"Boonville, No parking after dark."

Day 9

Last night in the state park I had my first major storm scare of the trip.  I was originally camping under a lot of trees, but when dark clouds started moving in and distant roars of the sky began to sound, I moved to open ground.  Open ground is always more safe than under trees during a storm for many reasons.  If the storm carries strong wings then limbs and even entire trees have a good chance of falling.  There are many stories about trees falling on camp sites, cabins, and even tents.  I did not want to be one of those stories.  Another reason is lightning.  Lightning tends to jump from place to place once it makes contact with something.  What ever is in the area of the connection tends to get blasted as well.  If a connection was a tree near my tent, I would for sure have gotten a shock.  Lightning can also break off limbs of trees and that goes back to my original reason for leaving.
In my tent It sounded like a train rushing by.  The winds were getting exceedingly dangerous and the storm, although no rain, was getting stronger.  I turned on my emergency weather radio that was lent to me by Katie's mom Gayle, and step dad Al.   

     "For the various counties there is a severe weather watch...although this is not a     warning, the storm as    the potential of creating golf ball sized hail and creating winds     exceeding 50 to 70 miles per hour.  If you are inside seek shelter immediately and     stay away from windows..." 

That was not what I wanted to hear.  After doing a five second synopsis of my 1 person 7' x 3' tent I opened the fly, secured my tent, and headed towards the bathroom.  It was the only structure I knew about for a while so it seemed like the obvious choice.

In the bathroom I noticed I was not alone.  Living in the bathroom were more mosquitoes, flys, giant moths, and massive spiders catching all of the above hanging from the ceiling to about eye level.  I hate spiders.  They creep me out and I want nothing to do with them.  At this point is was brave the storm or squat with the insects in the state park bathroom.  Ugh.  To be honest I was leaning on the side out the storm, but I needed a minute.

20 minutes after I had entered I was fairly bored so I called my father.  We talked for a bit, he found the comedic aspect of my situation, and laughed accordingly.  I asked him to go on the weather and look it up for me.  Eventually we realized that the storm had just missed me by a few miles.  Anywhere north of my position was blasted with massive winds reaching 50mph with gusts up to 70mph.  I had some winds, but nothing substantial, and no rain what so ever.  I got back to my tent after saying goodnight to my dad and decided to call my girlfriend.  We talked for a bit, I thanked her for the weather radio, and we talked about the weather.  She also said that it looked like I was in the clear.  I could sleep well now.

On my 9th day on the road I began to climb hills.  Lots and lots of hills.  There were some downhills but most everything was up.  I knew I was getting into the Adirondacks and this was to be expected.  I figured that I would only go about 60 miles to rest my knee, but on meeting and talking to a twosome (Paige and Tulief) I decided to push further.  They talked about Old Forge and how it was a bigger city with lots to do.  Sold.  They also told me about a social networking, community, if you will, of cyclists called Warm Showers.  Warm Showers was started a number of years ago and is maintained by a number of volunteers.  What it is is hospitality by touring cyclists, for touring cyclists.  When you register you enter your personal information and a bio about yourself.  People on the road can look you up, contact you, and request to either camp in your back yard or, if you allow, stay in your home with you.  The best part is it is free!  If you stay with a member they have the ability to rate you as a guest.  If you aren't a good guest and do not do your part, then you will get a bad rating and probably not be allowed a place to sleep in the future.  It really is an amazing thing.  I told Paige and Tulief thank you for the tip and wished them luck on their trip.

I road past the town where I was going to camp, made it to the next bigger than 600 people town and found an internet cafe.  "Boonville, no parking after dark" is what a sign read as entering into the town.  Not the slogan I would have chosen, but I guess it gets the message across.  They do not want people in the streets after dark, period.  I logged into the internet at the cafe and joined Warmshowers.org.  Paige and Tulief told me there was supposidely a nice couple in Ticonderoga and that I should look them up if I'm passing through.  I couldn't really figure out how to work the site so I just decided I would work on it later.  I needed to get on the road to make it another 30 miles to the town of Old Forge anyway.

A few hours later and I had made it about 85 miles up hilly terrain to Old Forge, however not without consequence.  The last 8 miles were terrible.  My knee was killing me.  I couldn't ride on it for more than 20 minutes at a time without getting sharp body crippling pain.  I would ride for a bit, feel my knee beginning to seize, and rest.  I continued this until I reached the city.  I went to a rite aid, bought some bengay, and got a cheep motel.  I justified the motel with my pain.  I also justified going to a local pub and getting some craft beer and a pulled pork sandwich with fries with the pain.  Ohohohoohhooh the food and beer was so good.  I paired them perfectly and I smiled the entire time I was eating it.  The bartender was laughing at how happy I looked and I told her my story.  "You happy makes me happy sweety" she said to me with a smile.  I was in heaven.

When the meal ended, and my pint glasses were empty, much to my dismay, I headed back to the hotel.  I saw a Doe and her Fawn on  some lawn in the middle of town like it was no big deal.  I took some pictures and headed back.  I put about 3 bengay patches on my leg that night and fell asleep in a heartbeat.