Local ride to Newburgh NY area
Sat Sep 10, 2022
(~453 miles)

Despite a couple days off the bike this week, we were pretty much still in riding mode, so it wasn’t too tough getting an early start on Saturday morning. We headed out the door just about 0700. Our mission: deliver some homemade chicken enchiladas and high quality craft beer to our friend and rescuer from earlier in the week. Marc lives in the Newburgh area of New York state, just over the Hudson River, so we had some miles to put down today.

There’s not much to say or see about the trip to Marc’s house, as we slabbed it straight down via I-84 across Connecticut and into the Empire State. We exited north in Wallkill and fueled up before enjoying a few of the nice rolling county roads of the area. This is another area I haven’t explored very much, and I was impressed with how beautiful the riding seemed to be here, even on just a couple randomly chosen main roads. There were nice views of the Shawangunk hills in the near distance, lots of farms, and good curves. Definitely worth a more intense two-wheeled romp at a later date.

We were on a mission and Marc had chores and family obligations to attend, so our drop-off was short and to the point. We arrived around 10:30, presented our offerings of sustenance, and chatted for a half hour or so. After leaving our friend drooling and weepy-eyed from thoughts of beer and Mexican food coming up later for supper, we enjoyed more of these great Orange County roads looping back east through the town of Shawangunk and crossed I-87. We followed NY 32 through north Newburgh, jumping back on I-84 to cross back over the Hudson at US 9W.

In several miles, we cleared through the Fishkill area and past the Taconic Parkway, then exited in Kent, finding ourselves heading east on curvy Mooney Hill Road toward Patterson. We jogged north and east on a series of incredible, curvy and scenic little roads, skirting the town of Pawling and entering Sherman, Connecticut via Kirby Hill Road. We pulled into our planned meal stop at American Pie Company around quarter to one, quite ready to eat. We’d skimped on breakfast this morning after that lunch at Dot’s yesterday, chased by a good dinner at home

I’d been looking forward to returning to American Pie Co. as soon as I possibly could, after the great breakfast and pie I’d gotten there last time. Had to make sure it all just wasn’t a fluke…in the name of science you know. 😉  I ended up with a delicious dish of  eggs benedict over polish sausage, with a side of their delicious spiced apples. Char first meal here was their potato pancakes, loaded with veggies, cheese, and goodness. Delicious!

Although the strawberry rhubarb pie I’d brought home with me last time was just magical, I wanted to try a different flavor pie (again, for science) and make sure that this place really does have the best pie around. I opted for the Peach Blueberry Pie, which was fan-fucking-tastic with a small dollop of whipped cream!

After a stellar meal, and with an entire Dutch apple pie safely stowed in the saddlebag, we motored out, continuing east over the hills and down into the Housatonic Valley. We cut through New Milford and picked up CT 109 for a great ride over to Thomaston, on route 8. We briefly joined US 6, then embarked on an exploratory series of curvy little local roads down through Wolcott to Southington. We slabbed it on I-691 to get past Meriden, then continued eastbound on CT 66 to cross the Connecticut River at Middletown. Zigzagging a bit over through Colchester, we picked up 207 to South Windham and crossed the Shetucket River.

I’d tried to pick a few more roads through the area that I hadn’t ridden yet and the Brooklyn Turnpike turned out to be a interesting choice, as it was a pretty narrow and straight lane through the middle of the woods, despite the lofty name. We explored a few more roads through the town of Wauregan and then Sterling on Snake Meadow Hill Road, a great little nowhere road which brought us back into Rhode Island. We eventually emerged on familiar RI 102 and zipped up and over through Scituate before joining US 6 and slabbing it the rest of the way home.

A great day on the bike, always fun to explore new roads while avoiding big towns and strip-mall hell – all made possible with the technological wonder of Basecamp and a GPS. We’d accomplished our mission and shown our appreciation to a friend who’d helped us in need. Despite the hiccups and upcoming headaches with repairing the bike, our fall vacation ended on a better note than we might have expected. Now to crack open one of those Treehouse brews and enjoy some pie!