Last night George, Sheri and I poured over the map and used google to figure out what a next best stage would be. I need to go through Canandaigua so in principle I should proceed northwest from their house. But it’s too far for a single day’s walk and there are no viable lodging options on the way so we decided that going straight north to 5&20 and then turning west would be the better option. There are many motel options on 5&20. So by Pythagorus this will cost me at most about four miles.

We found Clark’s Motel on 5&20, just after the westward turn. Since it was only about 13 miles I decided to join George at church. We left a little early and he showed me around Penn Yan a bit, including these views of the northern end of the east branch of Keuka Lake:

Here’s the old First Baptist Church we attended:

During the service George introduced me to the congregation. Afterwards there was a time of fellowship at which I met a number of congregants. One of them, Jack, thought my story might make an interesting piece in the local newspaper so he took down some details.

Back at the ranch George and Sheri fed me a light lunch (a grilled cheese sandwich, just we had for Sunday lunch all through my youth and all through the time my children were growing up!). I was sad to say good-bye to my new friends and I promised that we would meet again when Fiona and I drive my whole walking route sometime in the future. This is looking back at their house as I walked away:

George and Sheri live on Pre Emption Road, part of the old Preemption Line. My path for the day was virtually all northbound on this road. The only exception was the last two tenths of a mile when I turned west on 5&20. The scenery was fairly constant — well kept farms like this:

It’s really hard to photograph scenery in flat terrain:

It would be nice to be about 30 feet higher. This is the sort of land that looks like a checkerboard of rectangles from an airplane. I believe a number of these farms were owned by Mennonites; sometimes the clues were obvious:

The sky was doing interesting things:

I continued to see little glimpses of Lake Seneca as I neared it’s northern end:

Tree, ivy, corn:

At times the road was very straight. On this piece I could see two miles ahead — this actually makes the walking more tedious:

I passed Bejo Seeds. I could only see a little at the front but it seems like an interesting place:

Nearing the end of my walk, I ran across a series of fireplugs:

What could this be for? Surely not to put out a fire in the field! There were no houses around and it was the only place I saw this.

The town of Geneva is at the head of Lake Seneca so I knew I was close when I saw this:

Lo and behold, right at the intersection with 5&20 was this Tractor Supply Company!

I popped in and Jeff helped me find a Class 2 vest. I shall model it tomorrow. As I was checking out he sidled up to the counter and added a bright green toque for free!! TSC you rock! I am going to be SO visible.

The Clark Motel was just a few buildings down the highway. After checking in I grabbed a quick bite at the nearby Ponderosa and got their permission to come back later to use their wifi (the Clark Motel situation was the same as the Redwood Inn in Alpine, unfortunately). So I’m in the Ponderosa now, trying to beat the closing time of 21:00 in just 20 minutes from now.

I think the next six days or so are going to be very different from what I’ve experienced so far. It will be largely on 5&20 or 5 or 20, it will be dead flat, it will be busy and it will be rural. We shall see.

Remember the Iron Kettle Farm from Day 14 and Day 15? My goal today was to reach the home of George and Sheri. Their son Daren is married to Bonnie, one of Skip and Jeannie’s children. When Skip and I were discussing my route on the morning of Day 15 he had suggested that it might be possible at least to camp out on the property of George and Sheri when I got that far. They live near Penn Yan (Pennsylvanians and Yankees — seriously).

So last night Skip phoned George and left a message about this crazy guy that could use a place to stay. George called back in the morning and got the scoop on me and agreed at least to meet me. As an aside here, let me just say how wonderful has been the way I’ve been cared for by Skip. He loaded me up with food when I left his farm, he has checked in with me by phone. He had some cookies for me the next day but missed me on the road by just a few minutes. And he arranged this meeting with George. Even though we are pretty close in age I have experienced him like a father.

Anyway, I set out this morning with a 21-mile walk ahead of me and I was determined to complete it, as I had no other viable options on the way. I asked Carol at the front desk if there was a breakfast place nearby and she mentioned the Crossing Diner “just” five miles north. I thought five miles would be a good first break so I set off.

I passed many wineries, like this one for wine snobs, immediately next to the motel:

A little further along I scared a gaggle of Canada geese:

State Road 14 was very straight:

Remember this later when I go on and on about curvy roads. I walked for many miles with Seneca Lake on my right and countless beautiful scenes like these, with grapes everywhere.

Not only was there many a winery, there was even one wienery:

Eventually I reached the Crossing Diner, hungry as a horse. I love little diners like this where everyone seems to know everyone else. It wasn’t long before the staff knew what I was up to. When I had finished the delicious food, Tara, the owner, told me that the breakfast was on the house — wow! Here’s Heidi (Tara’s daughter), Katie (who has New Jersey roots!) and Tara:

Another random shot down to the lake:

Finally after maybe eight miles, I finally got to turn off onto curvy roads:

There was even more color (and grapes) in this new section of the walk:

More curviness:

More color:

Away from the lake now, grapes became fewer, though the land was rich for crops, some of it owned by Mennonite folk who have an increasing presence in the area:

It was just quintessential autumn harvest time, with farmers doing what they do; cutting:

raking:

and drying:

By the time I had done about 18 miles I was getting pretty weary, but not so much that a little sumac couldn’t clamor for my camera’s attention:

Just when I felt that I was almost there, I dutifully followed the google maps directions to make a right and this is what I saw:

Could I pass or not? If I decided not to go down this path it would add a couple of miles to my already long day. I walked down to the end of the short road:

Shades of my mini-adventure on Day 3! I didn’t want to go down what was obviously a hill and then have to push all the way back up again because of an impassable barrier. There were two houses, one to either side of that depressing sign. No answer at one but a woman at the other said it was fine for walking. I ventured down the path to the river:

and came to an easily surmountable barrier:

The stream was not otherwise crossable:

I later learned that this stream is high because of a controlled lowering of Lake Keuka for the winter. On the way up out of the stream’s valley I got to this hill, which was pretty well as steep as anything I have encountered so far:

By this time it was getting dark (with clouds, not setting sun), rain was threatening, and the cold wind was picking up. I was soon in sight of my goal up on the hill:

George welcomed me into his beautiful house and it was a blessed relief to rest my weary feet. Sheri was out of the house on a family matter but came back later after George had fed me a delicious dinner, set me up in a spacious bedroom and allowed me to have a hot shower. This is George and Sheri:

I had a long chat with George and learned all about his Danish roots. He has essentially lived in this house for his entire life, and his roots in that area go back two generations. He was a dairy farmer but retired from that and now looks after three mentally handicapped wards of the state, who live in his house. George and Sheri are amazing, sacrificial, loving people, and I feel very privileged to have gotten to know them a little this evening.