1. The Hudson River Valley and the Catskills

Day 1: Tuesday, September 4

Started the third trip of the year at 9:00 AM. Cloudy skies, temperature of 68F. As usual, a slightly nostalgic feeling when leaving Antje, the poodles, and the comforts of home. But, as usual, the feeling went away after the second traffic light.

Took I-287 north to the New York state line, then I-87 (the New York Thruway) east to Nyack. North on US 9W to explore a bit around the lower Hudson Valley. Wanted to visit the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, but they were closed. Anyway, the history is that Brig. Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne and the Corps of Light Infantry here pulled off a successful nighttime raid on a British garrison, which gave the Americans a great deal of confidence in their ability to get the better of the Brits, and convinced the latter that just maybe these American farm boys were a force to be concerned about, despite their lack of formal training in the arts of the military.

Continued north on US 9W to Bear Mountain State Park - a rather pretty park, especially its George W. Perkins Memorial Drive to the top of 1,305' Bear Mountain. The guide book had promised that the view of the Hudson river would be spectacular, but National Geographic had forgotten to mention that haze and clouds would make the river all but invisible. Have you ever wondered how guide book writers manage to catch that one day a year when clouds lift, haze burns off, and clouds just drift away? They also seem to be very good at avoiding traffic jams, construction sites, and detours.

Next a quick visit to West Point, the military academy. As I drove around the campus, couldn't help but notice that each of the "private" homes was marked with a carefully carved sign giving the name and rank of the occupant. Wondered about who does the carving, and the huge number of generals who are at the Point.

Then a rather scenic drive on 9W to Highland Farms and on SR 293 and SR 17M to Museum Village, an outdoor museum near Monroe that exhibits a number of buildings with a collection of 19th century Americana -- but closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Also closed was the Huguenot Village near New Paltz, but at least one could see the outside of the buildings.

Continued on SR 17M to Goshen and SR 207/SR 208 to Washingtonville and the Brotherhood Winery, which claims to be the oldest winery in the US. Not worth the detour, especially if driving responsibilities preclude sampling the products.

I suspect a case can be made that it is not the oldest one. Also, the name "Brotherhood" -- which implies that maybe a group of monks have dedicated their lives to producing fine adult beverages -- is totally bogus. It's a commercial enterprise, plain and simple.

Next came a number of drives on backroads with many detours to get around bridge constructions. Bottom line -- some 100 miles of unplanned driving through the Catskills, and mostly worth it because of lovely scenic beauty and an abundance of wild turkeys and does with their fawns.

After much effort and backtracking, finally found the Kenneth L. Wilson State Park near Mt. Tremper -- not at all anywhere where Map 'n Go told me it would be. The park is quite beautiful with well-separated sites and lovely trees. Even 'though they were completely booked out for the Labor Day weekend, each site had been cleaned up and raked. $12.75 for the night, no hook-ups, toilets nearby, but a bathhouse that is too far to walk to.

Drove 305 miles today, was on the road for 9 hours. Will have beef tartare for dinner, "thank you" Antje. Will do some reading after dinner, the new halogen reading light I installed is really working well.

Day 2: Wednesday, September 5

A picture perfect day!

Slept well, didn't wake up until 7 AM. Beautiful sunshine, outside temperature of 59F. After a leisurely breakfast and delicious coffee, dumped the grey water and found a water spigot to refill the fresh water tank. Was on the road by 9 AM and took CR 40 and SR 28 east to get to Kingston.

This river port city was first settled by the Dutch in 1652 and became New York's first capital in 1777. The historic district is filled with old stone buildings, many featuring the half-open Dutch doors that one finds in Holland to this day. The "historic" theme is, I think, a bit overdone, with fake gas lights and all. But, I'm sure, the tourists love it. Drove out the the waterfront district, which was touristy and somewhat fake. All in all, an OK town to visit.

Headed west on SR 28, with a detour to Woodstock. Lots of hippies, lots of long haired people (most showing that they were in their twenties some forty years ago), psychedelic store signs and plenty of artsy-crafty stores and galleries. Incidentally, the (in)famous 1969 rock concert didn't take place in Woodstock at all -- it happened some fifty miles away at Bethel.

Continued west on SR 28, driving along the Catskill mountains and valleys. Reasonable pretty scenery, some lovely villages with Victorian houses, little traffic. Ended up in Cooperstown -- a tourist mecca. Probably more hype than substance, but the setting along Lake Oswego is very scenic. Found CR 30 to drive along the shores of the lake, an attractive little county road. Then took backroads to Cobleskill and I-88 to Schenectady, where I got hopelessly lost in my search for SR 50. Zigzagged for more than an hour, visited places like Amsterdam that weren't on my itinerary, and -- hallelujah -- on my third revisit to Schenectady, found SR 50. Headed north to connect with I-87 at Saratoga Springs, and then jumped off again shortly before Glens Falls to make my way to the Moreau Lake State Park.

And what a beautiful state park it is! While the camp ground is without amenities (no hook-ups, no dump station, no showers that I could find) and relatively expensive at $15.75/night -- the sites are quite level and well-separated. And the setting is extraordinary.

Spent much of the evening talking with a fellow camper from Missouri and helping him plan his trip to Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and driving down the east coast to Virginia. Was delighted to discover that my Sprint PCS signal was strong enough to connect to the internet, so was able to download e-mail. An hour later the signal wasn't strong enough to reconnect and upload replies. Sure wish that there would be an economical way to get good connections, all the time. After all, if we can communicate with people in space and robots on Mars, we ought to be able to do so on earth. But, I guess, the government isn't too concerned about its cost of communication, while I am.

All in all, was on the road for 9 hours and drove some 310 miles. According to Map 'n Go, I should have traveled 270 miles. Oh well, at least I got to drive along the Erie canal. Bought gasoline at $1.479/gal and averaged 16.6 miles per gallon on the last tank. Late evening temperature is around 55F, forecasted to drop into the mid-forties during the night.

Looking back on this segment of my trip, I'd rate the scenic beauty of the western Hudson valley and the Catskills as a B at best. OK, if you're in the area anyway, maybe worth a detour, but not worthy of being a destination. Having said that, I should add that the rating would go to A+ when Fall comes around and the foliage is at its peak. But for that, you get a better view if you take a commuter flight from New York to Albany on a clear day in early October, as I did a few years ago.

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