Biking with Twyla on the Erie Canal

Last week my wife, Twyla, accompanied me to Clayton, New York for my Baby Boomer Comedy Show, Clean Comedy For People Born Before Seat Belts. The trip was bittersweet because I love having her travel with me and this was her last trip of summer vacation before she returns to being an art teacher in a public school.

Because it was our last hurrah and it was Twyla’s first trip to New York state, we took a couple of extra days to sightsee. We took our first trip to Niagara Falls. When the border guard asked why we were coming into Canada, I did resist the urge to say, “You may not know it, but this woman’s a spy, she’s an undercover agent for the FBI, sent up here to infiltrate the Ku-Klux-Klan” because she did not look like a Charlie Daniels fan. We drove along the Niagara Parkway, site of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Trials Marathon.

But the highlight of the trip was bicycling along the towpath of the Erie Canal in Rochester, NY. We laughed at a sign which once said, “Canal Construction Ahead” but following a visit from vandals now warned “anal Construction Ahead.”

Twyla loved one resident’s Adirondack chairs painted in the six colors and correctly arranged in the order of the rainbow.

I’ve mentioned before, Twyla has an encyclopedic recall of lyrics for every song written before 1985. I asked her, “Twyla do you remember the old folk song The Erie Canal?”

Immediately she’s singing,
I’ve got a mule and her name is Sal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal,
She’s a good ol’ worker and a good ol’ pal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal,
Low bridge, everybody down, Low bridge, we’re coming into town,
You always know your neighbor and you always know your pal
If you ever navigated on the Erie Canal.

I laughed and laughed.

So in honor of our last trip of this summer, I have written updated lyrics for Twyla:

I’ve got a wife who’s a pretty gal, Biking with Twyla on the Erie Canal,
She’s funny, bright, and my best pal, Biking with Twyla on the Erie Canal,
Anal Construction Ahead, Chairs line up, the last one is red,
I miss you on my trips ‘cause you’re my favorite pal
Biking with Twyla on the Erie Canal.

I wish Twyla and every teacher a great school year.

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Known as the “World’s Cleanest” comedian and speaker, Kent Rader helps people learn and experience how laughter matters in reducing stress. Kent is the winner of the Branson Comedy Festival and co-stars in The Baby Boomer Comedy Show, Clean Comedy For People Born Before Seat Belts.