Wilma's Diner, Mirrored Horses and an Attitude Adjustment for Bettie...

MikeO

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Dereham, Norfolk, today...
24th October

I wake early, to a grey cold wintry morning. After a shower (bath rusty, shower curtain torn, soap dish broken) and a cup of coffee (filter jug cracked), I leave the worst maintained motel I’ve yet stayed in and ride through downtown Rutland. For the benefit of Marion (Matron on UKGSer), who lives in Rutland, UK, here’s a picture of the main street…

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…and the Post Office/Court House…

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- not too exciting, eh?

I head out of town on Highway 4, towards the New York State border. Just into New York, I stop for breakfast (I’d decided not to risk the ‘complimentary continental breakfast’ at the EconoLodge – if it was in line with the rest of the motel, it’d be no great loss…). I choose a very run down looking diner…

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…which had a foolproof recommendation – lots of cars in the car park. I’m not disappointed - Wilma and her husband produce an excellent breakfast, served with coffee that you can stand your spoon up in – I don’t need to switch my heated jacket on for half an hour afterwards. :D

A little further down the road is the Washington Correctional Institute…

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…a grim looking prison (is there another sort?). The USA imprisons more of its citizens than any other country…

I’m soon riding through Saratoga Springs, a very pleasant town, bustling on this cold Sunday morning…

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…it has several pieces of ‘horse sculpture’ – this was my favourite…

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Pressing on, I notice that the whole area looks like it has a degree age to it – the houses, often brick or stone built, look old and are often well maintained…

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…this is a Bed & Breakfast. These differ considerably from B&Bs in the UK, in that they would be a very expensive place to stay (at least $100-140 per night, as opposed to the $30-70 I’m paying for an hotel room). If I were touring Europe, then B&Bs would be the way to go – let’s face it, it’s a great way to converse with locals – but here it would be prohibitively expensive…

The towns here are occasionally quite traditional in appearance – not the series of strip-malls which seems to characterise US towns over the whole country – this is Fort Plain – almost out of Back to the Future…

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…with the local newspaper office sporting a beautiful old clock, which chimed just as I was taking this picture, scaring the poo out of me…

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I continue down the Mohawk Valley, a good road with wide, sweeping bends, as it follows the Mohawk River.

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I get as far as Utica and start getting some lip from Bettie. I ask for the route to avoid major roads and, for some reason, she keeps trying to send me down the Interstate for the next 200+ miles. I decide to stop for the day and plan the rest of the route on the laptop tonight, before loading it into Bettie, in order to show her who’s boss…

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