August 20 Day 81 Northampton, Massachusetts 77 miles 7:07 riding

New York's parting gift was a big dose of Dr. Hill's medicine. We climbed over 1500 feet just to get to Massachusetts. Not to be outdone, Massachusetts added lots more during the day. We're not accustomed to hills anymore.

Roy's brother Lee has been planning for months to meet with us along the way. Lee lives in Paris. The connection finally happened at the edge of Pittsfield. Lee drove up, hugged Roy, gave Michele some imported chocolate, took a few photos, and drove off. Ten minutes and it was over. Lee's rental car is labeled "Voiture Balai", the Tour de France expression for what we would call the "sag wagon", the vehicle to pick up any riders who are too tired to go on. We don't need no sag wagon.

Another motel adventure. All the motels in Northampton, save one, were hugely expensive. We figured we would go to the one inexpensive motel. We rode into Northampton and found the road. We pedaled and pedaled and pedaled to get to the motel. The reason it's cheap is that it's miles out of town. We ordered pizza for delivery.