no shortage of adventures!

Our hearts are warm. I don't think that we will ever again be able to doubt the basic good of the human race after all that has gone down these past few days. After spending a rest day and a half in Ithaca, (i've added it to the list of places I'd like to live someday) including an amazing joyful time playing in the waterfalls near there (thanks Madi for taking us to the dams!!), we set out along Cayuga lake towards Geneva, NY. It was a perfect day. Golden sunshine illuminated countless rows of grapes, with the lake and rolling hills in the background... everything was going great for about 25 miles, and suddenly, SNAP. It was Peter's chain. He had just been mentioning that he wanted to get it changed at the next bike shop we came upon.

We were in the middle of nowhere, on highway 89 along Cayuga lake, one of the famed Finger Lakes. We tried to fix it with the tools we had (somehow managed to leave the chain tool at home!) with no success. Suddenly we heard voices from the thickly wooded area behind us, "Look out! Run, run!!" and we couldn't see what was happening, but right after we heard the voices we heard a big explosion, and then silence. It kind of sounded like a gunshot, but we weren't sure. I got out my knife, just in case. We weren't sure if we should go try to see what happened or not. We were a little scared, so we moved on. Walking the bikes, of course. There was a privately owned campground not too far up the road, so we walked in there (passed some cute little skunks on the way!) and a guy helped us figure out where the next bike shop was and we called to find out their address and hours. Then we went back out to the road to try and flag down a truck or a van or something that could fit us and all our stuff and that was going the right way. Too many conditions, I guess. And not enough traffic.

We had no luck, and darkness was fast approaching, so I began to scout for camping spots. (We didn't want to pay the ridiculous $20 for a piece of land to stick out tent on at the campground.) I guess that's the running price these days, but we prefer to use a little stealth and hide ourselves away in some little unposted meadow, which is precisely what we did. We had to lug our stuff through a lot of very tall grass (and subsequently check ourselves for ticks multiple times) and then stomp down the grass to find a semi-level spot for our tent. Unfortunately, we woke up to a substantial rain and had to break camp all wet. We packed up our things and started knocking on the nearest doors. One nice man told us where there were a bunch of houses nearby. We went up the road and randomly picked one. A wonderful lady named Patti (I hope this is how it's spelled?? Correct me if you're reading this!) opened the door and first offered to let us take her bike that she didn't use (it was a smaller mountain bike) and then offered to take us to the bike shop in Geneva. We gratefully accepted and loaded all of our stuff and bikes (somehow) into her SUV. We parted ways with many kind words flying through the air.

After spending a few hours at the bike shop in Geneva, learning about chains and chain tools, buying them both, and fixing Peter's biking shoes, we set out towards the place of Jesse, our CouchSurfing contact, into the pelting, cold rain. We were soon soaked, and when we saw a Panera Bread 15 miles later, we couldn't turn down the prospect of hot soup & excellent bread! Between us, we consumed a "Group Soup" (supposed to be enough for four people) and 7 of those big pieces of french baguette that come with the soup. We bought two bagels for the road and ended up eating them right away. While we were packing up to leave, a kind couple in a Volvo asked where we were from and asked if we needed a place to stay for the night. We thanked them but told them we had a place. People are so nice!!! We headed out again and 10 miles later I was shifting a little too hard (maybe?) and somehow, my rear derailleur bent in towards the wheel and a got jammed into the spokes. This stopped my wheel short, of course, stopping me very quickly, causing Peter to run into me and fall over. He was alright, and we pulled over and went into this abandoned looking stand alone garage to try to fix it. The spoke was jammed into part of the derailleur so hard that we could not pry it out. So we had to go to the nearby houses and ask for a wrench set, which we found, and then we were able to loosen it up and get out the spoke. We bent the derailleur straight again as best we could, but 100 yards down the road it happened again, but with less severity. The third time it happened, we knew we could not go any further without a better fix. So we walked to a gas station to get out of the rain, got coffee and tea, and called Jesse and told him our situation. Wonderful man that he is, he said he'd come the 30 miles and pick us up as soon as he could.

We had a most excellent time at the country home of Jesse and his beautiful family. They were so warm and welcoming to us! We felt immediately at home! Jesse helped us temporarily fix my rear derailleur, we ate a magnificent chicken and rice dinner, and swapped travel stories and life philosophies and had an all around wonderful stay. We won't forget the incredibly generous hospitality provided us, and we'll be sure to pass it on!!

Sunday morning we (carefully) set out towards Buffalo, waving warm goodbyes to the Coots family. After a few miles we realized that we had forgotten to stretch, (Peter has these special stretches that take forever that are supposed to help his patella femural syndrome, and prevent it in people who don't have it, like me.) so we stopped off at an abandoned house that had gone through a fire and did all these crazy stretches in the driveway right by the road. It's a really humbling experience, and quite blissful to finally lose self-conciousness. I didn't shift much at all as we continued our ride to Buffalo, in order to not upset the fragile equilibrium of my derailleur. It worked, although it was hard going up hills without going down to my easiest gears. It was good strength training, anyway! We had another CS (Couchsurfing) contact in Buffalo, but he wasn't going to be home until later, so we rode up into downtown. It was eerily deserted. We saw perhaps 10 people in about 15 minutes of riding through the main area of Buffalo. Probably because everything was closed up for Father's Day... but it was cool, I've always really loved the intrigue of finding solitude in places that are usually bustling.

We found our way to Ray's house, an awesome guy. He's a high schoool Spanish teacher, and he also knows Italian, so him and Peter and I had our conversations in part English, part Spanish, and part Italian. He told us some great stories and taught us some things about the languages we're learning. He's also a great piano player, and we really enjoyed escucharlo tocando! He had a friend who was staying there the same night named Eric, who lives in Niagara falls. When Eric heard that we didn't yet have a place to stay up at the falls, he offered to let us crash his apartment up there the next night. He even took our stuff in the car with him when he went, so we could ride our bikes around buffalo and up to the falls without being all loaded down with all our crap! (lesson learned: pack lighter next time. mom and dad, i might be sending some stuff home!) Peter had to do a bunch of stuff for his AmeriCorps application, like getting fingerprints and stuff, and we spent some time at the post office, printed pictures at the pharmacy to send out as postcards, and then sat in the grass in one of Buffalo's squares listening to a blues band play for charity. They were supporting the Western New York Food bank. We finally had sun & blue sky above and it was so freeing speeding around the city on unloaded bikes...

I finally found a bike shop in the afternoon. They took one look at my derailleur and said I needed to replace the whole thing. $50 including install was a bit of a financial lump to swallow, but it's worth it to know that I won't be suddenly bending my derailleur and stopping short in traffic or causing any crashes. Plus, the bike shifts like a dream now. So smooth, the Click Clack Symphony has been booed off the stage at last. After I got my bike fixed, we went back to the square where people had been playing music. There was this lady playing the guitar and her voice was so lovely and I really connected to her music. Unfortunately we only got to be there for her last two songs, but after she left the stage we went and talked with her and she was the sweetest lady ever, we told her we were musicians and songwriters too and she wanted to hear a song so we played "The Sun" , that song that I wrote, and she loved it a lot and harmonized with us and it was a beautiful thing. Her name is Noa Bursie, go check out her music at her myspace! At some point, Peter had met these two local cyclists, Freddy and Eddie, who were super cool and they told us about a bike trail that went 15 or 20 miles up the river that we could take almost all the way to our friend's house! We did that, and it was a beautiful ride in the sun soaked evening...

So, it was about 9 PM by the time we made it up to Eric's house, a few miles from the falls. He highly recommended to us that we go and see it at night, because it's way better, he said. Wow we are so glad we took his advice!! After a stop at Target for Clif bars and Mac'n'Cheese we rode by the light of the city down to the falls. It was a magical night, perfect temperature, not too hot or humid, and there was hardly anybody there. We took long exposures of the falls, which were all lit up in different colors, and played guitar and melodica for a long time, sitting on the rail of the fence that we were supposed to stay on the other side of... (mom you didn't read that!) I sang the Niagara Blues and then we made up this crazy good song about falling over the falls in a barrel and such, relating it to a metaphor about falling in love or something! There weren't too many people there, but this one group came over to us and asked us to play something emotional because it was their last night together with their dear foreign exchange student from the Netherlands. We played "The Sun" again and they loved it. We were talking with them for a little while, found out a few of them were fellow CouchSurfers, and they said if we're ever in their area (Rochester) we have a place to stay! Peter and I explored joyfully all over the falls area, especially on Goat Island, until about 2 AM, plunging down unlit paths to find secret cool places near the water, reveling in the adventuresome spirit of the Night, filled up with life! It was the greatest time ever. I climbed out on a tree branch and sat over the water that rushed down to those magnificent falls, just for the fun of it. (Mom, you didn't read that either!!) We finally rode back to Eric's about 2:30, weaving all over the deserted avenues to find the path of least resistance (the roads are pretty bad!) and riding on the wrong side just because I can!

It was a perfect day, yesterday. We met so many great people, heard & created great music, frolicked, were filled with joy and connection, and really felt free. This is what it's all about! This is why we came!!

So. Today is an Internet & Laundry and Rest day. We'll probably stay with Eric again tonight, and then cross over into Canada tomorrow and ride to Hamilton, where we have a CS contact. Sorry to you dear followers for the long delay in posting, our days have been so full! We have pictures, but the library computers won't let us connect the camera... one of these days we'll be able to get some up. Not helping this endeavor is the fact that my camera died. Yes, that camera. My love, my D300. Dead as a doornail. It hasn't really hit me yet. All the failed technology in the world cannot take away the joys of simply living & connecting.

Until next time.
May you all be filled with peace.
May you be inspired to connect with your fellow human beings. Strangers or not!

On to Canada!