12 SEP 05 - Leaving the Lakes for Cooperstown, NY

We left Auburn, NY and after a little misdirection from OJ, headed east to Skaneateles Lake, a touristy little 'burb southwest of Syracuse, NY and a fantastically clean body of water. Here was our first opportunity to find a commemorative lapel/bag pin that Mike likes to collect from his travels. Now this town is full of shops including a classic old bank that has been converted. Unfortunately, no pins anywhere! Mike has been thru this before and seeks out the Town Offices. Sure enough, a free pin noting the town's "175th Anniversary".

After visiting the Vietnam Memorial that names OJ's friend Pete Odell, we aimed southeast along the country roads of Skaneateles towards Cortland, NY where we stopped for gas and lottery tickets.

We soon came across a NY State Park where we took a butt break and set up our bikes for a Kodak moment. It's lakeside spots like these where we hope to find Mother Nature at her best throughout our trip. Already the colors are changing, the air is crisp and occasionally we catch a whiff of some wood-burning fire.

From there, we rambled east in the direction of Cooperstown, NY, home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is another small, lakeside village that smells of money. We arrived minutes before the Hall's closing time, so we looked for the night's lodgings. Two blocks away was the Lake Front Motel, not badly priced at an off-season rate of $85. The Lake Front's restaurant offered to stay open for us, so after a short walk along the main street, we returned for a good Blackened Prime Rib and some Brooklyn IPA. On a full belly, we crashed in anticipation of a full morning at Baseball's Hall of Fame.