Wednesday, 21 September.  Warm, sunny.  The setting sun is beginning to bother me each afternoon.  Clouds would be good, as long as the moisture stays in the sky.

Shelburne Falls, MA, and its Bridge of Flowers was a great surprise.  I was actually just looking for a post office.  See the pictures.  It began as a trolley bridge then fell into disuse.  After a while, some townspeople thought it would be nice to cover the eyesore with flowers.  Works.

It took 3 hours to go 100 miles.  Got a bit lost finding a gas station, but mostly local roads are a big pain.  Massachusetts has a very irritating concept of speed limits.  50, then 45, then 55, then back to 45, etc.  Some cars seem to just go 45 all the time.  The evidence that they’re messed up was at the New York border.  From 40 to 55 with no change in roadway.

Drove down the Taconic State Parkway, which parallels the Hudson River on the east side.  Doesn’t allow trucks or trailers, so it’s nicer (though slower) than the Thruway on the west side. I was planning to visit West Point, but time was running out and I didn’t want to rush it.  Realized that Hyde Park was on the way, so I decided to visit a house of one president rather than a campus with thousands of cadets.  A rally of Model A Fords was there.  The Library/Museum had a special exhibit detailing the White House’s 36 hours following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Very interesting.  I could have stayed all day.

A quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, shown below, stopped me short.  See its caption.  My Grand Adventure has had many thoughtful twists and turns.  This one might be the oddest.

Not too many stops, but I traveled 320 miles and almost reached my day’s goal.  Tomorrow is a designed short day, then I decide which latitude to travel at.  Depends on temperature.  I’m hopefully going to take I40 and try to get on a few old stretches of Route 66.