Hyde Park and Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

We had quite an eventful day today!

This morning we took US-44 east to Highland, NY where we bought gas at a Hess station for $3.839 a gallon. Then we crossed the Hudson River and turned north on US-9 at Poughkeepsie, NY. We stopped at a Quizno's in Poughkeepsie for lunch before heading on to the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Springwood", in Hyde Park.

From 10 - Hyde Park

At the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center we watched a 22 minute film, "A Rendezvous With History", that showed the history of the house and of the Roosevelt's. At the Visitor Center we browsed through the displays while we waited for the 12:30 guided tour of the Mansion to start. The fee for the 1 hour guided tour is $14 and includes admission to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum - since we have a Golden Age Passport (now called the Interagency Senior Pass) our guided tour was free. We had about a 1/4 mile walk from the Visitor Center to the Mansion. Along the way we stopped at Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's' graves.

From 10 - Hyde Park

On the tour of the Mansion we learned the history of the house. FDR was born here and he and Eleanor raised all of their children in the house. After the tour of the house, we walked back to the Visitor Center and passed by the barn. Besides the public restrooms located in the barn, we discovered a children's activity room staffed by one of the park rangers.

After leaving FDR's home we drove about a mile north to the Vanderbilt Mansion. This "small" (small in comparison to other Vanderbilt homes) house was built in the 1890's by Frederick Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. It is quite a sharp contrast to the FDR home. The only way to tour the house is on a guided tour. The tickets cost $8 (another free tour because of Golden Age Passport). The tour took about 45 minutes. We visited the first and second floors and the basement.

From 10 - Hyde Park

After our visit to the Vanderbilt Mansion we drove about 14 miles north to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome museum. Mike had seen a show on the Discovery Channel a few years ago on the museum and was looking forward to visiting it. The museum had just opened for the season. The museum collection is housed in Quonset huts. After buying our $8 tickets we started on our self-tour. Imagine our surprise to find that not only were vintage airplanes on exhibit, but we also saw vintage cars and motorcycles and various airplane engines.

From 11 - Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

We again crossed the Hudson River and drove south on US-209 back home.

Our day wasn't over when we got back home. The weather had been cool and somewhat cloudy on our trip - no rain had been forecast. While we had been gone for the day, a torrential rain storm had come through and had dumped a lot of rain at the RV park. We had left our awning out (no rain forecast) and apparently hadn't tilted it enough for the water to run off (we've always been very careful about tilting the awning, except this time). When Mike tried to dump the water, the center support broke and the awning ripped.

From Awning after storm at Rondout Valley

A fellow RV'er came down and helped Mike remove the awning. We got the name of a local repairman from the park office and left a message on his voice mail. When he came out to the RV we told him that we were leaving the next day & he didn't have an awning in stock to replace ours. He did haul off our broken awning. Everyone at the park was very helpful - definitely a place we will come back to when we're in the area.

Mike & Gayle arrive at Rondout Valley RV Resort

This afternoon our friends, Mike and Gayle, arrived here at Rondout Valley RV Resort. They are on their way down from Maine after helping their son and his family move there. Mike and Gayle will only be spending the night here before heading west through New York. We had a great time tonight catching up on each other's news and travels.

From Rondout Valley RV Resort, Accord, NY

Orange County Choppers & West Point Military Academy

Today we drove down to Newburgh, NY to visit the new Orange County Choppers World Headquarters & Showroom. We’ve watched Orange County Choppers on TV for years. All of the theme bikes they’ve built on their TV show are on display in the showroom. Mike didn’t think they would photograph well, so he only took a couple of photos. The photos he took turned out good & now he wishes he had taken photos of all the bikes.

From Orange County Choppers, Newburgh, NY

We then drove down US-9W to West Point to visit the Military Academy. It was a beautiful day with a blue sky and a few clouds – and a fire rainbow. What a beautiful sight & unexpected surprise!

From West Point

We drove through the town of Highland Falls to the West Point Visitor Center. At the Visitor Center we purchased tickets ($20 for both of us) for the West Point Tours - a commercial company that is the authorized tour guide service. The only way to tour West Point Academy is on the commercial tour. After having our ID's checked, we boarded a bus which took us on to West Point Academy. The hour long tour included stops at the Main Cadet Chapel, Trophy Point, Battle Monument, and the Plain. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the history and traditions of West Point. She was good about answering questions and giving everyone time to take photos.

The Cadet Chapel was dedicated in 1910. It houses the largest church organ in the world. The Great Sanctuary Window is inscribed with the Academy motto, "Duty, Honor, Country". All of the stained glass windows on the sides are given as memorials by various classes.

From West Point

The Battle Monument was dedicated in 1897 in memory of the officers and men of the American Army who fell in battle, mainly the casualties of the Regular Army of the North during the Civil War (2,230 names are inscribed on the granite shaft).

From West Point

After our tour of the Academy grounds we returned to the Visitor Center. We walked over to the West Point Museum which is behind the Visitor Center. The West Point Museum, which originally opened in 1854, is the oldest and largest military museum in the country. Every armed conflict that America has been involved in is represented in the many exhibits. We saw weapons from all of the wars the U.S. was involved in. We saw exhibits depicting the Army missions during peacetime. The history of West Point Academy was shown through exhibits of the different uniforms worn by cadets and exhibits of West Point alumnus.

Saylorsburg, PA to Rondout Valley RV Resort, Accord, NY

We left Silver Valley Campsites this morning a little after 10 a.m. We only have 112 miles to drive today to Rondout Valley RV Resort, an AOR campground.

We learned at the campground to stop for gas just over the New York state line on I-84 at the first exit & go into New Jersey for cheaper gas. We stopped at a Valero station in Montague, NJ where we paid $3.599 a gallon – about 25¢ a gallon less than Pennsylvania & New York’s prices.

We stopped for lunch at a Rest Area on I-84 near Middletown, NY.

We arrived here at Rondout Valley about 1:45 this afternoon. We’re on site #11 (a back-in site) with a small creek behind us. We have full hookups (30 amp electric) & cable TV. They have wifi service through Tengo Internet service & we’ve paid $14.95 for the week.
We noticed Tinker started limping after we arrived here. When we checked his feet tonight, we found that his pads on all four feet were abraded. The large pads & some of the smaller ones have partially peeled and the pink under-pad is showing through. We don’t know when he injured them – it had to have been at Gifford Pinchot just before we left, Silver Valley last night or someplace we stopped in the last couple of days while we were traveling. There is a veterinarian a few miles from here & we’ll take him there tomorrow.