Home from Maine 2022 Day 9 - East Canaan, CT to Poughkeepsie, NY

 It was a relatively easy day today, 51 miles and 2100 feet of climb. With lots and lots of downhill descending from the Berkshires to our hotel next to the Hudson River in downtown Poughkeepsie. We were done at 3:00. I am not wiped out. And my appetite is back, because pirogi.

We had a yummy breakfast at this deli five miles down the road in North Canaan, CT.

People in Connecticut really like their cows. Here is a row of young calves, hanging out under umbrellas, along the side of the road.

I am trying to decide if this is actually art.

Soon afterwards, we entered New York.

The first question we had to contend with was whether "State Line Road" was the actual state line.

 
Max said according to Google Maps, it was not the state line. But we weren't sure because the house just beyond the sign was flying the flag of New York's football team.

The actual Welcome to New York sign was a quarter mile or so farther along.

We rode US 44 almost the entire day. Sometimes US 44 is the Adventure Cycling route, but usually it's not. On one hand, it has a lot of traffic, but on the other hand the shoulders are good and it's fairly new so the grades are as good as can be expected. There were still a couple tough climbs, one of 13%. It's actually fun to climb over mountains.

We did get to do 10 miles or so of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, which was really great.

After the rail trail, there is a ginormous climb over a mountain on US 44.

But after that, it's about 20 miles of payback all the way to Poughkeepsie. We decided to bail of US 44 and switch to the Salt Point Turnpike when traffic got bad about 10 miles from Poughkeepsie. This was not a great plan, the traffic was just as bad on our alternate, but the alternate had no shoulders. Sometimes Adventure Cycling has good reason for choosing the roads they do.

We were in our fancy hotel at 3:00.

Check out that chandelier over Max's head!

I chose this fancy hotel because it has laundry. We are totally out of clean clothes. This hotel is weird. They make you put $150 on your credit card as a "contingency fee". I find this to be obnoxious. It made me think the hotel is full of partying college students and bachelorettes. The empty Bud Light can under my bed reinforced this notion. So did the coupon for two free drinks at the bar.

But I appreciated the two free drinks - one for the wash cycle and one for the dryer! Win win win. I put the wash in and went to check out the scene at the bar. They are hosting the Ladies Garden Club convention this week. Everyone at the bar is 80 years old, mostly women, discussing how to enter the parking garage to unload their displays for the garden club. Do they give you a card? Do you use your room key? How do you pay? It doesn't get any better than this. 

I told one of the garden club ladies how annoyed I was by the $150 contingency fee, and do they expect the Ladies' Garden Club to trash the place? She said last time they were here, they accidentally set the conference room on fire.

Here are our bikes in our room. Note how they are not touching the walls. 

I will use this photo later when they try to make me pay $150 for damage.

After the clothes were washed, we went out to dinner and what a dinner it was! German food!

Schatzi's Pub and Bier Garden. And it was pirogi night.

The pirogis were amazing, I almost gobbled them all down before I remembered to take a picture. Our waitress said the pirogis were made by a little old Polish lady who lives across the street. OF COURSE THEY ARE! The best pirogis are always made by an old Polish or Ukranian woman who lives across the street. They were so amazing.

Today was a pretty great day.

Here is the Strava track.