307 Miles on the Erie Canal - Days 6 and 7

Day 6 – Syracuse to Weedsport

Food, Glorious Food

We begin our day with what is probably the best breakfast yet.  Fresh fruit, including a mango that David has cut like a pro; a spinach and sharp cheddar omelette, orange juice, and toast made with cranberry nut bread.  Fantastic.

A word about food.  You might have noticed by now that I write a lot about food.  Choche and I share a love of food as well as a love of bicycle riding.  In fact, I sometimes think that one of the main reasons I like riding bike is that it allows me to eat more without gaining weight.  For example, while I’ve been writing this, I just ate a piece of warm homemade nutty raisin bread slathered with sweet Amish butter.  I rode 28 miles this morning so I could do that!  But I digress….

We gather up our things, bid adios to our wonderful hosts, and head out of town, following directions that David gave us.  We pass a bakery on the way out, and buy a loaf of day old bread to use for PBJ sandwiches for lunch.  The roads out of Syracuse are pretty free of traffic and we find the stone dust trail on the outskirts of town.

Where Are We Headed?

We have a limited amount of time for this journey because Choche has to be back at work.  We revised our destination from Cleveland to Buffalo quite early in the trip.  With Amtrak stations in all the major cities along the way, we have the option of just putting our bikes on the train at a number of points along the route and letting them take us back to Cleveland.  We just have to make sure they open the baggage car, which is not something they do at every stop.  They do at Syracuse, and for a while we think about ending our tour here.  Choche’s knee is really hurting.  But after a day’s rest, we decide to make Rochester our destination.  It seems like a good compromise.

We are thinking we might be able to make it in two days, which gives us an extra day for any unforeseen situation.  Our destination for today is Lyons, which is over 60 miles away.  But we are well rested, the weather is good and we ready to go. 

We pass by Camillus, which was the halfway point on the original Erie Canal, and today is home to a park that includes the Sims Store Museum.  A little further up the path, we pass by the Nine-Mile Creek Aqueduct, which was one of 32 aqueducts constructed as part of the first enlargement of the Canal.  The original masonry of this aqueduct is still in place, and it is quite a sight to see.  A little before we get to Weedsport we stop at a small park with ruins from a double lock and eat our PBJ and bread after we explore the ruins.

We get to Weedsport early in the afternoon.  Choche pulls into the Best Western parking lot and suggests that we call ahead to see if there is a room available in the one lodging, a B&B, in Lyons, which is our destination for today.  His intuition is working well again, because all the rooms are taken.  We ask if there is anyplace else to stay in town, and are told the closest place is in Newark, another 10 miles or so on up the road.  Since even Lyons was a stretch, we decide not to push it.  There is another place just west of Port Byron, about 5 miles further from where we are.  But when I try to call, I’m told it’s not a working number.  So we decide to spend the afternoon and evening at the Best Western in Weedsport.  We’ve only ridden 25 miles today, but we are ready for a rest.

A Surprisingly Nice Time in Weedsport

We are a little early for check-in, but they have a room ready and let us check in.  We shower, ice down Choche's knee and take a nap – always our first priorities.  Next priority is dinner, of course.  The people at the front desk recommend the Old Erie Restaurant (http://www.olderieweedsport.com/), a short walk down the street.  This is where we have our best dinner of the trip.  The Chef is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University School of Culinary Arts and his wife prepares all the desserts.  Choche orders the special, sirloin tips with lobster stuffed rigatoni, and I order potato crusted salmon.  There is good bread with nice creative condiments to take the edge off our hunger as we wait for our meals.  The chef brings them to the table himself!  They are beautiful to look at, delivered with pride and delicious! 

We are stuffed when we leave the restaurant – too full to get ice cream at the ice cream shop we’ll pass on the way back to the hotel.  But just before we get there, we pass by The Old Brutus Historical Society (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycayuga/obhs/). It was closed when we were on our way to dinner, and now it’s open.  We decide to walk in and take a peek – and what a treasure we find there!  The volunteers are there because there is going to be a meeting – these aren’t regular hours for the museum to be open.  But they are SO gracious and show us around.  Upstairs the theme is war – and there are manikins dressed in period clothing and uniforms for each of the wars in the history of the US.  There are other displays relating to the war as well, including sheet music from the World War II, and even a working victrola and some old victrola records from that timeframe.

The downstairs is full of antique treasures that bring back lots of memories for Choche and me.  We both grew up on farms, so seeing the antique tractors, farm implements, butter churns, and cream separators brings back memories.  There is such a variety of things here – from cobbler’s tools used by the local shoemaker to a refrigerator hooked up to a clock that turns it off and then back on every 24 hours – the first auto-defrost fridge!  A number of the things displayed were manufactured right there in that region.  We both think the Smithsonian would be jealous at some of the things they have displayed here.

On our way out, we find that the meeting has begun.  There is a full house of people interested in learning how to properly store antique clothing – something these folks are doing very effectively.

When we walk out the door, we hear live music.  There are a couple of guys playing country music in the kiosk next to DB’s drive in – the ice cream shop.   I’m ready for ice cream now, and I talk Choche into joining me.  I order a small Rocky Mountain Raspberry cone, and he orders Golden Vanilla.   My cone is so good that we now both have a new favorite flavor of ice cream – white chocolate ice cream with chocolate raspberry flavored flakes and red raspberry swirls.  Yum!  We stand and listen to the music while we eat our ice cream.  These guys are good, especially on the instrumental medley which includes Ghost Riders in the Sky.  There are a lot of people in lawn chairs, and they show their support and appreciation with generous applause.  The sun is setting as we walk back to the hotel, feeling like we are just where we ought to be tonight.

Low bridge ev'-ry bod-y down,
Low bridge for we're com-in to a town,
And you al-ways know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
If you've ev-er navigated on the Er-ie can-al

Day 7 – Weedsport to Newark

Our First and Only Flat

We are up early, have a quick breakfast at the hotel – oatmeal and toast – and get ready to get on the road.  Choche checks the tire pressure and discovers that his rear tire is very low.  He pumps it up, but it isn’t holding air.  Sure enough – he picked up some glass that punctures the tire and left a big hole in the tube.  He has a spare tube, so it just means getting a little later start than we’d hoped for.

Most of the route from here to Newark is on the road, and it looks like it passes through some pretty desolate areas.  We have a short stretch of stone dust path before we are routed onto roads with very little traffic.  The skies are getting gray and we have a long way to go, so we are a little concerned.  Still, we are enjoying the sights and each other’s company.  We are trekking along, beginning to think about lunch and figuring we’ll have to settle for our several days old bread and PBJ when all of a sudden we come to a town!  There isn’t supposed to be a town on this road.   We study the map and discover that we’ve missed a turn, and have gotten to Clyde much earlier than we expected.  Turns out that what we took was a significant short cut.  We have mixed feelings about that, because we have missed riding by the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, which we would have enjoyed seeing.  Bicycling isn’t allowed in the Refuge itself, but we should have ridden right along its perimeter.  We would surely have seen some bald eagles and maybe some waterfowl.  Another stop for next time.

Speaking of Next Time – A Digression

There have been a number of things we’ve missed along the way, either because we weren’t feeling up to the detour or our timing was off – or we missed a turn.  There is such a rich history to see here.  The Erie Canal was not only an important way to move goods and people; it was also a channel for ideas, social innovation and reform.  Three movements that flourished along the canal were abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and religious and utopian societies.  Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman both lived in Rochester for some time, and the towpath served as one of the routes of the Underground Railroad.  The Women’s Rights movement had its start in Rochester and Seneca Falls, known as the birthplace of the suffragist movement.  Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists both trace their roots to canal communities, and utopian societies such as the Oneida Community were established near the canal.   So a tour of the canal could extend over a much longer period of time than we had allowed, and would certainly include side trips to places such as the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls and the Joseph Smith Home in Palmyra.  But I digress…..

So we miss the Wildlife Refuge.  On the other hand, we’ve just cut about 10 miles off today’s ride, which is not such a bad thing.   And there is a restaurant here – so we can throw our old bread away.  We park our bikes outside and head into The Brick Oven (http://www.brickovenofclyde.com/) just as it is beginning to rain.  Choche gets the special – a meatball sandwich.  I order a chicken and veggie quesadilla with sweet potato fries.  The portions are generous, the quesadilla and fries are good, the meatball sandwich is edible, and the service is very good.  While we are there we call ahead and book a room at the Vintage Gardens B&B (http://www.vintagegardensbandb.com/) in Newark.  We are all set now, feeling confident that we have a good place to stay tonight.

Vintage Gardens

Back on the bikes, getting wet again – but by now we are getting used to it.  We stop at the Lyons McDonalds for a senior coffee and watch the rain for a while.  Back on our bikes, the rain begins to let up a bit just before we get to Newark.  Kim gave us good directions when we called for our reservation, so we find our B&B without any trouble.  We arrive in good time to be able to enjoy this beautiful place.  What we thought would be a long day was made much shorter when we took a wrong turn – only 36 miles today.  Barb gives us a warm greeting and opens the carriage house doors so we can leave our bikes there.  Once again, we try to clean off the gear we need before we take it into the house, and leave the rest on the bikes.  Our room, The English Tea Rose Room, is full of windows and very light, in spite of the rain.  This is the most comfortable bed we’ve had yet.  As usual we shower first – mmm, this shampoo smells delicious!  Then we climb in bed for a nap.  When we wake up, the rain has pretty much stopped. 
 We saw a movie theater on the way in, and have decided we’ll go see “Cowboys and Aliens”.  Should be fun.  We are a little early for the movie, and decide to grab a quick bite to eat from the Corner Tavern right across the street.  We order a bowl of beef-lentil soup and bread to go, and share it as we stand on the bridge looking down at the Canal.  I eat the lentils, Choche eats the beef, and we both eat the bread.  We enjoy the movie.  As seniors, we only have to pay $4 each – a real deal compared to what I pay back home.  We both agree the movie has no redeeming social value, but is entertaining.  Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig make it worth watching.

We climb (really – this bed is so high we have to climb) into bed and fall asleep feeling grateful that once again we’ve managed to land in a really nice place.  We’re also grateful that we’ve been able to get along so well.  Choche and I have only known each other for a few months, and spending 24 hours a day with someone under sometimes less than ideal conditions can reveal parts of their personalities you’d just as soon not have seen.  We are both happy to find that we can roll with the punches.   After seven days on the trail together, we still like each other.

I've got a mule, and her name is Sal,
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie canal,
She's a good ol' worker and a good ol' pal,
Fifteen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
We've hauled some barges in our day,
Filled with lum-ber coal and hay,
And ev'ry inch of the way we know
From Al-ba-ny to Buff-a-lo OH