Growing up in the Mohawk Valley of New York post-WW2 we were privileged to have relatives and semi-relatives bonded by humorous traditions and mock ceremonies. One of those practices involved what to do with leftover pancakes once all had eaten their fill. The tradition was to cook up the extra batter, save the pancakes and store them in a trunk in the attic.
We kids always thought this was a very ridiculous practice. Nonetheless it was perpetually mentioned as the answer for as long as we can remember and probably for at least a generation before us.
That practice still sticks in my mind each time I make pancakes.
Now, before you get too committed to the idea that these … [Read the rest]
July 2, 2016
We’ve been back a little more than a week.
Geezer, always the planner, timed our arrival home Friday just in time to get a haircut and shower before joining our Science Club friends at Yosemite Gateway Restaurant, our usual Friday night haunt. Twelve of our cronies were there to greet us and fill us in on local happenings.
Approximately the same group, mostly local business, professional, technical and retired folks, meet after work each Tuesday and Friday for wide ranging discussions. They are as close to being our local family as anyone else. We take care of each other in times of needs.
Geezer was startled at his own euphoria in seeing them all there. It is … [Read the rest]
June 23, 2016
The trip from John Day to Olympia held its own surprises. At one point we were in a deep canyon and our GPS missed calling a turn. On redirect it sent us down a secondary road for about thirty miles to meet the original route. It took us through small ranches and settlements along a river and through dramatic multi-colored cuts and canyons. There was little traffic, mostly locals headed to church in one small village.
Once we reconnected we rose onto a high plateau for several miles where we had at one point a view of four snow-covered volcanoes brightly lit by the sun; Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, St Helens and what I think was Mount … [Read the rest]
June 19, 2016
We left Twin Falls early Thursday morning and drove straight through to John Day Oregon, about a seven hour drive including a lunch stop at a roadside cafe just inside the Oregon line. The homemade vegetable soup hit the spot.
John Day was one of our main targeted destinations for this road tour. It was the weekend of the Oregon State BMW Riders annual rally weekend. We have ridden here for this event many times, staying in motels along the way but always tenting at the rally. This time was very different for us, being in the motel and without our bikes. Seeing all the bikes made me long to get back to my bike and ride.… [Read the rest]
If Mark Twain owned Hannibal Missouri it is even more true that William Cody owned Cody Wyoming and that Cody Wyoming owns William “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
William Cody was single handedly responsible for the city’s birth. By 1895, at age fifty, after years as a Pony Express rider, military scout, buffalo hunter, showman and entrepreneur with his world famous Wild West Show, Bill Cody came to the unincorporated area, took a liking and used his influence to establish the village of Cody Wyoming. Using that influence and own money he convinced the railroad to bring a spur to Cody, built a canal to supply water, built four hotels, started a newspaper and supplied the money to build the East Entrance … [Read the rest]
June 13, 2016
After Hannibal we headed west, overnighting in Kearney Nebraska. We were expecting a sleepy town where we could get a meal and room. Kearney is bigger and more vibrant than we thought, with wide boulevards and every conceivable franchise. We never did figure out what was driving the growth, though we suspect the local branch of University of Nebraska helped. Most of the staff at the chain restaurant where we dined were students. I won’t name the restaurant for fear of your derision, we will leave it that we were tired and none of the nearby local spots appealed to us.
The next morning, Saturday, we drove on and on and on across the flat, boring but … [Read the rest]
June 10, 2016
This road trip was planned in stages; Houston, Longwood, New Hartford, Buffalo, Yellow Springs. Then there was a big gap before getting back to Olympia on the West Coast. As we turned the corner in New York State and began to head west I looked at the map and realized Hannibal Missouri could be a convenient stopover.
Until looking at that map I had no idea where Hannibal was. The three things I did know was it was somewhere on the Mississippi, it was where Samuel Clemens grew up and it was the model village for the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn yarns he authored under his famous nom de plume Mark Twain.
I was a heavy … [Read the rest]
June 6, 2016
We arrived in Yellow Springs Ohio late Sunday afternoon. The main street, Xenia Avenue, was nothing I recognized from my days here almost sixty years past. Instead of the remembered sleepy village with a market, gas station, donut shop, diner, and barber the street was alive with tourists and residents. It is still the quaint, GMO-free, locally-grown, fair-trade, no-franchises-allowed communist village it always was but it has grown to become three blocks of very artsy and naturalistic shops and cafes as well.
It took me awhile to get my bearings but we found our B&B, the Arthur Morgan House just off the north end of the college campus. We found our check-in instructions and key then moved … [Read the rest]
June 5, 2016
It rained a little overnight but the Saturday morning dawn broke clear and warm in Cuba, New York. We headed west for a few miles and stopped for a quick Dollar General snack restocking in Dalton where we saw this old barn.
We then caught local Route 62 southward tracing a meandering route through small villages along the east bank of the Allegheny River.
We are one month into the trip; the trip odometer rolled over 6000 miles. We have turned the corner on this adventure and are heading back to the West.
Traffic moved well along 62 and we stopped for lunch in Tidioute, PA, a typical old riverfront industrial town.
Tidioute is pretty run-down now. … [Read the rest]
June 4, 2016
We said sad goodbyes to Susan and Gary, with promises to get together again soon.
I wanted to take Route 5, one of the old truck routes, to our next stop outside Buffalo. After about forty-five minutes of detours, construction and frustrating city street re-routes I gave in and we hopped on the New York State Thruway, an east-west toll road in quite good condition.
[An aside; since I commented on truck stops in a previous post I will add that the Thruway rest stops are very well done, clean and reasonably priced. They have a variety of fast foods and each stop is slightly different. They are much more traveler friendly than they were a decade
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[Read the rest]
