Poughkeepsie is also the location of the "singing bridge." Here's the story:
The Poughkeepsie Bridge (a.k.a. Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge, High Bridge) is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie, New York on the east bank and Highland, New York on the west bank. Built as a double track railroad bridge, it was completed on January 1, 1889, and went out of service on May 8, 1974. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, updated in 2008. It was opened as Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park on October 3, 2009, as a pedestrian walkway, making it the longest footbridge in the world. One of composer Joseph Bertolozzi's most well known undertakings, the Bridge Music project uses only the sounds of New York's Mid-Hudson Bridge to play the bridge like a musical instrument. The work was completed in time for New York's 400th anniversary observance of Henry Hudson's voyage up the river that now bears his name, but was underway as early as 2004. Originally intended to be a live performance piece (circa 2006), this "audacious plan" (New York Times) to compose music for a suspension bridge using the bridge itself as the instrument brought Bertolozzi wide local and international attention. When funding fell through for a live performance, Bertolozzi took the audio samples he had used to compose his works for the bridge, and used them to put together a studio album. The installation features audio from the album, and allows listeners to hear the project on the bridge itself.
Obviously as boaters we watch the weather likes sports fans watch ESPN. The key difference, however is that, with the weather, knowing what is in the immediate future as well as the long range future, is clearly more important than knowing what happened during last night's game. We depend on weather forecasts, not "pastcasts." We don't care whether or not it rained yesterday. Add to this consideration the fact that the National Hurricane Center is now in the mix with its first named storm of the year conceivably headed in our direction and it is easy to understand just how glued to weather radio and computer screens we can be. Everything depends on the weather.
All that being said, as it turned out, our decision to jump from Cape May all the way to and around Sandy Hook was a good one. Had we stopped at Barnegat Inlet, and then come up the coast the rest of the way the next day, we would have likely taken a serious beating. Moreover, that beating would have lasted 12 + hours. Once on the Hudson River, however, the wind forecasts are not as critical because the waterway is much narrower and, with less fetch, the effect of the wind is significantly less important. However, serious forecasts of rain are another story.
Between radar, a chart plotter, a depth sounder and AIS, running in the rain, itself, is not that big a deal. We can see and move even if the visibility is substantially reduced. The problem with heavy rain, however, is runoff. Not so much a problem is the mud, but the debris. This morning, for example, on the short rum from Poughkeepsie to Kingston, we were constantly dodging logs and large sticks, both of which can do serious damage to running gear. So, we just have to be more careful, that's all.
Coming to Kingston is always a pleasure. The folks here are really friendly, and the historic downtown area is very pleasant and interesting. I wrote a lot about Kingston the last time I stopped here, so I will not belabor it again. Suffice it to say, however, that it was worth a second stop even if it was only 15 miles from where we stopped last night. The main goal in stopping here turned into two fold. First, Kingston is up a well protected creek called Round Out. Second, one of the windshield wipers decided to take its leave on the way up and, in Kingston, it would be easy to replace. No, seriously, the wiper blade took off. It was funny. It's pouring rain and the wiper blade flies off the arm. Fortunately, it landed on the roof of the salon and we recovered it before it was too late.
So, we landed at Kingston. The docks were aluminum and floating and were very rocky and rolly. But, they served the purpose. After we got organized, we asked Chelsea, the girl working in the office if there was an auto parts store nearby where I could find a wiper blade. She said she would take us wherever we needed to go, and to just let her know when we were ready.
Chelsea was a first class gal. Her father is a retired Kingston Police Officer and decided to take over the municipal dock from the city. He is a very nice man and takes the time to run out to the tow boats and barges on the river who anchor nearby and need to come in for supplies. He goes out on his own boat and brings them in or brings them whatever they request. That's a real class act, if you ask me. Anyways, Brian and I called Chelsea and asked her if there was a WalMart nearby. Brian wanted to get a rain slicker and I needed wiper blades. It occurred to me, after doing the loop the first time, that WalMart is a cruising boater's resource of the first degree. Not only is it a one stop shop, but they are generally relatively convenient. Not to mention the fact that the people watching is always interesting. Anyways, Chelsea, her little dog, Brian and I hopped in her SUV and headed out to the WalMart in Kingston. First of all, I had no idea Kingston was as big as it is. My impression was that Kingston consisted of the historic downtown waterfront area. It turns out the story goes deeper than that. There is actually quite a crime problem there insofar as it seems to be the place to run and hide if you get in trouble down in Manhattan. This notwithstanding, I still love the place. The folks are nothing but friendly and always willing to lend a helping hand.
In fact, after we got back from WalMart, we realized that we did not pick up the vodka and tonic we needed. We asked Chelsea if there was a liquor/package store in the area. She simply asked what we wanted and advised that she would have her father pick it up and bring it to us. Amazing! About two hours later, there was a knock on the side of the boat. It was Chelsea's father with the goods we requested. He had two receipts which demonstrated that he actually went to two different stores to fill the order. I cannot adequately express how wonderful a stop this was in Kingston. Chelsea is a wonderful young lady attending college in St. Augustine, FL. She wants to be a special ed teacher. I think she will be great at whatever she ultimately does. Thank you Kingston.
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| This is a map of the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo. Brenda and I did the entire Erie Canal on the last Loop. This time, Brian and I will only be taking the can to the intersection where we will merge onto the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. |
Waterford is the gateway to the Erie Canal. We landed here at around 4:45 this afternoon. The first thing that happened upon our arrival was meeting Wayne and Rhonda on a boat called "Help Me Rhonda." Prior to today, we had never met. We became acquainted through the Roughwater Yahoo Group since, prior to his current boat, Wayne and Rhonda owned a Roughwater 41 similar to Abreojos. We were first contacted when Wayne and Rhonda on their Roughwater 41 were taking it from the marina they used to manage in Muskogee, Oklahoma to their new home port in Galveston, Texas. We happened, at the time, to be approaching Morgan City, Louisiana at the intersection of the Gulf ICW and the Achafalaya River. Wayne and Rhonda were on the Mississippi River approaching the intersection with the Achafalaya, and were only a short distance from Morgan City. Via email, we attempted to meet at Morgan City. Everything was set, but the boat friends they were traveling with developed mechanical problems, and our meeting ended up not happening because we could not wait around for as long as it was going to take. So, we moved forward. In the interim, however, Wayne and I kept in touch via Facebook and email. And, we figured that someday our paths might cross. Well, today it finally happened. Recently Wayne and Rhonda decided they were going to accomplish the Great Loop. As usual, we were keeping in touch. When we decided to bring the boat back to California, Wayne and Rhonda were on their way. Fortunately, however, they were not that far ahead of us and today, when we arrived at the Waterford Town Dock, we had the privilege of making the acquaintance of friends we always had, but had not actually met yet. We spent some time on their back deck just chewing the fat like old friends. For the next week, we will likely bump into them again as we work our way west on the Erie Canal towards Oswego, New York and the Great Lake, Ontario.
Just when you think things are about as good as they can get, following a fabulous dinner that consisted of stuffed port loin and sauteed vegetables, preceded by Frito's with onion dip and frosty cold V&T's, Brian and I wandered into town to take a look around. I had been here a couple years ago. In fact it was just before Hurricane Irene. Brenda and I did this thing; we would go to the grocery story, load up on groceries and would be walking back to our boat when we would discover we were hungry or thirsty and enter a local establishment on the way back, spend several hours there, and end up eating nothing we just purchased. Right! And all that stuff we just got at the grocery store really didn't matter. Well, when we were here in Waterford, we were coming back from the grocery store and came upon a little locals bar called The Angry Penguin. In the window, there was a signed posted advertising Arrogant Bastard Ale on tap. The pull was virtually relentless and we ended up going into this bar and taking a seat on the corner ..... like we owned the place. Well, within short order, we had met several wonderful local folks and ultimately spent the rest of the evening with them. (Note: our groceries were in the wheely cart and back pack that we simply positioned in the corner at our feet.) During the camaraderie, we exchanged email addresses and the address of this blog. I was aware that, during the next year, some of the folks we met were actually reading this, but I really had no idea the extent of it.
So, Brian and I wandered into the Angry Penguin and sat at the end of the bar. The waitress came and took our orders and went about her business. Soon enough, she was back and wanted to know where we were from and what we were doing. I told her about my and Brenda's previous visit, but before I was done, she asked, "Are you the lawyer with the trawler?" I was completely blown away! It turns out that a bunch of folks were passing around the blog and talking about it at the Angry Penguin. Then, out of nowhere, this lady comes up to me and says, "I'm Margaret, do you remember me?" Of course. This was a really astonishing turn of events. It's hard for me to even come up with words to describe what this was like. In this tiny little corner of the world, Brenda and I made some sort of dent that the folks remembered even to this day. It was the warmest welcome I think I have ever felt and I am every so grateful for having had the opportunity, apparently, to make some kind of dent in their lives as well; that they actually remembered me and my blog is astonishing and makes me feel really good.
Well, we will be on the move again tomorrow, but we are not sure what time we will leave or if we will leave at all. We'll see. We have no destination in mind, but we plan to get to Oswego as soon as possible. Our transit should take us no more than 3-4 days.
I'll write again soon. For now, however, from the Erie Canal in New York, this is M/V Abreojos..........OUT.
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