Miles: 780
We slept in this year not leaving until 4:30, but we still had a big day in front of us. We rode north on I-71 stopping for gas at Lexington OH and put on more her. We had ridden the first 200+ miles without much other than our mesh jackets as we thought once the sun came up it would warm up. This was not the case and in fact it had gotten colder to the point where we needed to add gear to continue. Once we got on the tore side of Erie and hit I-86 we decided to stop at a Text Area (formally known as a Rest Area) on the West side of Jamestown. This was actually a very nice Text Area and we broke out some snacks made it a nice little breakfast spot as we looked out over Chautauqua Lake. The Welcome Center there had a nice biography on Lucille Ball who is from Jamestown. We continued on stopping at Steamburg for gas and then exiting at Cuba for our run up NY305 and19A as we targeted Letchworth State Park. There was a light rain as we entered the park but we didn't let that deter us from walking around and viewing the many falls in the area. The South entrance was still closed due to the new railroad bridge construction. We entered north of the falls in the Perry Entrance, and made a short drive to view the RR bridge and the Upper Falls. This park is really very nice and known as the Grand Canyon of the East. I'm not sure how we missed this in the past, but it was definitely worth a stop. We walked a little way to view the Upper Falls, and then we also stopped to view the Middle Falls and also Inspiration Point. Every stop had great views and we enjoyed despite the rain. On our way out we also stoped at Wolf Creek Cascade but there was not anything there other than some panic areas but not very valuable in the rain. We followed the Genesee River through the rest of the park and exited near the Mt Morris Dam and the town of Mt Morris. We jumped on I-390 for s short time before exiting and heading due East on US20 into the Finger Lakes Region. It was raining off and on as we approached Canandaigua and stopped for some wings and a brew at Twisted Rail Brewing Co. It had stopped raining by the time we were ready to eat so we had our refreshments outside at a picnic table. It was not very nice outside but at least the rain had stopped, if even for a short time. Back on the bikes we continued east. We rode through Geneva along the waterfront but did not stop. Next came Seneca Falls where we routed over Bridge Street, also known as Bedford Falls Blvd. I learned that Seneca Falls was the inspiration for Bedford Falls in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. The only stop we were able to pull off was a stop on the bridge in our rain gear. We continued through the rain and stopped at Chittenango Falls State Park for a look around. The rain had mostly stopped so we walked around a little but it was still cloudy and gloomy. The park looked as if it had been neglected for some time. It really must have been a nice spot at one point but there lots of weeds and it was a little overgrown in areas. It was not terrible, but it has seen better times. Anyway we had some snacks there and continued on. We decided to alter our route some to jump on the interstate. We figured since we had to ride through the rain we might as well get to Schenectady sooner rather than later. That is exactly what we did. We arrived to the Hampton in time to walk in the rain to Mad Jack Brewing where we had a couple of IPAs and some really good wings. We walked back to the hotel stopping to get some beer for the lobby. Not that great of a day. Fortunately the rain subsided enough that we were able to make a couple of stops without it raining hard. It was a cold and wet start.