We're in Cooperstown!

Tuesday, August 29th
We made it to Cooperstown! I'll make a more comprehensive update later, but the library here won't let me put on the photos and there's a time limit. Sam and I put in two 65 milers on Saturday and Sunday, leaving us pretty well exhausted, particularly at the end of Sunday, when we'd ridden south to Ithaca. Time on the bike was 6.5 hours, 2 of which were in a downpour, and the whole time against a rather fierce headwind. With our big baggage, we're not exactly aerodynamic :)
The ride along Erie Canal Saturday was nice and flat, I got a new wheel, and we met up with a friend of mine from Ride For World Health, Chris Dangler for a delicious lunch at a Mediterranean place in Pittsford called "Aladdin's Natural Eatery" (a step up from PB & J). Finally got to Lyons, our goal, around 7:15 and decided to look for a yard to crash. Picked the home with a Jesus fish decal on their car, and Abe & Debbie, residents of the house, were so kind and let us pitch our tent out back. Had us in the next morning to brush our teeth and freshen up a bit before getting on the road in the rain. We cruised down to Seneca Falls, hub of the Women's Rights Movement, and warmed up with some hot cocoa and soup before getting back on the bikes and heading along the shore of Cayuga Lake, passing beautiful wineries, rolling hills of corn with big red barns overlooking the lake. Had a couple pretty challenging climbs, and rolled into Ithaca around dusk. A stop at the Green Star Cooperative Market, which had been recommended to us by Paul Glover, inspired us to see if we could find a place to get a warm shower that night, and our "Will smile and/or work for shower and/or shelter" sign did the trick; the 2nd woman to come out the door walked past and doubled back to ask if we were "the bikers from Toronto?" - the cashier at the register inside had mentioned us in passing, and this lovely lady, Tara, offered to put us up for the night. She even took our heavy baggage in the back of her van so that we didn't have to bike with it, and it was a welcome reprieve, as the road to her house was a 1.5 mile steeply graded (maybe 8-11%) hill! But what a dear dear soul she was. Both Sam and I were delighted to get to know her, as well as her 5 cats, and the hot shower and futon were a huge treat after a day of hard and cold riding.
We spent Monday afternoon waking around Ithaca and interviewing people about their opinions of the healthcare system, and finally made it to the Ithaca Free Clinic, our primary inspiration for detouring so far south. The folks working and volunteering there are AWESOME, and they told us about how the clinic works, showed us around, and showered us with their fantastic smiles and warmth. We left feeling really excited about the day's content.
More to come! Time's up!

Leg 4: R&R

Friday, August 25th, 2006
Leg 3: Brockport, New York to... Brockport, New York!
Mileage today: 0.4 miles to the bike shop & back
Weather: Scattered rain
Us: Needing a nap
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Maybe it was the chilly, mildly wet weather, or perhaps the allure of cozy couches and M&Ms, but in any case we didn't escape the pull of Selene's house today. Instead we opted for catching up on e-mail and sleep (naps in Harriet are delightful!), and trying to replace my wheel at the bike shop here, although we found they didn't have the right size here, either, so that'll wait until tomorrow. We continue to be amazed by Selene's stories, like when she and Arthur quit their jobs to drive across the country in the 60's, staying in the National Parks and racking up a hefty gasoline bill of... 125 bucks. "Times- they are a changing", she laughed. Selene offered for us to stay the day and put us in touch with her son, who recently moved from Ithaca, one of our next stops. What a tangled web we weave... I'm finally off to bed to rest up before we FINALLY get an early start to make it 16 miles or so to the next bike shop, which will hopefully put an end to my mechanical woes. But thus far it's only been about 2% paranoia and 98% delight and randomness. Sam and I keep each other in the kind of giggling fits most of us experience far too rarely... you know, the kind where you have tears in your eyes before the laughter even escapes your lungs and your knees buckle and you worry in the back of your mind you might pee your pants. I wouldn't be a bit surprised... Thanks for checking up on us... don't forget that one doesn't have to be on a bicycle to infuse love and hilarity into one's daily life :)

P.S. - See if you recognize this location. Check out the caption under the first photo. Look familiar? Maybe sometimes broken spokes can keep you out of trouble...

August 24th, 2006
Leg 3: Lockport to Brockport, New York
Mileage today: 41
Total mileage to date: 126
Weather: Overcast with a fairly strong headwind
Spirits: Indomitable :)
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How could we have a better start to our day than the delicious omelettes and great conversation provided to us by Wayne? Thursday was our 3rd day of riding, and the first to pass without a broken spoke - hooray! Lib, Wingman, Wayne, & Sam - fueled up after omelettes and ready to head to the bike shop for more repairs!

We had a slow start in the morning, waiting for the closest bike shop to open at 11 am, getting my spoke fixed (they didn't have the right type of wheel to replace the one I have), and getting to work on arranging some lodging for the evening. I pulled out my Ride For World Health planning expertise and called the Rochester Visitor Center to get the phone number of some local churches, hoping we could ask them if they had any congregation members who wouldn't mind putting up two female cyclists in their backyard. The cosmos is doing a mighty fine job of getting us into the most interesting possible scenarios - the woman at the first church I called phoned back with directions to the home of a dear dear angel named Selene, who reminds me absolutely of the fictional character Mrs. Pigglewiggle I read about as a child, hoping she were real. Selene met us at the door of the delightful Victorian home she and her husband Arthur occupy, showing us down the driveway to the patch of grass beside an old red barn garage and inviting us to use the pool, shower, and bathrooms, and to help ourselves to English muffins "or anything else you can find. The backdoor is open - we haven't had a key for 20 years - this is a CRAZY house!!" she chuckled, and excused herself to go answer the phone... she works as a coordinator for foreign exchange students and has been up to her eyeballs rushing to place 13 students from all over the world with host families.
Sam and I popped our tent up in the backyard and then laughed at ourselves as we tried to do our stretching and ab workout inside tiny Harriet the Habitat to escape from the mosquitoes. We felt amazing after our hot showers, and gawked at this miraculous house. The bathroom is outfitted with an antique washbasin, and trinkets and treats cover every imaginable surface of the house. I looked up in the kitchen only to find the ceiling covered with foreign bills and coins in every imaginable currency, glued there by exchange students or Selene & Arthur themselves after returning from their own travels. Cigar boxes full of marbles on the coffee table, chocolate bars peeping out from crowded bookshelves in the library, mason jars fulls of M&Ms, which Selene explained is because M&Ms are "universal. Every kid in the world knows what M&Ms are!" And with all the people coming in and out of this house, we believe her! As Sam and I went to bed last night, both of us we in a state of semi-schock that we've ended up in this miraculous house which seems to have the same crazy ambience we experienced together at the Gesundheit Institute... every step of the way opens into new and incredible people, a web of connections just waiting to be discovered.

MORE PHOTOS

Libby and Sam head out from Hamilton (Day-1). Clean and energized!







Pretty pose before leaving Canada.











WingMan and Libby looking over Hamilton.

Libby stretches during dinner at Camp Site #1.


"Balls Falls". . . first camp site before Niagara Falls.

Day 3, plus tales from Day 2: the post-Niagara Saga

August 23rd, 2006
Leg 2: Balls Falls, Ontario to Lockport, NY
Mileage: 38 on bike, ~ 10 in truck
Broken spoke total: 3 in 36 hours

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Shortly after our last posting in Niagara Falls, we tried to get our Canadian money changed to US at a casino, where we met a delightful old widower named Buzz who has 5 cats and gambles like no one's business. Random, but awesome. We made the mistake of entering the casino with our video camera, and they wouldn't let us onto the floor to go change our money without an escort, so we decided we'd head to the bank instead of putting up a fuss. The bank had just closed, however, so :

Sam goes through the Bank of America drive-thru ATM in Niagara Falls, NY (Weds. 8/23).

We then headed to the Tuscarora Indian Nation, hoping to ask people about what healthcare was like on the reservation. Two green signs marked the entry point onto the land; one in English, and the other in Tuscarora (we think). A sticker posted onto the bottom sign said "Honor Indian Treaties". As we pedaled down the road, we were a little unsure what to expect. What we weren't expecting was for two dogs to suddenly come charging across someone's lawn at us. "Go, Sam, go!" I yelled, slamming my foot down to put pedal to the metal, as the saying goes... only to immediately hear a familiar "ping!" from my dear bike... I couldn't believe it - another broken spoke! My disbelief made me forget about the dogs, who disappeared as quickly as they came. We pulled into the driveway of a trailer where a man and woman sat on the porch, watching us warily. I joked under my breath to Sam, "Welp, guess we're staying here tonight", mustered my biggest smile, and headed toward the porch. My explanation of my bike problem was met with an offer to look up a bike shop in the phone book, but all involved parties knew the closest shop was over 10 miles away, and it was easy to see that this couple was not particularly interested in our having us around, so I didn't ask if we could pitch our tent. They suggested the Smoke Shop might have someone who could help us out, about 1000 yards further onto the reservation. So, back to our by now all-too-familiar routine of walking our broke-spoke bikes, Sam and I tried to laugh our way down the road, amused by our misfortune but probably a little anxious on the inside, as we were now stranded on the Rez.
After about 5 minutes of walking, a tiny angel called out "HEY!" Across the road on the porch of someone's house was an adorable little kid, naked but with a towel cape, calling out greeting to us. We looked at the yard, then looked at each other and grinned. It met the criteria Sam & I had established earlier on when discussing how we'd pick a place to stay, the biggest factor of course being toys in the yard to indicate a family lived there, rather than some creepy old man. And not just toys - happy children running around! "Well, here goes", we said to ourselves, and I left my bike leaning up against Sam and knocked on the screen door. A family sat right inside the door, eating dinner.
"Knock knock," I called. "I know this is a little strange," I said to the smiling young man who answered the door, "but we're biking through and I've got a broken wheel, and we wondered if it might be ok if we put up our tent over in the side yard here." He looked to his mom for authority, and then the husband came to the door. I again explained our quandry, but I could see that he was reserved as he silently looked things over, and I said that perhaps if that was out of his comfort zone, he might be able to think of someone else who could help us out.
The honesty of his response caught both Sam & I off-guard. In a very non-threatening tone, he replied "Actually, I'm not comfortable with that... you know, you really shouldn't be here. This is our land, and outsiders aren't very welcome here. I think you'll find that's probably the way most people around here feel, and it actually could be kind of dangerous for you if you keep going into the reservation. Some folks may downright try to run you off the Rez, so I think your best bet is probably to go back the way you came."
These aren't the exact words 2 girls want to hear as evening approaches, but we thanked him for his honesty, apologized if our presence had felt intrusive, and headed back down the driveway.
I in no way want to portray this family in a negative light (they are actually angels, as you will later see...), but it was an incredible first-hand reminder of how deeply and painfully the legacy of the oppression of America's First People is still felt today, and caused a lot of mixed emotion for me. On the one hand, I respect that the land we were on belongs to the Tuscarora (and that the land ALL of us occupy rightfully belongs to all First People), and wanted to honour his request for space. It was a perfectly valid perspective. On the other hand, I felt really let down and disappointed that the opportunity for us to learn from each other had been passed by, and also saddened to think how easily the bitter aftertaste of oppression could be passed on to from generation to generation. Would the smiling kids at play in the front yard turn away our children one day? Sam and I mulled this over a little and tried to process and understand the encounter as we mosied along back toward Highway 31. {See obviously mixed emotions, below :) }

However confused we felt, the more pressing issue was quickly becoming finding a safe place to stay for the night, as we were about 15 miles from the next town, and in no mechanical condition for riding. We decided we'd rather try to get a ride to town right then rather then camping nearby and waiting until morning, so we started to get out paper to make a sign reading "Lockport", hoping a dump truck or something would pull over for us. But that wasn't necessary, as 2 angels in a maroon truck pulled alongside our bikes on the shoulder.
"Did you say you're going to Lockport?" a woman asked, and it took a moment before I realized I'd seen both of the women in the car just moments before, sitting at the kitchen table of the house. "We feel really bad and we were worried about you; at least let us give you a ride to Lockport." Score! We couldn't have been more relieved, not just to have a ride, but also for a second chance to get to know the family a little.
Lynn, a friend of the family, was our expert chauffeur, and we even DID get to talk about healthcare -- Sue used to be a community health worker at the clinic on the Rez, which operates out of the basement of the school, and she filled us in on how things work and even gave us contact info to talk to the head coordinator for more detail. ALSO, her son, Schuyler (the beaming beauty who answered the door and wished us safe travels) just completed his freshman year at Dartmouth, Sam's alma mater, so we bonded over that connection. We had such a delightful ride with our 2 new friends and I think I can speak for both Sam and I that we were tickled to get to know more about their family and also about the Six Nations. Footnote: The Tuscarora became the Sixth Nation of the Iroquois Confederation after many of them fled the European colonization of their ancestral land in North Carolina. I didn't realize it the Iroquois connection while we were there, but that's a part of my family heritage that has been largely unrecognized -- perhaps I was closer to some of my own distant relatives on Wednesday than I knew.
Lynn, Sue, & Sam demonstrate the hitchhiking thumbs that the two kind women saved us from using!
Anyway, Sue & Lynn kindly dropped us off at the local high school in Lockport, where we charmed Janitor Bob into letting us use the showers of the girls' locker room (below)! Sam felt right at home, having flashbacks to her days as a baller, and I felt just like I was doing Ride For World Health all over again...



A delightful couple, Wayne & Jennifer, let us put up Harriet the Habitat in their backyard after we knocked on their door and made our odd request. They thought we were total weirdos at first, but they gave us granola bars, let us use the restroom, and Wayne even made us fantastic omelettes for breakfast this morning! Jennifer is a guidance counselor at Lockport High (where we showered), and we had a really great time getting to hear about Wayne's job as varsity basketball coach and history teacher at the same school (go Lions!) - it was quite evident to us that he's making a big impact on his players and students alike. He and Sam had a lot to talk about (Sam's going to be following the Lions this winter season), and we left their place well-fed, well-rested, and happy to know 2 more great people on the planet.

Stage Two: Hamilton to Niagara Falls... or so we thought...

Stage Two turned out to be Stages Two AND Three...
Probably about the same time Andrew was (kindly) posting our getaway message, Sam and I rolled down Main Street in Hamilton, feeling great about finally being on the road, until 18 minutes into the trip when a little *pop* and wobbly tire alerted Sam that she'd broken a spoke. Blast! We phoned Andrew, who as usual, was a hero and looked online to find downtown bike shops we might be able to walk to. We ended up at Central Cycle, got helped by the two really nice fellows who run the place (they also helped improve our route to avoid some really nasty hills), and learned as we were about to walk out that the 1st guy we'd been talking to was a 2-time Olympic gold medalist in the 70's in road cycling. WOW! A humble hero.
Finally around 10:45 we were back in action, heading up the Escarpment Trail to the ridge that Niagara falls off of. After our first PB&J picnic (see below), we re-mounted.

Imagine our delight when, only 15 minutes later, I (Libby) got a broken spoke of my very own! Only this time, we were up out of the city scene. The first establishment we came upon was the Highland Meat Packing Company. Turns out meat packers, while they may have bloody aprons, are some of the friendliest folks around. Our second hero of the day, a young chap of 13 or so whose pop owns the place, came out to the corner where Sam and I were trying to thumb a ride in the back of a dump truck and offered to call a bike shop for us. After we went into the office, a lovely but slightly socially awkward lady named Judy said she could give me a lift down to the closest shop on her upcoming lunch break, and within a little more than an hour, we were back in business.
Happy to be back on the road, but feeling a little vulnerable about our mechanical issues, we cruised along and were delighted to be joined by another cyclist, a really nice Canadian man named Bill who's done 9 Ironman triathlons (!) We chatted with him about cycling and then jumped into healthcare. He said his family's experience with the healthcare system has been a true testament to the purpose that socialized medical systems serve; a year ago, his now 23-year-old daughter dove into a pool, hit her head, and ended up a tetraplegic. Bill is an attorney with his own independent practice focusing on labor law and human rights. "If I'd been practicing law in the States, I'd have been absolutely bankrupted by the medical expenses", Bill said. He went on to talk about the cost of care for his daughter, not only during her immediate recovery, but now that she's living with disabilities. His daughter is still mentally really sharp and hopes to be an attorney herself someday.
Bill rode with us to Ball's Falls (who names a place that?), where Sam and I enjoyed a dinner of veggie dogs and our homemade granola/gorp, set up our tent "Harriet the Habitat", and washed our clothes in a slightly greenish but not-too-stagnant creek. We weren't technically supposed to be overnight camping in the park, so we chose a covert location and then headed into the nearest town to scope it out (while hoping to avoid any park service folks closing down the camp for the evening). Coast was clear when we got back and we enjoyed 9 hours of sleep.
Today we had a lovely bike-problem-free morning and finally made it to Niagara (here are our photos). We sang the Star Spangled Banner (loudly and out of tune) as we rode across the Rainbow Bridge into the States, and had fun going through the car lanes of border check. Clearly, 2 sweaty, smelly girls are a threat to national security, but they didn't give us any trouble, mostly because they were incredulous that we're planning to bike across New York.

We'll keep biking this evening a bit, up to a Native American reservation we found on the map a little hop north of here to see if we can chat about healthcare. Love you, thanks for all the support!

P.S.- More photos to come! (Andrew's Edit: And here they are!)
Sam with her hazard lights on after busting a spoke

The 2 of us swoon over Edwin, our young meatpacking hero.

Sam pretends she's back in Peru and washes her bike shorts in Balls Falls creek with eco-friendly soap

Lib & Wingman take in one of the Wonders of the World... is that sweat or waterfall mist?

Sam chats it up with the lax Border Control dudes, who don't get too many bikes in the car lane...

Stage 1: Toronto to Hamilton, ON Canada

Distance Travelled: 66km
Interviews with a great (Kenyan) friend named Martin: One
Room-&-Board-for-Friendship Exchange: Check!
Wonderful Times: Aplenty!

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Sam arrived in Toronto early Sunday morning and after braving downtown Toronto with a flat-tire, my friends made it to my parents' house where I picked them up and brought them to their first road-trip campsite: my house in Hamilton, Ontario! As you can imagine, they made a wonderful impression on my Hamilton-friends and shined as the wonderful world-ambassadors they are while hanging out with friends, housemates and neighbours.

Wasting no time, the girls held their first interview of their adventure: Libby met Martin at the 2006 AIDS Conference in Toronto, and arranged to spend some time together in Hamilton being friends and sharing thoughts on health, AIDS, and life in Kenya, Martin's homeland. Martin travelled to Toronto for the conference and shared his thoughts and friendship while Sam ran the camera. For a Canadian-boy thrown into the mix it was an amazing experience to be sitting in my living room with such thoughtful, interesting, and international people!

After a day of packing and fine-tuning travel plans, the girls set their alarm for early this morning and were on the road by shortly after 7:00am, heading for Niagara Falls. I miss them already!

Good luck, Ladies! You're an inspiration!

Andrew

(Why Andrew?! The girls are on the road, so I have the honour of making this post on their behalf. I swear I didn't beg for the password!)


Photos!
...in chronological order:

Nerd Alert! (Andrew, Sam, and Libby in Hamilton.)


Martin shares his thoughts while Sam warms up her helmet.



Libby and Wingman moments before they set out.


Sam and Lib: High-five, Sunshine!


Departure in 10, 9, 8, 7...


...and they're off! Bon voyage, mes amies! :)

Player One, Player Two

It's all in the game...

The players:
Libby Loft. 23, 5'4", voted by high school peers "biggest procrastinator". Social justice advocate, once got marooned on a Mediterranean island by 2 psychotic Italians, loves mangos.
Sam Burnham. 24, 6'4", Division I B-baller during her college career. Ex-camel trainer for the Big Apple Circus, can unicycle and juggle bowling pins.

The challenge:
Bike from Toronto, Canada, through Niagara Falls, and across NY/VT/NH toward the coast of Maine covering as much distance as we can by August 31st.

The objective:
Talk to as many people as possible about issues in access to healthcare so that we can help become better care-givers and change the current healthcare system to work for the people who most need it. Spread ridiculousness, joy, and love while we do it.

The fun part:
Getting as many free meals as possible. We'll be camping everywhere we go, asking families if we can stay in their fields or backyards. Hopefully folks will offer us a shower as well, or it might turn out to be a pretty pungent adventure :)

The kickoff:
Sunday, August 21st, 2006. Wish us luck, and stay tuned for updates.