Andy & Kerry's Greenway Trip

Well, after much planning and anticipation we finally have begun our trip! So far it has been great, especially all the people we have biked with and met along the way.

Day 1
Several of our friends from Connecticut came to see us off and bike us out of town, which was a great send off. Of course Patch gained several admirers along the path as well. This first segment, going to Norwalk, CT is the one Andy had ridden once before, so we didn't have to spend too much time looking at the cue sheets which means we got to really enjoy the scenery. When we got to Norwalk we had a great dinner with Andy's co-workers, and spent the night at his friend/co-worker Frank Fey's beautiful home. It was a great first day.

Day 2
We were a little tired from the first day of serious biking, so we took things a little slower and enjoyed the beautiful shoreline. After our afternoon break/lunch stop we decided to make it a short day and stay east of NYC. Unfortunately, finding a vacent hotel room was a little more difficult than we hoped. But, we eventually got one and took full advantage of the amenities (hot tub, air conditioning, breakfast buffet, etc) to restore ourselves.

Day 3
Turned out to be a good decision to have a short day and relaxing hotel day yesterday. Day three was a big one. We ended up biking about 88 miles, the last five hours in the rain. But aside from the whether and a few areas of confusion (um, we got lost) the day was great. I was amazed at the amount of beautiful, off-road cycling paths in New York city. Sometimes it was hard to tell we were in a city at all. We also met a number of great people, thanks again to Patch. Lots of folks helped us find our way along the trail. We even met a couple of women who were so kind and excited about our trip they managed to give me hope about the kind of people we would come accross in NYC (where they live now) and the South (where they were from originally).

Day 4
Today was a great change from yesterday. Although it was still a little soggy out, the rain had let up by the time we got on the road. We got to see a lot of natural beauty along the D & R canal, and enjoyed exceptional hospitality in Lawrenceville at Charles and Lisa Caramalt's house. Charles is one of the Greenway board members here in New Jersey, so we got to talk about bikes and the trail with someone really knowledgeable. We only did about fourty miles today, but the trail was soft because of the rains, so it was still close to a full day of cycling. A perfect follow up to day three actually - it was long enought to keep us from stiffening up, but short enough that we got some of our energy back. Our next stop is planned to be Philly.