They Should Have Called it a R&R, not a B&B

TOP: Mark and Lumpy at the first (of about 10,000) waterfall

2nd: John arrives at the Paddlers B&B, and tries to check in with his gold Hilton card.

3rd: John and "Dead Tranny" Bruce the Canadian. He paid for our lodging and food since the Canadian dollar is now worth double the US dollar...thanks George, you shithead.

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We made 75 miles of riding on our mountain bikes the first day, on a slight uphill. The scenery was incredible as we followed the Youngandhoho River up towards it's source in Confluence. We saw all kinds of game, deer, woodchucks, river kayakers, fisherman, and even a couple of fellow cyclists.

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Confluence is where 3 rivers converge, and it's a big fishing and kayaking area in the spring. Unfortunately, on a cold monday night, every restaurant in town was closed, there were almost no visitors (except the 3am trains), and nightfall was approaching quickly. We stayed at a little B&B for the night, but it was ~ 2 miles from the town. Luckily for us, the house guardian Rainey was our guardian angel for the evening. She drove us into town (try getting BACK on a mountain bike after 7 hours in the saddle...2 miles seems like 200) to the market, grabbed some wine from her house to get us through the evening (Mark needs 3-4 liters alcohol nightly to function), and joined us for dinner back at the B&B. Great gal.

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Also at the B&B was a Canadian guy named Bruce. Bruce had a great story to tell...60ish years old (but looking 40), he was on a vacation to see a bunch of frank lloyd wright houses (i.e. falling brook) nearby when his car dropped it's tranny (I feel your pain, having had it happen to us just 2 months earlier in Florida!). Bruce, being a trooper, had his car towed to a garage (in western PA, clearly a leap of faith in humanity...), jumped on his bike which was in his car, and rode the 30+ miles to Confluence. Tomorrow he is going to ride to one of the FLW houses, then ride back the 30 miles to where his car is being fixed. But tonight, he hangs with the Lump, drinking wine, eating our outstanding (if I say so myself) pasta dinner, and singing anti-Bush songs.

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"Maybe I shoulda paddled downstream instead" Lumpy out