From the mountains to the valley

Wednesday, May 31. Near Middletown, NY, to Hyde Park, NY. This morning we headed out on a course I crafted late last night, one that would get us back to the ACA route without backtracking along the narrow, busy roads we traversed last night. The morning was cool and overcast, a nice change from the last couple days of open sun; and maybe there was a tailwind, or maybe the coolness made the effort easier, or maybe we were climbing less, but we were pedaling strong today. Sweating, yes, because it was so humid, but feeling strong.

One of the roads we took is Petticoate Road, and near where it rejoins the route, it crosses the Shawangunk Kill on a bridge built in 1884. It is a beautiful crossing, green and quiet, with just a little turbulence in the water to give you the babbling brook sound. We took lots of pictures.

The climbing was less severe today, more rollers where we could get up some momentum and power up the other side (remember, momentum is a terrible thing to waste). Ever since Nancy mentioned the Cher song she was using for tempo, I can't get it out of my head either. I tried many, many other songs and rhythms, too: Cool Jerk, Canary in a Coalmine, Message in a Bottle, even an old Jeff Beck song, The Pump. Nothing could permanently banish those damn lyrics. I'm afraid I don't know very many lyrics from Disturbed. Maybe 11 can fill us in?

Just beyond Ulsterville, we met a small dog, Mary Jane, and her person (whose name we somehow neglected to get). She (the person) said she was getting a road bike this weekend so she and her boyfriend could go riding; Mary Jane was interested in us for a little while (what dog isn't?), but got bored after deciding we didn't have any food, weren't an imminent threat, and seemed to be friendly to her person. In any event, we got some good info about the road ahead, including bridge work that might mean a detour. Of course, we've run in to closed roads before; "Road Closed" signs mean nothing to us. We went around one in Pennsylvania, and another maybe a week ago in the St. Peter township. Today was no different; we came to the sign and rode right by. To us it just means there will be less traffic to contend with. The gravel was not too bad, and the construction guys were a little amused but OK with us passing through. Walked a bit, but we've done that on functional bridges. Over the Delaware. Several times.

We were halfway between Shawangunk and New Paltz when we met Fred; he had to pull over and talk with us because he had done a cross-country bike trip back in 1976 with his wife, Pam. His excitement about our trip was infectious; his stories about the people he met, and the friends he still has, were delightful. He even gave us the name of a friend in Hyde Park, where we intended to stop for the night, who would let us camp in heer yard. But, we had already seen the weather report and knew rain was coming (I think it is raining right now), and had decided to stay in a motel near the FDR home so we could go see it in the morning. We appreciated the offer and would have taken it if we hadn't already made that decision. Fred, if you are reading this, thank you for your kind efforts; we share your excitement about this journey and hope you will find some entertainment in our blog.

On a slightly technical note, we passed a significant mile-mark for me today, 1750 miles, which represents more than 25% of the trip. It seems like a good time to evaluate where we are relative to the plan and what we have accomplished.

Where did we expect to be? At this point, I thought we would be near the border between Connecticut and Massachusetts; actually, we are in Hyde Park and will not even be in Connecticut until Friday, probably. In terms of days, that is about four days behind where my ambitious plan had us, and as we look ahead to the mountains of New England we are expecting to fall several more days behind the intended schedule. This is OK. Our only real time constraint is to get across the Rockies before it snows, and our new projected time for that is mid- to late August.

What about the budget? I'll be honest; we've missed the target $60 per day on average by about a third. There's still a lot of road ahead of us though, and many more opportunities to camp.

How do we feel? In a word, strong. Nancy is conquering hills she never dreamed she could, and now that I have a full range of gears available I am availing myself of the Granny Gear more often so I don't ruin my knees. And, we've only been in one hot tub. We are still grinning from ear to ear.

Tomorrow we are going to do the touristy thing and visit the FDR house, and maybe the Vanderbilt mansion too. We will take a short day and stop short of Connecticut unless we feel extraordinarily strong or something weird like that. Cheers!