Looking back: Delaware River, Appalachian Trail, and Hudson Valley (days 22-24)

Day 22:

We woke up refreshed after a good night's sleep at Ken and Donna's house and set off toward the Delaware River and New Jersey. Just before we crossed the river, we stopped in a cute town called New Hope which had an awesome French bakery/café right on the river. Katelyn and I enjoyed coffee and pastries there while we made phone calls to campgrounds and a B&B where we planned to stay in the coming few days.

After our break, we crossed the Delaware river into New Jersey! In a New Jersey river town we met a fellow northbound bicycle traveler coming from Philadelphia. He was traveling with a B.O.B. trailer like us, which we thought was pretty neat. The rest of the day we followed the Delaware river, passing a variety of small towns and houses ranging from ritzy to backwoods to industrial. We crossed the Delaware river a total three times between PA and NJ, finally staying the night in an NJ state forest. Before crossing the river the last time, however, we crossed the Appalachian Trail! We actually rode on it temporarily as it crossed the river at Delaware Water Gap along the I-80 bridge. 

Day 23

We woke up the next morning, a Sunday, packed up, ate some cold oatmeal, and headed out into the national recreation area. We had the quiet and beautiful road mostly to ourselves and only saw one or two local businesses for several hours. Two road bikers came up behind us on their morning ride and we traveled together for a while-- our conversations made the miles pass quickly and Jonathan and I rode more quickly than our typical morning plod.

Upon emerging from the forest we found a church with a service just starting--we thought that with our long trip out of the woods we wouldn't get to visit a church community. In the photo you can see our road biker friends riding off when we parted ways. Besides just having a fun time riding together with the two road bikers Jonathan and I were reminded that God is perfect at timing for both big and little things and got us go this church on time. 

After the service we crossed into New York and the Hudson River Valley. We were both surprised at the spectacular beauty of the New York countryside.

At the state line

A lovely place to ride

The sun was getting low as we neared the Blueberry Inn-- we had arranged to stay at a bed and breakfast as a treat and to rest that night. We ended up arriving earlier than we had anticipated and that was the start of a wonderful stay at the 1800s Dutch farmhouse inn in Gardnier, NY.

Day 24

After a great nights rest we woke up to a delicious breakfast made by the innkeeper (not made by us and not oatmeal! Altogether wonderful!). Breakfast included beef sausage made from the grass fed cows that are part of the farm operated by the Blueberry Inn owners.

Yum!

We spent the morning lazing about in the sunny front yard and planning our campgrounds for the next few days. We decided to make the day a short riding day-- just 30 miles to camp that night-- and to explore the Hudson Valley.

We started with a wine tasting at a nearby vineyard and winery on the Hudson Valley Wine Trail.

Grapes!

Then we headed to New Paltz, New York for grocery shopping and sight seeing. We had a picnic lunch on Huguenot Street, the oldest street in the US by some measure with six houses built before 1700. It was a neat town with an eclectic vibe-- a mix of old and new, quiet and busy, college students (from SUNY New Paltz) and families and tourists. We met an olive oil and vinegar shop owner who told us about Hudson Valley agribusiness and we tasted his Italian products.

Lunch on Huguenot Street.

Part-Italian man outside of Italian olive oil and vinegar store.

We rode on to the Hudson River and crossed an excellent Pedestrian bridge called the Walkway Over the Hudson.

Note that this lovely bridge closes at sunset-- we just made it on before it closed.

We camped at M. L. Norrie State Park. When we arrived at camp we thought it strange that all the sites were so dark-- we couldn't see anyone and it was only 9:30 or so. We wouldn't find out why until the sun rose the next morning...