Grandparent's Delights

Wednesday, October 8.  Baldwinsville to Trenton (just outside Barneveld)

Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day (except for 2:00 -2:40pm or so). 

We were up and out and at the Canal Walk Café by 8 am to have breakfast with our son, his spouse and our two grandchildren.  Nina, Safira, Leneah, and Kris arrived moments later, and we had a wonderful time.  Diane was thrilled when Leneah ran to her with a huge smile on her face, and jumped into her Oma’s arms.  Rob enjoyed how he and Leneah jointly decided their order so they could share.  French toast for one, waffle for the other, and vice versa!  Safira is so darling, just a bit shy at first, but when it became time to part, she high-fived, waved bye-bye, and blew kisses.  We didn’t have much time to catch up with Kris and Nina, but enough to know they are thriving in their professions, and enjoying life. 

After goodbyes, it was time for good air and then we were off.  The day’s ride was cold, but Nina had brought us “winter-wear” so we were able to stay reasonably warm.  We had a strong southwesterly wind, which helped us to keep moving down the road. 

 

Diane hates to ride in the rain, so she kept her eye on the movement of the ever darkening clouds, with the aim to outrun the rain.  Rob said it would be okay to take a short inside break, so we stopped at a steakhouse at the intersection of 31 East and 365 East.  Unfortunately, that break let the rain clouds catch us.  A little further down the road, just outside of Rome, the downpour began.  We raced for a shelter, and the first thing we saw was a pumpkin stand, so we dove in under the cover and waited for the rain to end.  Rob was checking options and saw there was a Quality Inn about a mile down the road, which we could opt for if the rain did not stop.  But first Rob wanted to gauge the speed of the clouds.  Rob then announced it would take about 20 minutes to clear, and if nothing else intervened we would then continue our journey to Barneveld, another 16 miles down the road, where we had reservations at another Budget Inn.  Diane was disappointed because she wanted to be warm and dry sooner rather than later, and thought why not add those miles to the next day, which was shorter one.  Turns out that last segment had some big hills that would not have been a good start for the climb to Speculator the next day. 

 

Another benefit of staying with our itinerary was that when we arrived at the hotel, we saw a pizza place, Cugini (that did not show up on Google Maps).  Diane popped in to inquire whether they had gluten-free pizza.  They did, so the dinner question was decided.  Also not on Google Maps was a diner, Northern Villa Café, a block from the hotel, so the breakfast question was decided as well.  

All in all a short, a very successful day, with a short rain interlude in the middle.

 

Diane awaits the grandkids.

What can we say.  All smiles

Diane and Leneah.

Safira says, "I'll have fruit!"

 

In our effort to outrun the rain, only three more pictures were taken this day. 

The first was of this giant plastic bull in front of the Stampede Steakhouse. There were other interesting pieces of  "Americana" not photographed such as whole barnyard of large plastic farm animals, an Adopt a Highway sign sponsored by "Crook's legal services" and the Ho's Dinner, "home of the 10 cent cup of coffee and great service" - sometimes the world just overtakes you.

 

The second is Diane taking shelter from the rain. (No, she is not a happy bicyclist.)



 

And third, this tiled bathroom in our motel.  The Budget Inn seems to specialize in buying old motels and re-branding them.  This Budget Inn was a fairly nicely remodeled motor inn motel. The bathroom fixtures were new, but they had kept the original fired tiles and terracotta stone tile floor - definitely from the art deco era.