Florida to Maine Bike Trip - Day Thirteen 74 Miles

So many things to share today, but the hills in Norwalk and heat have done me in.....so tomorrow I will post more. But we arrived at the MMRF to notable orange shirts, cow bells, hoot and hollers, tv news and a very welcoming ceremony with medals, wings and accolades.  We felt like 'rock stars.. In fact we received head bands imprinted with the words 'ROCK STARS' and wear them proudly!!!!!

It was a NYC day for the most part - Manhattan, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Little Italy, Harlem, the Bronx.  What an amazing experience on a bike.  ON A BIKE!  I couldn't take the sights and smells in fast enough and I am amazed at how comfortable I felt navigating the trails and streets...it frankly is mind boggling.  I have so many wonderful memories of my new NYC cycling friends, Asian Americans doing their early morning rituals and all facing the same direction regardless of where we saw them,  pouring over maps connecting the trails and streets, our lunch and a kind proprietor who helped me get the bike chain grease of my hands in his kitchen's work area, and believe it or not - another bathroom stop - this time at some corner barber shop filled with men who spoke their language and not my own - but welcomed me anyway...........I loved NYC.

Must say thank you today also to Bruce and Jill for sharing their home, to Carmon who recently had a stem cell transplant and rode miles with us this moring, to Neil (I hope this was your name:)) in the pink shirt on the ferry from NJ to Manhattan, who made a huge, wonderful, gigantic and so appreciated generoous contribution today -- and to Paul who first reached out to us on that ferry and shared the story of his friend Andre with Multiple Melenoma (you will be in my prayers) and the father I met while embarking from the ferry who shared his daughter's cancer story (it's in comments on yesterday's post),  And George who invited me behind his restauraunt's counter to help get the bike grease off my hands,  Delores and Diane our more than adept escorts through NYC, Tom our world class escort into Norwalk, Betsy and Alicia our perfect dinner companions and hosts, Matt who gave a wonderful massage at day's end and lots of helpful hints........and the waiters (Christopher  from Marshfield, et al) who made sure we had delcious cornbread with our oh-so-delicious meal at Darien Social.