5/29: New York State

It took us a short while Friday morning to make the final decision to make our way toward the little town of Hillsdale, New York. It was a short 5- 7 miles from Bash Bish, and since we had gone thru there with Stacey on Tuesday, it would be an easy pick- up point for Saturday. It was also finally a nice day so it seemed like a good idea to get on the road.

Maybe a mile down the road, we crossed from Massachusetts into New York and Taconic State Park. This part of the country is gorgeous, and a total joy to walk thru. It was also an area that Steven Newman had glowingly referred to in his book Worldwalk. For once the excessive, colorful metaphors fit!

Once to the hamlet of Copake Falls (it's an actual hamlet!), I made the mistake of buying a pack of cigarettes. I had gone nearly two- days without smoking, but rationalized the purchase by telling myself I "wanted" them rather than "needed" them. The patches were working fine and I could have quit at that point, but I failed my very first test... miserably.

After charging the cell phone and lingering lazily at Taconic State Park, we made our way slowly up Route 22 toward Hillsdale. Along the way we decided to pop in to a roadside greenhouse to see what kinds of fruits we could find. Not only did I find the cherries I was craving, but also some interesting people.

We struck up quick conversations with a couple employees who offered to let us loiter beneath their gazebo and enjoy some relaxation. Before long, Keith stopped over taking a break from his duties at the greenhouse to see what we two oddities were up to. Keith was a new father who lived behind the North Mountain Nursery and Farm Stand and worked there with his father. We learned that his dad has owned land near Las Cruces, New Mexico for years, but never seen it beyond Google Earth! When the conversation turned to social issues I learned that Keith was quite informed, passionate and a bit of an anarchist. I liked him immediately. His views about the future of our floundering republic are in line with mine, so we spent much more time at this little oasis in the Berkshires than anticipated.

When we finally resumed after swapping email and Facebook info, I was continually struck by the beauty of this place. Small mountains, streams, forests... it was like a postcard and exactly the type of terrain I had hoped we'd get to wander through at some point. At least we had 5 or 6 miles of it.

We had touched base with Stacey earlier in the day and arranged to call her the following evening to set up a specific spot to meet where we would begin our jaunt across New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Since we had the entire day to kill, we stopped a mile or two short of Hillsdale to camp. I had a little fun with my Facebook friends from here, adding an update saying that I was "camping just south of Hillsdale." It was obviously the truth, but I intentionally left them thinking Hillsdale, Michigan; the next town over from my hometown. It was funny for a few minutes, but eventually felt like a jackass. I believe this may have deeply scarred my friend David...