Poughkeepsie to Matamoras PA 70 miles - Cum 607 miles

Today I rode with Meiri from my Cross Country ride last summer. She has been doing her training in this area so she led the way from the hotel to New Paltz NY. We stopped for coffee at a Starbucks and discussed the route we had just been on. It paralleled the Adventure Cycling route but on a better road. We decided that we would try some of the better roads and not use the Adventure Cycling routes unless we had to. I had already gone off route because I had determined that their routes were not always the best. The other day as I was Windsor Locks CT, I passed a fully loaded biker heading north. he turned around and came over to talk. He was on his way to Bar Harbor from Key West and of course I am going from Bar Harbor to Key West. He said something that I found very heartening. He said that I was going the right direction as it was downhill. He also said that the maps from Adventure Cycling took you off some good roads and put you on bad ones. I agreed and told him of some of the route adjustments I had made in Maine. Anyway Meiri and I made some changes and were on good routes with good shoulders and with a lot less climbing which I certainly appreciated. Last year she was slower than me but this year I am a lot slower than her going up hills. I am going to send stuff home when we get to our friend from last summer's trip, John Boyles' house in reading.

Meiri and I also decided not to make advance motel reservations and to just see what is available as we get to our destination. This is why we are in Matamoras and not Port Jervis. Matamoras is just across the state line but a lady told us we should go there instead of Port Jervis because the hotels are of a better quality.

It was another cold and windy day but we had a tail wind for most of the trip and it didn't rain. The first thing we did was cross over the Hudson River foot bridge. This is an amazing structure that has been turned into a state park. You can see how the wind was blowing from the north. Luckily we were going west or south most of the day! We again went through old towns that were started in the 1600's or 1700's. Late in the day we went through Montgomery New York that was full of very old but very nice looking houses.

It was almost dark when we pulled into the Best Western but again another great cycling day!