Short day, maybe 40 miles.
Riding conditions were good, with just a mild headwind. We made it to Niagara Falls and it was quite busy due to the fact that we arrived on Memorial Day Weekend. There was a ton of people, but we hopped off our bikes and visited the sites. Niagara is just jaw dropping in regards to how much water is pouring over those cliffs. In Idaho, we have Shoshone Falls, which is a higher drop, but is nowhere near the flow capacity of this river.
The other highlight of this segment is that we met a new friend, Tom Leonard. Tom is a virtual friend of Steve Powell. They both volunteer on some boards, I think for Adventure Cycling. Anyhow, Tom was pedaling from Burlington, Vt (I think) to Chicago where he lives. He had dropped off an old truck to a family member since he just didn't use it much any more. We had a couple day head start on Tom when we entered NY state and he caught up to us just a few miles south of Niagara. He recognized us by our bikes (Steve had previously told him what we were riding). Tom joined us at our camp site at Grand Island for the evening. He had a lot of stories to tell us, including the fact that he had been in the Marine Corps during the Iraq war. I learned that Tom is a very kind, unassuming person. He waves at everyone he encounters, has a lot of touring experiences, and is very consistent with his hand signals when cycling with other people. I thought this was really a great thing, because I always knew what his intent was as he projected it with excellent signaling.
Tom has a wide network of touring/biking friends and has offered help if we need any in the future. We are grateful to have met him.
I have a picture of Tom in the May 30 post.
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