Day 35 June 2d — Day off in Canton!

  
Last night arriving in my home town was special. I expected to meet up with some guys from the Canton Lions Club to receive a donation check @ “The New Park Hotel”. What  I didn’t expect were so many people who took the time to come out & make it a real nice evening. Thanks to all the Canton people & my friends from Logue Hill who made the trip also. This is the kind of thing that could only happen in a small town.

Today I woke up early out of my own bed (not a sleeping bag) & made a cup of coffee & sat on the deck with my dog & watched the sun come up. My dog really missed me. I really missed this. I then spent the rest of the day trying to catch up with some domestic task, visiting with friends that stopped by & going over bicycle maintenance. It was during the bike maintenance that I ran across something that I was suspicious of ever since the trip began. My bike tires use a valve stem called a presta valve. Unlike the common shrader type valve we are all familer with. The presta valve is a European (French I believe) that requires a different style pump & gauge to check the pressure. Tire pressure is critical to a bicycles performance but checking & maintaining this pressure on a cross country trip is difficult with the presta style valve. So I decided to hook up my shop style tire pump/ gauge & check the pressure. To my suprise both tires were only inflated to 50lbs instead of the recommended 100lbs! So maybe it wasn’t the headwinds that slowed me down on this trip, it could have been the half flat tires? I can only laugh at this at this point & anticipate the expected increase in performance for the remaining 2 days of the trip! This may be such an increase in riding performance that I’ll turn around when I get to Central Park & ride back to California. No. That’s not going to happen.

I will pullout of Canton tomo morn early with a scheduled stop at the “Red Rose Diner ” in Towanda where owner Joseph Dupont invited me for breakfast & to give a donation. Then out scenic Rt 6 to where I am not sure. Probably to Hawley area to spend my last night on the road!