Days Inn and the Acquaviva's

After a nice rest day, we only rode thirty miles that day, and stayed in the woods off a trail behind the city hall of Madbury, NH. It was the cutest tiny town that had a doublewide as the library snd there were several old dudes on road bikes through the area. We had breakfast at a picnic table in a town baseball field and then pushed out a ninety mile day. Towards the end of that day we went through a huge sketchy rustbelt city which I wanted nothing to do with so we skidaddled on out of there as far as we could to find a pleasant place to eat dinner. Turns out the park I eyed on the map looking for a picnic table was just a very large stand of woods and we were exhausted so we pushed the bike in just til we were hidden from the highway and scarfed down some trail mix and bagels in the tent to hide from the mosquitos. We slept there and ate oatmeal out of the package to avoid the bugs yet again and then rode on until we got to Amherst. We pushed up some lonnnnnng hills and then coasted about eight miles down at scary speeds until we hit Amherst. Sine we had ridden forty miles pre lunch we figured we deserved an afterlunch pastry at the black sheep coffee house. Amherst was a beautiful town and sight for sore eyes after Fitchberg. We took off our cleats and walked around in sandals for a bit...ahhh. Ready to go we headed out of town but not before stopping at a gear shop for a pactowel so we could finally dry off after showers. Next we took an awesome rolly neighborhood road til we hit the the Hamptons. North Hampton had a cutesy but never ending downtown. We stopped in Southhampton in a park to cook some soup then we were off to find a campsite. Easier said then done cause we shortly reached the sprawl of Springfield Mass. and ended up riding about twenty more miles than planned to escape it and camp illegally in Granville Gorge. We got out quick the next morning to avoid getting into trouble and had breakfast at a DunkinDonuts to make some calls to get the bike fixed. A place down the street in Southwick fixed it for free and gave us the tool we needed free as well and told us he hoped we'd find lots of kindness down the road. While we were in New England Bicycles a couple with another Santana tandem. Diane and her husband were very friendly and gave us some good advice. After stopping for a donut at a suggested bakery we pushed on into some very steep hills in Connecticut. We camped in a state park that night by a lake and actually breakfasted outside a a picnic table that evening. The next day we crossed into NY and crossed the Hudson as well. We dined in a city park for dinner and camped in a State forest that night. The next day was rough we climbed non stop after hitting PA and into the poconos. We had had a terrible headwind all day to boot so gave up early and tucked into some woods for camp. Earlier that day we found a european deli where I bought spaetzle and gravy mix which we had for dinner that night...mmm. It got cold that evening and the next day wasn't much better, uphill and windy. We took it ten miles at a time and eventually made it to our second warmshowers stop. Tony and Mary Alice were the sweetest couple. They cooked us a delicious dinner and fed us dessert too. They told us about how wonderful the bed and breakfasts in San Francisco were but I bet they didn't compare to their hospitality. We slept in comfy bed that night and Mary Alice cooked us eggs from their hens in the morning. For dinner we had some asparagus from their garden as well...very tasty. They were looking after some adorable little kittens which we had the chance to hold and two exuberant lab mixes. For our rest day today we rode about twenty five miles to a hotel to rest up before the Appalacians. Once we get through those we will push on nonstop to my parents house.