Day 8 – Amsterdam to Albany, 31.7 miles

Last day of the ride had us up early and outside prepping to get on the road.  We were all pretty excited to be nearing the end of the ride and even better – we knew today was all on pavement.This process included the application of bug spray.  We learned to apply it early after the first few days.  The entire back half of my body is covered in bites – no fun to ride with, especially if you’re me and have interesting reactions to bugs.
Started the morning riding back down the hills I mentioned yesterday and then it was paved trail for about 10 miles.  We made a quick stop so I could get a picture of the marks we’ve been following for most of the ride.  This one is telling us to turn right – and pink generally means there’s some kind of caution ahead.  In this case it was a bit of gravel followed by a major road crossing.The path out of Schenectady had a rather huge climb.  Big enough that after we got to the top (I walked the last bit and I think the others did too) we laughed to see some other race’s marks on the pavement that said “atop the bitch.”  Yeah, that hill was, to quote another cyclist, “the fun part of the ride.”  I guess it is, if you’re going down.  A few miles after that we pulled over for a true rest at the last lock we’d be passing on this trip.  Also most locks have porta-johns.  This works out well for the one person on this ride who doesn’t easily have the ability to pee while standing up. We took a few family pictures.  One with the sun right behind us, but hey – there’s part of the lock.  Then we got wise and turned around.  It was hot and humid so we didn’t linger terribly long.  Coming into Albany there was plenty to see. We pulled over just to get a few shots of this vista.  From there we rode past the GE Global Research Center.  But even more exciting we watched several local police escorting large trucks carrying HUGE excavators into the Bettis Atomic Power Research facility. It was a big enough delivery that numerous employees were out front watching the trucks roll in… and we rode right through the middle of it all. Bruce thinks they’re putting a nuclear propulsion system into the excavators. The boys think it’s Black Mesa 2.0.

A few more miles and we pulled into the hotel and took these celebratory pictures.
As you can see, we were excited to be pretty much done with the ride.  EXCEPT…

Except that my wonderful husband.  The one I’ve been married to for almost 20 years.  Who has lead this family without fail through the entire country.  Who always knows north from south.  Who is one of the best navigators I know…

HAD LEAD US TO THE WRONG HOTEL!

Ok.  It was pretty funny.  Even funnier is that the kids and I had already gone in and eaten the free donuts they had set out for guests.  Thankfully the wonderful lady at the desk got us pointed in the right direction and we didn’t have that far to go.  She even came outside to send us off.  If you’re reading this – thanks again!  And thanks for the donuts!

Right.  So by the time we got to our true hotel, we just decided to call it.  The whole day had gone so well and it seemed right to end it on this funny note.  We got checked in, showered up and decided to go out and get a late lunch.  You might say there was a bit of excitement at seeing the car again.We thought we might go out again for a late dinner, but in the end opted to eat here at the hotel.  A few rounds of Heads Up, plus the endless antics of Daxton kept us in stitches and it was a great way to continue the unwinding process.  We’ve still got at least 2 more posts for you.  The kids are going to weigh in with a few comments tomorrow and I still want to post those videos I mentioned a few days ago.
Tomorrow = Home!