today was the day of the great exchange, paul and maurice. paul and i had a 25 mi ride into troy/waterford. pretty uneventful, though paul was feel pretty good and he smacked my ass going up the one steep hill we've had. that made him feel even better. 380 miles completed, he rode the full length of the erie canal. we pulled into cahoes and stopped at the mohawk river's water fall, which is just a mile short of where it joins the hudson. the water levels appeared low and there was a lot of exposed rock. we found out later that back in june there had been flooding and the falls were looking a little more like niagara at that time.
we tooled on into to troy with several hours to wait till maurice would showed up. i, of course, wanted to find a coffee house; paul wanted breakfast. we ended up at the infinity cafe, which in keeping with most of our experiences, was not a coffee house. but it was a small neighborhood cafe serving breakfast. we were the only ones there. the owner, matt, made us whatever we wanted, substitutions allowed. we talked with matt awhile about troy, the neighborhood, et al. then we took our leave and headed to the visitor center in waterford, lock no. 2 and the beginning of the canal. never did figure out what happened to lock no. 1.
there we talked with bill and martha for awhile. they owned and lived on a fairly large cruiser currently tied up to the dock. back in 2005, he had sold half his company to his sons, sold the house in appleton, wi, and moved on board. now they motor around the u.s., wintering in charleston, just enjoying visiting with old friends and making new. they had just completed a trip up the lakes to ontario and were headed down to charleston for the winter. it's a rough life, but i guess someone has to do it. they looked pretty happy; we probably looked envious.
maurice got lost on his way into waterford, but after taking some time to figure out exactly where in the world he was, we managed to guire him intonthe visitor's center. hugs and kisses all around and much joy, we went and had lunch. then paul and maurice exchanged equipment and car keys. parting pictures were taken, paul headed home, and maurice and i headed to saratoga springs.
question: what famous battle took place in saratoga, when, and why was it so important? the answer to come later.
i enjoyed riding with paul. everyone has there own style and there's some adjustment and acommodation that has to be made. it wasn't difficult for me to adjust to him. i can relate to his sciatic issues, and he was pretty stoic about the pain. he was pretty aware of everything going on, the geography, history, culture, wildlife, etc. it was a real pleasure to ride with him.
maurice is an old friend. this is now the fourth year in a row we've ridden together, so we know what to expect. our start was a little rough, as we ended up in weeds and dirt trying to follow the champlain canal trail. we quickly abandoned that and headed on to the road. one thing different about maurice than most, he doesn't mind traffic at all. on the pavement, he took off to a rapid start, i think he was nervous about what kind of condition i was in from all the riding. i had to tell him he didn't need to ride so fast, and it didn't take a second recommendation for him to settle down in a more comfortable pace.
by late afternoon, we were in saratoga. we stopped at a cafe on the main street for an espresso and a chai. then on to our warm shower host, who proved to be a nice, 20-something kid, in the middle of enovated an old, historic home. he's a math teacher at the local middle school. maurice was able to help him with some strucural problems he was having with a sagging floor and chimney. colin and i talked about canoeing in the adirondacks. he and his father are avid canoers and i took a seven day canoe trip back in my college days.
then it was time for bed.
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