Day 106- Motorcycle

I kept waking up and checking if it was time to get up yet, but it was always dark and cold. Finally it was almost 7. I looked out of my sleeping bag and my tent seemed to be lit up. I guess it's time to get going. I thought I heard the motorcycle again as I was packing up, but I got back on the trail without seeing anyone. I had some steep hills right off the bat. This was a good thing though. It was pretty chilly out, so the extra work warmed me up. I restocked at a 7-Eleven. Finally I made it to New York. I checked a lot of places for postcards- gas stations, pharmacies, gift shops- no luck. Finally I got directed to a stationary store. I thought that meant like scrapbooking, which I've never had luck with, so I almost skipped it. It ended up being a card shop. They had like over 20 different postcards. Win! I knew I was going through the town of Peekskill, and I really wanted a Peekskill, New York postcard, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. The route all day was straightforward enough. I got off track once, but that was because the roads are über weird here sometimes. Some roads do a 180 but still have the same name, while others continue straight and have different names at random intervals. There was a lot of traffic all day, but I usually had a shoulder. If I didn't, the drivers seemed pretty used to passing bikers. I got excited when I noticed the river and the bridge up ahead. I figured being next to the river meant no more hills- wrong. I had several ups and downs before finally reaching the bridge. I was a bit nervous. The last bridge I wasn't able to go acrross. If that was true here, it could really screw me over by adding miles and miles to my route. Luckily there was a pedestrian path on the side of the bridge- phew. I went slow and took a bunch of pictures. The view was great. The road as soon as I got off the bridge was a blast. Lots of traffic, and no shoulder most of the time. There was a cliff face to the left and a wall keeping cars from driving off the cliff to the right. Good thing the speed limit was reasonable. I felt safe enough. Eventually I got to turn off onto a short walking path, then dirt road, then I was in Peekskill! In my completely unbiased opinion, it's a pretty neat town. It's kinda built in the cliffs, overlooking the water. This perhaps wasn't the best for bikes though. I had some real gnarly hills to climb. The path for the rest of the day was pretty easy. I turned once to get on a bike path- the rest was all the same road. I was hoping to make it to Connecticut today, but by the time 5 rolled around, I realized I needed to make sure I knew I had a spot to camp. There were a few spots just before the border, but after that, the road consistently had houses on either side. It was cloudy, so I knew I needed to find camp before 7. It's so weird. I used to find camp at like 9:30. It was only 6, but I had to quit riding. I waited for the traffic to die down a bit, then I ducked into the forest. It was kinda thin, but I hoped to get far enough in that no one would be able to see me. Then I found the water. I was hoping it wasn't this way for long, so I went forward more than I should have. My tires were almost halfway submerged in the water. I had to backtrack, all the while knowing that anyone going by in their cars would be able to see me. I went around the swamp and started setting up my tent. I could just barely see a house but I knew it was plenty far away. I picked a spot that was more in the vegetation part, but the thorn bushes and whatnot were making it more difficult than I wanted it to be. I moved everything over, even more away from the swamp, to an area under some big trees where nothing else but small ferns grew. I was a tad more visible, but I was out of the thorn bushes. I crawled inside my tent and listened to the cars going by as I planned out the next day.

Seriously, my main form of entertainment during this trip was road signs.

This was a pretty huge bridge.