'Glacial deposits' in the South blocked the water that had melted

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I do enjoy writing this blog - it serves two important functions. Firstly, it makes me feel like I’m doing something productive - unadulterated leisure makes me restless. Secondly, it allows me to escape the company of five smelly blokes and feel a little bit in contact with the rest of the world. Tonight I am in Ithica, the nicest hotel so far with a sauna, indoor and outdoor pool, fitness room and most importantly, Street Fighter 2 machines for a quarter a time, all of which I have made use of. The coffee with creamer (definitely not a white coffee, this error was kindly corrected by the barman) that I am drinking cost me 75p. Today has been a day of mild disappointments, although on the whole it has been enjoyable, but more of that later.

Last night, we went to an Italian restaurant which was much like any of the plethora of reasonably priced Italian restaurants in the UK except that the food was good, the portions were huge and accompanied by a salad, we had warm, fresh bed with oil and a variety of herbs and the staff were friendly. Actually the friendliness is starting to get a bit wearing. When the bill came, it was handed to Al with the comment, ‘this guy said he was taking you out.’ I smiled but wondered how many times he’d said that before. None the less, I had ordered a Michelob ULTRA last night, a slightly brown water, mistaking it for an alcoholic beer and the waiter changed it free of charge, even though I’d drunk most of it. I’m now drinking ‘Ithaca’ Brewery’s own ‘Nut Brown’. It’s a fantastic dark beer with a lot of flavour, like a sweeter Newcastle Brown but without the after taste. I’ve also drank ‘Canadian’ and ‘Labatt Blue’ which were both refreshing and much like a stronger flavoured American beer. Tonight’s Pizza Hut was distinguishable from those in England largely by its fold over pizza (the P’zone - not really a Calzone), with Marietta (tomato) sauce in a tub on the side rather than inside.

I slept on the floor last night so I was glad of a bed for a couple of hours when the cyclists got up at 6am. I had my first waffle breakfast - it wasn’t great and I’m ashamed to say it, but I think I’ll soon return to savoury breakfasts. We left at half nine, drove into Rochester, confirmed our suspicion that there was nothing worth seeing and drove to Waterloo to meet Neil and Leo. We lunched in a car park before driving on to Seneca Falls (no falls it would seem) and searched for the Women’s Rights Natural History Park as the women’s rights movement began here - but we couldn’t find it. In North West New York there are the Finger Lakes, eleven lakes formed when a glacier pushed through NY State from the North. ‘Glacial deposits’ in the South blocked the water that had melted from the glacier and these lakes were formed (that one’s for you Andrea). We drove down the West of Lake Cayuga, driving past vineyards with free wine tasting and hiking-trails, sweet corn fields, stalls selling locally produced fresh fruit, homemade ice cream shops, none of which we stopped at despite my exhortations. I think Rob is taking this whole ‘support driver’ thing a little too seriously, I hope he will relax a bit. We drove up to Taughannock Falls, taller than Niagara Falls and in a beautiful gorge. From there we went to the motel and somehow this took up most of the day.

All this driving did allow me to make a few observations however, although I shall save most of them for other quiet days. There were an awful lot of houses with the US flag flying. At least 15-20% I would imagine. This reminded me of Bush’s portrait hanging in the border control. I wondered if all US state offices had such a photo in them. I’m not sure I could work in a place where I had to look at Dubya everyday; it was a little like Stalin’s cult of personality. Variously titled ‘Adult’ shops are all over the place. They’re not basements or backstreet dens either but massive shops along highways. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were called ‘porn mart’ or something. They are pretty much adult superstores.

Kieran will be interested to hear that I passed through a town called Covert. I tried to take a photo but couldn’t find any signs to stand next to after the first one. I hope tomorrow will prove to be a more interesting day.

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