Woke up to find it was still dark at 7 am. Foggy, but no rain. We left the key on the desk of unit two and left the Willows Motel, never having seen another guest nor an employee of the motel. Four Brothers restaurant was not open for breakfast and we stopped in corner gas station/coffee shop for some GatorAide and directions. Down the street to a little restaurant for breakfast. Chatted with brother of the owner about riding. He is recently divorced and has a 4 year old daughter. He has taken up bike riding again and rides the trail we rode yesterday with her. He stated he has started riding again as he wants to be in shape to walk his daughter down the aisle when the time comes. He also warned us about the big turn on the climb out of town, "very dangerous, if I had my truck with me, I would take you up the hill, corn field blocks the driver's view, etc," which did nothing for our anxiety about starting the day with a good climb. Well it was a steep climb but we were up around the corner before we knew it and had a beautiful ride on Highway 57 between Amenia and Salt Point.
We rolled into Hyde Park, and past FDR's home and stopped for lunch. Chatted with a former McKesson official who used to make regular business trips to San Francisco and he was a regular visitor to Sonoma/Napa valleys. Nice guy, lots of questions about our ride. We got back on the road into Poughkeepsie, NY. past Marist College onto the bridge over the Hudson.
We rode over the Walkway Over the Hudson Pedestrian Bridge, which is an old railroad bridge from the 1800s. Google it as it is a good example what can be done by grassroots organizations to accomplish some thing truly special. We stopped in mid span (1.3 miles or more, the longest pedestrian bridge in the world) for a photo op and started chatting with Julie from eastern Tennessee who is visiting the area checking out Vassar which is close by. Julie was interested in our ride, took some photos and we gave her our blog address Another pleasant person along the road.
We left the bridge and headed up through Highland only to discover up the road a couple of miles that the rail trail from the bridge continues a few miles. We rode the trail to its current end and continued on into New Paltz and stopped at the Rodeway Inn. I had made reservations when we stopped for lunch and discovered the phone number for the motel where we planned to stay in Shawangunk is no longer a working number.
Turns out the Rodeway Inn, althought it has a nice small Main Street address, is not down town or close to any place to eat. We took a cab to the Gilded Otter Brew Pub almost on the banks of the Walkill River. We walked a couple of blocks up river to look at some of the original homes in the area, built by the original Huguenot settlers who arrived in North America on the good ship Gilded Otter. We had the Monday night special, a ten ounce steak and a 10 ounce beer, with salad and veggies. It was a good meal and we walked up the hill away from the river. New Paltz is a college town and lots of college kids were out and about. We stopped in Garibaldi's, called a cab and chatted with James the bartender, college student, long boarder, native of Long Island, a budding writer and a pleasant young man. He spent a summer internship in Guatemala last year and is preparing to go to LA for a college creative writing shindig (my word, not his)
He had some good questions about our trip and was enjoyable to talk with. Our cab arrived and back to motel.
Noelle, the night clerk , with whom we had chatted while waiting for our cab to dinner,was still on duty. Another college student. She is from Wilson Hill Island, near Massena, NY in the Saint Lawrence River, and is a grad student with a major in Music Therapy. Five brothers, not sisters. I asked her if she was ever called Princess and she smiled and said, "My Dad". She did her undergrad work at Utah State. We suggested she could loan us her car as the owner of a B&B in Louisiana did after he had suggested a dinner place several miles down the road. Sorry, this is New York, not Louisiana.
It was a good day with good weather, good riding and great people.
41 miles in the sunshine. New Jersey and or Pennsylvania tomorrow.
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