East Herkimer to Schenectady, NY

65 miles. Without doubt, this was the best ride we've had in some time. The weather was again near-perfect (we've just decided we are living charmed lives in that regard) and the route took us in a generally downward path along the Mohawk River valley. There was little traffic (today is Sunday) and the road surface was in great shape, so we were really able to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

We stopped for breakfast twice. The first time was at Pam's Place, which is just down the road (Route 5)from the disgusting motel we stayed in last night in East Herkimer (the place smelled bad and the carpeting looked as though it had not been cleaned or replaced since the 1950s). Our waitress and several of the other customers were very interested in our trip (she was appalled that we had spent the night at the aforementioned motel) and wished us a safe and pleasant trip, as many other people have up until now. But, we reminded ourselves, this is New York where a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by early morning shoppers trying to beat everyone else to the bargains. Anyway, the second breakfast was in Amsterdam. We rode around the town (a fairly tough-looking place) for at least 30 minutes looking for a place to eat lunch, including riding the wrong way on a one-way street for quite a while because we could not find a better alternative. We finally found an upscale cafe open although we were the only customers and they were only serving breakfast (despite the fact that it was 1:30 in the afternoon by this point.) In both cases, the food was delicious and all homemade. It was clear that the owners of the Amsterdam cafe, who also wished us a safe journey, were trying to make a go of it
under difficult circumstances. Hopefully they will be able to stay in business.

Speaking of food, some of you have expressed concern that we might be emaciated from 2300+ miles of riding. We sincerely appreciate your concern but it is misplaced. We are both pretty sure we've GAINED weight on this trip, as we did on the Colorado-to-Minnesota trip of a few years ago. We have had huge appetites and have been eating mainly fried food and other junk. For example, last night's dinner (at the bar) was chicken wings and sweet potato fries, washed down by a lot of beer. It was delicious of course but not very healthy. At the moment we are drinking martinis and eating olives, based on the rationale that we exercised more today than the average American does in a year. That may be true, but would we be consuming this ridiculous number of calories if we were not riding? I hope not, but I am really not sure about that.

Tomorrow is a rest day, then it's on to the knee-busting Berkshires. We have only 5 planned riding days left on this Eastern portion of our trip. Yeow!