7-7 A Shortcut ha, ha, ha, ha.

This day us for my brother in law, Pedro Landeros.

From the Stateline Campground on Lake Erie, at Ripley, N.Y. on hwy 5, to Wood Creek Campground on hwy 39 in Castile, N.Y.

The Stateline Campground was kinda like being at Ft. Bragg as there was a stiff breeze all nite and there were white caps on the lake. The lake is so big that you can’t see the shore on the other side. As I went on down hwy 5, I could not help but see that the mansions all along the roadway were absolutely awesome, if you like that kind of huge lawn and landscape, certainly a lawn mowers paradise. Ever since we tootled along the lakes, the homes were absolutely perfect pieces of landscape. I would not even think of walking on the lawns as they were golf course perfect and the only thing missing were people. I never once saw the folks that owned these places out enjoying what they had. Hummmm! Another thing that we noticed is that there are no fences. A few places had a little fence but for the most part they are not to be seen. I wondered how they knew where to cut the grass? It was hard to tell just where the property ended and the golf course started.

I have spent several hours trying to map out a route and today was interesting to say the least. I looked at hwy39 out of Dunkirk and thought that it would be a cross cut instead of drifting on to Buffalo and then east and it was, but, the flatland and distance was traded for some humpy hills and I got a heck of a workout, like being back in Nebraska. Steep, long, ups and some swift downs. It has been awhile since I had the hill work and my legs were letting me know it but I still kicked down 75mi. There were hundreds of them wind generators along a ridge and I knew that I had gone over the summits so I whipped on down some longer runs and as we got into Castile we started looking for a place to camp. We finally found Wood Creek Cmpgrd, a very pretty place, right on a creek. As I do this blog we again got rained on. Not too heavy but enough to get things wet and now the sun is again shining. ????!!!!

This morning as I sped along Lake Erie was the first time I felt tangs of missing home. I talked to my daughter, Marilyn, and she mentioned that she was missing me and I think that the feeling was mutual. I still have the desire to ride each day but as the coast gets closer (on the map at least!) I think more about the end of this journey and I just want to keep booking. Skywalker, Skywalker I hope your summer is going good and I am looking forward to seeing you again, love you and miss you, over and out.

Pedro Landeros is Judy’s brother and he is one neat guy. He is deaf and went to the Berkley School for the Deaf. He was an outstanding quarterback for the school and a very good athlete. We used to go visit him and enjoyed the times together. After school he worked for me in the packing houses. He learned to operate my labeling machine and spent several years doing that. He eventually ended up in Sacramento and had some good jobs. He moved back to Lake Co. and has worked for the Konocti Vista Casino for several years now and is liked by many people. He has a colorful history and is still as cool a guy as when I first met him. Keep up the great work Pete.


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