The Last Week in the States

We pushed past Rushford Lake today and made it to mid Sandusky NY. Those of you following on the map can see we're about halfway through New York State toward Buffalo and the Peace bridge. Today some hills, then mainly level walking along side rivers and abandoned rail beds. We've moved from Rte. 243 to 98. There aren't many motels in the rural area, so we're spending the week at a clean EconoLodge in Blasdell, just south of Buffalo. Margaret is particularly pleased that 'Buffalo' is being used in more of our conversations!

Rural western New York is much more populated and has more farmland than what we experienced in Northern Pennsylvania. There are still some very small, somewhat dead, towns where people must travel long distances to buy food. Some of the towns we have gone through have a large 'mini-mart' which will have a limited range of products. There are so many empty buildings along the road, evidence of many broken business dreams. On the other hand, we often pass a home or small garage with a sign ouside saying people are plugging along with a sucessful small business. Like "Dave's Used Books"- - a single car garage near the highway loaded with an estimated 5000+ titles. We have to remember that 9% unemployment means 91% are still working.

One interesting building we passed this afternoon was Salem Little White Welsh Church erected in the 1850s. It was built on a dry stone base with no mortar between them. It reminded us of the Mennonite Meeting House in Altona which I help to maintain. In fact there were two ladies there this afternoon giving the building its spring spruce-up. Like the Altona church this one is not in regular use but this building has been designated as an historic site.

Since retiring I've had an interest in buses. While working for Transtario, I got to drive four types, two of which were beautiful up-to-date models. Walking along the roads for the past weeks, I've seen many old vehicles in varying stages of disrepair. This afternoon there were two near the road - - the one looked like a parts source, and the other the probable mobile home for a country singer. If these vehicles could talk, there would be some interesting stories to tell!
Pictures:
A lake near Freedom, NY

A former railway bridge. Much of the old track area is a snowmobile track

Two old buses