Day Two

In the morning I got ready for the bike ride, in the dark so as not to waken my kids, and got the kid's clothes all set out so that Lana wouldn't have too many problems. Grant woke up, which I was grateful for because it was his BIRTHDAY!!! I got to snuggle and play with him for a bit. Just as I was leaving the motel room to meet up with my fellow bike riders, Mikey calls out, "Don't leave me". He hurried and got dressed and went to the other motel room with me. I thought it was so cute how concerned he was that he didn't get left in the room with all the sleeping children and Lana. After fuelling up on some protein drinks, fruit, and other foods, my dad drove us over to where he had picked us up the night before. I gave Granty an extra birthday kiss and we were on our way. I was hoping he would have a good birthday, but I knew that this is how he was going to be spending the day: And of course we didn't start riding without first stretching. My dad had wondered if he should head to my house that day, which I told him that he should. The kids had had enough. He said he would stick around a little bit longer, but would most likely go to my house that evening. Lyndee was trying to decide what she wanted to do. She wasn't sure she wanted to bike the entire trip with us. She wanted a more leisurely ride, nothing like the mileage we were attempting to put on. Even though both Todd and I agreed that if we weren't able to make it all the way to Kirtland it wouldn't be the end of the world, just a disappointment.It was the start of another beautiful day. The areas we rode around were not as built up as the day before. We saw much more country and farms. We were sore from the day before, had a difficult time sitting on the bicycle seat, but not as badly as I had anticipated. After a couple of hours, my kind mother offered to trade Todd bikes for a little bit. Todd was grateful and my mom soon saw why it is called the Ground Pounder.
My mom finally informed Todd that if Lyndee was planning on continuing the entire trip, meaning that we still needed the use of the Ground Pounder, that she (my mom) was going to purchase Todd a bike for graduation because there was no way anyone could survive on the Ground Pounder. She said it made her want to swear when she rode it....that thought made me laugh.Todd and I were riding together for awhile, talking and enjoying the experience. We had gotten far ahead of my mom and Lyndee so we stopped to wait. I noticed on my phone that I had missed a call from my mom. Lyndee's bike (aka my mom's bike that she was using) got a flat tire. Todd rode back to her and fixed it up. I was so impressed that he was able to do that - didn't know he was so handy.
By the time they reached back where I was waiting, my dad had pulled up. Again I was excited to see the boys. We got them out of the car and let them run around on the grass for a bit.
At this point Lyndee decided that she wanted to go to my house, she was done biking. Todd loaded the Ground Pounder onto the back of the car. But then, I'm not exactly sure of what happened or what was said, Todd was taking the GP off of the car. Lyndee and my dad were fighting, so Lyndee decided that she was going to keep on riding bikes. It was a little awkward, but I didn't mind the extra time I got to spend with my kids.
We continued on the trail. We rode pass some Locks in Lockport that were pretty cool. We had to go up this one big hill that was next to the Locks. When we reached the top we had assumed it was just another road crossing, but then we couldn't find the continuation of the trail. I was so confused for I thought that the trail would end in Buffalo. As I tried figuring out where to go and what to do we made a stop at CVS and grabbed some lunch (at 3:30 PM) at Tim Horton's.
While there I adjusted our route a bit and had us go down a State Route to Buffalo. Around 5:00 PM we met up with my dad. Lyndee and he made amends and Lyndee decided to go to Ohio with him. As sad as I was to see her go, I was grateful that we would be able to be a little more aggressive with our riding, and she did have a good time.
With Lyndee gone we did pick up the speed, wanting to make up for lost time. We followed the directions that I had gotten off of my phone, but then we realized that the directions had taken us onto an interstate highway. We quickly got off the first exit, and with some great navigating skills, I was able to find us an alternative route to get onto Route 5.The alternative route was interesting. I think we may have been safer staying on the interstate, for now we were in the intercity of Buffalo. This went on for what seemed miles, we kept peddling the entire way.
After riding all over different streets, we finally made it to Route 5...and it was worth it.
It was absolutely beautiful. The lake was so still and the sunset was brilliant. Speaking of sunsets we realized it was getting time to stop. I used my iphone (this should be an iphone commercial) to search for nearest hotels. What do you know, I couldn't find one anywhere near our route. We figured we still had plenty of time, it was only 7:30 and still light out, and that there were probably several BB's that just aren't advertised online. We kept going and going and finding nothing. Everything that I was able to find using my phone had no vacancy. Finally at 9:30, when it was dark, we found a gas station/Subway. We went in and talked to the ladies working there. They didn't know of anything nearby. Everything was at least 10 miles out and most were 10 miles in the wrong direction. As my mom and Todd picked up some sandwiches, I did some work on my phone to find a hotel. I finally pulled up two listings. I called the first one, and very rudely was informed that there were no available rooms. The second one I called and he was so polite....and they had a room!!! they were only 10 miles away.
Now 10 miles was not desirous at all, especially with it being late, dark and we were tired, but it was totally do-able. But it still didn't help when we were leaving the gas station a local told us to be careful for there are a lot of drunk drivers that drive that route....thanks.
It was a miserable ride. I felt like we were riding for our lives. The road was not lit at all, and even though I had my bike light, I could hardly see anything. Todd was feeling burned out - we hadn't eaten the sandwiches yet and he hadn't eaten much that day, and at one point after I rode up a hill then down the other side I turned back to see Todd. I couldn't see him, so I sat there for awhile. My little paranoid self thought for sure he had wrecked and got hit by a car driven by a drunk driver. I was so relieved when I saw him coming down the hill.
The greatest relief came when we saw our little motel. It was a dive, but we were so grateful for it. The last couple of hours had been difficult and scary, so we were glad to have that over with.
A bed and a soggy sandwich never tasted so good.