Things I observed on the drive to Syracuse

I get  up to Syracuse, where I have a few clients and a really good friend, a few times a year.

I like Syracuse a lot - possibly because I get it. (Having grown up in Worcester, I know all about hilly, ethnic, industrial, college towns.)

One drawback to The 'Cuse is that it's not all that easy to get to. Thus, I always end up driving.

It's not a bad drive, but at 300+ miles, it's a long drive.

But that long drive is pretty much a straight shot, and - except for the stretch between Springfield and Albany - well-peopled enough that I always feel if worse comes to worse and the car breaks down, I can walk off the Thruway and knock on a farm house door, or on the door of one of the houses in one of the pokey little couple-of-houses-and-a-church-and-or-gas-station towns I pass by.

Once nice thing about the NY State Thruway is that you can see a lot of the little towns and small cities you're passing by. Gloversville. Herkimer. Canajoharie. And, off in the distance, Amsterdam.

I keep meaning to take the slow route back some day, but I always seem to be in a rush, as I was yesterday when I started my drive home.

In addition to seeing all those wonderful small towns, I do spend some time ruing the fact that so many of the rest stops feature Roy Rogers fast food. (Yuck! I don't even know what they serve? Triggerburgers?) And enjoying the fact that they do have wi-fi.

But a couple of things struck me on this trip.

1. No decent foliage. I had thought that this year was supposed to be a decent year for color, but not that many of the trees had turned yet - even though it's late October. There was a bit of yellow, very little red or orange, some brown - but mostly still green. Fall color seems to be coming later and later every year - another sign, no doubt, of climate change. A bit scary.
2. I only saw one WalMart truck. Usually I lose count of the WalMart semis that I see on the road, but this time there was just the one. Frankly, if I hadn't seen that one, I wouldn't have thought twice about the absence of Wally. But seeing it, well.... 'Tis usually the season when WalMart is stocking up on inexpensive necessities and out and out crap. One more informal marker on the still faltering economy.
3. I was iPod-less on the outbound trip. Somehow, the iPod got shunted into picture mode, so I couldn't get the iTunes to play. I figured the problem out before I headed home, so I was able to listen to The Boss, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Black, and the Chieftains all the way back. But on the way too, I was in "Seek" mode, and observe that there seem to be quite a few Country and Western and Christian stations in Upstate NY. More midwest than I would have guessed.

Good trip - one new client, one oldie-but-goodie, and quick visit with good friends - but long drive.

Glad, as always, to be home.