The Roebling Suspension Bridge
From: dje@mail.bellcore.com (Don Eilenberger) Subject: Fandango part Deux (Episode 5 of several) LONG!!
Since I'm still receiving EMail from people telling me to
keep goin' - here is the next episode of Fandango part
Deux.. which is taking longer to write than it did to ride.
- Don
Our motorcyclists were last heard of leaving the entrance of Forestburg Scout Reservation - in Forestburg NY, on Rt. 42 about midway between Port Jervis NY and Monticello NY.
We returned back to Rt. 97 (which parallels the river) over the same route we came, back north on Rt. 42 to the Forestburg blinker light, and headed back over the mountains on the road between Forestburg and Pond Eddy. This road was as much fun going back to Rt. 97 as it was going to Forestburg! It was a bit more interesting at the very end, where it descends about 1,000 feet into the river valley in a distance of about 1 mile - complete with hairpin DOWN-DOWN- DOWN hill turns. With my limited braking power on FrankenCycle (I ordered a new mehanite front disk today!), I made max use of engine and lower gears to slow the motion of the bike!
On our return to Rt. 97, we again headed north to Barryville. Barryville isn't famous for much - it mostly consists of several real-estate offices, but if you look CLOSELY - there is something very interesting to see.
Crossing the Delaware River at Barryville is what is called on the maps "The Roebling Suspension Bridge" - which is actually a misnomer. What you'll see is a VERY narrow (about 7' wide) long bridge that crosses the river.. not too interesting? Well, if you know the history - this was originally a viaduct which crosses the Delaware about 100 feet over the water.. it was part of the D&H (Delaware and Hudson) Canal System, and when it was running, water flowed through it, carrying canal boats 100' in the air OVER the river.
Even though there was absolutely NO reason to cross the bridge - we did. I did, several times - trying for photo ops[1]. After resting for a few minutes back in Pennsylvania, we returned across the bridge to NY Rt. 97 heading north again.
We traveled up Rt. 97 though the towns of Minisink Ford (there was I believe, and indian tribe called the Minisink, but I haven't found the history of the name of what I assume was a river crossing at this point.
At Callicoon (a spot I used to put in the river with canoes), we finally took our leave of NY Rt. 97, and headed east a bit on NY Rt. 17B.
New York Rt. 17, is a corridor highway from the NY City area to the lower Catskill mountain area. It eventually wanders westward through Binghamton (been there once - done that, don't have to do it again!), Elmira and other towns along the lower border of New York State.
It is a generally scenic highway - for a two lane each way divided.. but luckily - it was not the highway we turned on.. we'd very purposely taken a little state highway - Rt. 17B.
This section of highway - probably only about 25 miles is another motorcyclist's dream road. Not really a twisty or tight road, but is has good pavement and about midway between Calicoon and Monticello - there is this hill - just about in Bethel NY (the original home of Woodstock)[2].
So - this hill I'm talking about is out in the middle of nowhere - with corn fields on each side - and it does DOWN, DOWN, DOWN about a mile, and then it goes UP, UP, UP about a mile - no matter which way you run it. There is perfect visibility from the peak at one side, to the peak at the other side. There is nowhere in the world for a cop to hide. There are no sideroads or driveways. There are no woods for Bambi to hide out in. The pavement is PERFECT.
What do YOU do with a hill like this? I dunno' about you, but I try to see 'just how fast will it go' on a hill like this. It was especially good with FrankenCycle, since I couldn't rely on using my front brake (warp sets up a nasty shake at speeds > 75mph), but as fast as I got going DOWN the hill - there was always the UP side to slow me down, using nature's way (gravity)!
So - I hit the first crest, and TOOK OFF! FrankenCycle will do 100mph (downhill). I think Frank and his Suzi hit almost 65mph in his attempt to keep up. THIS WAS FUN!
My quest for speed satisfied[3] we continued on Rt. 17B towards Monticello.
Monticello is generally considered the center of the Catskill's resort area. It has a large horse track, a county seat (Sullivan County), a small jail, a shopping district, a Kmart (outside of town), a self-service car wash, and a stainless/blue-glass diner.. where we had our lunch.
Lunch at the diner (I don't have the name - but it's not far from the jail (which is next to a motel.. go figure..) was 'interesting'.
Our waitress quickly established that she was used to serving the hard of hearing - by yelling and mouthing very carefully (and slowly) everything she said to us.. next to us in a booth - were an older couple, who hadn't seen each other in apparently decades, but felt that since we must be deaf, they could yell their entire conversation to each other..
So here I am - stuck between a yelling waitress and yelling customers, when the bosses son walks up and starts getting kidded by our waitress.. about the gold-stud in his tongue..
Like I said - interesting, not really good, but the ambiance was worth the stop.
We had reached the far-point of our trip at this point, and were about to start on our return trip. We'd covered about 375 miles in about 1.2 days of riding, still probably doing an average speed of 30mph.. and having fun the entire time!
Next episode will have us taking a different route back, seeking out some deserted villages in NJ, and following any road named River Road as we start working our way south again!
[1] Photography 101 and Frank - I travel a lot with Frank, and I usually have a camera with me. The camera isn't much, an old Olympus OM1 (won't take the german cameras on the bike since it would be difficult to lock them up - I sorta think of the OM1 as disposable..) but it is capable of some decent photos (lenses are excellent, and the built-in, non-auto light meter is fairly accurate). Anyway - I've tried several times to have Frank take photos of me riding the bike - usually towards the camera with the thought of F/C on an MOA cover...
The first time I tried this was last year, on Fandango 1 - while on Rt. 29 along the Delaware - I left Frank with the camera, rode up the road, turned around and rode back.. Frank took the picture. When I got them developed, I looked like a fly-poop on the picture - since Frank wanted to be SURE he got me in the picture - he took it when I was about 1/2 mile away.. make it fly-poop with headlight on, and you've got some idea of the image..
So, this is understandable - and this time - remembering this, I asked Frank to take a shot of me coming through the Roebling Suspension Aqueduct (which is what it SHOULD be named).. So, I found a good vantage point - where Frank could sit on a rock, and lined up the shot - it would make a PERFECT cover shot for the MOA..
I handed the camera to Frank, and told him exactly what I wanted in the frame, including what should be on the left and right borders. He told me that when he looked through the camera, he didn't see what I saw. I looked again, I still saw what I saw.. he looked he didn't. THIS DID NOT MAKE SENSE! Dammit - it's a single-lens reflex, you look through the hole, you see a screen which should show you exactly what you're taking the picture of..
So - I still left Frank with the camera, hoping for the best, and rode back across the aqueduct and started back.
I'd told Frank exactly where to trip the shutter - at just what point in my travel back across the bridge (where the yellow line JUST ends).. which he almost did, he was perhaps 2-5 seconds premature.
So, how did it come out?? It isn't a cover shot. Frank must not have seen what I saw in the viewfinder, 'cause the left and right borders are both shifted left (cutting off a sign on the right explaining about the canal crossing).. and I'm a bit far back on the aqueduct.. but it does show me crossing the Roebling Suspension Aqeduct!
NEXT TRIP - I'm packing a tripod.. and timing out the self- timer.
[2] Woodstock'94 - what didn't happen - last summer while I was at scout camp with my son, I often took rides around the area while the scouts were at morning activities classes.. one of the morning rides discovered Rt. 17B, and the rivalry between Bethel NY and Woodstock NY.
It seems that some promoters had decided that a 25th anniversary of Woodstock was in order.. only two promoters had pitched their wares to two different towns - Woodstock NY, and Bethel NY. Despite the name Woodstock for the original festival - the original festival took place in Bethel (Woodstock NY is quite a ways north). I passed through Bethel about 2 weeks before the festival last year- and found the general store (and sub shop) a beehive of activity, complete with very high priced T-Shirts and posters for sale.
Anyway, both promoters when ahead and made their plans, advertised, sold tickets, made posters and gewgaws.. and I believe lost money. Neither festival was a rousing success, although I think the bogus Woodstock at Woodstock came closer to breaking even, and may have actually had some performers at it..
[3] The Hill - when I found this hill last year - it was in BOHICA, the BMW cage. I did several runs at it with the cage - best downhill speed at the bottom of the valley was about 130mph - which is about where BOHICA runs out of poop. Since I was alone on these runs - there was nothing to keep me from turning around and trying it again, and again.. which I did. I managed to restrain myself on Fandango part Deux since I did have a riding companion.. maybe next time a few more runs!
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Don Eilenberger (dje@mail.bellcore.com)
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'79 R65 FrankenCycle - der Beemer
'87 535i BOHICA - der Bimmer
'75 25' Hunter - das Boot
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DOD#1177, BMW-CCA#104316, BMW-MOA#64000
President - New Jersey Shore BMW Riders
NJ-DOD-Cycles, Fossil Riders of NJ Inc.
"A glutton for clubs.."
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