June 9, 2010

Day 1: Home to Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA 343 mi

We left home just after 6am under partly sunny skies. We knew we were riding into rain, so the rain gear was close at hand, ready when needed. I mentioned in my first post that I would be mostly by myself on this trip. At the last minute my husband, Paul, was able to get a couple of vacation days, so he came with me today. He'll head home tomorrow and back to work on Friday. He'll fly to Denver on the 19th, rent a motorcycle, and explore Colorado with me for a week before flying home again. I will mention that he gets the award for "best husband ever" for supporting me on this journey.

We headed west on the Mass Pike. I was hoping this was the last interstate I would be on for quite a while, but it wasn't to be. I know that plans are meant to be changed, and the weather plus some navigation problems made it necessary to revise the route. From the Pike we took the Taconic Pkwy south then headed west to cross the "mighty" Hudson at the Rhinebeck bridge. We lived for 2 years in Hyde Park, so this area is quite familiar to us. My route took us southwest on 209, skirting the southern edge of the Catskills. We stopped to look around at the Delaware and Hudson Canal State Park. The canal was started in 1825 and all 125 miles of it were completed in just 3 years. Most of the canal has been filled in or overgrown now. Here's a bit of what the original walls looked like. The actual canal is on the far side of the wall shown.

The park has an interesting visitors center. There is also a small museum on the property, but only open Fri - Sun.

Our next stop was in Port Jervis for something to eat. Somehow "The Epiphany" appealed to my sense of humor today.

Upon leaving Port Jervis, having made what my (actually Paul's, but that's another story) Zumo declared to be an "unauthorized stop", I was unable to resume my stored route. I knew which way I wanted to go, but the GPS insisted on sending us on the PA side of the Delaware instead of the New Jersey side. We crossed Dingman's Bridge not once, but twice (under "inspection", so of course some brief delays) and to add to our disorientation, it started to rain. Since the goal of the day had been to get to Longwood Gardens and our route deviation had cost us significant time, we decided to choose the fastest way to Kennett Square. This ended up being a continuation of Route 209, no longer scenic, the PA Turnpike, and a congested section of Route 1. This was all done in heavy rain. We arrived at Longwood Gardens around 3 pm. It was continuing to rain heavily. Paul was pretty soaked as we had already shipped his "good" riding gear to Colorado and he was relying on older jacket, pants and boots, so we made the tough decision to skip the Gardens and go on to our hotel. I had only made one reservation and it was for tonight, just 2 miles from the Gardens.

I'm sorry to not get in to Longwood today, but I had some brief glances while riding along the access road and it looks spectacular. It is located in the Brandywine Valley with other museums and attractions, so it goes on my list for somewhere to visit in the future.