Day 0, Monday, July 31, 2006
Orientation Day, Niagara Falls, NY
Up at 5:45 AM, breakfast at Sam's (Donna's dad), Dave arrived at 7:00, 7:15 on the road to Niagara Falls via New York Thruway. Dave will help navigate out and back. The difficult part is in Niagara Falls as a wrong turn in an unfamiliar place can be very frustrating and time consuming. The trip took 5 hours, no wrong turns. I hope Donna and Dave were just as successful on the way back. I met the ride leaders Andy, Michelle and Christine and checked in to my room. We had lunch at a Denny's and at 3:15 they left to go back to Albany.
I came back to my room, changed into my cycling clothes and went for a short ride to the "Falls". I couldn't resist an opportunity to take some photos from the American side of the Falls. I did some quick pics and returned to the Quality Inn for the "new rider orientation". This took about 45 minutes and then I took off again for the Falls. I spent the next 2 hours on Goat Island taking more pics. There was a Drum and Bugle Core from Wayne, New Jersey, performing some music on the tip of Goat Island. This small island separates the Canadian Falls from the American Falls. I met up with a married couple; her mom has Alzheimer's now. We talked about her mom, the symptoms and the frustrations. I hope that our discussion was helpful for them.
I got back to my room around 7:30 and started to work on my journal, file my pics and hopefully email it back to Ed before 10PM. If I can do that, he will be able to upload it to my website tonight and it can be read tomorrow by everyone. By the way, Ed is Donna's son. He created my website and is my site manager. He spends a lot of time helping me and does a great job. Thanks Ed! I have always written my journals (and edited it there) in pencil on a steno pad and then word processed it (editing it there again) on my laptop. Everyone tells me and they are correct, that this is double time spent and is not necessary. My goal this year is to do it all on the computer and forget the steno pad. Maybe I can get to bed before midnight. (I can see you all smiling)
I need to get some dinner also.
We ride to Henrietta, NY tomorrow; an 80 mile ride. We will parallel the Thruway but travel thru many small towns.
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