Chilly AM again. Should have run the heater.
Crashed about 200′ off main highway, noisy. I couldn’t live beside the roads like I have seen these houses. Imagine a B & B with your window about 40′ from a semi running the gears. Or the building shaking.
Forecast was for showers about 2:00PM. Headed back into NY over the Hudson which at RT 199 is really wide (no dimensions, just gut feel). Plan was to ride Jockey Hill near Sawkill. Poor navigation on my part left me wandering around. Back into Lake Katrine, parked at RR station to figure out where I was and how to get to where I needed to be. Guy pulls up on a cheap Walmart type bike with heavy work gloves, etc. Looked like I would be dealing with a person that should be under treatment somewhere other than on the street. Not the case. Articulate. On vaca from electrician job, raised his 3 kids after his wife dashed. A bit of a character. We chatted a while. He did wiring at original Woodstock.
He straightened me out and I headed out. I hit TH under dropping gray clouds. I dallyed for a few minutes and the clouds dumped rain. Just as well that I was lost because I would have been riding during that dump.
Wandered driving around with no goal. Pretty countryside. In NE they diverted the h2o for h2o power for mills etc. Dams blocked salmon migrating upstream.
Found Kingston. Parked in Hannaford Grocery store parking lot doing internet research. Called LBS inquiring about rides. Strike out. Then tried health clubs for a shower. Struck out also.
Tried a KOA XG and was dissed. I questioned the operator why and he told me that the county requires them to log in every person who enters the XG. In order for me to shower I would have to pay for a site: $30. I chatted with him a while wondering if he discriminates. In essence he said it depends if the person(s) would threaten the family atmosphere. I finally asked him which was my premise: Is our generation more tolerant than our parents? What sparked the question was listening to XM music of the 50’s and me looking like an old hippie. People who listened to that music when it was new would have been busting my chops all along on my odessey.
Checked out a Walmart in Kingston for possible crash site but couldn’t find a suitable level spot far away from the shopping crowd. Drove a bit further S and found a overflow school parking lot about 1/2 block off rt 9 blocked by a house and a hedge. No overnight street parking in this burg. Don’t know what their policy is about parking overnight in a school lot.
Tomorrow I plan on riding Blue Mtn reservation near Peekskill then beat feet West to NW NJ and maybe a Jersey ride.
Today is the 95th day out, I have ridden 1073 miles on 69 rides.
I am spending hours a day on computer searching rides, writing this, emailing, satisfying my Craig mind. My trip would be a heck of a lot different with out it.