Day 6 Syracuse to Oneida

36.5 mi

62 degrees at the beginning and 76 by 5 pm.  We hit the perfect weather in upstate New York.  

We're following several Erie canals.  

We had to ride 12 miles of urban roads to reach the trail from our hotel, but the signage was exceptional. 

The trail we are following has included the tow path and canal from 1825.  It is monitored by volunteers along the route. (Came across an "ambassador" who stopped us to get our story for his records) The next part of the day was along the second iteration-1836 to completion in 1862-route.  Last we rode on comfortable (decent shoulder) back roads.  Again, about 10 miles off the trail to reach our hotel.

People so nice along the way.  David dropped his pocket calendar in the middle of an intersection in Syracuse...and amazingly someone picked it up and came after us to give it to him!  Wow.  We were both struck dumb..."the kindness of strangers" is beyond comparison.  Rekindled our faith in this crazy world.

We stopped to walk our bikes through a closed off street for a farmers market and bought 4 red potatoes, 3 honey crisp apples and a head of cauliflower, which we are now eating in the motel room...doesn't get any better than this.

David  and JoAnn

Our hearts are sad tonight, as we learn about the people we know in Santa Rosa, CA who have lost everything in the fire, houses, cars, everything they own.  They escaped with the clothes they were wearing.  Fortunately none of them were hurt.