Verona to East Herkimer, NY

41 miles. A nice day and ride. Even going through the middle of Utica was pretty good (it is Saturday, so we missed a lot of the workday traffic).

We are staying in a dumpy old motel in a fairly depressing area. There are a number of old, dilapidated houses and closed businesses and it doesn't look like anything new has been built here in a long time. Even the Fire Department building looks seedy. But like most places and things, it's not all bad. We were out walking around town when it started to sprinkle, so we headed back toward the motel and ducked into a bar (which also was the only place nearby open serving food). It turned out to be a true neighborhood bar, decorated with memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz (my favorite movie). In a short while we were chatting it up with everyone and they were giving us souvenirs (Cangees bar can coolers) and buying us drinks in honor of our trip. We pretty much learned the life story of several people, many of whom have worked for years at the nearby Remington Arms factory. In contrast to many places we've been, business is good. The demand for guns has apparently increased substantially, at least from the military and police. We can't remember the last time we spent several hours in a bar, but it was fun. However, Cathy (one of the patrons, married to George - who will celebrate his 60th birthday on Thursday) advised us to be out of the bar by 9 (which we fully intended to do anyway). That's about the time Cathy said the "rough crowd" starts showing up, which frequently involves fights, police intervention, etc. That saddened us, as we thought the place was just the way a local gathering place should be.