This
year was the 20th year of the Bon Ton Roulet, so what better time to
do my second Bon Ton tour. This time I
traveled with some Indy friends (Steve, Suzie and Syd) and we met up with my
Orlando friends (Steve and Deanna).
We
drove most of the way Friday and stopped in Houghton, New York. Suzie had emailed a church and we got
permission to camp on their grounds for free.
We walked to Addie’s Ice Cream and had the best roasted coconut ice
cream.
On the way to Houghton we passed
by Jamestown New York, hometown of Lucille Ball.
Saturday
we drove the rest of the way to Cortland, New York and the start of the ride –
the Cortland Fairgrounds. Steve and
Deanna flew to Syracuse and got a ride over to meet us. We spent the evening setting up our tents,
eating a chicken dinner and talking about peanut butter tuna balls.
Sunday
was day one of the ride. We skipped the
group start this year and got a head start.
As I stood waiting for Steve and Deanna to finish pumping their tires, a
tall man rode up and asked if this was the ride start. I told him it was the Tall Club meeting. He had zero reaction so probably just
confused him. Ha!
Rode
58 miles to Emerson Park in the town of Auburn.
(War Eagle!) Along the way we ate
lunch in the town of Skaneateles. This
is one of my favorite towns. So pretty
and right on Skaneateles Lake. We also stopped
in my favorite store – Rhubarb
Kitchen Shop. At lunch I had a hard time taking my helmet off. I didn't even notice the hanging plant!
We
stayed at Emerson Park in 2012 (apparently I didn’t blog about this ride. Whoops!).
The park is right on Owasko Lake.
There is a small swimming area roped off but when I walked to the very
end of the area, the water was still only up to my knees. You could wade out about 100 more feet to the
boats. I finally sat on my bum to get
wet.
Monday
we rode 45 miles from Auburn to Geneva and stayed on the campus of Hobart and
William Smith Colleges. We spent three
nights here. Was a hot day when we arrived.
Set up camp and had dinner at the dining hall. The food here is great! We had musical entertainment each night out
by the tents beginning at 7:30 p.m. It’s
great to watch the sunset and sit in camp chairs talking and listening to
music.
Tuesday
was an optional day and we rode a 60-mile loop along Seneca Lake. This was the toughest day for me. The rest stop was at 28 miles and I was worn
out and super hungry from riding the rolling hills. I wanted to eat all of this casserole, which looked
like some kind of cheese dip. It was
warm and served with tortilla chips. Sooo
good. I also ate about four chocolate
chip cookies and watermelon, among other things. Then we rode the remaining 30+ miles
back. I was toast. Back at camp I lay down in the sliver of
shade provided by the front of my tent.
I was still wearing my helmet and just watched the clouds for about 10
minutes. I had no energy to get up.
One
of my tent neighbors, Frank, from Canada, came by and asked if I was ok. He laughed that if I weighed any more I wouldn’t
fit in the shade. He told me he was
going swimming in the indoor pool. That
perked me up! I managed to roll myself
over and get my gear to swim. Deanna
came with me. I started to not feel well
and the pool really helped cool me down and ease my aching muscles. After dinner and music, it was time for bed
around 9 p.m.
Wednesday
started late. I thought about not
riding. Steve mentioned doing 40
miles. We then settled on 30 miles. After breakfast Deanna said Steve didn’t want
to ride any longer. The others had already
left (Steve, Suzie, Syd and Beth) so I decided to ride by myself to the first
rest stop and backtrack my way back instead of doing the loop. I wanted to ride next to Seneca Lake as much
as possible.
It turned out to be 36
miles but was a lovely day and really pretty by the lake. Our rest stop was at Sampson State Park, the
site of the former Sampson Naval Training Station, which later became the
Sampson Air Force Base.
I
met Steve and Deanna in downtown Geneva for lunch. They had puttered around and bought me a
flowery T-shirt and book from a consignment store (Why Dogs
Hump and Bees Get Depressed).
Took another dip in the pool before dinner. The college also has a nice area for
stretching that we took full advantage of.
Thursday
we rode 54 miles from Geneva to Aurora and the campus of Wells College, which
is located across the road from Cayuga Lake.
Not a bad route. Except that when
we turned into the college the road went straight up like Mt. Tabor at the
Hilly Hundred!
Wells
also has an indoor pool. While swimming I
talked to a really nice surgeon who had brought his whole family on the
ride. So cool! He talked to me about Cycle Adirondacks. Might add that to my list.
The
Wells dining hall reminded me of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series. Long tables, high ceilings, fireplaces at
each end. Lots of dark wood. We had a bit of fun in the fireplace as you
can see.
Today
I chatted with two tall, older men, both originally from Indiana. And one was the man I talked to on the first
day, telling him he had arrived at the Tall Club meeting. He told the other tall man what I’d said to
him so at least he got my joke.
On
our Wells layover day, Steve, Deanna and I rode about two miles. Yes, you read that right. We rode down the street to town to Dorie’s
Bakery for coffee (I had a turnover).
We sat on the back porch and had a nice chat with a local couple who had
two black labs with them. Rode back to
Wells and swam in the lake for a bit. We
were rule-breakers since we swam with no life guards around. They did finally show up for duty and asked
us not to swim until they were ready.
“Sure! No problem.” Hee hee.
Dried off and rode back to Dorrie’s for lunch. My Indy friends already had a table so joined
them. They did the 60 miles.
We
also stopped at The Village Market, which has beautiful flowers in the window
boxes. I parked my bike next to them and
it seemed so familiar to me. I can’t
remember anything anymore, but I had a memory of being there in 2012 with
little Linda. When I got home I looked
at my photos and sure enough, I was right!
 |
| My bike in 2016 |
 |
| My and Linda's bike in 2012 |
The
last day we rode 40 miles from Aurora back to Cortland. Like the 2012 ride, it rained the last
day. Agh! Got back to Cortland a soggy, gritty
mess. Got our stuff together, showered,
and drove straight home, rolling in around 11 p.m. Suzie called ahead to a pizza place along the
way and we picked it up and ate it in the car.
Delicious -and such a great idea!
Another
successful bike trip! It was especially
fun to bring two of my Steves together (I have four bike friends named
Steve). So Greenwood Steve and Florida
Steve meet at last.
I am happy we had a
safe drive and ride. On to the next
one!
