We have a winner!

August 4, 2016August 4, 2016 / Maja Wessels / 2 Comments

Someone has guessed correctly what I was counting and has won a Frank Lloyd Wright design cell phone cover. I was, indeed, comparing the number of McDonald’s to Burger Kings. My winner was surprised by the low number of both, as was I, but we have to remember that we were riding through mostly small towns. The places that had a Burger King almost always had a McDonald’s nearby, but many towns could obviously only support one fast food burger joint, and in those cases they had a McDonald’s, proving the value of incumbency. I know that you will be disappointed to read this, but since we have a winner, I will stop counting. Thanks to all of you who joined in the fun!

As you all know, we have rarely been rained on. The parched look of western NY is testament to the lack of rain. Yards are brown, corn is stunted and dry and soybean plants are also significantly smaller than ones we’ve passed across other states. While we can’t complain about staying dry on our rides, we do feel bad about the farmers whose livelihood is suffering. Today as we were cycling along the Erie Canal, many farmers were pumping water out of the canal to irrigate their fields. We don’t know if this is normal or something that is just done when Mother Nature doesn’t do her bit to keep the crops watered.

Speaking of water, we have been drinking a ton over the course of the last few days as the heat wave has finally caught up to us. It has been hot and humid. And today add dusty to the list since we were riding on crushed limestone all day along the Canal. Our bikes, bags, etc. are gray with dust. We will have more of the same tomorrow until we turn off the canal and head toward Lake Superior, which we hope will be a bit cooler.

Today I made our reservations at a Bed and Breakfast near Bar Harbor, so the end of our adventure is nearing. We have only 13 more days with bums on saddles and 14 more days total until we reach our destination. As we looked at the map to plan our final days, we wonder why the American Cycling Association decided to end its Northern Tier Route in Bar Harbor since we bike north along the coast of Maine for a couple hundred miles before we get there. Charles and I discussed whether we should call it quits when we reach the Maine coast, but decided to soldier on. After all, what’s a couple hundred more miles? and we wouldn’t want to be accused of false advertising! 😇 So, with that said, we are now looking at riding into Bar Harbor on August 18 and flying back to Arizona around the 25th. Woohoo!

Day 65 – Lockport to Rochester

August 4, 2016August 4, 2016 / wescov / Leave a comment

61 miles. “… On the Erie Canal”

That song did not stick in my head today. The one that did, probably since tomorrow will be our third Great Lake shore ride, is Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” “And farther below Lake Ontario takes in what Lake Erie can send her.” (One would have thought that lyric might have clued me in about which direction the Niagara River flows over the Falls – see yesterday’s post)

The Erie Canal and bike path

We coasted onto the Erie Canal bike path after only a mile or so on Lockport’s streets and stayed on it the entire day. The first half mile was paved and the balance was crushed limestone but in great shape so we didn’t sacrifice any speed. Over the next 60 miles or so we only saw one lock and that one was in Lockport.

The lock in Lockport as we cycled away

For that matter we only saw one boat! We read that after many years of only sports boating traffic, some companies are now shipping freight and goods again on the canal again.

Only one boat sighted all day… And no mules pulling her

It’s not hard to envision the impact the canal had on American Westward expansion. By linking the Hudson River with Lake Erie, trade and passenger traffic in both directions led to a vibrant market and competing and expanding canals and rail lines.

It was a hot day today and we stopped in Brockport for water then in Spencerville for lunch and finally to our hotel only a block from the canal.

Downtown Brockport where we stopped in a bar for ice water

Tomorrow we have a few more hours on the canal then turn north toward Lake Ontario.

Us sporting our new Darwin Martin T-Shirts! Thanks, Mary.

Day 64 – Buffalo to Lockport (Erie Canal)

August 3, 2016August 3, 2016 / wescov / 1 Comment

58 miles. Via the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.(“Slowly I turned. Step by step …”)

Another “ersatz” Wright building, the Fontana Boathouse along the Niagara River in Buffalo. Wright designed it in 1905 to be built at the University of Wisconsin and this was eventually built in Buffalo in 2007

We backtracked a little this morning to get back on the Canadian side since we had heard that the bike path up to Niagara Falls was better on that side and, more importantly, the falls are prettier on the Canadian side. The bike path was a little twisty and turney and not in that great shape but it was quiet and shaded. Along the way we passed the site of the Battle of Chippawa marking the first “invasion” of American troops into Canada to fight the British in the War of 1812.

After learning how the “invaders” were ultimately driven back across the river, we continued to the Falls. I have to admit that for my entire life I thought that the Niagara River flowed over the Falls and emptied into Lake Erie. Wrong!! Learn something every day, eh?

The falls are spectacular and we joined a throng of tourists from all over the world as we got soaked by the spray and posed for the obligatory photo.

Horseshoe Falls. The spray is visible from several miles away. The view from the American side is on the edge of the falls looking down.

Our obligatory photo with American Falls in the background

Pressing on after that we rode north and crossed back over into the US eventually finding our way to Lockport, near the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal along which we will be riding for the next couple of days.

We rode under the Rainbow Bridge and thought this looked very cathedral like.

Darwin Martin House Part 2

August 3, 2016August 5, 2016 / wescov / Leave a comment

One of a dozen or so different leaded glass designs Wright used. Actually this window is a “place keeper” of thin, clear plastic while the new leaded glass window is being made.

I crashed last night before I could do this magnificent house justice so I’ll try to do better today before I write our blog. The scale of the details that Wright specified in the Martin House is overwhelming and for me that makes this house his boldest Prairie house statement. I know from my own experience that one does not often pair with a client who has the temperament and means to give the architect free rein but Darwin Martin seemed to approach that ideal. To have been witness to the meetings between Martin and Wright would have been to watch Wright in full and glorious flight as he described his ideas from all altitudes, from the 30,000 foot view of the entire project down to the 1 foot or lower details. Martin allowed Wright to bring his full genius to bear and introduced him to other Buffalo clients like the Larkin Company where he was able to express his ideas of how a business should be organized and streamlined hierarchically. Sadly the Larkin Building does not exist now except in photos.

One of the concepts that Wright innovated at the Martin house that had no equivalent at the time was exploding the box of the house freeing up an interior space with few walls or divisions between living areas and bringing the supporting structure into the interior allowing the exterior walls to be fenestrated to a degree never seen before. Using leaded glass designs he created rows of multi-colored windows that brought light and color inside this new “exploded box” bringing exterior and interior areas together.

I could go on with my admiration of the Martin House and the level of quality of its restoration but others have studied the house and written more eloquently about it so I encourage you to start with a Google search and include as many images as you can pull up. Here are a few more of ours from yesterday.

The view from the main house down the pergolas to the conservatory. The glass in the floor allows light from the lower level to softly light the path at night.

This light is a manifestation of Wright’s desire to design the entire house environment

Exterior space outside the living room that becomes one with the interior space

Looking back to the pergola from the conservatory

Day 63 – Dunnville to Buffalo

August 2, 2016August 3, 2016 / wescov / Leave a comment

48 miles. Many on the Friendship Trail Bike Path

We slept in a bit and managed to get away from Dunnville around 8. We got “temporarily confused” again since there are two different highways there both numbered “3” – one is a county road and the other a provincial highway. We managed to get it figured out and rode along the coast on relatively quiet roads.

After 24 miles we got to Port Colborne and hooked up with the Friendship Trail, paved all the way to the Peace Bridge back to the good old USA. Among the way we passed the former site of the Erie Beach Hotel. W.E.B DuBois organized the founding meeting of the Niagara Movement there as a counter to what he considered Booker T. Washington‘s more moderate approach to the fight for black civil rights.

We had to bike across the bridge that was totally jammed up with traffic in both directions! We passed a whole line of cars and trucks but then had to wait for the immigration agent to let us in for the interview. Eventually we made it through and were back on the streets of the Buffalo waterfront.

We spent the night with a former Dartmouth classmate of Maja’s who had reached out to us when she heard about our ride through the alumni magazine’s class notes. We had a wonderful time catching up with her and meeting two of her four kids.

Buffalo at one point (around the end of the 19th century) was a very prosperous shipping and manufacturing center but like most rust belt cities has fallen on harder times. It boasts a neighborhood and park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and buildings by Wright, Sullivan, Richardson and Saarinen. And the target of our visit today was the Darwin Martin complex.

We met Mary Roberts, the Executive Director of the Martin House Restoration Corporation, who gave us an in depth look at the massive effort involved with the organization and carrying out of the beautiful renovations. The house is Wright’s largest and most complex Prairie Style design from the early 1900s and was conceived as a family compound. He utilized many innovative concepts in both its design and construction.

I’ll include a few of our photos here and will post more tomorrow but for a better understanding of the house’s history and more pics you should start at these entries and go in deeper from there:

Wright’s leaded glass panels bring a kaleidoscope of color in the house from the outside as well as from electric lighting

The view down the long pergola completely and absolutely faithfully rebuilt

This beautiful built-in has two doors that open to reveal bookshelves and then the bookshelves open to more shelves behind them. Buffalo, NY, 2016

This beautiful built-in has two doors that open to reveal bookshelves and then the bookshelves open to more shelves behind them.

🎶Make new friends, but keep the old

August 1, 2016August 2, 2016 / Maja Wessels / Leave a comment

One is silver and the other’s gold.🎶

We have been meeting lots of kind, interesting and engaging people on our trip, but there’s nothing like being with old friends. Our time in Birmingham, MI with our good friends Foley and Marion was fantastic, albeit too short and they get 5+ ⭐️s for their “warm showers” 🙃 hosting. Marion and her son Malcolm picked us up at the Marine City ferry, an hour from their home. On the way back to their house, Marion organized and then later generously treated us to two of the best massages we’ve ever had. She then chauffeured us around on various errands before cooking a wonderful salmon dinner that really hit the spot. Our next day was full viewing Frank Lloyd Wright homes, touring around some of the areas of Detroit that are in full revival, having lunch and going back home for a well deserved nap. That night, we were joined by more friends and three bottles of champagne and several bottles of wine later, we hit the sack. The next day, after a full and filling breakfast, Marion and Foley drove us back to Marine City for the ferry ride to Canada. It was so wonderful being around friends that are really family and getting back to our trip well fortified emotionally and physically. We are very lucky and thankful to have such great “old” friends. The only black mark against them was that we had so much fun over the dinners, wines and champagnes that we never had the energy for the long promised malts at their favorite ice cream shoppe. Something to look forward to for the next visit.

Ending our fun time with the Jones’s at the Marine City Ferry landing.

We will be spending tomorrow night with a college classmate, which I’m looking forward to, and will also catch up with some more of our oldest and best friends from Virginia who now have a summer place in Hanover, NH a week or so from now. Those visits combined with our stay with our good friends from Paradise Valley, Craig and Steve, at their home in Golden Valley, MN have made this trip even more special than it would have normally been.

Day 62 – Port Burwell to Dunville

August 1, 2016August 2, 2016 / wescov / Leave a comment

76 miles. Last full day in Canada

First, I neglected a few things over the past few days. Our first day in Ontario we passed the home of Josiah Henson whose autobiography was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” It was also the site of the Dawn Settlement, a community for escaped slaves, and one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad. The site was a mile or so off our route so we did not stop and we intend someday to go back and visit the place.

We also saw these two houses on that first day in Ontario:

This abandoned and overgrown farm house must be hiding many secrets!

This is not a Wright house but sure bears some of his signature elements

Jeff and Marion, our Airbnb hosts last night, took us to a neighbors house to watch a very impressive fireworks display.

The sky above Port Burwell was alive with color before they set off the fireworks

This morning they were kind enough to get up early and feed us royally. Thanks to their kindness we were able to get on the road at 7 AM toward Dunnville.

Our route was on local and provincial roads with very little traffic. We saw many more windmills and a sign that read: “Stop the most corrupt and wasteful scam ever to be.” Strong words!

Ontario wines on the vine

We rode through many small towns and had a few more ups and downs than we had anticipated but Maja noticed a short cut that took us away from the coastal roads and saved us some time getting to our destination.

Lake Erie

Entering Dunnville we crossed the Grand River and saw this outflow from the dam.

Tomorrow we head to Buffalo.

Day 61 – Ridgetown to Port Burwell

July 31, 2016August 2, 2016 / wescov / Leave a comment

78 miles. Against the wind again.

We got an early start from Ridgetown so we could beat some of the predicted winds. Our plan was nearly thwarted early when the hotel breakfast that was advertised to start at 6 AM was not ready at all – the breakfast room was dark and nothing had been brewed, set out, prepared. After ringing the front desk bell things started happening.

We had to retrace part of yesterday’s route just to get back on track so that added at least 7 miles to the day. The map showed us riding along the coast of Lake Erie but we hardly glimpsed the lake until late in the day. The wind wasn’t severe but was in our faces and constant all day. There was no shoulder and, luckily, no traffic since it is Sunday and this is a four day holiday in Canada.

There weren’t many small towns on the route but a lot of farms and windmills! At one point we saw many anti wind mill signs in front yards some calling for an end to the “wind scam.”

Windmills in the soy fields

And in the corn field silhouetted against the gathering storm that sailed north of us

Mile after mile we plodded along until we had lunch in Port Stanley where we shared a picnic table with four or five people who had come to watch the draw bridge open! It eventually did.

The much anticipated draw bridge opening in Port Stanley

We pulled into Port Burwell and found our Air BnB and learned that we were lucky to get a room in town since it’s the annual Beach Fest complete with fireworks tonight. A woman had booked the room we are in for the entire weekend but then didn’t show up so we profited from her absence. We will walk to another house with the owners of the BnB to watch the fireworks tonight.

Tomorrow is another long day and promises to be another head wind day as well. We are aiming to get to Buffalo on August 2nd where we have arranged a tour of the Darwin Martin house, another Wright pilgrimage site.

Day 60 – Marine City to Ridgetown, Ontario

July 30, 2016August 2, 2016 / wescov / Leave a comment

52 miles. Hard day against the wind.

We enjoyed a leisurely morning with our friends, Foley and Marion and then they drove us back to the exact spot at the ferry dock in Marine City where they had picked us up on Thursday!

The short 10 minute ferry ride landed us in Sombra, Ontario, and after going through immigration we re-introduced ourselves to our bikes and headed down the road. We took part of yesterday’s rest to cull through our panniers and shipped several items that we don’t anticipate needing back to Paradise Valley including both sets of front panniers. The bikes are so much more responsive now particularly without the weight on the front wheels.

Looking back at the ferry landing on the Canada side

A few miles down the road we encountered streets blocked for a local parade. This is a holiday weekend in Canada (Civic Holiday). We watched part of the parade and talked with a local policeman then made our way through the crowd back onto the highway that parallels the St. Clair river.

At the parade we were given frozen fruit pops that we had trouble opening. This kind officer pulled a knife out of his pocket, opened it and handed it to me to slice the package open. Can anyone imagine a US policeman handing someone an open knife?Oh, Canada.

I guess because we are in Ontario, my ear worm of the day was Neil Young’s “Helpless.” “There is a town in north Ontario….” And then that morphed into a bit of Ian and Sylvia!

This was intended to be a “light day” and since we got such a comparatively late start (off the ferry at 11:00) our goal was Ridgetown and a small hotel there. We hadn’t counted on the headwind, our fatigue from a little too much partying last night with our friends (Foley, Marion, John, Tola, Sunne, Michael, Johnathan and Malcolm) or having to ride a while on a dirt road!

By the time we reached our destination we were wiped out. No more light days, please! Tomorrow we ride 66 miles to an Airbnb in Port Burwell and the forecast is for more headwind but we plan on getting a good night’s sleep and an early start.

Another hotel room shared with our bikes. Note how much slimmer they look without the front panniers.

Day 59 – Rest and Wright house tour

July 30, 2016August 2, 2016 / wescov / Leave a comment

We were both really ready for an off day and, having learned our lesson in Minneapolis, no matter how tempting it would be to spend more time with great friends, two days of rest is deleterious to energy and enthusiasm on the bike. So we’ll sadly cut this visit and head into Canada tomorrow.

The Affleck House from the street. Originally, Wright had designed the drive to circle around the house at the rear and come to the carport from the right hand side.

Today we enjoyed a personal and very informative tour of the Affleck House in Bloomfield Hills. The house was one of Wright’s Usonian designs and is now curated by Lawrence Technological University. When it was built in 1941 the house was in a remote location but the area near Detroit has grown up around it and it is now surrounded by houses, condos and traffic on what is a major street. Nevertheless, one can get a good feel from the wooded lot of what the house was like when first built.

A beautiful Wright detail around a ceiling light at the entry

The docent Harvey who has a lot of insight about the Affleck house had worked on the Price Tower in Oklahoma, Wright’s only skyscraper, and was a visiting lecturer at Taliesin West. He gave us an in depth and detailed look at the house and sprinkled the tour with some entertaining Wright anecdotes. As with all our tours of Wright houses, our photos and words don’t do justice to the places so follow this link as a start. If you are interested in a tour, click on the “Tours” link on the ltu.edu page.

After seeing the Affleck house we drove by the Smith House, also a Wright Usonian nearby and drove into Detroit to get a view from the street of the Turkel House from 1955, a mix of Usonian and concrete block design.