Oswego

Saturday 6/23 Day 64
With an early start today I was able to avert the heat a bit. I spent the first part of my day riding on the Erie Canal and then I headed north. Once getting off the canal I was able to see a New York that I had only heard of. Tiny two lane roads that went through the country side and through many farms. The land was so green. Another thing that I started to run into today were the hills. These were not just little bumps, but real hills! I dont think I have had real hills since South Dakota. The other bonus of riding on these back roads was the lack of traffic.
Today I stopped to enjoy Lake Ontario a couple of times, this was the forth Great Lake that I was able to see, only missing Lake Superior. Again in the afternoon I stopped for the Euro Cup Quarter finals game between France and Spain. It was a pretty bad game but the food was great at the bar. The hamburger that I ate was huge. After the game I only had about 20 miles left so it went pretty quickly.

Revolutionary war Soldier

I arrived at my house to find out that I told my hosts I would be there on Sunday and not Saturday. I think when I made the arrangement I thought it was a different day. But it worked out.
Leanne, my host, said it was ok and that I could still stay tonight. So after I took a shower we took a tour of the city of Oswego. We went down to Fort Ontario, the cemetery by it, and the lake. Leanne gave me a great history lesson of the area. I also was able to see my first Revolutionary War grave. I was all giddy because I have not been around US History that came from this era. After the Fort we went down to the harbor to see some older boats.
One that we saw was a tugboat from WW2 that was used to transport ships across the english channel, specifically during the D-day campaign. It was also the only tugboat to shoot down an enemy aircraft during the war. Along with the tugboat we were able to see Christopher Columbus wooden ships. They were remakes of the ships, actually the were floating museums which went around to cities and shared the history with the kids. The crew is volunteers which give at least one month of time. (www.thenina.com). the ships were exactly the same as in the past except for the motor that was required to be on the boat.
After our history tour we went back to the house and made some food and chatted until I went to bed. we cooked with freshly picked garlic which gave a nice smell to my hands for the next couple of days :).