On Feb 18, 2021, Jim Saunders stands in front of the mural depicting Lincoln's inaugural train stop in Clyde, NY, which occurred exactly 160 years earlier on Feb 18, 1861. Ice skaters are seen on the Erie Canal. Excerpt from my epic poem, "Walking the Erie Canal: Secrets of the 8th Wonder, CMV and Pandemic Pizza" by Lisa Saunders:
Sign to the mural reads: "The canal village of Clyde was the only stop made between Rochester and Syracuse by the Lincoln Inaugural Train Monday, February 18,1861. This mural, from the brush of Robert Gillespie, depicts the President-elect addressing an immense crowed which had gathered at the depot." Learn more: http://muralmania.org/
From a sign in Clyde (courtesy of Galen Historical Society) regarding Lincoln's brief visit: "During his inaugural train's stop in Clyde, President-Elect, Abraham Lincoln, sporting his new beard, spoke these brief words from the platform of his railway car to a large crowd on February 18, 1861. 'I merely appear before you to say good morning and farewell. I did not come to make a speech, nor have I time to make one if I did. I now bid you good morning, and when the train starts, I will come out again to bid you farewell.'"
Jim and Lisa Saunders walking the 360-mile Erie Canalway Challenge realized they should have brought snow shoes for this leg of the trip in Clyde on Feb 18, 2021.
Took a pizza break at Papa's Place in Clyde where they were happy to find a bathroom.
by Lisa Saunders
WHAT THIS BLOG/FUTURE BOOK IS ABOUT
While searching for the 7 Wonders of the old Erie Canal, itself considered the 8th Wonder of the World, an upstate New York plump baby boomer wonders if she’ll ever finish walking the entire 360-mile Erie Canalway Trail between Buffalo and Albany. So far, Lisa has endured swarms of mosquitoes, loud gunshots, snakes, snow, violent wind cracking trees above, aching feet and a dead possum. Will she find an outhouse in time? Will she uncover what truly happened to Aunt Rebecca whose body was found in a car submerged in the Canal? Lisa’s progress is continually interrupted as the global pandemic upends her life with demands from her regal mother held prisoner in assisted living, and by home-schooling two young grandchildren when her daughter leaves her job in a castle to work remotely. When deciding on the 7 Wonders, should Lisa only consider the overgrown, stone aqueduct arches and locks hidden along the Old Erie Canal, or also the engineering marvels on the modern, fully operational Erie Canal? And, how will this latest writing project ever get Lisa thin and famous when the only food near the trail is pizza and ice-cream? Trekking alongside is her detail-oriented, rather fussy husband, Jim. They haven’t spent this much time together since their undergraduate days at Cornell. Now a retired Pfizer scientist, Jim is ready to share in Lisa’s latest adventure, hoping to combine their talents to raise awareness of another “C-virus” plaguing the country, cytomegalovirus (CMV). Will their fight for an amendment to the current CMV law in the State of New York be as tough to pass as the legislation to build the original Erie Canal, derogatively called "Clinton’s Ditch"? Will they agree on the 7 Wonders, what kind of pizza to order and overcome the obstacles on the Trail to impact the world—much the same way the Erie Canal did?
- Follow Lisa and Jim's journey: authorlisasaunders.blogspot.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorLisaSaunders
- Erie Canalway Map and Guide (map, p.4): https://eriecanalway.org/application/files/5715/9127/5496/ECNHC_MapGuide_2020_final-spreads.pdf
- Cycle the Trail: www.ptny.org/cycle-the-erie-canal
- Empire State Trail: empiretrail.ny.gov
- Erie Canalway Challenge: eriecanalway.org/explore/challenge
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