Day 62: Barcelona, NY to Orchard Park, NY, August 8th, 63 miles

Pictures: sumac trees grow near roadside waterfall
Kamla, Sylvia, Kevin, Julie and Bill
Chatting with Julie
Kamla and Sylvia ride past pretty purple wildflowers
Everyday expect the unexpected. About 20 miles down the road we talked ourselves into riding into Erie State Park to take pictures of ourselves on the beach. In the parking lot within view of the beach we met Julie a veteran car traveler to 47 states (she still has Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Hawaii on the list). She was on her way back from spending a couple days at the Chautauqua Institute, a mixture of faith, science and arts that is reflected in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Julie is a very bright woman who as music teacher was stifled by the powers that be while teaching at college. Julie visited with us for about an hour sharing travel stories, her philosophy, and her positive energy. For me she nailed her observation that the people who associate themselves with nonconformist groups, such as hippies, are really some of the most conformist/closed minded. When a hippie gets married they‘re no longer accepted. We enjoyed her so much that we didn’t bother to walk down to the beach for the photos.
Then we stopped for lunch at bar/restaurant in Point Breeze just as it started to sprinkle. After being stuck there an hour our serve Judi mentioned having extra bedrooms in her beachside house just a mile and half down the road. While we hung out sipping beers day dreaming about swimming in Lake Erie and wondering if she had a hot tub, Judi tried to call her husband to ask him if it would be okay for use to crash there. Unfortunately he was working on plumbing job and not answering his phone. So after another hour our dreaming came to a stop and we rode the last 30 miles to Orchard Park riding in off and on drizzling rain. Don’t feel too sorry for us. After dinner we went to the hotel’s club and Bill taught us to swing dance. It was a ton of fun…he can really cut a rug.