There seems to be a bug going around upper New York State so I decided I should check it out. Well, I should have avoided it because it put me slightly under the weather. But, today we continue with our updates.
As we set out on our latest dual adventure we discovered a new feature on our car. We did not realize that we had the ability to choose the way the navigation system picks the roads we travel. Since we acquired our Baby Girl we had been directed to the freeway for every trip we embarked on. But we found within the menu system there is an option for eco-friendly travels. We punched in the address to go to one of our favorite nurseries (D’Alessandro’s in Frankfort) to see what would happen.
The next thing we knew we were heading down the less traveled highways and byways of upper New York State. We were going over those rivers and through the woods made so famous in the song when traveling to Grandmother’s house at Thanksgiving. Oh, what fun! We met several people in horse and buggies on the road… a friendly wave and we both proceeded on our way.
We even had to wait at a cow crossing for cows to actually cross the highway. They were so cute. They knew they were supposed to hurry. One was lagging behind and she dashed quickly to catch up with the others while being chased by a darling little boy waving a straw hat to keep her moving. After he got her across, he turned and waved a friendly thank you to us as we drove by. So much more fun than the freeway.
There was a bridge being repaired in a rather remote area. Because they couldn’t have a 24 hour watchmen there, they installed a temporary traffic light. It was a timed light. When we arrived it was red… red for a long time… so long we wondered if it was working. Just as we were contemplating if we should check further, it turned green. As we crossed the bridge we saw that half the bridge had serious damage and was being repaired. If we had been on the freeway we would’ve missed the delight of learning about the creative way they handle issues of bridge repair in the country.
One of the other delights of traveling the byways of our country is learning about the signs available to let us know about different traffic situations… deer crossings and falling rock signs all of us know… snowmobile crossings are fairly common… But on our byway travels we have found cow crossings… tractor crossings… geese crossings… sheep crossings… we’re just waiting for a turkey crossing… But you get the idea, it’s a delight to drive down back roads and find signs that remind us there still exists a slower way of life. A slower way of life we are striving to embrace every day… Those signs are real! And, what a delight to stop, slow down, and wait for cows, or sheep, or tractors, or maybe someday turkeys…
