On the Road Again

The Group

 Today was the day. After installing my new engine, FYI Engine #1 from our Vancouver trip(see http://boston-to-alaska.blogspot.com/) and putting on 250 break-in miles on it in three days, it was time to meet Mike & Grace Doyle, Wayne & Sue Champagne and Andy Adams for our trip to the beautiful horse country of Lexington, Kentucky to attend the MARC National Convention..



Dick & Barbara

 Much to our surprise, we were happy to be greated by Dick & Barbara O'Brien at our starting point in Northborough.  Sadly, the O'Briens had to cancel out of this trip due to Barbara's injury.  We bid them good bye and the 4 Model A's headed out on the first leg of our travels, which will take us to Stroudsburg, PA.

The weather couldn't have been better, sunny and, at the start, cool temperatures.  Traffic on RT 20 was not bad.  I was in the lead and that was good since I still wanted to maintain a conservative speed with the engine still being so new.  45 MPH seemed to be a good speed for me while keeping traffic from building up behind us.

Our route was to keep off major highways so we took RT 20 out to Brimfield, where we turned off on to a secondary road to Monson.  I must tell you that the damage caused by the tornado 2 years ago is still very evident.  Much tree work is still being done as well as reconstruction of homes.  I noticed lots of new roofs too.  We all agreed that that must have been a harrowing experience.

We planned to have a picnic lunch and as luck would have it we found a nice spot for our picnic in Lakeville, CT.  The picnic table was by the spillway of the lake which was sort of a relaxing back ground noise. 

Back on the road, we headed to the Rhinebeck, NY area to cross the over the Hudson River on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.  The river looked pretty muddy, maybe from all the rain we've had?  We stayed on RT 209 and follwed it the rest of the day.  A little later, in honor of Mr. O'Brien, Sue suggested a stop for ice cream.  I eventually found a spot.

We crossed into PA and continued down 209 through the Delaware Water Gap area.  This section of RT209 is very scenic and the ride was especially enjoyable.  We decided that it was time for a little break so we stopped to enjoy the sights at Dingman's Falls.  What a great little spot.  We followed the boardwalk to Silverthread Falls, a very tall but narrow falls.  It was very pretty.  But, the real falls was further along the trail.  Dingmans Fall was much more impressive, especially so because of all our recent rain.  We

all agreed this was a great stop for a little relaxation from our driving.

It was getting late so we headed to A's back on to RT 209 and fortunately it was only a relatively short drive to Stroudsburg and the Hampton Inn.  Dinner was at a local pub, Grace O'Malley's Irish Pub.  Good food and best yet, the Yuengling Beer was only $2.

Nice finish to a fun day of touring in our Model As.

P.S.  I forgot to mention the incredible sound that millions of Cicadas make.  We were in Rhienbeck, NY and driving through the woods the noise from these buggers was very VERY loud.  I sure hope we don't have to put up with this back home.