International Travel

Tuesday, June 20. Kingston, Ontario to Sacket's Harbor, NY. Today's journey included 40 miles, 2 ferry rides, and 2 countries. We left Kingston in the morning for a short ferry ride to Wolfe Island, Ontario. Once there, we had a short and scenic ride to the other side of the island to catch a second ferry to Cape Vincent, NY. Both ferries were lightly loaded today, and the customs crossing back into the US was quick and easy.

Once in NY, we found that we (Matthew) had stumbled on a NY State Bicycle Route--the Seaway Trail. This trail is nearly 500 miles long, following the waterfront along the edge of NY, PA and on into OH. We'll be riding this route for at least a couple of days, jumping off to get into Brockport for a mail stop.

The road into Sacket's Harbor is well marked and has a great shoulder--in some places, it's newly re-paved. It's rolling hills, and even with our 40+ pounds of cargo we managed to average almost 12mph.

When we stopped for lunch in Chaumont, Matthew picked up a local paper and found a story about a travel writer doing a 2300-mile tour of New York. The article claimed that the writer was "traveling by all modes of transportation, including automobile, motorcycle, kayak, horse-drawn carriage, subway, train, trolley and on foot". hmmmmm.

Nevertheless, the article mentioned a planned stop in Sacket's Harbor for homemade ice cream at Karen's Homemade Ice Cream. Well, we were going right by Sacket's Harbor--I was already planning an ice cream stop.

The sky clouded up while we had lunch, and it looked like we'd be caught in a rain shower before we got to the day's end at Westcott Beach State Park. The road was fairly fast and smooth, so we made it to Sacket's Harbor before any rain fell.

On our way into town, I noticed quite a few historical military references, but I was amused by a sign that announced "Madison Barracks - A Great Place to Live". I assumed that Madison Barracks was a new condo development, and wondered "is that the last name on the list?" Surely they could have come up with a more marketable name--and what kind of prices were these barracks residences selling for?

Sacket's Harbor is a small town that does have a direct connection to the military. The town is a former military base, and still bears the same layout as the base did. And Madison Barracks? Actually was a barracks, now converted to apartments that still house mostly Army personnel.

It's a quaint little town, with a beautiful harbor. By the time we finished our ice cream, rain seemed imminent, so we opted to find a room in town rather than go the additional 5 miles to the state park. This also gave us the chance to walk around town and enjoy a sunset dinner overlooking the bay.

Tomorrow we'll make a stop at the Seaway Trail office, conveniently located in Sacket's Harbor. There we hope to pick up some detailed maps of the Seaway Trail in NY, PA and OH. None of this would have been possible if we hadn't stopped for ice cream. Is there anything that ice cream can't do?

The weather forecast is for mid-70's, clear, and winds from the S at less than 5mph. It's hard to believe that we'll have such a perfect day for riding, after having slogged through rain and stiff headwinds for the last week or so. We're heading west tomorrow, and plan to stop at Oswego, NY. I really feel like I've hit my stride on this trip, and am just waiting to see what each day brings. This is the kind of experience that I was hoping for--the chance to just see what happens, and roll with the flow. We'll see what happens tomorrow.