| Author | Message | ||
     Crusty |
Abby’s River Lodge In July of 1983, there was a Syracuse Mile. There were two miles at the NY State Fairgrounds that year, and July was the first. So, Arnie and his wife Alice, Bill and Kathy (my S.O. at the time) and I decided to make the trip. We planned to ride out on Saturday, see the Mile on Sunday, then ride home on Monday. Bill and I had gone out to Syracuse the previous year, and we has camped across the road from the main entrance to the Fairgrounds, and we expected that we’d be able to do the same. However, when we arrived, we found No Camping signs all over the place. We asked the cop at the entrance to the Fairgrounds where we could camp and he directed us to a State Park about ten miles south of town. When we got to the State Park, the Ranger there told us that the park was full, but he’d heard that there were some Speedway races that were allowing people to camp in the parking lot. So, we decided that watching some Speedway races was the order for the evening. The racing was OK, but the parking lot was less than ideal for camping in. On Sunday we saw the Mile, then we decided to go to the KOA that was about ten miles north of town. I don’t remember how we found out about the KOA, but it seemed like a good idea. It turned out to be a great idea. The Campground was on the banks of the Seneca River and we had campsites that were right by the water. The area was well manicured and a very pleasant place to set up tents. When we were registering at the office, we asked the woman there if there were any restaurants nearby, since we hadn’t eaten much that day. She replied that there was a little place down the road that she favored, so once we got out tents set up we headed out to get some dinner. We found it a couple of miles literally down the road at an intersection with another rural road. The sign said it was Abby’s River Lodge, and it looked like a typical country bar. We conferred briefly about what food we would probably get inside and decided that even infrared heated burgers were better than nothing and we were all pretty hungry, so we went in. Inside, the woman who greeted us stated that they were seating folks on the back porch, and she led us through the bar to this really large room that was built on pilings over the river. We couldn’t see it from the road. Suddenly, the place went from country bar to Nice Restaurant. We all ordered the special of the day which was 18 oz. Porterhouse steaks with salt potatoes and other sides and dessert. It was a superb meal, and the dessert was New York cheesecake with fresh raspberry compote and coffee. The bill for the five of us was something like $62.00 and we were all stuffed. They even gave us a break on the price as Kathy’s steak was a little smaller than the others. Not that any of us noticed. Neither Kathy nor Alice could finish their meals. The dinner would have been a bargain at a much higher price. It was true Serendipity. After that meal, we went back to our camp sites, built a fire with the free firewood the campground provided and sat around the fire talking for a couple of hours. We got a good night’s sleep and made the trip home on Monday. It was a memorable trip. After that weekend, we always stayed at the KOA and we made it a point to eat at Abby’s river Lodge. Of all the assorted people who made the trip out with me over the years, nobody ever got a less than Excellent meal at Abby’s. Then, one year when we went, Abby’s was closed. The proprietor at the KOA told us that the owner had died, and none of his children wanted to run the restaurant, so they shut it down. That was a heartbreaker, but it wasn’t long after that until the Syracuse Mile was dropped from the Racing schedule, as well. Now, Arnie is dead, Bill is dead, Kathy and I split up and she moved back to Louisville, and I haven't a clue what happened to Alice. Ain't life screwy? Still, I remember discovering Abby’s River Lodge and how good the food was and how friendly the people were. | ||
| Court |
>>>Ain't life screwy? That's the understatement of a lifetime . . . . If I had be asked to predict the last 3 years of mine . . . i would not even have been close. | ||
| Etennuly |
If I had be asked to predict the last 3 years of mine . . . i would not even have been close. Nor I.  |
