Upstate New York

On Sunday I enjoyed a wonderful morning with Lee and Andrea Moore, and their two children, Lindsay and Daniel (pictured here). We fed the barn animals and then enjoyed three extremely scary trips through the haunted teepees constructed with corn stalks that featured jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, goblins, and skeletons. Fun was had by all (except, maybe the skeletons).

That afternoon, I enjoyed the best riding weather in over a month as I rode from Penfield to Newark (NY, not NJ). Monday's weather also smiled upon me as I rode on to Syracuse, just ticking over the 4,100 mile mark in the process.

In Syracuse, I visited Tipperary Hill, a formerly Irish neighborhood that has the distinction of this unique stoplight. Legend has it that the Irish immigrant youths took exception to the stoplight in which, as customary, had the green light (the "Irish" color) below the red light (the "English" color). These plucky immigrants repeatedly shot out the lights until authorities yielded and installed a light with the green light above the red light (see pictured here). As far as I know, it's the only light of its kind in the U.S.: I was introduced to this intersection when I bicycled from Rhode Island to Michigan in the 90's and I felt compelled to visit again, celebrating both my Irish heritage and my bike tour from all those years ago.