Sept 23 Day 12

 Sept 23 

Day 12

Malone NY

Miles 117

Woke up to cold damp drizzle, so I decided to wear my rain shell.  That was the best decision of the day, I was still cold but not freezing so all is good.  

We followed another day of bike routes and it was interesting to say the least.  First of all Google bike route tried twice to take us across bridges that were not there, then there were 4 roads that were at best unacceptable even on road bicycles and worst foot trails only.

But the route did keep us in the country and away from traffic mostly.  The route passed several very small towns or outskirts of towns.  The major ones I noticed were, Chippewa Bay, Hammond, Blachard Falls and Blachard Iron works, Madrid, Norfolk and into Molane.   It run along the shore of Black Lake.  This lake was very beautiful but the homes along it were all old and some run down.  There were 12 lodges, Cottage rentals and fishing camps in one stretch of the ride.  Again they had seen better days but to be fair I have stayed in much worse places too.  

This is still Amish and Mennonite communities and scenery is very pretty.  But when looking at the homes and farming equipment it is like looking back 150 years. When not next to farms or cottages there are a lot of heavily wooded areas.  I did not realize how close to Canada this part of the trip was or how much the sights would remind me or our trips to north of Ontario and Minnesota. 

and abandoned Home and barns

Interesting sites included and 1789 cemetery and Dodds home build of stone and had Dodds living it for 8 generations.  Shows how long people can stay in one place.  

We also saw three Crow statues of Welded steel thought this picture show just two

Counts (note counts could be off, as a lot of the time I spent dodging dung and dead things)

114 horse droppings on the roads

97 hay fields, 58 corn fields, 23 soy fields, 33 fields harvested

10 Trump signs (sadly no Harris signs)

14 watch for Motocycle signs

9 Buggy signs, 2 horse signs, 4 tractor signs no snowmobile signs

3 tractors working, 2 antique tractors as lawn ornaments

4 homes decked out for Halloween

3 buggies moving on roads, 2 horse drawn corn cutters, 1 team hauling logs

33 horses in fields

8 fields of cows 

3 flocks of geese, 2 flocks of starlings, 1 judge of crows and 3 singles, 12 buzzards 

2 flocks of wild turkeys

12 roadkill

36 trucks majority being dump trucks

12 fish camps mainly on Black Lake 

2 Railroad crossings

14 bridges

2 dams

11 abandoned home 13 empty barns including those falling down

8 dry rock fences.

3 houses with chickens in front yard

2 dogs