Day 8

Day 8
Sunday, August 15th: Corning NY -> Wellsville NY
Dist 65.82
Ride Time: 6:16h
Avg Speed: 10.6
Max Speed: 32.8
Trip 439

Up, packed and ready to ride away from the high school "campground" by 8:20am - it's Sunday and I'm feeling isolated over the past few days, not many significant conversations with folks. I passed a Congregational Church last night that has a 9:30am service this morning, but I opt to start riding rather than wait around town for that.

Reach the town of Bath around 20 miles, stop for water and keep goin'. At 40 miles, at North Hornell, I stop for pancakes and a sticky bun at a bustling family dinner. They have newspapers so I get to read the local obituaries while I eat! And I also get a close up look at the chaos and mismanagement of the more than dozen employees, sitting at the bar on a stool. At least 6 servers, a woman supervising them, and then two fellas who appear to be managers who mostly walk around aimlessly and tell servers to bus down a table. Duh!

It starts to rain near Andover at around mile 55, I call a nearby Campground but the woman who answers says they have been closed for 2 years. Keep looking for a decent spot to camp, I'm missing those cozy stands of pines I saw earlier at mile 45! I found a roadside pulloff area near a lake, toss my bike panniers down a steep 5 foot bank - not ideal but it'll have to do. The wet grasses I walk through support a healthy population of slugs, snails, and the occasional nettle.

The next morning: spot my tent!