September 22, 2023
I can’t believe you can still eat lunch so cheap in America!
Ithaca to Auburn; Jim has a headache, lunch for two only $12.67, Amber is called a “skinny bitch” again
Jim woke up at 4 am with a bad headache. He tried taking an NSAID but it did not help. At 7am, thinking it might be a migraine, which he does get on occasion, he took an Imitrex tab. He took a second one about an hour later and laid down. By 9:30 he felt well enough to ride. In his words, “Imitrex is a miracle!”
Today we left Ithaca and rode north and east to Auburn, which sits at the northern tip of Owasco Lake, our next digit. We left town on Hwy 34 and after about 5 miles began a gradual climb of roughly 800 feet. The grades of 4-6% were very manageable, and after a couple of miles, we turned off the highway and climbed up a short, steeper pitch until turning onto Triphammer Rd.
Then we basically rode along the top of the ridge for many miles, through rural neighborhoods of houses surrounded by communal, perfectly manicured and immense lawns. A house with a fenced yard appears to be rare in rural upstate New York. The rural neighborhoods and small villages were separated by farmland, mostly corn and hay.
At about the halfway point, just about at lunch time, we entered the village of Locke and stopped at Barb’s Diner. A good, old fashioned diner, the menu offered a selection of burgers, sandwiches and fried foods and homemade pie. But what really caught our eyes were the prices; prices like we haven’t seen in at least 10, maybe 15 years. Jim and I both ate a full meal, with soda and iced tea, for $12.67! It was a refreshing change from the tourist prices we have had to pay in most places we have stayed and eaten on this tour.
The rest of the ride was equally enjoyable with good roads, low traffic, and great weather. From a cold morning (mid 40’s,) it warmed up to the upper 60’s and was sunny all day. Either we have adapted or the humidity is not too high because none of us has been bothered by it. It is supposed to cool down by about 10 degrees tomorrow and the following day may bring some rain, so we are enjoying the sunshine and mild temperatures while we can.
Eventually we reached Owasco lake and we rode along its western shore for the entire length. It is one of the smaller finger lakes so this wasn’t too many miles. The shoreline was studded with houses, many of which are vacation homes or rentals.
At the northern tip we arrived in Auburn, just as Auburn High School let out for the day. 1300 students walking, on scooters and bikes and in cars and school buses were entering the roadway directly in front of us.
Although the traffic was horrific, I have to give props to the High School students who were driving today; generally they were polite and considerate of us. I can’t say the same about the school bus drivers, however. As we all flowed down the road into Auburn, the buses invariably blocked the shoulders of the road when they stopped for traffic lights. That being said, Amber reported that one young driver yelled at her, calling her a “skinny bitch,” which she, of course, took as a compliment, just as she did last year, when it happened in Oregon.
We followed our RWGPS route to the hotel but…for the second time this trip, it was the wrong hotel. We were at The Days Inn at Finger Lakes but our reservations are at The Inn at Finger Lakes. Fortunately Google maps came to our rescue and we found the correct hotel.
Dinner was a prolonged affair at Moro’s Table, where we more than made up for all of our lunch savings.
We are here for two nights. Tomorrow we have a day ride to see another digit.
Enjoy our ride with us:
Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 380 miles (612 km)
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