UPDATED! Bob & Jen Hit the Trail!

Erie Canal: Day 1 (42 mi)

Now that I have proper WiFi, I’m updating the post with the story of yesterday with pics and captions.

The official trail is 360 miles, but we’re planning to drop down to one of the Finger Lakes for a night, which will round the trip out around 400 miles.

We woke up to stormy skies in Buffalo, but it wasn’t a big deal. We enjoyed Embassy Suites omlets and spent some time fine tuning our bike setup.

There is no end to the fine tuning of our pack setup!

Salsa bikes are raring to go!

We hit the trail around 10:30 am. It was a little challenging getting out of Buffalo, due to trail closures. Lots of city biking, but we had a very nice bike lane and very bright headlights and tail lights to ensure we were seen by motorists.

Spam Tacos!

A very fine example of a bascule bridge

Along parts of the canal, it feels like you’re riding right through people’s back yards…because you are. And some of them have really cool things!

An old 4 faced post clock in someone’s backyard along the canal

Today’s first indulgence was an ice cream shop along the trail.

We break for ice cream, beer, and cool mechanical things. (New tagline?)

We stopped in Lockport to check out the iconic Flight of Five, which is a series of 5 locks that were built in 1825. They were used to overcome a 70 ft difference in elevation. The original locks have been restored and are alongside two operational locks, which were built in 1918.

Cliff’s Notes on the sign: the grooves on the handrail are from years of lock operators wrapping ropes around the handrails to secure and pull the channel boats through the original locks.

In our usual nerdy way, we really got into the mechanics of the more modern 1918 locks and the Lock Operator was overjoyed to invite us into the operation booth to watch the action.

Original brass handles on the operators console. Still used today!

We loitered at the locks for quite a while. Watching the huge doors operating.

Best shadow selfie of the day!

Something really cool happened at the locks… we met another husband and wife NASA couple. They work at JSC and HQ and telework from Dayton OH. They had rented a canal boat and were motoring along the canal for a few days with their parents, and were docked at the canal in Lockport. We were invited aboard to check it out!

Here’s the boat that our new friends rented for the week. What a fun way to experience the canal! It only requires a 1 hr crash course on operating the boat.

We started talking because she liked our frame bags and then we noticed they were all wearing NASA sweatshirts! Things blossomed from there.

After leaving the locks, we had a short bike ride to our campground between Lockport and Gasport.

Stocking up on provisions before heading to the family-friendly campground. Also served as a kidney cooler for Bob.

Not our first choice, but only thing we could find on a Memorial Day afternoon !

We had this marvelous tent site all to ourselves!

Yum

A fine day! Tomorrow, 40 something miles to Brockport.

Additional pics from today can be found in the Gallery, or just hit this link:

CLICK HERE

See you all tomorrow!