52 Town Pick Up - Last Day for the A Train

Woke up in Ithaca NY to rain. This would be the theme of the day. It rained so hard at one point that I pulled over to see if I could wait out those clouds. The convenience store I had pulled into had another 2 motorcycles doing the same thing as me. What caught my eye was one was a Harley Road King and the other was a Honda CBR. Not the usual mix of bikes one would expect. Once inside I say 2 riders soaked, one male one female. I wondered which one road what bike. They had one of those fancy gadgets they loosely call a phone and we were watching the band of storms, sometimes showing red in spots, headed our way. The were looking for a break to high tail it home which was not too far away.


First stop Ithaca College. Ithaca has produced some very famous broadcasters, tv and radio personalities. Among then is Rod Sterling of the Twilight Zone, Bob Iger (CEO of Walt Disney), and Jessica Savitch news anchor.






Varna, NY nothing really interesting about this town other than the name.

Etna NY

Arrived in Genoa. At least there appeared to have some interesting places. I was thinking these just had to be historic and could be waymarked. I was wrong.





This one had to be listed on the National Register. Nope !






After 2 days of chasing these towns and the rain I am pretty much in the mood to get there, get the town and head out. While I was at the convenience store in the rain I did call MeAsWe and told her I should be home pretty early and was thinking of giving up on the rest of the towns I had planned. When I did head back out, that competitive thing kicked in and I finished my mission get all of the towns.




I really like the name, Moravia, sounds Russian or something, plus I really like the colors in this one. John D Rockefeller, the oil guy, was born here.



On to Bainbridge, well actually there were some towns in between but I am giving the condensed version. This was built in 1915 for the Delaware and Hudson RR.



Unadilla, what a name for a town. This diner was closed for business. Nothing really striking to write about the town. Name is still cool.

In Oneonta I came across the octagonal home. Not your typical construction style, and Wiki has a category for these. I was sure this would be on the National Register of Historic Places. Nope, I was wrong.





Grabbed lunch at this place, which was bad. Interesting people at the counter. I watched this older guy scratch off 200.00 or more in lottery tickets. When I thought he was done, he would look up and the waitress would pull off another strip of tickets and scratching away that silver stuff for the million dollar winner. He did not hit while I was there.



Last place of the day Gilboa, NY. The name of the town comes from Mount Gilboa in Israel. They also have the oldest known trees on earth found while digging in a quarry.

That completes the 52 Town Pick Up, actually there were 53 towns, but 53 Town Pick Up didn't sound right. As I rode thru the Catskills I kept seeing remnants of old roadside motels. Old rusted poles with sign pointing down a driveway of the name of a motel. I said to myself I am going to stop at the next one and take some pictures to see if I could create a mood with the Nikon. I never crossed another photo op. Dang.


Covered just shy of 400 miles today.



Trip total for miles was 1,237.

52 Town Pickup - Writing on the Wall

Last night I stayed in Batavia and had dinner at Denny's. Being solo I ended up getting up pretty early considering my first picture was at 8:11AM. Nothing special about this picture or place other than it cover A in the Z to A towns and anchors the beginning of this story.

Next town was Attica where the famous prison is. While this has no town sign on it, I liked the building just because it was there. I think I picked up Attica Wastewater Treatment plant as the town.



Heading due west heading toward Lake Erie, stopped in Lackawanna. As I was riding to my destination I came across Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica. In 1916 St Patrick's Church burned destroying the spire on the church and assembly area.. Father Baker ordered the church repaired, however held off on the spire. In May of 1921 the church was dismantled to make way for a new building, knowing full well the did not have all the funds in place for the building. Emile Ulrich a graduate of the Academy of Paris landed the job and designed a magnificent Beaux Arts basilica. The basilica was completed by 1925 and was completely paid for.





Not quite as interesting as the basilica, the Lackawanna Public Library was built from funds donated by Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate. Funny part of this is Carnegie was bought out by JP Morgan which created US Steel. Lackawanna also had a steel mill in town which was owned by US Steel's biggest competitor Bethlehem Steel.



Keeping with yesterdays movie theater unplanned theme picked this up in Angola, NY. The theater opened in 1924 as a silent movie theater. In 1929 it was converted with the addition of sound to accommodate the new format called the Talkies. The theater was closed in 1995 and fell into disrepair. In 2002 it reopened as a new attraction to the folks in Angola, a population of 2,127. Seeing that it is 2013 (2014 as of this writing) it must be successful.



I liked this place just because it reminded me of my childhood. This type of building was fairly typical of hardware stores back in the day.




I ended up in a cemetery just so I could get a picture of Lake Erie to say I had been there on this trip. Pretty lame pic.



In Fredonia spent a little more time picking up some the historic sites.







Laona, which is just outside Fredonia was on my hit list and had problems finding a sign.




Made my way down the coast of Lake Erie picking up more Z to A towns. In Mayville, which does not start with Z or end in A this wood carving place was must stop.

In Panama made the turn to head back east towards Massachusetts. Grabbed Cuba.

This is in Cuba as well.



Angelica, NY

Odessa, NY



I drove thru Watkins Glen and tried to get a room there for the night. Wow pricey. I never did seek out the race course and I didn't take any pictures in the Glen. Headed for Ithaca for the night. Grabbed Odessa, NY. The pictures at this point are purely get the town and head for the next place.



One last town was Cayuta, NY and found a great little motel in Ithaca called the Meadow Court Inn. Prices were very reasonable and comfortable. I met 3 other riders from Canada, who invited me to diner with them. I was tempted but declined. Something inside me said if you go out with these guys there might be some drinking involved, which would not mix with the ride home. Stupid reason but a reason.

Todays tally is 24 towns for the Z to A tour. A total of 43 towns between yesterday and today.

Fifty Two Town Pickup - Lets go to the Movies

The end of the story at the beginning

I finally got around to reviewing some of the photos I took this past summer more to see what could be Waymarked. I am up to July 21 and I came across the photos I took while on a 3 day jaunt across the State of New York for the GLMC Z to A Grand Tour. This was to be one of my big pushes to turn in a respectable amount of the towns that began with Z or ended in A. We started out on one of these trips but had to turn back because MeAsWe’s neck was killing her. I took 2 vacation days from work and headed out solo, which I had not done in along time. As I was reviewing the photos 5 months after the fact, I found the beginning of the blog entry that was also started 5 months ago.

The Story as it happened

This past Sunday I took off for a 1200+ mile trek thru New York. Out to Buffalo passing over the top of the Finger Lakes and back heading east just south of the Finger Lakes. Objective was to capture as many towns that start with Z or end in A for the GLMC Z to A Grand Tour. Got plenty of the A’s but no Z’s. They just aren’t that common. I think the only opportunity was Zoar, NY but I already got Zoar, MA and you can only use a town name once. So come along as I pick up some towns and other interesting sites.

It has been so hot in MA for the last month, it has been hard to want to ride on the bike any place, at least for me. I am sure folks in Mississippi or Louisiana think that would be spring weather, however our blood has been thickened with the winters. Let’s see the Mississippians walk around in T-Shirts when it is in the 40’s

MeAsWe is not coming along this trip because she is not sure she can take the miles and constant mounting and dismounting. This kind of trip is purely RunPicandGo type trip. While scenic, it is also hectic.

The target towns and places have been waypointed. I simply cannot ride to a town a see if there is a sign of the town someplace without researching it. Google is my best friend here and street view is great. How else would I have found Laona United Methodist Church. While I have targets, I will pick up the first sign with the Town. I have learned not to pass them up. Post Offices and Welcome To Signs are not allowed.

First day is just shy of 500 miles, with 20+ targets. That is a full day, especially considering the first 160 miles is just getting to the first place. For most part I end up on the back roads, however the beginning and ending miles do involve interstates. In the beginning one is anxious to get to the first photo op and the end run, you just wanna get home. The in between is seeing New York state off the beaten path.

This is what I picked as my first photo op. A run down abandoned gas station. Nothing special, no Pure Oil 66 chimneys, no sweeping roofs as in the Phillips 88 stations, just plain ole painted cinder blocks. I promise the rest of the report will be visually more stimulating, well for the most part.




First cluster is Malta, Ballston Spa, Saratoga, and Fonda, NY, oh and Niskayuna. Malta is a run of the mill diner (NY style) along with Saratoga. I have been to Ballston Spa before but never downtown. This place looks like it has a ton of historic places. Niskayuna was home to Steve Katz of Blues Project and Blood, Sweat and Tears fame.

I really like the lettering on this place. It is Art Decoish or Moderne like. I actually turned around
to go back to take a picture of this place. It is going to be along journey

Heading out to Utica next, the Garmins wanted me on I-90, but I resisted taking NY 5, which roughly follows the Erie Canal. Next town is Scotia, which I picked up the Scotia Theater. The Scotia Cinema opened in January 1929 as the Ritz Theater. “Lilac Time” was the first movie shown starring Gary Cooper and Colleen Moore.



In Amsterdam that begins with an A but doesn't end in an A, so it doesn't count I found this VW looking for roads in all the wrong places.



As I head out to the next town all I could think of is the Chicago 7, motorcycle movies and cowboys.

I grabbed the Bank of Utica as the A town, but really is very uninteresting, however the name Utica was easily photoed. Right across the street is the Savings Bank of Utica known as the Gold Dome Bank. While a bit gaudy, it really is beautiful. This is a great example of American Beaux Arts which became the style du jour after the Chicago's World Fair in 1893. The bank was built in 1900.

Note a dramatic as the bank, never the less a flashback to the past. The Stanley Theater is also located in Utica. It opened in 1928 and has an affliation with Warner Bros. Pictures thru out its history. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

As I head furthere west I had targeted Verona, NY as an Z to A town. While I had a couple of choices with the name Verona, this old hotel just seemed so kewl. It has no significance other that the NEON lights to me.

Not to far from Verona is Oneida NY. I have been here a couple of times, once specifically to pick up the home where there was a utopian society lived and made silverware. This place was just so bright and had some elements of Googie architecture.



New York is suppose to be semi known for their diners, but today it is movie theaters. The Kallet was built in 1937 and is a great example of Art Deco, more specifically Art Moderne.



Just outside of Syracuse is Canastota. I picked up a RR bridge for the Z to A town, but had to stop for the old Methodist Church that was built in 1910. It has been subsequently converted to a restaurant / function place called the Greystone Castle.



Keeping with the Movie theme grabbed the Palace Theater in Syracuse. This theater has been owned and operated by the same family since 1922 when it was built.



Making some tracks I passed over the top of the Finger Lakes and stopped into Canandaigua NY. Grabbed the really neat Town Hall for the Z to A tour and walked up the street for the court house.





It is getting late in the day and I still have a bunch of miles to go. While I am not running out of sunlight yet, there is not a lot of day left even on July 21. Pulled into Honeoye Falls NY, snapped a quick shot of the Historic District and headed further west.







Passed thru Henrietta NY and made my way to Scottsville and stopped for an artistic shot of this barn. The view I had was much better than what I translated it too thru the camera.



Only a couple more town to go before I sleep. So far I have not seen any deer.



My destination for the night is Batavia, NY. Don't have a clue where I am going to stay so at my last stop of the night, I called MeAsWe to let her know I am still upright and not cohorting around with the antler folks. Cell phone is running on empty, FJR may be getting there too so MeAsWe finds me a place in Bativia and I pull into town just a little while after the sun has gone to bed for the night.



When I look at the map where Elba is in relation to Scottsville and Batavia, I see that Elba may not have been exactly on the way to Batavia. I elected to get Batavia Z to A capture tomorrow morning.

Today's route