Day 83 Hamburg New York-East Aurora, New York

 

Day 83 Hamburg New York-East Aurora, New York

     I am grateful for the hospitality of Eileen and Gordon.  They have a lovely large house with a peaceful garden.  They made their washing machine available, and I felt more civilized having clean clothes.  Their back yard was a wonderful place to do some tune ups on my bicycle.

     I left on Tuesday afternoon and cycled eastward to East Aurora (which, strangely, is west of Aurora)  to see Jane Robbins and Pete Westphal.  Jane retired from being the Dean of the School of Information Studies and Pete had worked for Amtrak and knows everything about transportation systems.  Like Eileen and Gordon, they had left sunny Tallahassee to make a new life in Western New York State (bucking the trend of rust belters heading south). 

    Western New York has lovely rolling hills and idyllic small farms.  Evidently the soil is not favorable to larger farming operations, which means that there are fewer intrusions by huge agribusinesses.  East Aurora itself is an elegant community which has attracted intellectuals and artisans for over a century.  It grew considerably in the early 20^th century as a result of the Roycroft Community-a utopian community started by Elbert Hubbard.  Hubbard was a pacifist who spoke of the possibility of a universal socialism.  He raised money to travel to England to give a series of lectures promoting his views.  Sadly, he never made it because he sailed on the Lusitania.

     Peter and I chatted for some time about the wonderful network of rail lines throughout the state during the first half the 20^th centuries.  Many of these have been converted to bicycle trails which has made the region very accessible.