Day 10: Bridges

Wednesday, October 14

In the morning, I was feeling really sick, and though I had slept reasonably well, I was exhausted, my body ached and I could hardly move. It made me think about my friend Dan. A few weeks before the start of the trip, Dan informed me that he had cancer. By the time it was discovered, tumors had already spread to multiple organs. When he started telling me this, I figured the next words out of his mouth were that he only had so-and-so long to live. But instead, what I heard him say was that he was going to fight this thing. In the days and weeks that followed, I marveled at his attitude. He's a smart guy - he knows what the odds are. Nevertheless, he has remained steadfast in his determination, positive in his outlook and though I could tell that the disease or the procedures had weakened him some, he remained up-beat with the same laugh in his voice that I had known for almost 18 years. If Dan could keep his head up and keep moving through the hell he was no doubt enduring, then surely I could muscle through some little temporary virus.

The Tappan Zee bridge growing some extra limbs

With new determination, I got my suitcase packed and David got the car loaded (how fast he went from being a little kid to being big and strong enough to load the car full of heavy luggage!) and we headed out. Sandra drove; while she was still feeling less than 100%, she was in better shape than me. We started the day by crossing the Hudson on the Tappan Zee bridge, which was very cool because they are greatly expanding the capacity of the bridge. It looks like they are building two additional parallel bridges. The farther across the river we got, the less progress there was on the new spans so it was like watching a backwards time lapse of them building the bridge.


We passed through White Plains, NY and then got on the Merritt Parkway through Connecticut, which is a scenic drive featuring elaborate over crossings and beautiful color-changing trees. We would have taken Highway 7 North to Danbury, but it was showing up as congested on the GPS, so we decided to go farther East and take Highway 58, which was billed as a scenic route. By the time we got to the 58, David was hungry and Sandra and I thought we might also be able to eat something. We pulled into Fairfield about noon and had something to eat, then headed back north on 58, past the beautiful Hemlock Reservoir. The leaves were stunning. More on that in a moment. 

One root in summer, one in fall, along Highway 58 in Connecticut
(Photo by Sandra)

We turned East briefly at the 302 and then continued north on Old Hawleyville Road, eventually joining up with Highway 7 just past the congestion, and following the Housatonic River. (Are you looking at a map and following all this?) Near Kent, CT, we stopped at the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association museum, which was a hodgepodge of old tractors, locomotives, steam shovels and stationary steam engines. The stationary steam engines have all been restored to working condition, as were many of the other mechanical museum pieces. We tagged along with a tour in progress being given by a guy who looked and sounded like my Uncle Dave (who had passed away just a few weeks before we left). This man was extremely knowledgeable and explained things very well, making the exhibit much more interesting than it might otherwise have been.

Could that be Mike Mulligan's Mary Anne?

Lots of cool stuff outside...
(Photo: Sandra)

...and inside
(Photo by Sandra)

Stationary steam engines used to power factories during the industrial revolution
(Photo by Sandra)

Kent Falls State Park (this is why you go to New England to see the leaves change!)

Ok, let's talk leaves. On second thought, just look at the 1000-word picture above. If it looks this good in a snapshot taken with an iPhone 4S, then imagine what it looks like in person. 'Nuf said. Our next stop was just down the road at Kent Falls State Park where we hiked up the trail that runs alongside the waterfall. Sandra and I were now feeling well enough that we could do the hike, which was not long, but was fairly steep. At one point we lost track of David as he had hiked ahead of us. I thought he might have turned off on a trail that left the falls and headed into a beautiful forest. I followed this trail for a while to see if I could find him. At times the breeze would pick up a little and thousands of yellow leaves would fall from the trees like snow. It was spectacular. We finally resorted to technology and just phoned each other. I met up with him at the top of the falls.

The source of yellow snow

At the bottom of the falls

More extreme beauty at Kent Falls (Photo by Sandra)

Approaching the Cornwall covered bridge

And if someone comes in from the other end?

Further on down the road we went to Cornwall to see an old covered bridge, which was less exciting than expected, but still cool to drive through. Finally we headed into Canaan to check into our B&B, the Locust Tree. (I found the name of the town slightly ironic in that we were a few days away from going to Israel.) The Locust Tree was a real B&B, not an Airbnb, and a very nice one - a huge improvement over the Piermont place, though now we were all confined to a single bedroom. We checked in and then headed out to dinner. We crossed over the state line into Massachusetts to try a highly rated restaurant called The Bridge. The food was so-so, or maybe I hadn't yet regained my appetite after being sick. And while it's possible that whatever had been ailing me was just a 24-hour bug, I like to think that by adopting Dan's attitude I had somehow beaten it back and was rapidly recovering. We returned to our room to retire early.

Kickin' back at the Locust Tree B&B