my first try. I was too far to the right. He gave me 6 arrows to shoot, and by the end I had hit the outer edges of the circle three times; but still too far to the right. I had a hard time estimating how far to the left aim the arrow.
But now I was hooked, I would be able to learn how to shoot accurately.
We went outside and he showed me how to string the bow.
Meanwhile Geoffrey had come back from returning his shoes, and wanted to order lunch. I ordered a salad and went back to the guy who was dissembling the bow. Then I got anal and asked him if I could look at a few other ones, as I really liked the different wood grains. Then as I was choosing he suddenly said, “Do me a favor and do this test for me.” I had a feeling something was nagging him, so I did,
Basically you make a small circle with both hands, and center and object far from away into the circle you just made. Then you slowly bring your arms to your face, keeping the object in the center. Now when you do this, you will realize that your circled hands come to a stop either in front of your right eye or your left. Funny enough, mine stopped in front of my left eye. “Do it again”, he said with an object even further away, same thing. “Well”, he said, “You are a lefty!” Turns out that the reason I kept on shooting too far to the right, was because my left eye was doing the aiming. Back to the shooting room we went, and handed me a left-handed bow.
Awkward! You’ll get used to it he told me. I aimed and shot…….dead center from the middle, horizontally speaking, a little too high, but in the center.
Yep, you’re a lefty! I shot a few more arrows and all within an inch of each other. Now I just have to get the height right. My left arm isn’t as strong, so I tired easily.
Then back to the counter. At first it looked as if they didn’t have a left-handed bow, but then he found one, the only one! I guess I didn’t have a choice as for as wood grains went . Still it was a beautiful bow. Part of me was still thinking I should go with the right, but then I figured if it really didn’t work out, I could always go and exchange it for a right-handed one. They have an easy return policy.

I can’t believe I splurged and bought a bow. But then Geoffrey handed me his LL Bean card that had the money on it from his returned boots. He said he’d never use it and to go ahead and use it toward the bow. I bought an arm guard and three more arrows, as the arrows that came with it were junk, according to the sales guy.
Meanwhile my salad had arrived and Geoffrey and I enjoyed our lunch.

We spent another hour walking around the store, and I sat outside the store for a while in the sun, waiting for him to get his business on the phone done.
I felt guilty having splurged so much money on it, but then I told myself I earned it. I worked my butt of these last nine months.

Afterwards I went to whole foods and Geoffrey to Verizon. Got lots of Tasty Bite meals!!! Turns out we dawdled too long at LL Bean, and missed the window to visit my friend, who as it turned out had other plans for the afternoon. I didn’t know, but I figured I’d meet her again some day.

Shopping is exhausting!! Went to bed early and started packing the next morning.
Geoffrey said goodbye before I finished as he was driving north to Dover-Foxcroft to visit his friends.
I was out of there around noon, but knew I didn’t have far to go. His sister has a condo at Sugarloaf, a skiing resort, and I could stay there a night.
Route 17 was an easy going back route, some traffic for a Friday, but not too bad.
The route wasn’t exactly picturesque, so I didn’t take any pictures for a while, but when I did, my camera froze on me. What the???? There was no pace to stop, and I really wasn’t in the mood to figure out what was going on. As the scenery was not exactly mind blowing I figured I’d fix it once I got to the condo.
It only took a few hours, and the condo was easy to find.
It was totally deserted!! The inside was really nice!


living room and dining table


Kitchen


Bedroom with queen and bunk-bed


And a bathroom and washer and dryer room

It was so comfy there, and peaceful.
I fell asleep on the couch at 6 PM woke up once to crawl in my sleeping bag on the bed, and slept till 6 AM. I guess I was tired :huh

In the morning I just had to assemble my bow, I hadn’t even had a chance to do that.
It took me a while to figure out, as the string mounts backwards, I had forgotten.


Here it is!!


Close-up of wood inlay

I had a relaxed morning and figured out what was wrong with the camera; the scene dial was between settings. Duh, I twisted it to anti shake, and was good to go.
I whatsapped Pam, Geoffrey’s sister to whom the cabin belongs, and asked her if she had the condo online. She does, it’s on Home Away. Sugarloaf, 1 bedroom on mountain condo... - HomeAway Carrabassett Valley
I figured if anyone riding in this area needs a wonderful place to crash, you can reserve it online.

I was packed and out of there by 11.


My new bow on top of my dry-bag.

I rode around the lakes and through Eustis then around the Rangely lakes area.




Whoa! Look at that color!


A dam that generates electricity


The other side of the bridge


Just following the river


Another biker in front of me


Look at the big cloud on top, it follows the curves of the mountains almost exactly!

I was so intend on sight seeing that I totally got ”lost”. Well, I found myself almost in Berlin, and could not find it on the map. Turns out I had crossed the border into New Hampshire without knowing it.
I bought a map of New Hampshire and figured out where to go from here.
Past Berlin was a Forest Ranger station, and I stopped by to get some maps with camping areas. Much to my dismay, NH does not have primitive free or cheap campgrounds. Most of them were in the $22 to $35 range. Yikes, that much to get stuck between two RVs? No way!
I chose Hwy 16 South and turned unto 301 West. Just past a tiny town called Bartlet is a narrow road called Bear Notch road, which ends on the Kangamangus hwy.
That little road was awesome (closed in the winter).


Bear Notch Rd




The Kangamagus Rd was nice too, but way too crowded. And I have to admit, I have been to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Kangamangus does not hold a candle to it.
That’s the problem of having been to some really amazing places, after a while something that would have been awesome if you had never seen anything else, turns into something just so-so. Still, it was a nice ride.

As NH was rather pricey, I decided to just head into Vermont, maybe it would be cheaper there?




I found a dirt road that headed into a campground (well at least on the map it did)
Turns out, there was only some sort of lodging house that you had to reserve.

I ended up backtracking and went North of Groton on a road that had quite a few campgrounds. I was tired, and did not see any dirt roads that weren’t driveways.
For tonight I would just pay the fee.
The First campground was too crowded, it was Saturday after all, but the second one, called “New Beginnings” was quiet in the horse area.
I had been riding around the campground and got lost. Met Pete on a Kawasaki who decided to camp in a lean to, but ha not brought any camping gear. Turns out he knew the camp ground manager who later provided him with a mattress and blanket. No screen???? Yikes, I could not have done that. I think he got munched on during the night, as his face was rather red in the morning.
Pete bought me a little Vermont State Park sticker, as I had only a $20 bill but no other cash.

It was $20 for the night, but I had a whole field for myself. Across from me was a horse paddy with two horses in it, and the owners were in an RV that was attached to a horse trailer; very interesting contraption.
They were nice folks.


I pitched the tent amidst the mosquitos, turns out today was the first sunny day they had had in month; it hard been raining for weeks.
I sure was glad I camped there, and not in the tent area, as there was a group that was doing al sorts of stuff like karaoke, and dancing to YMCA till 10PM.
I slept amazingly well.

The next morning I let my tent dry in the sun, washed my mugs, and talked to Pete for a few before I left.
I kept riding on Hwy 302 until Orange, where I took Hwy 110 south. This is a really nice little road, quiet and picturesque.


Following another river

Then once I hit Bethel, I found a 10 mile road that lead to Hwy 73.


This little road went over a pass, and it was a gorgeous road to ride on. The feeling I got from this road was, I want to live here!!I kept imagining my hobbit home overlooking the hills. There were a few houses on it, but most of them set back a bit.



I had planned to ride to Brandon, where (I found on the internet) there was supposed to be an archery range.
After an hour or so I pulled over to stretch my legs for a bit, and munch on a fruit bar, when I looked at Spirit. Oh crap!!!!


Now those of you that are utterly bored, take a look and see if you can find what is missing. This will be the quiz for the day
I will let you know at the end of this RR what it is that I forgot.


A little past Brandon on my way to the archery range

Turn out that the address for the Range was someone’s house! Darn, and nobody was home either.
Oh well, so much for that idea.

I hopped back on Spirit and kept on riding toward the New York State border




Across the river is NY state


I didn’t realize that I had to take a ferry!

I arrived just as the ferry pulled out, but the next one was only 15 minutes later, so I didn’t have to wait that long.
Turns out they didn’t take debit or credit cards (sign on the wall) so here I was, no cash, so no ferry. I wondered if they would take my $10 Canadian bill I had forgotten I had.
A car pulled up behind me, and I walked up to ask if by any chance they were Canadian. I figured if they were, maybe they could change the ten-dollar note for me.
They weren’t, but when they found out why I asked they offered to pay my ride.
They didn’t even want to take the Canadian money.


Mike and Heidi saved the day!
They were from Pennsylvania, and I told them I was heading there to visit a friend.


Nice sailboat, brings back memories
The ride was short


Ticonderoga landing


In New York State! Adirondacks, here I come!!

I stopped at a little pizza place and had a salad; it was very good!
Part of me wanted to stay and write my RR, which I still hadn’t written, but part of me wanted to go and find a nice place to camp for a few days, and then write.
The latter part won, and I headed out. I took 74 west and then 9 North toward Keene.
Then as I was riding I noticed a dirt road to the right, and a little while later another dirt road exiting. Hmmmmm, one of those half circles?
I turned around and got on the dirt road. Looked promising. I parked spirit and walked down the road a ways, as there was a muddy spot that I would have to ride through. Turns out that the road went into the forest and there was just the most perfect place to pitch my tent!
Excited I walked back to Spirit, hopped on, and was just going to gun it through the mud. Welllllllll……….
That did not go as planned. Before I knew it I slid and ended up with Spirit’s front wheel in the grass to the right and the rear tire sideway in the mud with Spirit dropped at a 45 degree angle.
I tried to lift her with everything on it, but couldn’t. However, I did move her a bit. So I took all the bags off, while keeping Spirit propped against my leg. I did not want her to drop down any further. Once she was lighter I lifted her straight up, it wasn’t too hard. Then while holding here I walked around the back to the left side of bike, and started her up again. It took a few tries, but I got her rear wheel out of the mud and into the grass.


I let her cool down a bit while I carried the bags across the mud.
Then I hopped on again and rode her through the grass onto the dry part of the road. Easy peasy!!
I decided to just quickly load the bags on as it would have taken me longer to carry all the stuff to the campsite.


According to the news it was going to rain, so I put up the tarp as well


It even had a fire pit (with litter and all)

As it was still dry I thought I’d shoot a few arrows at the ground.
I almost lost the first one as it went under all the pine needles.
But I had done a pretty good job at aiming!!
I practiced for about half an hour, using the funky arrows, just to strengthen my arm.
Yep the arrows are funky, they wobble in the air, the nice ones don’t!
It started raining shortly after, and it rained all night.

Well, here is where I started. I spend the day reading, knitting eating and writing my RR. I hope it’s sunny tomorrow so I can ride out of here into the Adirondacks.

Well……. it not only rained all night, but all day too! I didn't mind, figured I needed the break. The rain eased off later in the day, and it was dry in the morning.
I decided to pack up, it was drizzling slightly but started to clear up on the horizon, at least I thought so. By the time I had broken the tent down and packed, it started to POUR!! Buckets all at once. Grrrrrrrr!! I was glad I had left the tarp till last. I waited a whole under it, with the mosquitos buzzing around my ears. It didn't let up, and there was no way I wanted to ride out of here through that muddy patch in the rain. So I finally told myself to just bite the bullet and pitch the tent up again.
I was shaking my head at myself. 4 hours of work for nothing, lol. But I was glad with my decision, as I found that I did have 3 packets of tissue paper on me, which I had forgotten. You see, I had run out of toilet paper, and only had a few baby wipes left. As for water, it rained so hard that I bout one of my canteens under the tarp where the rain gushed down. It filled up in no time!
This time around I left Spirit in the rain and put a tarp over her. The way I had set up the tent, I could go out and stay dry for a couple of feet. I also was able to hang up my wet stuff under the tarp.

So here I was wet and tired (with rain washed hair), but at least all of my stuff was dry. That dry-bag is amazing!!
I laid down on my mattress and was happy I had stayed, maybe tomorrow would be sunny.
I relaxed till about five when lo and behold……… was that sun hitting my tent??


Yes, some sun!!





It stayed dry for about two hours and then it rained again, :cry bummer
By nightfall it cleared up, and the night was chilly. It was worth it!!! I woke up at 6 the net morning with the sun shining between the trees. It was gong to be an awesome day!!
I was packed and sacked by 10 and made the muddy area without any problems (with my heart beating in my throat however!).
The ride to Lake placid was gorgeous







I gassed up in Keene, and made it to Lake Placid shortly after. I would have missed it if I hadn't been looking at the XOG. Turns out I must have missed the turnoff to the town, so I looped around.
Found a sporting good store, and across from it two places to eat. I stopped by the diner first, but they didn't have much for me to eat, and the girl instead of asking me if I needed any help sat down on one of the tables, whipped out her cellphone and started texting. I tried waving her over, but she didn't see. So I got up and asked her if they would be able to make potatoes in a pan with vegetable oil instead of on the grill with the burgers.
She looked at me as if I was crazy and bluntly told me no. So I said thank you there is not much for me to eat here then and left.


The place next door looked more inviting

I went inside and was warmly created by one of the girls, she told me to just sit down anywhere

I picked the window seat

Turns out they where willing to put some potatoes in the oven for me with onions and mushrooms. It was delicious!!
What a vast difference between the two places.
I must have ut out some good energy as the place became crowded after I sat there. Plus, they had wifi!!!


The girl to the right had some great positive energy, she was an awesome waitress!!

So now I might go to ADVRich's place that isn't too far from here. It has a great place to pitch up my tent he says and a shower!!!

Oh yeah, what I lost?? Or rather forgot?? My mugs!!! Sniff sniff, I really loved my green enamel mug.

(Somehow when I posted this a while back it didn't take, I just noticed)
Well, things are going to change very shortly, as I am flying to Amsterdam on July 3rd. More later

After my delicious brunch I did indeed end up at ADVRich’s place near Bloomingdale NY. He had not gotten there yet, so I cruised back to Saranac to get a new mug and some meals at a local Healthfood store called Nori’s. Awesome little place!! Found my favorite Tasty Bite meals and some other great stuff. My new mug is a double walled one, with lid and carabiner as handle that I can attach to my dry bag.

When I got back I started to pitch my tent in the yard, it was rather overgrown, and within minutes Rich showed up. Turned out the place was like a vacation house, or trailer that was totally built in. I ended up just drying out the tent as I got one of the bedrooms to crash in.
Rich rode up there on his bike, it was an older one but looked immaculate! Grrr, now I don’t remember what bike it was, but I’m gong to say also a Kawasaki………
He was heading to the HUBB meeting in Ontario the next day.
We made spaghetti with gluten free noodles (he also doesn’t do the gluten thing) and pasta sauce with tofu. It was delicious! Afterward we talked about, biking, camping and other things. I got to take a much-needed shower, and slept great!
Rich left around 9 the next morning after offering to let me stay there for as long as I wanted. The weather was nice though, and after a few days of rain I really wanted to enjoy the sun.
I left around 10 and rode toward Corning where another biker friend of mine lives.

Gorgeous view from Norman Ridge Road, near Rich’s house



At first I had wanted to do some back roads, and or dirt roads, but as it was supposed to rain later that day I decided not to. I rode around the long way, via Paul Smith and Tupper lake, then down to Long lake and Indian lake.








I just love the long endless up and down roads


float plane on Lake Pleasant

And another one



As I was nearing the end of the Adirondack, the clouds started darkening the sky

I hadn’t planned on riding the whole distance, but as I really didn’t see any spots to camp once I was out of the Adirondack, I decided to just go for it.


I stopped at a little rest stop on route, and as I was mounting my bike I noticed this little bugger hiding under the rocks. It had gotten warmer again, and the rain clouds had disappeared


I got to Gunny’s around 7, after having been thoroughly drenched by a squall, and ended up having a really cute little trailer to myself for the night.
It felt weird to go from one person to the next, as I normally like to just camp out.
Gunny’s wife Viv, and son Robbie were really sweet, and their lively grandson Vinny was a sweet little guy, filled with questions and energy.
I warmed up some Indian food and around 10 Gunny got back home. He had had a long day at work.
Seeing as he was tired I wished him good night not too much later, and I crashed as well, I had gone a long ways that day!

The next morning brought some bad new as far as weather goes. It was gong to rain, and the next day Saturday even more. Bummer! I had wanted to go for a ride with Gunny and Pete, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
My Dad had googled Corning and told me that there was a world famous glass museum there, so I decided to swing by there.
Gunny and I talked for a while before he had to go to work, and I took my time packing. Jettn Jim lived not too far from Gunny, and I wanted to swing by his place to say hi and finally meet his wife. I also needed a new front tire, and hoped that Bloomburg was a big enough place with a motorcycle shop.
After having packed up I said bye to Vivian and Vinny, and rode toward the Glass museum.


Holy cow was it ever packed!! I got claustrophobic between all those people and almost decided to bail. But as glass blowing really fascinates me I hung on in there.


At the entrance, and about 10 to 12 feet tall


Close up


I almost bought it, until I turned it around and looked at the price $95!


Tree of life inside the glass ball


Made me think of Henny, my father’s wife, who recently past away (she loved owls)


Glass chair but with real fabric cushions



Too much glare from the windows, but gorgeous beaded necklace


I loved the colors, intriguing, but yeah, ahem, weird!!




Really old glass piece from Egypt

Also old

Glass paperweight opening like a lotus flower


I loved the under water scene


Another paper weight, floating roses


Just awesome!! I really want to learn how to do stained glass windows


I watched two glass blowing shows, amazing how it melts, but stays on the stick, how the glass grows when the guy blows in the tube. And all that at 2400 degrees fahrenheit!! Yikes, no room for error I’d say!

After a couple of hours I had had enough, and hopped back on Spirit.


Took the back routes


Yeah, I thought I had taken a wrong turn, and tried to do a U-ey on a very steep road
Bad idea! I was going too slow, and couldn’t put my foot down.
Gas poured out of my tank, and I also noticed oil on the road. What the?????
Grabbing the handle bar I rotated the bike on the Pelicans (tough cases!!!!) until the wheels were facing downward. As I had taken a back road, with not much chance of anyone showing up, I had to get her up myself. After tossing the drybag, tent and other bag off the bag, I was able to lift her fairly easily, and get her upright. Then I just gripped the clutch and let her cruise down hill a few feet, and to the edge of the road where I was able to get the kickstand out.

The road was a mess now with spilled gasoline and oil, and I didn’t want anyone else to crash, so I gathered as many leaves off the side as I could, and covered the spill


I was hoping the dry leaves would soak up the oil.

I packed the bags back on Spirit, and after a few coughs she started up again.


[IMG]http://i1162.photobucket.com/albums/q528/SoulDreamRider/2015%20Trip%20across%20the%20USA/P6190188_zpstv4diuy8.jpg[/IMG
It was a gorgeous route


Before I knew it I was at the border of Pennsylvania, filled up the tank, and bought a map. I check the oil, but hadn’t really lost much.







I got to Bloomsburg around seven-ish, and met Jim at a diner on Main street.
Had a great dinner with him and two of his friends.
Afterward I pitched my tent in his yard (I really like my privacy) and finally met his wife Sherry who is awesome!

I’ve been here a few days now, having helped with putting new shocks and springs on the van, with figuring out what was wrong with the water pump not working in Sherry’s dad’s RV, and other things.


Had lunch with Jim

Got a new front tire yesterday at the tractor place in Bloomsburg that also sells bikes, tires and accessories


Look what else they had there!!
I just loved this bike!!

Today I'll put on my new tire, and hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow, so maybe Jim and I can go for a ride.
Afterward I'll set out for Toronto as my flight to Amsterdam leaves from there.
It's unbelievable, but the same flight, leaving from New York City instead of Toronto cost $1000 more!!!! I don't mind riding back into Canada
My folks are looking forwards to seeing me, and I am happy to see them again too, it's been 9 years since I was there last.

I am in Amsterdam, hanging at my Dad’s! It was extremely hot yesterday, which came as a bit of a shock! Anyways, let me backtrack a bit.


I was stoked that I had a new front tire, and happily put it on.


That little jack is definitely the handiest gadget I have on me!!


Jim’s jacked up truck, pretty rad!!

I took a hike to town to go to an internet café so I could upload my pictures to photobucket.


This tree will be warm come winter!!


Beautiful fountain downtown.

I found the Fog and Flame coffee shop that wonder above wonder sold some amazing gluten and dairy free cookies. Delicious!!

Jim and I ate at a few places, one of them called the Wanderlust Cafee which had really good vegan food and smoothies, another place was called the bakers guild which had rolled brewed coffee and great cereal.

The day before I left we took a long ride in the area. Even though he posted about our ride, I thought I’d post a few pics as well.






following Jim into the woods


I still have a soft spot for mushrooms






Jim perched precariously at the edge of the waterfall





As Jim already wrote, we stopped by this old garage and looked into the windows when this old guy appears and asks us to help with hooking his trailer up. Afterwards he opens up the garage and lets us take a look.


Loved this old scooter


And my favorite!


Desiree and Spirit in front of the shop







We got back late, and Sherri was home from work already sitting on the front porch with Grammy. Jim took off and got back as I was climbing into my tent, he had made me two bottoms for my water bottle holders. He’d put them in in the morning.


Gammy made me a cup of coffee every morning and brought it to the tent

The weather forecast was terrible, so I thought I’d hit the road in the morning as it was supposed to be dry then. Hopefully it would be sunnier up North.
It took me a while to pack up, al the while Jim was painting and installing the little bottoms into my water holder tubes.

I left rather late, but I didn’t mind, I wasn’t planning on going that far.


Took a little break in a bench near the river

I got tired fairly early and didn’t see any dirt roads or places to sneak into so opted to just pay for a site. I passed a camping and found out it was $30, and decided to go look for something else. The owner showed up and saw I was leaving and told me I could stay for $20 after I told him it was too pricey for me.
I pitched my tent away from another camper who had a Harley camped near his/her tent.
The owner and his wife came by later. He was a bit grumpy but she was nice.



I slept great and as I was breaking up camp the next morning noticed that my neighbors where about to leave. He tried to start the bike, but the only thing I heard was some coughing and then clicking. He kept on trying so finally I told him to stop trying as it sounded like his battery might be empty, or his starter not working. He was all agitated and frustrated, but was happy when I told him I carried tools and a charger. I took my charger to him and had to cut the clamps off the wires, as it didn’t have a pigtail connection. (still have to get it and connect it). I was able to just connect the bare wires to his pigtail and charge the battery. As I looked at the charger I noticed that according to it, the battery was full. I told him, so he tried starting the bike again, and it did. Well, we really didn’t know why it didn’t want to start at first, but he was happy that he had a running bike again.
They took off shorty after, thanking me yet again. I was glad I had been able to help, so maybe the next time he won’t be dissing other bike owners other than a Harley owner.

I took my time packing up and was back on the road around 11.


Yep, getting up there








Took this photo for my mom, showing that here too they had an Aldi


There were hundreds of windmills in this area, pretty awesome!!

When I entered Oswego I saw a tourist bureau and decided to stop by to see if there were any public lands campsites around. The older couple that was there couldn’t find anything. I told them never mind, and sat on a bench outside for a little while eating a snack. After a few minutes the husband came out and handed me a booklet in which he had found a park called Singing Rivers. It was only a couple of hours from where I was, so I was happy to go that way.
It took me a wile ere I found it, as the sign was very inconspicuous, and the park not visible from the road. Turns out I had to go over a wooden bridge into the park.
I loved it!! Nobody was there, the sites had tables and fire pits, and mostly….. flushing toilets!


As I was expecting lots of rain I put the large tarp over my tent and the little one over Spirit


The river was pretty loud at night!! Well, during the day too






Jim’s little wooden bottoms




I had found coconut milk powder in the health food store in Bloomsburg, and it tastes amazing in coffee
I hung in my tent the next two days, reading and doing beadwork. It rained off and on, but only heavily at night.


Bead work


On Monday morning I packed up the tent under the tarp as it was drizzling.
It makes such a difference to have a tarp.
I was on the road around 10 heading toward Canada.

I stopped in Ogdensburg at another Joann’s as some of the beads I had bought lost their color while beading. i.e. the metallic ones. Well, I guess that’s what I get for buying cheap beads!


A castle looking like building. Gogeous!


Bridge into Canada





The border crossing went smoothly, I even declared my bow and arrow.
She did ask if there was any chance of me leaving Spirit in Canada forever. Uhmmmm, nope!



That night I ended up heading to Frontenac Provincial park hoping to find a cheap or free forest site. Well I was sorely disappointed…. People were only allowed to canoe or hike into the campsites. Well, I was not planning on dragging my stuff in 10 miles and leaving Spirit in a parking lot, so I kept going and found a family camp ground. The tent site was at the end of the campground away from everyone else, so I decided to just pay for it. It wasn’t cheap either, but everywhere I went were houses, water and swamps. No dirt roads I could veer into. The ones I did see were people’s driveways.




I covered the tent the next day before the rain came down


little boat ramp at the lake there

I spent two days there as the next day predicted thunderstorms and rain. As it was, the rain was minimal so I could have easily left. Still, I didn’t want to get to Mark’s place too early.
He said he had a room for me and that I was welcome.
That last night in my tent at the camp ground, Mark texted me and told me he had to withdraw his hospitality as neither he nor his wife were gong to be home. He thought I’d be there in the weekend.????
I found that odd as I assumed that he knew when my flight was and that I had asked him if I could get there a day or so early as I had a few things I wanted to do in town.
Of course, I immediately started worrying about what I was going to do now, and why he changed his mind etc. I figured he must have never read my RR in which I said I’d be flying out on Friday the third.
It took me a while to find my peace with it, and I told myself all would be well.
I had gotten new neighbors too that day, and the men were up yacking till about 1:30 in the morning! Needless to say I did not sleep much that night.
The next day I PMed Maggot to ask if I could camp in his yard. I also went on the tent space and sent a message to Azia requesting tent space.
Maggot got back to me and told me to head on over.


Saw these at a gas station! Thought I was in Amsterdam already LOL

I stopped in a small town called Lindsey and bumped into a guy on a bike who had about a million questions for me.
He treated me to lunch all the while grilling me with questions.
I went to his place after to meat his wife and see all the bikes he owned. He also had a KLR, but all the bikes in his garage needed some TLC!




I loved his overgrown house!
I also saw his room with pictures from all over the world. He has been to a lot of places on his bike, like Africa and Australia.

Rick and his bike

I got to Ken’s place around 6:30, (his neighbor pointed to his house for me) right in time for dinner

All in all I am glad about the way things turned out, I loved meeting him and his family, wouldn’t have missed it for the world!!
I heard back from Azia too, and hope that we can get together for coffee once I am back there.

Hanging with Ken’s family was great, his wife is really sweet even though she has both her feet in a cast and is hobbling and “wheelchairing” around. His kids are awesome and really fun, and were asking if I’d come back after visiting Holland.
The night before I flew out the temp was down to 4 degrees Celsius! I slept great though.
Ken had a suitcase and a backpack I could borrow which saved me having to buy them.
Because I wanted to take a beginners course in Archery in Amsterdam, I needed to take my bow and arrows with me.
The arrows are 30 inches long and just barely fit into the large suitcase diagonally.
His sun made me a bracelet, and his daughter a Canada leaf, also out of rubber bands.
I was ready about an hour before the shuttle came to pick me up. His son then gave me a pie on a bracelet that had a slice missing. He himself had a ring with the slice hanging on it, so that when I came back we would be a whole pie again.


Awwwwwwww, that was so sweet!

The shuttle was right on time, and I got to the airport at 1:30.
Well, the fueling crew was on strike, and I ended up having to wait another hour before boarding. I was bummed that they did not honor my request for a window seat, and gave me an isle seat instead. The girl that checked me in however said to contact her once she was at the gate, and that maybe she could get me a window seat.
I did, and ended up having the last seat on the plane, way in the back. The chair next to me was empty! Awesome!
The flight was smooth, and over before I knew it.
My poor dad had been waiting for an hour as he didn’t believe the plane was going to be an hour late. I got a very gorgeous smelling rose, and we took the train and the tram home.


parked on a bridge

So here I am relaxing, and hopefully I will be able to take the archery class on Tuesday. Will find out tomorrow.
I will head to my Mom’s place this weekend.

Yesterday was the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday and quite a few residents and non residents of Amsterdam went to the Dam to celebrate this event.
My dad heard about it and the both of of took the tram to the Dam to go check it out.




My dad took these shots




My dad taking pictures, he used to be a photographer for the newspaper!






Even a rubber band that had fallen on the ground took the form of a heart :raabia




Afterwards we had a cup of coffee and took the little ferry across the river, That hippy gal is me


One of the many canals in Amsterdam

Tomorrow I am getting a one on one lesson in archery. The class was already booked full, and the next one not till September, so the guy told me to just come by on Wednesday and he'd show me the ropes. Awesome!

Heeeee welcome to the city Perfect timing ... you get to see the birthday celebrations of the man himself, the Delhi Lama

Guess your Dad knows the ropes & all the good places to go & see, shopping etc.

Was the lesson at Archery club Concordia???? or by fairbow. I just gave up my membership of Concordia. Though I must admit I have never carried my bow on the bike when I travel Though may start doing that see how far I get ......

Best way to see the city is by bicycle, a brilliant way to travel. Amsterdam is a beautiful city with a rich & colorful history, soak it up....

Anyways have fun, enjoy the city and if I can help let me know.....

Stay cool .... Vince

Hi Vince, yep my dad has lived here the last 50 years, he definitely knows the ropes. I lived here once for almost a year. I did bicycle everywhere.
Yep, it was concordia, Ko is the guy that trained me, he is very good!!

I finally had my lesson!! It was awesome!!

Took the tram towards Concordia, then name of the Archery organization, and walked about 10 minutes to the building.


Lots of motes around the area


When I got there I took a peek inside the practice hall, lots of folks there, only 2 lefties by the looks of it.

I waited until 8:30 when the previous practice session was done.
I guy called Ko, with whom I had emailed, was going to teach me the basics.
I learned a lot about the bow itself, the arrows, my stance, how to aim, the way to hold your wrist etc.


I started hitting the rose!

The only trouble was, that my string was set up with the little rubbers on it to put the arrow between, and to hold your fingers on. Well, somehow those rubbers were way too high, hence I kept on shooting too high. I had to aim so much lower in order to hit the center, that it was really a gamble every time.
All the bows the others were using were bare strings with two metal beads on it to nock the arrow between, so you could slide your hand to a certain height. when aiming. After a while of shooting like this Ko suggested I try shooting with my fingers mostly on the string and only my index finger on the lowest rubber knob.
Holy cow!!! What a difference, I was hitting the rose no problem!! I was so excited, it made it so much easier to shoot. I did start getting sore fingertips, and he handed me a little leather piece with holes for your fingers which you drape over your fingertips. Ahhh, very nice!!
He spent 2 hours on me, and by the end of the eve I went from 10 meters to 22 meters distance. He said I was a natural
I got home at midnight and was so excited I couldn't sleep!!

The next morning my dad and I went to town


That's a tour guide with tourists rolling through Amsterdam. Fun!!


quieter areas in Amsterdam, very homey


Hmmmmm, getting out of the car without taking a dive can be a bit tricky here

I got a lot more beads at the oldest bead shop in Amsterdam, and some very tasty gluten free and vegan foods at a natural food store.
I'm heading to my Mom on Saturday, will post more pics after that.

Coooool Ko helped me out as well, I took the full course. Glad you enjoy it.

Fairly new, for you, place (maybe) is the westerpark & the wester gas fabriek (gas works) Some realy good stuff happens there sometimes. Also it's a good place to chill Beats the old Vondelpark

"Hmmmmm, getting out of the car without taking a dive can be a bit tricky here"

Your remark about parking along the canals....... it's all genetic manipulated, thats why the dutch were the wooden shoes.... they just float or paddle along. Really cool

Enjoy the city, have fun...... Vince

What’s that wonderful saying? “Better late than never”?
Well, this is definitely the case with this post. I’ve been wanting to write (and to be honest occasionally not wanting to) another post, but stuff just kept happening, and/or I was just too tired or brain-dead to write.
Anyways, I am finally at a place where I feel verbally creative again.

Life is indeed a rollercoaster, and all you can do sometimes is to just hold on and enjoy the ride

I stayed with my mom for a while, and helped her hang up a big old coat rack (one of those old fashioned ones with shelving unit above and bar below for coat hangers), which turned out a bit trickier than assumed. It hangs beautifully, and now she has a place to put and hang all her stuff.
My mom gets gluten free flour from a miller, who still has a real windmill (if he still uses it to grind the flour I don’t know.)




courtyard behind the mill.


Old mill stone

Originally we had planned to go visit my brother Ken and his wife Daphne together, but the eve before departure the guy that was going to bring by the trailer, ended up having an accident with it. The ride there is too long for my mom, as she had to be able to lie down every so often to ease the sciatic pain in her back.
So in the end I ended up taking the train there to say hi.


Enjoying the view and the coffee in the train.

We had a great visit. Ken’s wife Daphne is from Taiwan, he met her there when visiting my brother Stan (who made the Ohlins shock for me).




Chandra and Daphne
Ken has a small garden in the back with lots of different berries







Daphne got Ken this mouse pad in Taiwan, hilarious!!!

We went grocery shopping and had a great dinner together, but alas, the day came to an end and I had to grab the train back.
Got back to Zevenaar around midnight, glad my mom was still awake and didn’t mind picking me up.

After having stayed with my mom a few more days I took the train to Germany where my best friend Ina lives.
We met years ago (I think I was 17) when I was thumbing through England, on my way to Stonehenge for the summer solstice. She picked me up in her VW van, the total hippy mobile, painted and all, and we’ve been friends ever since.
I used to be a bit of a rebel in those days.
I remember being so excited to see the sun rise between the stones, and so bummed out once I got there because they had fenced them all off, that I rebelliously jumped over the fence only to find out that everyone behind me followed suit (yikes).
It was a very peaceful sunrise nevertheless, and everyone behaved very well so we didn’t get clubbed out.


Nice view from inside the train



The train ride took all day, and then some as one of the trains in Frankfurt got canceled.
Ina picked me up from Gemunden, and the first thing we did was go get an ice-cream, me a fruit sorbet.








Ina’s little Smart car


It’s funny how time is so insignificant when it comes to friendship. Ina and I just picked up where we left off a few years back. It was as if time had stood still in between.
After ice-cream we went grocery shopping, and then to drumming.

It was a small group this evening due to vacation time.


Ina said I wasn’t allowed to just sit there, I had to drum as well.
I did surprise her when I had no problem sticking to my drum rhythm. Guess it’s my Amazon and African blood in me


the way to the drum class

The next day we walked the dog in the morning, and rode our bicycles in the hot afternoon sun to a nearby village to eat some more ice-cream.






The woods are old here, and have this amazing feel to them.



Yep covered bridges must have come from Europe originally





Yep I’m pretty sure I gained a few pounds!!!

early morning in Mittelsin. Awwww,

On Sunday we rode our bikes again, and visited a cool down spot.
Well, cool down, maybe more freeze down! The water that came out of this well was sooooo cold that my feet felt like they would fall of if I didn’t jump out.




The long weekend went by fast and before I knew it Ina was driving me to the train station to go back to Holland. On the way there we had to stop at a road construction traffic light when I saw a bike behind me. It looked like an Indian, so I jumped out and took a look.


Yep and awesome Indian




I have to say, Germany got the recycling down!!! Everywhere you go, even at the train stations.

I said my goodbyes to Ina with the promise that both of us would go to Sweden on our motorbikes in 2017 (she would work on getting her license) and hopped on the train.
Everything went fine until I got to Frankfurt. After running to my train, I only had a few minutes to run to a different track, I sat down in a quiet compartment. Looking at the clock a few minutes later, I realized that the sign had changed and that it would be leaving later. Of course that would cause trouble for me as I only had a small window to make my connection with the next train.
To make a long story short, they ended up canceling the train after having waited an hour.
Hmmmm.
I walked toward the ticketing booth to get my tickets changed and while sitting and waiting for my number to be called, an Arab guy started hollering to his wife (?) andthen out of the blue hit her real hard, she tried to get away from him and he hit her again. By then quiet a few men got up and confronted the guy, who in turn hit the first guy who confronted him. Then to make matters worse he started screaming Allahu Akbar over and over again, holding his arms raised up as in prayer. Well, you should have seen the panic on everyone’s face, people stared running for the door, and before I knew it only the guy, some officials and I were in the room. I knew I should have skedaddled fast too, but it was so fascinating to see the look on the guys face as he was chanting. There was a triumphant smug look on his face, like he was in power, everyone was running away from him, in fear of him, he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
It made me sad to see there were people like him in the world.
The cops showed up in no time, by then 3 men had wrestled him to the ground and held him there.


Three guys were holding him on the ground.

I walked away too and discovered another place nearby that would change my ticket.
The funny thing is that even though I wasted so much time in Frankfurt, I ended up arriving in Holland at the same time as before, just got a better and faster route.

I had asked my mom to bring my archery stuff with her when she came to pick me up, as the club had archery practice shortly after I arrived.
She dropped me off and went home while I practiced my “skills”.
As it turned out, the archery club had their 30th anniversary that night, and a reporter from the newspaper come by and took some pics.





------Lol, as I write this at the LA airport the actor Joel Gretch and his wife and daughter are sitting on the floor a few feet from me. Yep I wonder how many people have seen the 6 part tv series Taken, by Steven Spielberg with Dakota Fanning when she was little.------

Anyway, I had fun at archery that night, and learned some more about it.
The next day we found an archery shop not too far away and I purchase a few more arrow tips as I had damaged one (hit the metal target frame LOL). The owner took the rubber grips off the string, as the location of them was wrong. So now I have a normal bare string with two metal beads to snap the arrow between, and a glove to keep my fingers from getting raw.
Ina had given me some African Fabric, as she had been to Africa the year before, and I sewed myself a pair of cool African pants



Because they had dairy free ice-cream at the German ice-cream shops, I suggested to my mom we go there and have an ice-cream. Germany is like 10 minutes away from her home. We took off and followed my Mom’s TomTom to the location. As we were getting nearer to our end destination we noticed that something was not quite right. We were still in the middle of nowhere. Finally the TomTom said destination reached at your left. My mom stopped the car in the middle of the deserted road and we both looked to our left. What did we see?? A cow!
LOL, we both were laughing, all we would have to do was milk the cow, and make ice-cream out of the milk; but then we still had no dairy free ice cream!

We went back to the town on the same road, and found a shop in the shopping street. It was good, but not nearly as tasty as the one where Ina lives.


My mom reclined in her comfy seat. (we watched all three Hunger games movies!)

My Mom dropped me off at the station the next day, and we said our sad goodbyes.
There is a chance that I might be back there soon as I hope that my mom might be able to get back surgery to get rid of the constant pain, if the treatment she does now does not work.


Amsterdam Central train station


went to town with my dad and what do I see?


My dad is very computer savvy!!


A gorgeous flower near my dad’s house,


Drool


and a bike parked in front of his neighbor’s house

I hung with my dad for another day and a half, until my flight on Saturday morning (early).
We had barely made it to the train in time, and when we got to the airport there was nobody in line, which was great, everyone else had come and gone already it seemed.
It was sad saying goodbye to my dad and I hope to see him many more times!!

The flight itself was uneventful and I arrived in Toronto around 10:30 AM.
I hung around till noon waiting for the shuttle to pick me up.
Turns out that the driver was in a hurry to pick up his next load from Angus, namely a bunch of soldiers going on leave, so that it was only me in the van. We spend our time driving there talking. He had been to a lot of places I had been too, which was amazing.

I got to Ken’s place around 1:30 and got comfy in the tent again.
I had a fun weekend at Ken’s, we went to the local beach with the kids and while they went swimming Ken and I sat down in the sand and kept an eye on them.


Ahhhhh, what a crowd, too much for me!




This bird kept on following the seagull and kept screeching at it. Really funny to watch

I made a macramé bracelet for Grace, and showed her how to do it with multiple colors, and she made one for me too.
Need to take photo still

Ken took a week off and was going to go around the lake with Grace on Monday for a few days.
They were both busy packing his bike, as I was busy loading up Spirit for the ride back to Pennsylvania,



It was really wonderful hanging with Ken and his wonderful family! Grace wanted me to hang there until they came back, but I didn’t know what was going to happen with the film shoot on Kauai and I didn’t want to get in trouble time-wise.

I am so not an iron-butt, but I told myself that I would make it to Singing Waters campground that day, no matter what. Unfortunately that meant taking mostly the freeway.
I was able to do back roads until I hit the intersection south to the freeway, and hopped on it.
The one nice thing about the Canadian freeways is their On Route rest stops where you can get a cold drink, food and gas. And supposedly free wifi, but that didn’t really work that well!
I made it to the border around 5 and had an easy crossing. Even though I was tired I felt that I could easily make it another couple of hours, and set out to my favorite campspot.
I got to Singing Waters around 7 and was happy to see that nobody was there; I had the place to myself again!!!
As I was pitching my tent I noticed another woman in the distance, she was setting up her tent right next to the bathroom. LOL, I had to laugh. We got to talking and afterwards she came over with a , which I gracefully declined. She was gong through a hard time in life right now, but after talking for a while she felt better and called me her new hero. Hmmmm!
I am guessing she just doesn’t get out much.


I slept awesome!! I so love this spot!
The next morning Heather came over again and we spend another hour or so gabbing away before she left to go for a swim and back home for work.
I hung out for a few days and got some much needed R&R.
Visiting family and friends is awesome, but tiring for sure!


My brother Paul had bought me a new stainless steel Starbucks insulated mug! Boy does that thing ever keep your drink hot, and it seals really well!



I didn’t take a photo of my hammock that I hung up afterward, but I can honestly say that I spend the majority of my time hanging!!


For those of you wanting to stay here, head to Greig near Lyons falls.
Once you are on the road to Greig you hit a T-split, left to Greig, right toward fish creek road.
After a mile or so you’ll see a road to the left with the small sign Singing waters, this is Fish Creek road. Follow it for 2 miles over a bridge, and when you see a reddish house on your left, the park is right after. You have to cross the wooden bridge you see in the photo.

The bathroom,


If you look between the trees you’ll see my tent