Tiny gathering of eagles

“This is new.” (Photo by Ron Palermo.)

“This is new,” said one of my retired bus-driver friends, as we began the long walkway down to world-famous Cartwright’s Maple Tree Inn.
The walkway had been covered to keep waiting patrons out of the weather.
Sometimes the standees go clear up the walkway to the large parking-lot.
The other day (3/29/17) a small contingent of retired bus-drivers gathered at Maple Tree Inn for all-you-can-eat pancakes.
It’s an annual affair, but this year there were only four of us.
In past years there have been as many as 20.
For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) yer Fthfl Srvnt drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester, NY, a public employer, the transit-bus operator in Rochester and environs.
My stroke October 26th, 1993 ended that. I retired on medical-disability. I recovered fairly well.
In past years this get-together was organized by retired bus-driver Ron Palermo.
Maple Tree Inn is only open during maple sugaring season, perhaps two months.
It does a lot of business; I heard over a million dollars per year.
It’s way out in the middle of nowhere, in deepest, darkest Allegany county, probably NY’s poorest county.
(And that’s how its spelled, dear readers; not “Allegheny.”)
It’s at least an hour south of Rochester, up on the east side of vast Genesee (“jen-uh-SEE”) Valley, our nation’s first breadbasket.
Genesee River flows north across the state to empty into Lake Ontario at Rochester.
Cartwright’s has a giant stand of sugar-maples (the “sugar-bush”), all tapped for sap.
Below the restaurant in the basement is a giant stainless-steel vat for boiling sap into syrup.
Sap is drained from the maples into four-wheel-drive Army surplus water-tankers for carting to the vat (the “sugar-shack”).
Often gigantic tour-buses are in the parking-lot. The place is famous. Seniors come during sap season to pig out on all-you-can-eat pancakes slathered with REAL maple-syrup.
Non of that el-cheapo corn-syrup stuff, but look out for wheeled walkers with oxygen-tanks, often piloted by angry geezers.
I offered to help Ron this year, since I am fairly savvy with a computer. I would construct an e-mail list.
Trouble is, I had a stroke, so have difficulty making telephone calls.
And most don’t fiddle their e-mail like Ron or me.
Ron still had to make a slew of phonecalls.
Four people = sort of a waste; other than I always like going there.
It’s probably too far out.