June 30 Brown Barn Campground, Booneville, Ny

 Today was one of our most enjoyable rides to date.  The weather was sunny, the ride was only 28 miles and was mostly on a smooth, lightly traveled road.  Smoke from the Canadian fires was noticeable today. We crossed over the Moose River and rode along side of it most of the day.  There were beautiful vistas where we could sit and watch the rapids.  Unfortunately I broke a valve stem on my front tire.  Luckily I am getting good at fixing flats and we were back on the road in a matter of minutes.  Brown Barn Campground has a large group camping area next to a barn with bath and showers.  It is a very comfortable place to spend the night.

June 29 Old Forge, NY Layover Day

 Today was a layover day in Old Forge.  A nice little town that seems like a tourist area although we are not sure what the overall attraction is to this town.  We were able to take care of our laundry, much needed after so many days of consecutive rain.  The laundramat was a bit of a frustration.  Several machines were out of order.  The change machine was on the fritz.  A note said to unplug the change machine, then plug it back in before putting your money in.  Laura did but only received $10 worth of quarters for a $20 bill.  There was a note to talk to the person at the next store NAPA store if you had problems.  Laura followed up and later that afternoon received the $10 she was sure that was lost forever.  Later, while drying out our tent we accidentally put a hole in the bottom.  Luckily there was a hardware store in town where we could buy some gorilla tape.  We will do the repair tomorrow as it will be a short mileage day.  The last chore of the day was grocery shopping for tomorrow.   Laura and I are on dinner duty tomorrow afternoon followed by breakfast duty the following morning. This is the first time we have been paired to cook the meals.  We did have the chance to lunch at Walt's Diner where we split a Philly Cheesestake. The weather looks great tomorrow, sunny and 70s.  The long term forecast does not look promising as several days of rain are loomoing on the horizon.

June 28 Christy Motel, Old Forge, NY

 Today we woke up to pouring rain.  Breakfast was a scramble as we quickly broke down camp.  Most of it was a losing effort as our luggage and tent got wet before it could be loaded into the trailer.  Rain continued to pour down the first hour of our ride before easing up.  We had scattered showers the rest of the day but we didn't care as we knew we would be spending two dry nights at Christy's Motel in Old Forge, NY.  Can't wait to visit the laundromat tomorrow.

June 27 Lake Eaton, Long Lake, NY

 Today Laura woke up with leg pain and was not able to bike the route.  She shuttled to the camp ground while I joined Mark and Niles, two fellow cyclists.  The route was 51 miles with a couple of large climbs.  The weather was overcast and a comfortable 70 degrees.  The views were mostly trees but we did find one nice waterfall.  We pulled off the road for a snack break and found three snakes just over the guard rail.  They barely noticed we were there.  Lake Eaton Campground is a large NY state campground with a beach.  Showers were adequate but far from our site.  Rain came in as we were preparing dinner and stayed all night   At dinner they announced that we completed our first 500 miles of the Northern Tier.