We're camped on the shore of the Hudson River this evening and on the grounds of what was the private estate of the former Chancellor Livingston. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. This place is now a historical site that can be visited by tourists. We are sort of stealth camping again but were discovered by a park employee. He came down to see what we were doing but then, without saying anything, nodded an approval and went back inside the mansion. I believe we are good for the night, if we don't cause any commotion.

To recap the day: It was a typical August day for this area, hazy, hot, and humid. We haven't had showers for a couple of days and are getting a little rough around the edges, you might say. Getting clean, at some point, was on my mind. Riding along, we passed through several good sized towns that were roughly 4-5 miles apart. We're definitely back in the east, where towns are much closer together. It's good because you can count on being able to conveniently procure most things that my be needed, if a need arises. Top of the list is food and drink, especially on these hot days. The downside is more traffic but it didn't bother us to any great degree.

When we got to the bridge across the Hudson, at Kingston, surprisingly, the state uniformed employees would not allow us to ride our bikes across. We pleaded our case, to no avail. It seems they were concerned because the bridge was very narrow and without a shoulder or a sidewalk. Finally, a fellow with a small pickup truck came along. One employee talked with him for a minute and then told us to put our bikes in the bed of the truck and ride across with him. We did so. It wasn't worth arguing our point any further. The distance was about a mile and although I wanted to ride every inch of this trip, I don't think this required ride was significant or disqualified all that we had done. To attempt to avoid this bridge, we would have to needed to go further North, approximately 20 more miles, with no assurance that we would not have encountered the same thing at the next bridge crossing. The employees at this bridge were not sure what we would find at the next bridge. On the other side, we thanked the driver, got our bikes out of the bed, and continued riding.

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On the other side of the Hudson, we passed through Barrytown and Annandale before arriving at the beautiful Clermont State Historic Site, in Germantown, New York. This place has the aforementioned mansion and a beautiful lawn that rolls down to the river. Once again, I worked my way down and through an obstacle course of sorts that included crossing active railroad tracks to get to the river. I found another gentle spot to immerse myself in the water to get some of the few days of sweat and road grime off my body. After that, Paul and I had a very nice evening watching the river flow by and the sun go down. The realization that this long tour was coming to an end was slowly sinking in. We had a good talk that evening and were undisturbed all night long. This turned out to be another great camping spot. We appreciated the park employee who did not throw us out!