Jim R leads all on the charge out of Ithaca, and fueled by an enormous waffle feed at breakfast time, it's up and down the backroads eastward toward Dryden. My Gosh, my legs had forgotten how to climb hills, it has been so long since the Black Hills in South Dakota!! Pain clears the senses quickly, and I am shifting into lowend gears I had long forgotten. The glaciers sure did a good job of scouring out this part of the country 10,000 years ago, producing deep north-south lakes and crossing the terrain in between with transverse drumlins and rolling hills. No flat stretches anywhere!
Jim leads us on more backroads into Cortland, another farming town that was elegant in a past era, but has fallen to the scourge of economic decline. Outsourcing of jobs due to foreign competition and the discontinuation of the Erie Canal, and the rise of "big box stores" has killed the downtowns of many upstate New York towns. My heart aches seeing all the gorgeous gingerbread houses of the Craftsman era (pre-WW2) calling out for restoration (or at least a paintjob). We pass rows of homes with intricate corbels, kneebraces, soffits, gable ends, porches, widow's walks, and terraces.
Time to turn around for Jim, so after fond farewells, Ellen and I head NE on SR 13. Homer, Truxton, Cuyler and De Ruyter, all with the similar rows of dilapidated homes and boarded up downtowns, pass by us. Rolling farmlands and the Milk MOO-tel. A quick ice cream stop in Sheds (Brindil scores big!) before cruising into the more affluent college town of Cazenovia and ending the day on an upbeat.
Passed 3600 miles.
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