If you've been reading this series, featuring two guys who met exploring abandoned buildings, you might be confused by the, uh, lack of abandoned buildings.

I was a bit saddened by this too. It wasn't for lack of trying on my part, as I've randomly been all around this area of late but I just couldn't find much in Potsdam or Canton. By day 4 of it, I was craning my neck at this abandoned Canton auto shop in a tiny quonset hut, thinking I might have to ask Yaz to pull it over as we couldn't go home empty-handed.

Thankfully Yaz had something better planned.

Here along Route 28N near the village of Minerva, the Aiden Lair was a sportsman's lodge that provided rest for those travelling along here to various places in the Adirondacks back in the early 1900s.

Back then there was a greater need for such establishments, highlighted by the fact that travelling from North Creek NY to Tahawus NY in the heart of the Adirondacks, a distance of 30 miles, used to take around seven hours by wagon.

An old lodge that provided a cot and two hots to the weary traveller is enough for me, but the Aiden Lair Lodge, like many places in New York State, has much more history than that.

In 1901, President William McKinley was in Buffalo at the Pan-American Exposition when anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot him in the stomach at point blank range. Within hours, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt set off from his vacation in Isle La Motte on Lake Champlain in order to reach the injured president - and maybe take over the role as president if McKinley were to perish - but along the way Roosevelt received news that McKinley was doing better and expected to recover.

Upon hearing the good news, Roosevelt left Buffalo and met up with his family at the upper Tahawus Club, ten miles from the village of Tahawus. It's here that Roosevelt had organized guides from the club to lead his family up to the highest point in New York State, Mt. Marcy, as a bit of relaxation following the last few hectic days.

As we all know, McKinley took a turn for the worse. Gangrene had developed underneath the sealed bullet hole and his condition deteriorated considerably by September 13th.

A guide was sent out on the Mt. Marcy trail to inform Roosevelt and from there, Teddy had to abandon his New York State summit bid. The guides and his family tried to get Roosevelt to spend the night at the Upper Tahawus Club, but he insisted on leaving at 1030 at night, even though the wagon trails were also in bad condition due to recent rains.

Travelling by buckboard wagon, a smaller and lighter wagon that worked better on muddy tracks, Roosevelt and his first driver covered the 10 miles from the upper Tahawus Club to the Tahawus Post Office Cabins in two hours. Switching wagons and drivers there, it was then another nine miles to the Aiden Lair Lodge, where Roosevelt waited as another horse and wagon were prepared for the rest of the journey. The proprietor begged Roosevelt to stay until dawn, but Roosevelt would have none of it; setting off again, this time with Mike Cronin, owner of the Aiden Lair Lodge.

Roosevelt covered the remaining hour-forty five to arrive at the North Creek Train Station by 445am, over two hours faster than wagons would usually make the trip on good roads in the daytime. It's here that Roosevelt learned McKinley died at 215am and that he was now the president.

Some like to pump up the Aiden Lair Lodge's history as being the place where Roosevelt became president at 215am, but remember that they only left the Tahawus Post Office cabins around 2am. Roosevelt would've became the 26th president along the trail somewhere between Tahawus and the Aiden Lair Lodge here in Minerva. There's actually a memorial rock placed beside the road at a more likely location.

That's a fun bit of history and it would be great to see the Aiden Lair preserved, but this place is now the definition of a deathtrap. Carefully stepping around gaping basement holes and along the sides of stairwells, we picked our way up the floors, noting that the Aiden Lair would need a monumental amount of work.

Not to mention that one version of the Aiden Lair Lodge burned down "in the 1900s", so it's likely that this isn't even the actual lodge that Teddy Roosevelt stopped at.

Foundation ruins from the old lodge can be found across the street, which would have been cool to check out. If only there wasn't so much snow that we were already sinking up to our thighs just trying to get inside the Aiden Lair.

Only an hour to the south and with plenty of daylight remaining, Yaz asked if I wanted to check out the old AHL arena in Glens Falls. Remembering that it was pretty cool from one of Yaz's posts, plus always wanting to check out new NY cities, I quickly voiced my approval for the detour.

The temps were in the 30s, but with the sun shining and little wind, we were having a great time exploring Glens Falls. I didn't like how they had a bunch of rocks and caves fenced off here on the Hudson, but I loved the brick backside of this paper mill.

The arena we were here to see was the horribly-named Cool Insuring Arena, which at least looked okay from the outside. We were having trouble heading towards the door though, as there seemed to be a lot of people around the front plaza. Both of us were pretty sure that the AHL had left Glens Falls, but what we didn't know was that they'd picked up the ECHL Adirondack Thunder in the meantime. And a game was starting in an hour!

Yaz didn't have anywhere to be and for $21 I could see a new ECHL arena? A new ECHL arena that isn't a newly built arena? This was an easy decision. More hockey!

Glens Falls has had three different major urban renewal projects, but the first one is the one of concern when it comes to the Cool Insuring Arena, aka the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Back in the early 1960s, the US federal government was offering money for urban renewal and that led many cities to flattening dormant parts of their downtowns. Glens Falls, having areas suffering from vacancy as people instead preferred suburban Queensbury, saw this as an opportunity to take down an underperforming section of downtown and create a legacy project. Soon enough, 48 buildings bounded by four streets down here were assessed and 46 of them were rated deficient, although many would argue that rating afterwards. Also, only six of these structures had residential units, which the federal government liked as fewer people would be affected.

The first proposal for the area was vague, with a motel, "fine" stores and a high-rise promised. This quickly went away and the second proposal was more concrete, with a downtown mall made up of 40 stores.

This too would eventually go away and leave the land empty for close on a decade. It actually came to the point where locals were starting to refer to the empty lot as "Urban Renewal Park", which was obviously embarrassing for the politicians who approved tearing down these buildings and thought something better would happen.

The city finally did away with this shame by erecting the Glens Falls Civic Center in 1979.

(Some of the shame still exists as a Burger King, of all things, dominates a large portion of the former Urban Renewal Park.)

Glens Falls was a pillar of hockey for a long time as they became the AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings and hosted the Adirondack Red Wings from 1979 to 1999.

Unfortunately the Illitches put the kibosh on this by pulling the Red Wings out of Glens Falls in 2000, citing poor attendance. They wouldn't have another AHL/ECHL team until February 12, 2009, when the Philadelphia Phantoms needed a home after the Philadelphia Spectrum was demolished. Staying for five years, the Calgary Flames AHL team then moved in, but only for a year. Glens Falls then had the ECHL Adirondack Thunder starting in 2015-16, where we then we saw them here in 2020.

I really liked the Glens Falls Civic Center. It was only one concourse around the top of all the seats spilling towards the ice, but the seats were old and cool, the seating bowl was steep, and it was just weird enough for the arena to endear itself to me.

I was very happy with my decision to take in this game & I'd love to find myself in Glens Falls again.

We snagged great seats just by rolling up to the ticket office too, which I'm sure helped my opinion of things as I watched ECHL-level hockey from five feet away.

One of the funny quirks of the Cool Insuring Arena was that the washrooms were down a sizable staircase, onto a wide platform, then separated into different directions for men and women.

I didn't find this so funny when going down there and waiting for Yaz though, where women came out and glared at me like I was some sex pervert just standing around outside the women's washroom. I was waiting for my friend! Lol.

What a fantastic and unexpected way to end the trip, where I'd thought it was simply going to be a matter of Yaz dropping me off in Hartford in the middle of the afternoon.

I couldn't help but be sour at the sight of dry pavement and sunny skies though, where a place like Glens Falls would be known for rough winters, but it's just so much worse in Corner Brook. God was I not looking forward to going back.

By the time Yaz got me to Hartford and we said our goodbyes at the culmination of a fine trip, the sun had long ago set and the day was moving into night.

I had a reservation at the Red Lion Hotel near Hartford's minor league ballpark, the hotel still advertising their $229/night Hilton rate on the door. I was getting it for much cheaper though, as the Red Lion was well on its way to dying and being converted into apartments. I also had to laugh at the vacant and trash-strewn lots nearby, as I thought taxpayers paying for minor league stadiums is supposed to fix all of this.

Walking downtown from the Red Lion, I went right thru Hartford's DIY skatepark which is simply a few homemade ramps and rails added to a well-intentioned but poorly executed urban plaza. Where Interstate 84's construction divided downtown from the Clay Hill neighbourhood, urban planners built this plaza atop I-84 to remove the barrier between the two areas. Except there were too many tall walls and elevated planters, making this pedestrian unfriendly and a bit scary to walk through.

A weird urban plaza, taken over by skateboarders and featuring ledges, benches, and drops everywhere? Good heavens did I want to ride this, but there were only so many hours before my flight. It probably wasn't worth putting my bike together, just to ride for an hour, just to take my bike back apart.

Grabbing a sausage and a wheaty beer for dinner, I then meandered back to the hotel.

Reaching my room, I made a note in my phone about how much I wanted and should ride Hartford's DIY, but also how I lack the resolve and determination to get such things done.

F that though. I wasn't working tomorrow due to Corner Brook Winter Carnival Day and I was going to be on enough planes and buses where I could sleep. Not to mention that I could simply tough it out for one day.

This was Hartford after all and it was a spectacular night for late February, one where I could casually ride through the darkness and hit curb cuts and garden planters, while exploring a city where I've long felt an infatuation.

I didn't find any incredible street spots and the DIY session was a bit soft due to how tired I was, but god damn was I happy to be out riding my bike in Hartford in February.

Of late I've tried to focus more of my energy on the things that actually, truly make me happy, and this was it. It now seemed silly to think back to the possibility of not putting my bike together for this ride tonight.

Back at the hotel, it was creeping into the two o'clock hour by the time I got my bike apart and clothes packed. My bus to the airport was at 430am, and eventually rolling into Bradley International, all of my spirit for a new exciting airport was gone.

Sleeping for all of the short flight time to Washington and then lying down on comfortable, armrest-free seats in DC, I tried to ignore the CNN blasting over the speakers and talking about some new virus, which I assumed was news network hyperbole like SARS or Bird Flu.

Eventually I'd go to board my next plane and there was a guy in a serious business (what I'd come to learn) N95 mask, where I stared a bit blank-eyed at him, thinking, "my God, that guy's taking this whole thing pretty serious!"

Anyway, if I was this far into North America, I wasn't exactly rushing to get back to Newfoundland. So there's more to come.

Stay tuned.