Erie Canal Trail: Secrets Behind the 8th Wonder of the World, CMV and Pandemic Pizza
(see our quest below. E-mail your suggested Erie Canal "Wonder" at LisaSaunders42@gmail.com)
While searching for the 7 Wonders of the Erie Canal, itself considered the 8th Wonder of the World, in upstate New York, a plump baby boomer wonders if she’ll ever finish walking the entire 360-mile Erie Canal Way Trail. So far, she has endured swarms of mosquitoes, snakes, gunshots, heat, rain, violent wind cracking tree limbs above,aching feetand a dead possum. Will shefind an outhouseor open restroomin time? Her progress is continually interrupted as theglobal 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 must leave her job in a castle! When deciding on the 7 Wonders, shouldshe only consider intriguing, stone aqueduct and lock ruins hiddenalong the Old Erie Canal or should she includethe dramatic structures along thefully operational, modern Erie Canal? And, how will this latest writing project ever get Lisathin and famous when the only food near the trail is pizza and ice-cream? Trekking alongside her is detail-oriented, rather fussy husband, Jim. Theyhaven’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 for the originalErie Canal, referred to as Clinton’s Ditch? Will they agree onthe 7Wonders, what kind of pizza to order, find their “new normal”and overcome the obstacles onthe Trail to impact the world—much the same way the Erie Canal did?
POEM TO JIM BY LISA TO LAUNCH THEIR QUEST
Thanksgiving, November 30, 2020
After 37 years of marriage, now it’s you and me and the Erie Canal,
Better than 15 years with the song-famed mule Sal.
I’m excited to start my search for the “7 Wonders” with you by my side,
So far, we’ve conquered mosquitoes, snakes and foot pain—we are starting to glide.
We've survived gunshots, rain and violent wind cracking the tree limbs all around,
We’ve endured because of pleasant sounds of distant trains, and because we haven't yet drowned.
But can we trek all 360 miles of the Canalway trail?
Will we fall, peter out or somehow fail?
Mostly, our biggest worry has been, “where will the next outhouse be?”
You’re lucky—at least you can go behind a tree.
Walking a well-worn path sounds easy, but we’ve learned the truth,
To decipher the clues in the ruins, we have to sleuth.
The “7 Wonders” should include a dramatically high lock, bridge and an aqueduct—so many structures in therunning,
Will we ever see them all, will people find our choices stunning?
The Canal’s secrets don’t all hide behind overgrown brush, they’re also in the blazing sun,
My red, wide-brimmed visor helps me walk those segments, making it more fun.
We’ve learned not to walk the trail after dark--even in sparsely populated towns, evil can trot,
We won’t easily forget the zombie-like man who charged us in the parking lot.
Just locating a parking space beside the next leg of our jurneycan cause stress,
Sometimes it’s not enough to rely on satellite images, maps and GPS.
Driving back and forth, it’s easier to find a spot when there are no leaves,
And in the long winters, there are less mosquitoes among the trees.
Not being engineers, we only know what structures look cool and sparks the imagination,
We must learn what makes it a marvel, what’s behind its administration.
Are only man-made structures to be considered, or do dramatic waterfalls and lakes count?
Green Lake is a rare water composite, a breathtaking color, close to the trail and easy to mount.
What about the large murals throughout old canal towns depicting the 1800’s life?
This spectacular art on buildings and bridges is wondrous to me, do you agree with your wife?
Do we consider Wonders on the off-shoot paths that giveus a buzz,
Like the yellow brick road in Chittenango to the home of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz?
So many dramatic events along the canal such as murders and suicides,
My long-ago aunt drove her car into the ice, but the despairing ladyjumping off the bridge in Seneca Falls was saved, her legend abides.
The Old Canal even brings in movie directors attracted by its romanceand strife,
Seneca Falls and its failed suicide attempt inspired Frank Capra’s Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Becausewe are baby boomers, our aching feet, back and knees cry for a bench,
Remember sitting beside a dead possum baking in the sun, remember the stench?
It drives me crazy how long you take gathering supplies for your backpack,
But I sure do thank you when we rest and you pull out a water and a trail-mix snack.
Of course in the summer months we’ve learned that sunscreen and bug repellent are a must,
At the end of the day, how we long for a shower towash off those lotions and dust.
How many pizza parlors have we found along the way?
Might be fun to count them some day.
Of course we hit every ice-cream stand we can find,
Not the best policy when our ever-tightening belts keep us in a bind.
How sad you felt over the Port Byron plaque that decried the Auburn railway as killing its canalside town,
This casting of aspersions on your boyhood home gave you “Auburnian shame,” making you frown.
But don’t fear Jim, the town of your birth still makes me smile,
It’s home to Auburn Prison, site of the first electric-chair execution and statue whose private parts were shaved down--flat as a tile.
they want me to cut and paste into my web site
