Bon Ton Roulet: 7/24 Layover Deja Vu

Today is the layover day and it's morning in Watkins Glenn. Sleeping in a tent at the High School below the ridge where I first saw a real live pig roast, and walking down streets that look pretty much the same as they did 20 something years ago, its hard not to feel like I'm in some sort of time warp where the 22 year old and the 46 year old meet.

Watkins Glenn is a very nice town. Between the Falls, the Race Track and being at the edge of the biggest Finger Lake, there is a lot going on but somehow it stays relaxed. Still a bit of a farm town. Back when I lived here and now that I'm visiting, it always strikes me that it is at once 'backwards' and also way ahead of the curve. For instance, I was in desperate need (again) of good coffee and we went into a coffee shop. The little shop was on the main street and also, very modernly, doubled as a book shop. Once again, we were not the only people on the tour in need of coffee and waited patiently inline with other bike rides to place our order. The attendants carefully and in a rather relaxed manner filled the orders. The person behind me grunted, and I got a bit anxious. Not like I had anywhere to go or that the atmosphere in the shop wasn't nice, I just felt like we should all be in a hurry somehow. At the very least you'd think that the shop owner, knowing there was a huge influx of people in town (and we were hard to miss) would put a few more people on. But then I remembered, this was Watkins. It didn't work that way here. Money was not the bottom line. I never really figured out what was but people would repeatedly close shops on Sundays, or for little league games, or weddings or whatever and opportunities to make the big bucks, or rather that extra buck, would pass away. Kinda an interesting way to live.

After that we walked some more around town, hiked the falls, took the group charted boat tour around the Lake (OH- saw a Bald Eagle) and generally relaxed. There was a century option but considering the only way out of town was up, up, up, and we would have to do that tomorrow - we opted out. Also it was time to deal with the tires!