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9/21/08, Little Falls, NY - The road from Palatine Bridge to Little Falls was paved with asphalt, but lined with some very good people.  On nearly every one of the 14 miles we traveled today, we had the honor of stopping to chat with some of these good folks.  The nice thing about moving about in a wagon, pulled by four great horses, at three miles an hour, there’s always time for a wave, a “good morning” or a short conversation. 

My hostess from last night, Beth Shostek and her son Samuel, along with friend Jennifer and her son Ross accepted my invitation to ride with me until lunch. A mile into the trip, we passed the Palatine Cheese Factory, which presented me with about three pounds of very excellent homemade cheese - Thanks.

The remainder of the morning was extremely pleasant with a lot of waving and chatting with other folks as we moved down the road. We stopped for a lunch of Palatine cheese, crackers, watermelon and beer at a wide spot along the road.  After lunch John Shostek picked up my riders so they could attend a day on a farm, sponsored by the local farm bureau. In St. Johnsville, I kept hearing about Steve Battisti, who is building a wagon and will be off on a five day road trip next week with three Hafflinger draft ponies (I finally met Steve this evening - a great guy.)

I stopped for the evening at a dairy farm owned by Don Aney, just short of the town of Little Falls. Don and his family were having a family get-together and the family came out front to see the horses. I stopped to let the kids pet the horses (this is one of the things I really like to do on this trip.) Don invited me to park next to his cow barn for the evening.  Don was gracious enough to supply me with some excellent 2nd cut hay and some good pasture for the horses tonight.  Don’s wife brought over some very good lasagna, a loaf of banana bread and something else that really looks good (but I can’t remember what she said it was). Thank you Aney family!

Don has a good looking herd of cattle and milks 48 cows. I was impressed by how neat and organized his operation is. He grows most of his own feed on bottom land along the Mohawk river.  His daughter and brother help with the chores.

 Tomorrow, I’m off for the town of Herkimer and then to the outskirts of Utica.  If it’s anything like today I’m going to really enjoy the day.

A little note - If you’re traveling by wagon in the fall, and you happen to park next to a cow barn, make sure you close the doors to keep the flies out - oops!