Another day of exploration for your dedicated narrator and his faithful wife, Peggy. We went again over Mohonk Road / County Roads 1 & 6 / 44 and/or 55 around the south end of a range of hills they call the Shawengunks (no kidding).
We initially passed from Accord over the Shawengunk ridge to New Paltz, NY, where we stopped to wander about in an area known as Water Street. There are some nice little shops and an antiques store in addition to a restroom facility which was of great importance by the time we arrived in town. We were bad because we didn’t buy anything but we did enjoy browsing in this little town.
Departing New Paltz we tried to go to a place called the Mohonk Mountain Home where we were promptly stopped at a gatehouse. We were greeted by an adolescent girl with a squeaky little voice who told us we could not come in because it was private property and we were ferners restricted from entry. We left there and drove on some more highways with many names and numbers to a gorgeous park atop the Shawengunk Ridge called Minnewaska State Park Preserve where our wallet was lightened by $10 for entry. It has a winding road that takes visitors to the top of the Shawengunk ridge where there is a very nice lake, spectacular views of countryside on the east and west sides of the ridge and poorly maintained portable outhouse style restrooms. The views of the lake and countryside are beautiful but the outhouses were not.
We departed Minnewaska and drove the rest of the way around the southern end of the Shawengunk ridge passing through Wallkill, NY. We stopped at a deli to get some food but of course they were not serving food with the exception of mystery wraps and muffins. Peggy bought a chicken mystery wrap and I got a chocolate chip muffin. The mystery wrap had unidentifiable material inside which we split until I indicated I had eaten enough which ended up being around four bites. The chocolate chip muffin tasted nominal. We asked the two people working in the deli if they could tell us how to get to county road 18 but they were not aware of any road by that name so we cut our visit short and departed for the parking lot. It was only after we arrived in the parking lot that we noted there was a sign indicating county road 18 passed by one side of the deli.
We continued our trip around the Shawengunk ridge by passing down Hwy 18 and through Ellensburg where we picked up Hwy 209 for our trip back to the campsite. I was outside the trailer cooking steaks on the barbecue when I thought I could hear the sound of powerful gas engines off in the distance. I initially ignored it thinking it was just some New York hot-rodder buzzing around on country roads. Later in the evening, when I went outside to put the barbecue away for the night, I thought I could hear the sound of multiple gas engines accelerating and decelerating which I thought might be the sound of racing. Soon, I had convinced myself it was indeed the sound of auto racing so we consulted Peg’s phone and found there is a racetrack nearby. We decided to look for it and after passing over some more unnamed roads we arrived at Accord Speedway which is a quarter-mile dirt track where some of the locals were squirrelling around in sprint cars, midgets, modifieds and one class I could not identify because the cars were so tiny and powered by motorcycle engines. There was no admission fee so we went in and watched some guys spin around the track practicing. We inquired about regular racing and found they have racing every Friday night with multiple classes of cars. Regrettably, we are departing Friday and will miss the racing but it was fun to watch them practice anyway.