Nice Day For a RIde

My ride today was a short one, I only needed to cover 135 miles to get to my friend Tim's house in Castleton on Hudson, New York. Castleton is a village of the Town of Schodack.  A lot of these little towns were originally formed because of the need for food and ice for the big city of New York City.  I am only a mile from the Hudson River.

I have stayed with Tim many times over the past few years for one old truck related event or another.  Today I am here to pick up some Rockwell lathe parts to deliver to my friend Andy from Minnesota who is meeting me at the truck show in South Bend.

The trip was a straight shot out the Mass Pike and the Berkshire Spur of the New York State Thruway.  It was an easy ride, except for a 5 minute downpour.  When I drive my '53 around, people like to comment, " They don't make them like they used to." During the downpour I was thankful that they don't make defrosters and wipers like they used to.  With my vacuum wipers and weak defrosters, I couldn't see a thing for 5 minutes.

When I arrived, Tim and I got to work wrapping the lathe in plastic and packing them into my storage boxes.

With all of that hard work, it was time for a frosty glass of Tim’s home brewed beer..  On tap today was a Special Bitter Ale that Tim started brewing three months ago.  From the taste of the beer, it looks like I arrived at just the right time.  Store bought beer is between 3.5 and 5 per cent alcohol.  Tim's Bitter Ale is between 6 and 7 per cent.  It’s a good thing we finished our work before we started to drink the Bitter Ale. If there are any typos here, blame it on the 2 % differential.

I will head south in the morning and drive into Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Of all the traveling I have done in the Northeast, I have never been through the Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  I’ll have to watch out for the horse drawn buggies….