Day 60 Binghamtom to Dalton

Dave Ditmer and Julia Zwart from Hope RCA
Phil and Jan Quist with myself at Peter's SAG stop

Mike Bruinooge at Peter's SAG
View of the road we were cycling on to Dalton

Reststop were we had pie and muffins
Strangers we met in Nicholson who wanted to know all about the tour and directed us to the farmers market store where we find the information about the bridge.

View of The Tunkhannock Viaduct taken from the restaurant in Nicholson
View of the viaduct from the road to our camp site
Mike Bruinooge climbing the 16% grade hill.
Jan Quist pedaling hard to climb the hill too.

Phil you can do it. Go for it

I uploaded these pictures finally, but had trouble moving them into the text.

Day 60 August 28 Binghamton to Dalton Sea to Sea 08

Today’s stats
Distance 57.12 miles
Time in saddle 4.16 hours
Total Ascent 1928 feet
Current elevation 1126 feet.
Temperature this morning 55 degrees

We got up this morning at 515 am. As we were staying at Grace and John’s we did not have to pack up our tent. We had a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, melon, blueberries, yogurt, orange juice, and coffee. We left for camp at 6 and were there by 630.

When we arrived Mel informed Hank he was on sweep so he could not ride with Hank. Hank was a little disappointed he was not going to ride with Mel today. He ended up riding alone for most of the day. I started riding with Phil and Jan Quist. We left at 7 AM and arrived at camp at 230PM. We had made lots of stops and took our time coming in, as we did not want to arrive in camp before the gear truck arrived. Hank arrived at 330. Mel and Sylvia were just leaving camp when I biked in. Sylvia had picked up Mel and they were heading to Sussex as Mel decided he would not be riding tomorrow.

It was cool this morning; so I wore my leg warmers, arm warmers and jacket. Both Jan and Phil had jackets and either arm warmers or long sleeve shirts on. We did not take off our jackets till the second coffee stop at 11. I took off my leg warmers at our lunch stop. My arm warmers stayed on for the whole ride.

I rode past a company I worked at during high school Eureka Tent and Awning Company on Conklin Ave in Binghamton. I could not believe it was still there after all these years.

We stopped at Peter’s SAG at mile 32 at 1100. We were over half way. We decided to stop in Nicholson to see if there might a public library with Internet. We kept running into Dave Ditmers and Julie Zwart who are both RCA and represent Hope Reformed church in Grand Rapids on the tour. I told Dave I should take their picture and let Joan Jelkel, my neighbor who is looking after our home and a member of their church know they are in good shape.

We stopped for coffee twice today and also had lunch in Nicholson. At our second coffee stop I had tea and apple muffin that the waitress grilled. Jan, Phil and Mike had coffee and blueberry pie. It was very good. We met Mike Bruinooge here who asked if he could ride the rest of the way with us.

When we started out from this coffee stop, we expected to bike up a high hill. According to our map and it elevation we were suppose to have huge hill at mile 40. It did not materialize. The ride from here to Nicholson was a breeze. We averaged 16.2 miles per hour for the 10 miles. It was pretty flat and we seemed to have a tailwind.

We stopped in Nicholson hoping to find Internet. It did not. There was a very interesting bridge there, which the locals were eager to talk about. The bridge was called the Tunkhannock Viaduct. The Tunkhannock Creek runs under it along with route 11. It is owned by Canadian National Railroads today by was original built by the Lackawanna Railroad from 1912-1915. It is considered the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world, by the locals, and has 10 arches spanning the creek and roadway. It was pretty impressive. I took a number of pictures of it one with a train going over it and several pictures of cyclists with the viaduct in the background.

We ran into other cyclists who had stopped at a great restaurant and said the food was great. We decided to also have lunch there. Jan and I had their hamburger vegetable soup which really hit the spot as it was still cool. Mike and Phil each had a hamburger.

We started out for camp to complete the last 7 miles. I biked past Hank just on the outskirts of Nicholson. Within a mile, we saw the hill we were to climb. It had a 16% grade and was a 1.5 miles long. Many cyclists walked up it.

Our showers tonight were ice cold. I decided I would not stand under a ice cold shower and felt a sponge bath was good enough today. As it is not very warm out, put on slacks and long sleeve shirt and my fleece.

Everyone seems to have gotten in fairly early. People are relaxing, playing cards, reading, cleaning bikes, sleeping and others sitting chatting. It is a great time to get caught up on lots of things. It is good people have a chance to relax this afternoon, as lots of people are anxious about our ride tomorrow with the most feet climbed in one day being tomorrow. We are climbing more than any day through the mountains.

I am enjoying typing up my blog before supper. I will not be able to post tonight, as we do not have Internet access. Our satellite service is not working. Apparently the satellite repairs will not be completed till next week. We have been very disappointed with the lack of Internet access and the unreliability of our satellite service through the tour.