Day 84 East Aurora to Oakfield, New York

 

Day 84 East Aurora to Oakfield, New York

     It was such a nice visit with Pete and Jane.  Pete offered to give me a lift to my next stop, but I feel it would make me slothful.  I have fallen into a rhythm of having a strawberry milkshake every day for lunch.  I have discovered that this is inadvisable if I am not working it off by pedaling.

     The farms and the villages in western New York are beautiful.  I began cycling towards the Erie Canal Bike Trail.  I am grateful that Jan Goodenbery and Mike Vickner have agreed to host me at their farm “Rooted in Love”.  This involved heading north and passing through the Seneca reservation with its lovely barley fields and frequent marijuana dispensaries.

     I was making pretty good time cycling through the relatively flat and sparsely populated part of the state.  Three miles before their house my rear tire became punctured.  I telephoned Jan and told her that I was going to be delayed.  She responded “I’m sorry, sweetie.  I shall send Mike to pick you up.”  Fifteen minutes later, a van pulled up along the highway and a bearded gentleman with a straw hat hopped out.  He put my bike and cart in the van and handed me a beer to sip on while he delivered some flowers.

   Jan and Mike run an organic flower garden and farm which they have named “Rooted in Love”.  Much of their summer is spent preparing for the twice weekly local farmers market where they sell flowers, fresh vegetables and baked goods.  They also have a long tradition of hosting strangers like me.  I arrived around 7 p.m. while Jan was clipping the flowers in this beautiful garden which extended from their house.   I asked if I could help in any way, and she handed me a pair of clippers.  We then spent a very pleasant two hours on that cool August evening with the fire flies lighting up the space in which we were working.  They have a dachshund named Penny who took immense joy in being with us as we gathered the flowers.

     When we finished, we had a wonderful stew which Mike had prepared earlier that day using some of the chickens they have raised.  I felt very sleep and asked to go to bed.  I felt badly when I discovered in the morning that Jan had worked until after midnight putting the flowers into attractive bouquets.  She began work again at 5:30 in the morning making cookies and cinnamon rolls which they also sell at the market.  When I got out of bed in the morning, the entire house smelled of baking.  It was a wonderful experience.

I helped them to get their things into the van and they gave me some of the freshly baked cookies and fresh fruit for my trip. 

     After their departure, I sat down on their front porch to change my tire.  Changing a tire on the front porch of the farm house surrounded by beautiful flowers can be a contemplative and calming task.  Changing a tire on the side of busy highway with the sun beating down on you is hell.

     Jan and Mike have welcomed many guests into their home over the past few years.  Though they work hard for long hours, they enjoy conversations with the various people who float through.  Their kindness and generosity gave me much to think about as I cycled to Erie Canal with my functional wheel.