Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Nothing hard is ever easy: A bicycle tour attempt.

Naah, the Mid-Hudson Bridge. The next bridge is the Newburg-Beacon Bridge where the Interstate crosses, fifteen miles south of that pic. After that comes the Bear Mountain Bridge and just north of NYC the Tappan Zee. But the river (a bay really) is like two or three miles wide at that point.

Thanks. Been over the Tap, but it's been a while.

Great thread.

Tks.

Well a couple of more posts to close this one out and let it scroll on down the boards....

Finally this year I got to pay a call on Jim (Evil Twin)

A brief one and with very little notice (same day actually), the problem being its difficult for me to schedule anything in advance on account of we're talking three different households among teenagers most of whom have summer jobs on visits where I myself rarely know exact dates I'm gonna be there.

...and a bittersweet reflection on an era coming to a close: Four of 'em were already gone elsewhere in college (three of whom are on various scholarships obligating them to military service), and in just a couple of years the rest will aslo be on their way to their various destinations. I will never regret the time and effort spent visiting them as they grew up, but on the bright side, I might actually get to go OTHER places on vacation now

Anyways, taken as a group, the guys at least are ALL wannabe Historians to varying extents, about like their Uncle, and with an unexpected free day to get together and go somewhere a long trip to see some historic destination is always good, even if there ain't much there.

One of the most historically important corridors in NY State is the north-south Lake Champlain/Hudson Valley axis. Lake Champlain drains into the St Lawrence to the north, and of course the Hudson drains into the Atlantic. Without checking I'm gonna WAG a 250 mile north-distance, and back in the days you could float all but 16 miles of it. That sixteen miles being fortified in the F&I War by Fort Anne on the north (Champlain) end, and by Fort Edward in the Hudson River some distance about Albany.

These will be familiar names to those who have watched "Last of the Mohicans" a bunch.

No trace of either fortification remains above ground today beyond the names of adjacent townships. and the fairly flat portage was long ago spanned by a canal around the time the Erie Canal was dug.

Of note is the island adjacent to the Fort Edward, Rogers Island, formerly the home base of Robert Roger's Rangers, for whom he devised his famous code of rangering. Pretty much overgrown today, with a fishing club/restaurant or some such on the south end, and a couple of fairly recent and already neglected monuments to Rogers and his Rangers.





My guess is that these things were erected twenty and thirty years ago when the pastime of recreational reenacting was at its peak, interest in which along a popular interest in history in general has fallen off considerably since that heyday. There was a fine museum adjacent too, but entirely deserted other than ourselves when we visited.

The town of Fort Edward does contain three famous graves, all relocated at least once.

Major Duncan Campbell, of the 42nd Regiment of Foot, mortally wounded before the walls of Fort Carillon (AKA Ft. Ticongeroga}, July 3rd, 1758.



Now here's a guy who could have told some stories. In 1758 the future Black Watch really was composed of non-English speaking tribal Scottish Highlands, and Cambell was born into the middle of that setting, in Scotland, in 1703.

Even so, he might be mostly forgotten today except that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a short story about Major Campbell and his premonition of death, one hundred thirty years after the fact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Campbell_(British_Army_officer)


The exact provenance of Sarah Fraser Gordon Cambell McNiel is less certain. Her first husband was likely an Uncle to Duncan Campbell, and more to the point she seems to have been a cousin of British General Simon Fraser and of Jane McCrea, both of who would die during the Revolutionary War in connection to Burgoyne's 1777 Saratoga Campaign.

When Burgoyne invaded with the intent to take Albany and link up with Howe in New York City he brung with his 7,000 odd Hessian and British troops a pack of Indians, of various tribes but especially from the far interior. Burgoyne, badly misjudging the character of your average American at that time, publically threatened to unleash these Indian allies upon the White settlements if the Americans did not come to terms.

It backfired, allowing the American press to demonize Burgoyne as barbaric. It also PO'd a lot of fence-sitters enough to take down the flintlock over the fireplace and go gunning for redcoats. Didn't help any that Burgoyne's Indians included many of the then-remote Ottawa, notoriously unreconstructed cannibals.

Worse for Burgoyne, the Indians could not readily distinguish between Tory and Patriot, and likely there was a considerable language barrier between them and the British officers anyway.

Young Jane, jest seventeen and reportedly the fianc� of an American Tory Officer, and her cousin Sarah were captured together by raiding Indians. Sarah was returned to the British and a reward of ransom paid. Unfortunately for Jane a dispute of some kind broke out between her captors, settled by one Indian (Huron or Ottawa dependent upon source) who solved the argument by bashing her Jane's head in and salvaging the scalp (reportedly distinctive because of her log red hair).



The tragic incident had enormous repercussions on both sides; further enraging the Americans and giving a field day to their press, as well as appalling the British, especially Burgoyne, who promptly dismissed most of his Indians, thereby being left without eyes and ears going into the Battle of Saratoga a few weeks later.

Birdwatcher

Excellent adventure and thread Birdwatcher. Reading this motivated me to get back on my bikes. Got my 1981 Lotus Unique out of storage. Took it down to Freewheel Bike on the U of MN West Bank for some parts ( front brake cable, brake hoods and handlebar tape ). People in the store were checking it out and asking me about it. I guess retro bikes are now very cool with the young people. Other bike is a 2003 Specialized Rockhopper. Been riding the Rockhopper every day now since it's more stable and comfortable. Thanks again for sharing a great thread and some motivation.

Birdy, I have been quite till now just enjoying. What a magnificent trip and wonderful travelog Sir.

Thanks T,

Sadly, all I have left to cover is my last day's travel. well two really, as it was to my sister's and back to my mom's again, a fifty mile journey each way, and progress I guess in that by that time I viewed fifty miles as "short to moderate". Photos to follow in evening or morning light dependent upon which leg of the trip they were taken on.

Fishkill NY, and one of George Washington's hangouts at a time when victory was seemingly far, far away. This house was already in place when the F&I War was going on....






Heading south from Beacon, this about 25 miles upriver from NYC. Storm King Mountain, just north of West Point....



...and the only tunnel of the whole trip across the river from that point (looking north), Amtrack tunnel adjacent, high speed commuter trains from Grand Central Station are frequent here...



Coming into Cold Spring...



The evening coming down, I was "bonking" (bicycle geek jargon for low blood sugar/energy) and needed to eat before I finished the last ten miles. In the interest of expediency I stopped at the first place I came to in Cold Spring on the porch of a house very much like that one but this was in a trendy tourist area. Cheapest/fastest thing they had was a plate of mussels and fries for $25. Turns out mussels are possibly even more insubstantial as article of diet compared to their initial appearance than even crawdads...

West Point as seen from across the river at the Indian Creek Bridge...



This beautiful stretch of river being the approximate scene of Benedict Arnold's sellout...

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Sharpshin/Bike/IMG_4218_zps3aca0908.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Sharpshin/Bike/IMG_4220_zps42e2080b.jpg[/img]

Previously perhaps our best battlefield general. It would seem justice to say that, like Robert Rogers, Arnold declined into oblivion after his betrayal, but, such does not appear to have been the case. If he did not exactly prosper he never rolled belly-up either. In fact he aggressively took to the field against his erstwhile countrymen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold#Offer_to_surrender_West_Point

Altogether a puzzle, seems his enemies were right about him all along.

The Bear Mountain Bridge....

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Sharpshin/Bike/IMG_4209_zps354c2c53.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Sharpshin/Bike/IMG_4204_zps59eeae5b.jpg[/img]

more...

Mike ....home from Sturgis and caught up on your ride, tried to call but your message box is full. Call us when you have a little time to chat.
Rick

Dang Rick, after our conversation sounds like I'll be needing to ride out to Sturgis one of these years, congrats on your fine time

Anyways, time to bring things to a close...

Here's a goodbye pic of me amid a crowd of steely-eyed killers... (really, you need to go down to one of these places and look at the clientele if ya ain't been before )





The BEST part of the whole trip? Actually when I got back. One of those moments you remember forever: The look of absolute joy on the face of the grandchild when Grampaa was home again at last

Here's the Missus and me and the kid just this past weekend.



Not the best photo we ever took, but ya gotta understand it was like 105 F on a hot and sunny August afternoon down here and me and my wife were absolutely jammed into the back of this miniature train after spending like an hour outside in the heat over at the playground.

So why were we in that predicament? Well, you'll have to ask the one in charge

Birdwatcher

Oh yeah, I still have the hat.

Breckenridge ParK?

Yep, a fine place to be October thru May

you one bad mofo Birdy!


taggin along on your trip is the only way I'm gonna go that far on a bicycle.


well done sir

and welcome home

Been to the Trail Drivers Museum?

Its been a while, IIRC they redid it not too long ago.

I'll say it again; it actually ain't nearly as hard as everyone who ain't tried it thinks. Even I thought it was going to be hard going in.

But it ain't. Pretty much everyone who actually starts a long bicycle tour usually finishes, some cover more miles in a day than others is all.

And I had bad knees before I started, and STILL have bad knees now that I'm done....

Shame on them. Been awhile for me too.
Granddad had his pic up for years in that place. Had article in the Trail Driver book. He came off his saddle in 1929, settled down as a cattle buyer in old SA.

He was as happy to get off a horse as you were to complete your trip.
You did good Mike.

Wish you and "the one in charge" could have made Q - you both were missed.

As Terry said - great travelog!

Mark

While the "one in charge" is usually the one in charge of course, this past outing the littler "one in charge" was making our decisions. Its pretty funny to be steered around by someone who only fairly recently became a sentient being

And we do indeed regret missing the gathering and are flattered that we were missed. Heck, I feel privileged to be included at all given the caliber and abilities of the fine folks that show up at Campfire gatherings.

Mike

This was a cool thread Birdwatcher. Between the bike ride and the history lessons on a part of the country I'll never visit. I checked it every day while you were traveling.