End of the Road

Today would be our final day on the road.  Last night the rains continued and it was still overcast this morning, but the forecast was for some improvement.  With the Model A’s packed, we stopped for gas before hitting the road.

The past two days we added a little extra traveling time to our driving and as a result, we are left with a relatively short day to reach home.  We have traveled to the Kingston/Rhinebeck area of NY many times and one of the routes we like driving is through the upper part of Connecticut. 

For the first part of the day we mostly followed some of the route we took on our first day.  The traffic was light and the ride was very pleasant as we enjoyed the scenery of eastern NY.  We passed through some very quaint Victorian era towns.  Many of the towns were all dressed up for their Fourth of July celebrations.

Crossing the Hudson River, it was noticeably muddier than when we crossed last week.  I guess all the rain was washing sediment into the river.  The other thing we noticed was no buzzing of the Cicadas in the woods. Boy what a racket they made.

I was lucky today and didn’t get involved with any detours.  After a short stop for a break somewhere in Connecticut, Wayne took the lead position and guided us the rest of the way home.  Boy did it feel strange to be in the pack and having a Model A to follow.

The rural CT roads were very pleasant and the weather was cooperating with no rain and some occasional sun.

We had a final “ceremonial” lunch stop and then one by one we broke off for the final ride to our homes. 

We traveled 178 miles today, so you can see it was a short driving day.  The total mileage for the trip was just a little over 2000 miles.  This was Andy's first long Model A tour and he and his 1930 Tudor handled the trip nicely.  The Model A's of the Linden's and Champagne's were trouble free, only Mike had a to do a repair of the the headgasket, but that was a straight forward repair.

Hudson River

Wayne in the Lead

Water, Water everywhere!

Well, the skies opened up again last night and we had heavy rain and thunder in State College.  Mike was out checking the cars but it was too late.  At breakfast we were a little worried about some water getting into the gas tank.  Fortunately that was not a problem.

Getting on the road, out first order of business was to get gas.  This was accomplished by stopping along our route at a Shell gas station, but this wasn’t just any gas station, it was filled with gas memorabilia.  What a pleasant surprise.  The weather looked like rain so I put on some Rain-X while at the gas station, just in case.  I needed it!  As we hit rain off and on all day.

We continued on RT45 and enjoyed watching the farms.  We passed by a number of Amish farms that appeared to be very prosperous.  The farms were nice, but I must be a detour magnet, as we got routed on another one today.  Not as bad as yesterday’s, but still a little frustrating, by the time we made it to a rest stop (McDonald’s) I could see that the locals knew a very short “short cut” instead of following the detour signs.

We had lunch at a diner in White Haven and found the place to be very nice.  It was a place where the locals came.  One women saw the Model A’s and came by to let us know she was originally from Reading.  She mentioned her brother (Dick Nichols) lived in Andover and had a few cars, including their grandmother’s 1934 Chevy. 

As we made our way towards Stroudsburg, we hit yet another detour.  Give me a break!   This one was a little confusing so I stopped to ask for some directions.  YES, I did, really! The woman at the desk was very helpful and even had the alternative directions to 18 miles out of your way detour, printed up. As we started on the alternative route, it started to rain; the road started to climb up hill and then became very curvy.  It was now raining VERY hard, but the Model A’s continued onward and upward.  In spite of the heavy rain, I commented on one of the lakes we passed by, to which Wayne replied that there wasn’t a lake there in the morning.  By the time we got off the detour the rain had almost stopped.

We made it to Stroudsburg and on to RT 209.  As we drove through the Delaware Water gap we could see the rivers and streams were raging because of all the rain.  When we got to Matamoras, PA it was still early, so we made a decision to keep on going to Kingston, NY.  Again, it was off and on rain all the way.  We did have to be on our guard as we had deer on the roadway a couple of times.

By the time we arrived at our hotel in Kingston we had traveled 266 miles. Diner tonight was a pizza party in the breakfast area of the hotel.  It was a very nice way to end the day.



Amish Farm and clothes on line



Jordan's hamburger

Hotel in Miffleburg