Perhaps you thought I was done kvetching about some of the conditions on the Canalway Trail. Well, almost. I thought I might give you a little better idea of why, despite the freedom from hills and traffic, the canal trail is not necessarily paradise. For starters, in addition to the water on the trail and the lack of good signage around other trail systems that I mentioned yesterday, there are areas of the trail that need restoration and repair–as this photo will attest.

In addition, even “normal” trail conditions aren’t so perfect. As you can see below, there are larger rocks on the crushed stone surface and these need to be carefully navigated on a road bike. Don’t get me wrong–the canal route is beautiful and I’m glad I took the trail, but I want you to have a realistic picture of what you’re in for should you ever venture to New York to experience this yourself.

I left the Rosewood B&B, located in a beautiful Victorian home in Holley, NY (pop.1,811) this morning after an engaging breakfast conversation with Karen Cook, who runs the B&B in her spare time along with her husband Roy. Karen has had a long career as a mortgage originator and manager, and she also makes a great omelet. Karen is in her early 70s but has lots of new loan officers to train and doesn’t seem to be heading toward retirement anytime soon.

As I was heading out of town a few blocks away, I saw this sign honoring an old Italian neighborhood in Holley known affectionately as “Podunk.”

Here is Oak Orchard Creek off the trail near Medina, NY. The creek gorge, which passes below the level of the canal, posed an engineering challenge when the canal was built, as explained on the sign in the photo following this one. The sign also describes a prized type of reddish-brown sandstone that was quarried in the area and used locally and as far away as the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC and Buckingham Palace in London.

Like me, you probably think you know where the “Big Apple” is located in the State of New York, but today I learned that it is also the name of a rather odd “monumental apple” sculpture near Medina, NY, created by sculptor Richard D. Bannister in 2000 and placed along the bank of the Erie Canal as a tribute to the region’s fruit growers.

I checked in around 6 p.m. at the Lockport Inn in Lockport, NY, after 40 miles of biking. The manager, Mark, was quite excited to find after looking at my driver’s license that we share a common birthday, November 9. Mark has never been to Minneapolis, but he is quite knowledgeable about the Mary Tyler Moore Show, including the house on Kenwood Parkway in Minneapolis that was depicted as her home. He seemed a bit surprised that I didn’t know exactly where it was.

My trip along the Erie Canal ended when I arrived in Lockport tonight. Tomorrow’s route will take me across the border to Niagra Falls, Ontario. I’ll give you a further update from there, eh?