I forgot to mention a little bit about Brian and Amanda yesterday. Brian is a systems engineer and works on security systems that remotely control train brakes when signals are ignored (distracted driving, for example!). Amanda has just started working on a masters in special education. They also have two dogs, Rally and Hershey, shown here with Brian as he prepares a hearty breakfast:

Soon thereafter we used his GPS programmed to the exact coords of the pickup point. He dropped me off and I quickly donned warm garb as there had been a hard frost last night; it was COLD!

There were times today, such as right at the beginning of my walk, when I could see a LONG way ahead — this is over two miles:

Is this one business or two?

Mini sub-station, I guess:

Oh — let’s nip down this side road to see “Wizards of Clay” — sounds really interesting. It’s only 2+ hours away, after all!

I think I spent half my day in Bloomfield. East Bloomfield, Bloomfield, West Bloomfield. I wonder if the plantings around this giant snow plow are an indication of global warming:

Pretty setting:

Park in one of the Bloomfields:

The sky was virtually cloudless today and made for some beautiful interactions between trees and light:

Double take — cell tower growing out of water tower?

Time for a snack — honey crisp apple from Wegman’s:

This is Carol. She stopped to talk and ask me what I was doing. It’s such a pleasure when people do this (provided they are not aggressive!). We had a conversation about my trip and she very kindly offered me a granola bar (I had just stocked up at Wegman’s), help if I got in trouble, and even a lift for a few miles. I explained to her that I REALLY wanted to walk the whole thing.

Incidentally, someone asked me if the police had taken any interest in me so far. The answer is no. No interest in the slightest.

Stream of the day:

I was tempted, until I realized that it would be REALLY heavy to push to Toronto:

I saw lots of nicely kept farm properties with corn growing right up to the lawn:

Yet another lovely property:

This harvester was cutting the corn as I approached but stopped when I got there so I didn’t get a picture of it in action:

Interesting historical factoid:

Cattle on a hill:

I bet the grass around this pond is quite squishy:

Corn on a slight hill, so I can get a picture of it. Thank you, hill:

B? I have no idea:

I got choked up for while when I saw this:

A very similar memorial for Tom Samson, my son’s best friend, is in Toronto. Kasha, Tom’s widow, has walked the Santiago de Compostela, by the way.

I was tempted to end my day at this motel — it has phones!

Not too long after that motel I crossed the I-390, which figures in the route we usually use to drive to Toronto:

Where I DID spend the evening was with this wonderful couple, Don and Kathy, the uncle and aunt of a young man I know back in New Jersey. They have a beautiful home in the the countryside of the Livonia region. Don works from home for Avaya, and has been a volunteer fireman most of his life (JLB take note!)

They came and picked me up in Avon and gave me a little tour first to show me Conesus Lake (cone-EE-shus, I believe). It is the most western of the Finger Lakes. As usual, it’s hard to take a picture of a lake, but here are a couple looking east and west at the northern end:

We also took a quick trip over to see Hemlock Lake, the Finger Lake just to the east of Conesus. This one has no cottages on it and no boats — it is used as the water supply for Rochester, apparently.

Kathy prepared a sumptuous meal of pasta, venison, vegetables, salad, apple pie. Oh boy! They also invited over the pastor of their church and his wife, Chris and Brenda:

We had a terrific time around the table. Before I had quite finished my apple pie Don got a call from Howard Appel, a reporter for the local paper, the Livingston County News. Don had notified the paper earlier that I was walking through the county and they wanted to do a phone interview! Wow — I’m famous now! Anyway, it was good fun and Howard expressed a desire to do a similar, though shorter walk sometime soon. I invited him to contact me later to pick my brains.

What a super day — great weather, great progress, new friends, fabulous food, supreme hospitality. Towards the end of each walking day I’m feeling like I can’t keep on going with this crazy plan but always I’m raring to go by the next morning, especially after an evening like this one. I wonder if I will feel the same way on Thursday, when it is supposed to rain.

My entire journey today was on 5&20, and this will continue for several days. I knew when I started that I would be staying with Brian and Amanda at the end of the day. Brian is the nephew of a man in my home church and the son of a man that I sang with once in a barbershop octet. He saw my plea for places to stay on Facebook and very kindly agreed to offer his house for the night, even though he had to drive quite a distance to pick me up. So when I started, I just knew I could go as far as possible until I got picked up.

Before I left I had the Clark Motel receptionist take my picture in my new Tractor Supply Company toque and class 2 vest:

What I had been dreading about the next few days is that 5&20 looks so straight on the map and I knew that I was entering much flatter countryside, so I was anticipating long, flat stretches. Indeed, when I started, I could see a long way ahead:

But my fears turned out to be (largely) unfounded, as there are always interesting things to see when you travel at a slow pace. Early on I noticed an interesting cloud formation to the north and low on the horizon:

I wondered if this bank of clouds was hovering over Lake Ontario, which is only 25 miles north of me. Certainly the lake has a huge effect on the climate in this area, “lake effect snow” being the most well-known example.

Here’s a place that sells all sorts of masonry supplies:

The road did turn out to have curves — they just don’t show at the scale of a map of all of New York:

Some people get embarrassed when they find that their gutter neglect results in plants growing in the gutters; these people seem to be cultivating a garden in their gutters:

Bales of hay and more color:

Gulls enjoying this new planting:

This is the Ontario Country Solid Waste Management Administrative Offices; hard to believe this is not a repurposed building; I can’t imagine taxpayers putting up with building something like this just for waste management paper work:

Not much left of this tree after trimming to accommodate the many wires:

After about five miles I ran across Sweet Sue’s Diner — cool!

I ordered a big breakfast, including a “full” portion of home fries. It was such a huge pile of home fries, when it came, that I felt I couldn’t even take a picture of it — too embarrassing! Sweet Sue herself cooked up the food; here she is:

She’s been doing this for over 35 years, still loves it, and isn’t even remotely ready to retire. Several of her family members were there, including her grandson Andrew, who served me. Another great, local diner where everyone knows everyone!

This is … well … a pumpkin house. Hmmmm.

More color:

Several houses had this structure on the top — I think I knew what it’s called at one point but I forget now — does anyone know? Isn’t it for looking at the weather?

Here’s another house that I passed. It appeared abandoned (the upper windows are glassless and maybe with some evidence of a fire). It was quite evocative; I could imagine what it was like when it was active and full of people:

On my way into Canandaigua was this lovely willow and a stream:

I was really hoping to get some good views of Canandaigua Lake, but I was disappointed; this is the best I could get as I came into town:

Tim Horton’s! Canada, here I come. Tim is still playing second fiddle to Wendy, but once I cross that border …

Here’s another lovely stream emptying into the lake, on the way out of town. I was struck by how beautiful this was, compared to the scenery around it, and how even at a walking pace it was only visible for a few seconds. All the heavy traffic on the highway was completely missing it:

I did get another peak at the north end of the lake on the way out of town as I climbed a long slope:

From that point on I was a walking machine, mostly walking directly into the sun, trying to get in as much distance as possible before being picked up by Brian. I just paused just once to take this picture — nice because of the late afternoon sun:

It was a relief to be picked up by Brian and it has been a great pleasure to stay with him and Amanda:

I would like to conclude with the lyrics of a 3000 year old song that my wife and I have enjoyed, in reference to the safety and security I have experienced throughout this trip:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121