Biking biking biking

Here I am in Buffalo, NY, land of Buffalo wings and hippies. Justin and I are eleven days in to the trip. It's strange and wonderful how slow time is going. It feels like it's been months since Joan's wedding, and even last week seems so long ago. Waking up in one town and then working really hard for hours to go forty miles and then being in a totally different place splits up the day in a really defined way. The wedding was so much fun, Joan was gorgeous and please look at Robert Bottomley's flickr for awesome pictures and a chicken fighting video. If the audio was clearer you could hear Joey P asking for a helmet since he's already trying to sort out head injuries and me screaming no mercy. Watch for Ted Bowman punching Grandma in the chest where it all falls apart.

We've gone 370 miles with just the Canadian stretch left till Detroit and then the US Social Forum. Then Chicago and New Orleans via train. Almost every person who has asked where we're from has then asked about the oil spill and it's always in the back of my mind. It surprised me to see a storefront here with lots of pictures of oil covered seagulls and info about the spill with a criticizing list of everything Buffalo could recycle but doesn't. The more people who are aware of the constantly gushing oil that is killing everything in the gulf the more glimmers of hope I have, but srsly, FUCK BP.

The riding of the bicycle has definitely gotten easier. After crossing over the Berkshire Mountains, which I thought was going to make me cry and/or collapse, all the hills just don't seem as bad. There's been a lot of rain but it's a good excuse to chill out and explore. We spent an extra day in Pittsfield, MA and got to see this awesome documentary, Con-Artist, about crazy Mark Kostabi and go candlepin bowling. Met an old couple there from CA who go on a vacay every year to the Northeast for weeks and just hit up every candlepin bowling alley.

We've had really great hosts through couchsurfing and just asking people if we could camp in their backyards. Except in Canadaigua, NY where all the people we asked basically told us to leave town until a really really wasted guy said we could sleep in his yard and use the hot tub and pool. Score! The next morning he had this look that wasn't totally an "I forgot I said this was okay" look, but he seemed a little puzzled when we came inside.

Heading to a hippie-dippie art market now and tomorrow Niagara Falls. Maybe in Canada it never rains and is totally flat. And maybe there's a bike path across all of Ontario so trucks won't pass me at 60 mph and I feel like I may fly into a ditch. It's possible?