 | August 16 - 22, New York and New Jersey |
View of downtown Albany
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Albany, State Capital of NY |
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Bike path over the Hudson River, Albany |
On
Saturday we started our last week in the USA. But at this time we do not
know it. I had been talking with the airline to rearrange our flight home
earlier than we had booked. But in the times of computer and fast internet
it is not so easy for the agents to check all necessary data during one
phone call. "Please call us back on Monday morning, Sir!"
This morning we had to ride back into town on the same road we took
yesterday. This time it was only light traffic, a slight downhill, a very
bad road and a great scenery once we reached the downtown area. The bridge
across the Hudson river to Renselaar had a bike path. We pushed our bikes
to be able to make a few photos. Once on the east side of the river, we
were on New York Bike Route #9. We then rode straight south, heading for
New York City at the mouth of the Hudson River.
Then the hills started. All was rideable (after nearly 3,000 miles), but
the low gears were often in use. From the top of the hills we could see
the River now and then. We had a very basic second breakfast in
Castleton-upon-Hudson (very English name). Later we had to hide, because a
rain shower crossed our path. We planned to stay in the town of Hudson.
It's not easy to find the right accommodation, because the motels are not
lined along the business highway. We had to dip into town, which consisted
of many old houses, occupied by galleries, art shops and such. Even a bike
shop was there, which led to the purchase of new bike helmets for the two
of us (much cheaper than in Germany). We had bought our groceries before
we came into town, which was a good decision, because there were only a
few restaurants in town and they were pretty fancy. The fast food fare was
not to be seen in town.
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Sunday was our wedding anniversary. We started with warm sunshine and had
sunshine all day. We rode over many hills. Unfortunately the traffic
increased later in the day. Sometimes we could see across the river and
discover the Catskill Mountains in the distance. We made it via Red Hook,
Rhinebeck, Hyde Park (very old, very stiff) to Poughkeepsie (what a
name!). We had to cross the whole town to make it to the motels. But on
Sunday early afternoon it was not too bad. In the evening we had dinner at
a nice Italian outdoor restaurant.
Monday morning I called again at the airline and got the confirmation,
that we fly home this coming Friday night!! Puhh!!! OK, we can make
it, if we skip New York City. That's the plan!!!
Again it was sunny and very warm. The hills became significant steeper and
unfortunately the traffic increased again. Generally the shoulder was OK,
but the bicyclists will know: Often there is no shoulder when you need it
the most. We got a second breakfast in Fishkill and rode into Cold Springs,
rewarded with a long downhill. That afternoon we finally crossed the river
to the western side via the Bear Mountain Bridge near Manitou. At the Bear
Mountain SP we asked for accommodation nearby and they recommended riding
back some miles to the town of Highland Falls, which is the entry to the
US Military Academy West Point. To escape the heavy traffic, we rode most
of the miles on the boardwalk. The motel was just at the border of town,
so someone had to drive us from the motel into town to the grocery (1-2
miles). In the evening I sat in front of our room on the porch and made music
on my harmonica. I am sure not to disturb anybody, because all AC around
us are on and making a big noise.
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On Tuesday, August 19th, we started late. In the town of Highland Falls we ran into two young cyclists, who had ridden the "Northern Tier" West to East on the Canadian side. They planned to make it today into NYC and stay there. They did mostly camping and had camped "wild" during the last night in a little park in town. To avoid too much climbing over Bear Mountain, the Bike Route #9 takes a left off the road and disappears in the bushes. Yeah, this mile or two was a mountain bike route. Very narrow, much grass and bushes, many stones and sand and tree roots. Everyone with smaller tires than ours would have had some serious problems. We rode and pushed through. Back on the paved roads, the size of the hills increased again. We made it through Haverstraw, an industrial town (two nuclear power plants on the other side of the river).
8-9 miles further on we made it through Nyack, which I would call: Town of
the very rich!! Wonderful old and roomy houses in big gardens with old
trees and plenty of flowers. In this kind of town, it is difficult to find
reasonably prized eateries. Finally at the end of town, we found a place.
And a bike shop nearby. I asked the guys in the shop to loosen our pedals,
so I could take them off at the airport. After this rest we had to climb,
climb, climb! Three more miles and we passed our last border: from New
York State into New Jersey. The road conditions increased, a slight
downhill with a few short climbs in between. After Englewood the traffic
had four lanes and we biked on the sidewalk. Finding a motel was not easy
and we had to ask a few times. Finally we made it to a very basic motel
right near a four lane road in Fort Lee, NJ. I will not tell how basic the
room was equipped, but the TV set was definitely borrowed from the museum.
A good grocery was only a 20 minutes walk up the hill. Even a liquor store
was nearby."
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Next
morning, Wednesday, August 20th, we were up very early (traffic noise). It
was sunny and pleasantly warm. First we pushed our bikes up a steep hill
and then finally found a good street map of the area, including the
airport in Newark. With the help of that paper we made it through the
traffic in an hour down to the banks of the Hudson River. It was a wonderful
feeling to ride along the shore of the Hudson and watch New York City with
it's skyscrapers on the other side of the river. We were really impressed.
Most of the shoreline was easy riding. A few stretches were rough. We
stopped very often to take in the scenery.
View of Manhattan, NYC
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By lunchtime we had reached Jersey City (12 mi) and found, that we had to look for accommodations. We inquired here and there. At one hotel I asked the prices: 399,- plus tax for one night and 349,- plus tax, if we stay for two nights. I thanked the hotel clerk for the information and replied, that "we would think about that". While Maren was waiting outside the hotel, a bicyclist approached her and asked if he could help. He knew a reasonably prized motel, but when we arrived, there were no vacancies. A gentleman who sat in the lobby, realized our problem and could help with his cell phone. He dialed the Ramada Hotel, and they still had a room available. We made it within 30 minutes to the Ramada and got a very big room, which slept four. This was the most expensive night of the whole trip. We found ourselves in the Indian neighborhood, where we walked around in the evening.
Unfortunately the motel was booked out the following night, so we had to
look for the next accommodation. That ruined the whole Thursday, because
we had hoped to go down to the river again and visit the Statue of
Liberty, which was only 5-6 miles away. Instead we searched the phone book
and found something close to the airport. We took the Ramada Hotel Airport shuttle
to
the airport and then the Days Inn Airport shuttle from the airport to the
Days Inn in Newark, where we arrived shortly after noon. The hotel was
situated in a heavily industrialized area with no chance to escape except
than by car or bus. We cleaned our bicycles, packed and rested. In the
evening we ordered a pizza service.
On Friday, August
22nd, we slept long and took the shuttle bus to the airport already in the
late morning. At the airport it took me two hours of effort to get two
bicycle boxes. After that, packing was fast and easy. By 3:00 PM we had
checked in. Now we had plenty of time until boarding at 8 PM. We bought 10
picture postcards from the Statue of Liberty, wrote them for various
addressees in the US and abroad ....... and could not find a letter box!
For security reasons, there were none!! One of the ladies from our airline
offered to put them in the letter box outside the airport. The flight was
only around 7 hours long, until we reached London Heathrow. There we had
another 5 hours to wait, until we boarded our plane to Hamburg. We arrived
at 5:50 PM on Saturday, August 23rd, in rainy Hamburg. Some friends and
our Turkish neighbors awaited us and took us home. On Sunday we took the
public bus to the airport, reassembled our bikes and rode the final 10
miles home
Epilogue
1.
One
of the headlines of this website is "Tour of Hope", that
is, that Maren's health condition would allow us to make the
trip with no serious health problems. This hope was fulfilled.
Maren did very well and was riding very strong. Some smaller inconveniences
now and then were normal during such a long bike trip
2. We have ridden some 3,000 miles with an average of 48 miles on every
riding day. We had two flats on Maren's rear tire. We had been 82 days in the US. We were on the road for 76 days with 13 rest days.
3. After having traveled such a long time in the US (also in the years
before), we now have a feeling close to "coming home", when we
have passed Immigration. Watching the Weather Channel, our favourite TV-Channel,
seeing Stefany, Mike, Joe, Christina, Jin, Marschal, Heather and the others is
like well known friends.
4. About the weather - We were very lucky this year with the weather. We had some narrow escapes from thunderstorms and other
severe weather during the trip, but after Whitefish, MT we really needed
our raingear only a bit after Niagara Falls and in New York State. The predominantly westerly winds really existed, at least in Montana and
North Dakota! OK, a few days the wind was not on our
side, but over all: We can not complain.
5. All over, we again made many new friends along our way. Many of them
were willing to share some time with us to talk and to listen our stories.
