September 17

Lana and I slept in this morning, then got up for a bacon and egg breakfast.  My plans for the day were loose.  I had all day to make about 275 miles.  Catskill State Park was due west of me, and it sounded like an interesting place, so I told the GPS to get me there via back roads, and let Garmin do the planning.  It routed me south into Connecticut, then east on US 44.  This was a great road, very scenic, and a lot of bikes were out enjoying it on this beautiful Sunday.

I soon entered New York on 199, and the scenery got even better!  I crossed the Hudson River at Kingston, and was surprised at how wide it was.  I tried to snap a picture, but all I got was guardrail, sorry.

Soon I entered Catskill State Park.  I quickly regretted going out of the way to come here.  The road was a wide 4 lane, with a fair amount of traffic, and views that were only mediocre.  After a while the road narrowed, but the views didn't get any better.  It was a let-down after the wonderful ride over on 44 and 199.  I stopped at a crossroads, a little community called Big Indian, to re-evaluate my plans.

I had originally planned to ride all the way through the park, east to west, but I was tired of the road that I was on (28).  I plugged in the coordinates of tonight's hotel and told the GPS to get me there, using back roads, as usual.  Oh, what a great decision!

The GPS told me to take 47 south out of the park, which just happened to intersect 28 about 50 feet from where I was standing.  So I fired up and turned south.  Within a 100 yards of turning on to this new road, I could have been back in the Smokies.  The road was wonderful.  Narrow, with dapples of sunlight streaming down through the heavy canopy of trees, a river running along the side, farms, horses grazing in their pastures...perfect.

I loved this road.

47 exited the park at the community of Neversink, and the GPS led me on a meandering trek along more wonderful roads with sublime scenery.  All of the riding today was excellent, with the exception of 28 in the Catskills.  I arrived at my hotel around 5, not knowing when Eric would arrive.  I had no message on my cell phone, and since he had a big-mile day, I decided to go ahead and eat.  The McDonalds across the street was good enough for me.  Wouldn't you know it, Eric showed up just as I ate my last french fry.  He had ridden interstate all day, and had come in via New York City.  He said he had always wanted to see it, and had enjoyed the ride.  I walked down to Denny's with him while he had dinner, and topped off my high-calorie value meal with a slice of apple pie.

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