Phoenicia, NY is the home of Sweet Sue (and great pancakes)

I was once on a ferry boat somewhere between Vineyard Haven and Woods Hole, MA when I saw a woman standing on the bow of the vessel looking off into the distant blue skies and deeper seas. Funny how I thought of a scene in Titanic where Jack and Rose are on the bow and words are exchanged:

Hold on.
Hold on. Do you trust me?

I trust you.

Open your eyes...

I'm flying! I'm flying...Jack?



Gee, that all sounds mushy.

Sue and I only discussed what we were going to be when we grow up.

I am still undecided on that one. However, Sue did tell me that the best breakfast in New York State was in a tiny town in the Catskills called Phoenicia. Sweet Sue's is the name of the guilty party. It was one of those moments when you know you may never get the chance to go there, to even read the menu, much less to taste the offerings of someone as open and honest about life as Sue.

Well, lets fast forward a bit to 2010. September 17, 2010, to be exact!

It just so happened that my path between Hartland, CT and Freedom, NY would take me smack-dab right through Phoenicia and even though it was around 11:00PM when I rode by Sue's on my way to the Cobblestone Inn, I waved. I waved in a Forrest Gump waves to the camera kind of wave. I do have fun for a poor child. Anyway, I could not wait for the sun to rise, birds to begin chirping and bacon to start sizzling in a pan just down the road a piece. Like Christmas was tomorrow morning and I was 7 years old again.

This is Phoenicia, NY.

This is Sweet Sue's!

Let's step inside and walk right up to the counter, as if we were locals, and say howdy to Lisa. Howdy, Lisa. Coffee and a menu, please...

Before I could attempt to open the menu, I asked Lisa for a big breakfast. You know, the kind that just fills you up with a special flavor, multiplied by three or four. She suggested the Pumpkin Pancakes, "Get the big stack."

My response was "Alrighty, then..."

That-there is your big stack of pumpkin pancakes at Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia, NY!



To make a long story short... would be sad. Therefore, I will begin by saying these were the best pancakes I have ever had in a restaurant, coffee shop or diner! Fluffy, light and delicious and there was no way I could finish these off in one sitting. However, I forced myself to stay and enjoy the conversations and laughter of the people who frequent this part of Main Street. The four cups of coffee that I ordered when I sat down, came to me one at a time and I enjoyed each one of them between bites of pumpkin fluffiness, covered with just the right amount of local maple syrup.

Sue remembered our oceanic conversations. I told her about my travels and what brings me to this neck of the woods. It did not make me very happy to know that, like many legs of this journey, I would ride through a town, county and state, without spending enough time to truly enjoy all there is to see and explore. I would say goodbye to this town in my rear view and have no plans in the immediate future to return to the Catskill Mountains for any known reason. But, there were memories of people with smiling faces and laughter coming my way in a time when my life seemed in turmoil to these strangers. Turmoil? Me? No way! It just appears to most individuals that a man, or woman, who takes off on a motorcycle fully equipped with a tent, sleeping bag, laptop computer, digital camera, three pairs of jeans, four tee shirts, two flannels shirts, five pairs of socks and zero underwear in makeshift luggage which really is nothing more than a Walmart Brand Space Bag that can be vacuumed down to a package which will easily slide under the lowest of beds for easy storage, must be an individual that is running from something. Not I, says Ken.

Step out of your everyday, normal, bland lives and look across the hill at the greener grass.

Stop and smell the roses, or in my case, savor each fragrance that flows freely between my chin and full face shield and helmet as I ride behind a truck being driven by a man smoking a pipe.

Or perhaps, pull away from an intersection after the station wagon in front of you makes its way across the solid white crosswalk. As you enter the space which was once occupied by this vehicle, it hits you like a ton of bricks! Not the station wagon, but the smell of chocolate, sweet and full of cocoa powder. Stunned by this passing treat, you are able to catch up to the station wagon to see 3 or 4 kids in the back seat sharing a candy bar.

Stop on the side of the road to take the helmet off, after removing the chin strap, raising the face and remove your glasses, to snap a photo of a stream of water that more than likely came from a flooded field of a reservoir of left over rain hidden underground in the cracks and crevices of a nearby hill or mountain. Nobody will enjoy this picture, but you will always enjoy the moment.

Bringing up the old saying about the grass being greener, one is allowed to take a vacation to explore the other side of the hill and return home to share the good news of a promised land, filled with wonderful people and exciting stories of lives which are so different, yet so much like our own lives. This is why we venture out, out of the norm into a place new and refreshing.
In less than 5 hours from the moment I left Sweet Sue's and the heart of the Catskills, I was back. East Durham is the home of the Catskill Mountain Thunder which is by far the biggest biker rally I ever need to go to, but it was reported to me on my way west through New York State that this rally was something I had to experience. I was in a Walmart parking lot in Painted Post, NY when this fella was complimenting my on Mozi as I was packing away my new rain gear. He was the one who told me I had to "Go east, young man!"

Mozi on, to be continued....