Middletown, NY to Walpack, NJ

The rain stopped sometime in the night, I slept fair to well most of the night, and in the morning, I heard a rooster crowing (and a good deal of traffic). Since the mosquitoes were still present and active, I packed up as quickly as I could, without packing carefully or eating anything. Actually, as I pushed my bike back to the roadway, I munched a few black raspberries I found! Yum.

I wanted to get some miles before I ate breakfast, and I prefer to eat sitting down, so I was hoping for a convenience store nearby. I was heading away from Middletown, though, so no such luck. I waited it out though, and six and a half miles along my route I came to a store. I used the bathroom there, and then spent the next hour or more outside on the bench, munching delicious cold pizza (sausage and broccoli), chatting with interested folks, and repacking my trailer more efficiently now that I was out of the range of those mosquitoes.

As far as riding goes, it's still pretty darn slow, but it is much more enjoyable now that it's not 95-105 degrees out there! I'm more awake, more aware, and much happier. This morning, I got up, started pedaling in my sandals (which I did from the pizza shop last night, too), and thought, "Wow! This AMAZING!! My life right now is to get up and get on the bike and pedal away!" Life is good.

(with only a loose idea of camping tonight somewhere along the Deleware Water Gap, I head out South from Port Jervis--soon I'll add two more states to my trailer's flag which now lists seven states visited, three on this trip)

Feeling good, but also feeling hungry, I left Port Jervis and navigated my way to New Jersey on Rt 615. I stopped under the big highway (Rt. 84) bridge to eat, rest, and read more of Three Cups of Tea, which I mentioned earlier is a book about Greg Mortenson. Even with cars and trucks rumbling overhead, I felt like it was an idyllic lunch. I had my yummy pizza (the last two slices), my uncomfortable biking shoes off, and my captivating book. Ahhh! I finished my pizza off, and finished a section of the book which brought tears to my eyes. I slowly and dreamily packed up, excited to be in New Jersey.

Not more than ten pedals up the road, I shifted to an easier gear, and BAM!CRUNCH!SNAP! I had broken another spoke. I was right, it was the rear derailleur. SIGH. I was so mad. I called the bike shop back in Port Jervis, and he confirmed that he had spokes. Silly me, I forgot to ask if he could install one at the moment. When I rode the frustrating two miles back into town, I found out he was a one-man shop behind on his order of bikes to a Camp--he'd been working until 10:30 P.M. the night before! He couldn't help me that day. Ugh.

So, now, I did some thinking. Why not try to make it to the next bike shop on the route, 46 miles further on? I unhitched the trailer and flipped my bike upside down. I took out my spoke adjustment tool (thanks Dan Sundquist!) and discovered that I had done more than broken one spoke; I had busted another one loose from its mooring on the rim. It appeared I was two adjacent spokes down! Ouch. Still, I was bound and determined to move on. So I adjusted as best I could in five minutes, put everything back together and rode the two frustrating miles for the third time.

This backtracking was the second time I'd done some this day. The first time I'd forgotten my map (!) and water delivery system I carry on my back. I'd ridden a half mile uphill in that case, so it was only an extra mile out of my way. In total, I added 5 miles this day from backtracking.

I resolved not to use under any circumstances the easiest gear due to the spoke-breaking problem, and made it after not too long into the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area. My goodness! This is an amazing area. The U.S. government, back in the 1960's and 1970's bought up a ton of land along the Delaware River with plans to build a dam and flood the area as a reservoir. They ran out of money before they bought it all, and the plan became obsolete. The area was given to the Park Service, and it's eerie but beautiful. The roads are dotted with occasional houses, all abandoned and boarded up. The roads are so quiet and picturesque. The route is mostly flat because it generally follows the river valley. It had been quite hot again outside the Delaware Water Gap, but inside, the cool shady roads kept me in full swing and revived my high spirits.

Once again, a big storm was approaching. I was informed of this by a helpful woman at the very cool Peters Valley Arts Education Center Store. Peters Valley was formed to keep fine arts (including blacksmithing and all kinds of other art forms) alive and well. Classes and workshops run all summer, and bring in good artists as both teachers and learners, I think. Check it out.

Anyway, not to far South of Peters Valley (still in the Water Gap), I realized it really might be a big storm. I checked out the little ghost town of Walpack and found a "porto-potty" next to a church. I thought of Mark Erelli's song, "The Farewell Ball," I think it's called. Eerie, but very cool, this place. There was some traffic going by, but not much.

I decided to stay the night there, for two reasons. Primarily, the storm was about to hit and I just started getting the tent set up as it started to pour. (Ironically, it didn't last all evening, and I could have set it up later and it would have been drier except for the ground, but that's what the ground tarp is for. Oh well.) Secondly, I called the next bike shop ahead to make sure they had spokes and could install them while I waited. They said it should be fine and that they opened at 10:00 A.M. I thought, "Why get there early? If I leave at 7am like I have every day so far, 24 miles should be no problem in three hours!"

I was a little worried I would get kicked out for camping behind the church, but I did it anyway. I also had a place to sit, up the back stairs of the church under cover from the rain. As I sat and relaxed, looking at maps, eating what food I had left, and doing some writing, I observed a large fowl (turkey or pheasant?) with a very small offspring poking their way through the wet undergrowth. Very cute, that was. I was very pleased with myself for having taken the evening off (I was done biking by 5pm!) and giving myself time to plan and write and rest.

: Late Edit: I forgot to mention that some young folks (including fellow bicyclist, Cody) from the service program (paid for by Americorps) just down the road stopped by and found my hideout behind the church. They took a walk, came back by and asked if I needed any food, water, etc. I said, "Thanks, but I think I'm all set. Wait, did you say 'food'?!" I ended up taking a few candy bars (they had an overabundance) ans an English muffin for my breakfast. As I walked back, I saw what might prove to be the prettiest sight of the whole trip.

It was about 9:00 P.M., so it was nearing dark. There were fields to my right and woods to my left, and both settings were filled, filled with fireflies! Sigh. It was an amazing sight to see misty fields filled with the gentle on-and-off glowing, as well as the dark woods! : End of Late Edit

The worst tasting water of the trip so far came from a bar in Layton, NJ. Just thought I'd throw that out there!

Total Stage Distance: 48 miles

Stage Time On Bike: not sure, but I probably averaged just under 12 mph

Total Stage time: 10 hours

Total Trip Distance: 250 miles

Net Elevation Change: -???

On to Stage V

Back to Stage III

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