Travel

J. D. Carpenter’s American Odyssey

DAY 1 – SYRACUSE, NEW YORK: Bartender Steve Snider of the Acoustic Grill in Picton, Ontario, advised us to stop at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse, New York, so after spending a night with friends John and Dianne Price in LaRue Mills, Ontario, we crossed the border and headed straight for Syracuse. A biker bar whose staff and clientele are seriously into body art, the Dinosaur not only serves up the best ribs you’ll find north of Mason-Dixon, but the best baked beans. The selection of beer is also wonderful: we tried War of 1812 Amber (from the Sackett’s Harbor Brewing Company) and Yuengling Lager, from America’s oldest brewery (1829). Our server, Blondie, consented to having her picture taken with us in front of a mural which features a large green dinosaur and the legendary Blondie herself, hoisting a tray laden with barbeque.

Every Wednesay afternoon, there’s a public party in front of the Federal Building in Syracuse, and we headed over there from the Dinosaur. A Beatles tribute band called The Fab Five (based in Liverpool, New York, no less) provided lively entertainment for the happy crowd of office workers, tourists, street people, and eccentrics (one old man in a hard hat and rainbow muscle shirt waltzed by himself, smiling dreamily), and Karen discovered that the drummer’s wife was originally from Kingston, Ontario, not far from our neck of the woods. The women danced till there wasn’t anymore dancing to be done.

To end our day, we caught the last four innings of the Syracuse Chiefs-Charlotte Knights Triple A baseball game. We watched the extravagantly moustached Sal Fasano (erstwhile catcher of the Toronto Blue Jays) rap out a single, and laughed when Charlotte’s third baseman, a career minor leaguer named Earl Snyder, came up to bat and one of the fans called out,”You’ve been a fan favourite for a long long time, Earl!” Earl struck out and tossed his batting gloves into the stands. The Chiefs won 7-2.

Tomorrow, we head west to Canadaigua, New York, and Finger Lakes Race Track, where we will start researching Campbell Young #5 (working title: ‘B-Tracks of America’) and where, incidentally, the great nag Funny Cide (winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and owned, coincidentally, by a group of friends based in Sackett’s Harbor) is scheduled to run in the Wadsworth Handicap on Independence Day.

Tags: American, American Odyssey, article

About the author

J.D. Carpenter's Campbell Young novels have been nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award, appeared on national bestseller lists (The Globe & Mail), and received critical acclaim (The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, The Edmonton Journal, Maclean's, Quill & Quire).