For a couple of days now there has been rain predicted for today and since I have been essentially rain-free so far I was dreading it a little. In fact, if it was bad enough I was prepared to hunker down for a while (and thankfully Rich and Beth would have graciously let me do so at their home). But when it came to it I decided that I would make some progress regardless of the rain. So here’s how I prepared myself (notice that it was still dark when we left):

I have a shell on top with two layers underneath and rain pants over my pants. Here’s what it looked like as I got started:

It wasn’t raining very hard and the wind was blowing from my left so that the spray from cars wasn’t hitting me.

Here’s some Halloween humor:

A little stream as I was coming into the minuscule town of Stafford:

but presumably the Stafford volunteer firepersons serve more than their little town:

Notice by the way that according to the Stafford Fire Department, the temperature at that point was 55. I was sweating in my rain gear.

Here’s a spot that I stopped under a tree to update my location and turned out to be worthy of a picture:

Kreative Spelling Kitchen & Bath:

Hardcor Spelling:

Start of a long stretch of sidewalk in Batavia — nice:

Birthplace of western NY — hmmmm:

If I hadn’t recently got some money out of the bank, I would have stopped here. Think of the advantages: lighter money that isn’t toxic!

No need to move these monuments indoors at the end of the day; they wouldn’t fit anyway:

Rats, I should have got some of that unleaded cash out of the ATM machine — then I could have had one of those incredibly expensive ribeye melts:

So I thought the App Store was only virtual — cool! And they are on sale!

Google maps took me down this road and it looked at this point as if I would have to backtrack:

Well, if I had been driving I would have been out of luck, but …

And so I arrived at the Pok-A-Dot diner in Batavia, a place Fiona and I pass every time we go to Toronto (and come home, of course).

It’s sits out on its own (I didn’t really capture that in this photo) and looks like it was just thrown up. But in fact it’s been there for 60 years and but for a little land dispute would be considered a historical site. It has been featured many times in the news. And it’s just a tiny diner, but with great food and a dedicated local clientele. Here’s a picture of the three women who so expertly managed the place while I was there:

That’s Nicole, Jenny and Joanne, from the left. Joanne says lots of people say they pass the place all the time but never go in, just like Fiona and me. So go there, if you are in Batavia — best local atmosphere I’ve experienced so far.

Next stop was just around the corner to see Michael at a bike shop — after fixing another flat last night I was losing air again. I brought two of the three wheels in (the ones I had had flats in so far) and just bought two new inner tubes. Michael also found a really tiny piece of something on the inside surface of one of the tires and removed it — it was hard even to see — and this may have been the cause of a few of my pinprick leaks — hard to say:

Stream on the way out of Batavia:

Notice that there are no drops on the water surface — it had stopped raining by this time and it was quite warm so I had just one layer on top, and no rain pants.

When we worked on those tires we noticed that one bit of one of the tire beads was damaged (this could have been from the first time I changed a flat). We pumped them to around 28, even though 20 is recommended (my idea), and here’s what happened to that damaged bead:

I let some air out, pushed the bead back in and re-inflated to 20. It seemed to be OK for the rest of the day. I should probably get a new tire; Michael didn’t have one.

Trying to figure out what to do with those old bales of hay and CDs?

The scenery was much less dramatic than I’ve been experiencing up to now, and the rain certainly didn’t help:

But there were some notable exceptions:

I ended the day at an Econo Lodge very close to where Route 5 crosses south to north across I-90. I’m close enough to the border now that I’m going to try to reach it by Saturday at the end of that day’s walk — two long days ahead.

I had a great breakfast with Don and Kathy this morning, including french toast with real maple syrup (Don and Kathy will be tapping their own trees this winter). Don drove me back to yesterday’s pickup spot and took a picture of me as I left; that had been requested by the reporter yesterday.

It was just a few minutes into the center of Avon. Parking space management outside an ice cream shop:

Here are some design ideas for my friend Paul:

There were some pretty streets to look up as I walked through the town:

This is the greenish Genesee River, seen from both sides of the bridge:

Not too far outside the town I finally came to the place where 20 splits off from 5; I will continue to be on 5 for quite a while:

This barn probably leaks:

So 5 gets really straight and really flat and the scenery was pretty constant. Here is an early picture of 5 that still has some curving in it but the scenery is pretty typical:

I continued to pass by dry corn fields:

Occasionally there were some fine houses, with clusters of colorful trees around them:

Here is an odd, little war memorial. The war in question is appropriate for my final destination:

I saw lots of corn and soy bean dryers; here is a particularly fine example:

Highway 5 heads northwest for a little while to the pretty town of Caledonia:

which had a sidewalk — yay!

The highway then turns due west and gets really flat and really straight. At one point I passed this deer that appeared to be napping:

Nice house with some interesting flags:

First airport I’ve passed, I think:

Vehicles for sale:

This fine house on the way into Leroy:

but then a difficult section of road — no shoulder and no sidewalks:

Finally, some sidewalk:

In the center of town, this fine church (my camera doesn’t have tilt-and-shift correction):

and some sure-footed Canada geese:

More sidewalk as I was leaving town:

Around this time I kicked into high gear. I bought a Diet Coke, put on some funky music and booked it out of town, trying to put on as much mileage as possible before my pickup. I did pause to admire this sculpture:

Based just on this sculpture I would be inclined to give RJ Precision my machine shop business. RJ’s in-laws, Ron and Sharon, were curious what I was doing and came outside.

We had a nice chat and by the time we were done my pickup had arrived and I noticed another flat tire so that was it for the day.

Tonight I’m staying with Beth and Rich:

Beth is my best friend Paul’s sister. It was like being with family at their home with all their children in and out. Delicious food, fun conversations, beautiful place in the country. Here is a last shot into their back yard just a little while before sunset: