Post # 10 Hudson-on-Croton to Albany June 15-25, 2015

Blog Post #10
Croton-on-Hudson to Albany,  June 15-25, 2015

Leaving NYC under the GW bridge in the foggy morning. The flag is our America's Great Loop Cruisers Association burgee. Handy for spotting other Loopers

“In river travel today, perhaps nothing is finer than arrival in the center a town without having go those purgatorial miles of vile sprawl, hideous billboards, and reiterated franchises where we we become fugitives of the ganged chains and endless surround of noplaceness, where the shabbiest of of architectural detritus washes up against the center of a town. To come in by canal or river is to see a genuine demarcation between country and city and to fetch up in the historic heart of things the way travelers once did when they had entered or departed a place.
William Least Heat-Moon, River Horse; A Voyage Across America

Couldn’t have said it better myself :) This entertaining book is about a six month trip from New York to Oregon by boat, He begins in New York, and up the Hudson on a 25 ft C-Dory. We happen to have one, its for sale, if you are interested.

We spent a week in Croton-on-Hudson at Half Moon Bay Marina. We started by visiting Joel’s cousin Sandy and her husband Allen Goldstein who live close by in Yorktown, and ended up staying  a few extra days when we learned that the Clearwater Music Festival was happening a mere mile away.

View from West Point with Allen and Sandy Goldstein

The Hudson from above

Cold Springs

Above Croton, on the Hudson

 Sandy and Allen were most excellent hosts.  Dinners at their lovely home (with laundry privileges ), a chance to catch up with cousin Jack Appel, a trip to West Marine (always) and a drive through West Point. The next day we did a tour up to Hyde Park and Eleanor’s cottage with a stop in Cold Spring.

Eleanor's cottage, Val-Kill. The only real home of her own and much loved by her.

Chatting with the Roosevelts

They lent us a car so I could visit my dear friend and Sangha sister, Doris Balant, who has moved from Maine to her daughter’s house in Carmel NY. Doris and I had a lovely lunch and I got to meet her engaging grandson Eli, and her lovely, although initially barky, dog Rosy, in a delightful old house at the end of a road, in the woods, by a lake. Of course she had just finished a book I am reading, Oliver Sack’s memoir, On the Move; A Life. Doris has continued to be part of our Kennebec River Zen sangha since she moved, via Skype, what else.

Doris Balant & Rosie

We also finally met up with Jon and Lynn on Zendo, our flesh and blood dopplegangers, also doing the Loop, They have same boat we have, but 2 years newer. Joel met them in Indiantown, FL but I never had, so it was great. The name Zendo comes from a combination their two last names, but of course its perfect on another level. I really hope we can catch up to them again, or they to us. The six of us had a fabulous dinner out at Tagine- Moroccan fare in Croton.

The Clearwater Festival was great fun, despite the rainy first day the crowds were big and lively, and on Sunday the sun came out. It's a lot like the Common Ground Fair in Maine except with lots of music and not so many farmers.  Among the many performers; The Blind Boys of Alabama (who really know how to put on a show), David Crosby (biggest disappointment), Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Mike and Ruthie (who we we first saw at Sweet Charity in Maine), Ani de Franco, Tom Paxton, Neko Case, and best new dance band for me, Delhi 2 Dublin, a Vancouver Bollywood Irish fiddle fusion band. The spirit of Pete Seegar was everywhere. His work to clean the Hudson continues through the Clearwater Foundation, and it is swimmable today.

Clear Water Music Festival, still going strong for over 30 years

One of 5 music stages. The sloop is the Clearwater, giving rides

Sandy and Allen joined us for a day trip up the river. And then they can just hop on the train home!

This is the Clearwater as we passed her going to Albany as she returned from the festival

Saying good bye to Sandy and Allen at the Poughkeepsie train station.

My book for this area has been T.C.Boyle’s World’s End which spans the history from 1600’s through the 60’s, One of the pivotal scenes in the book is the 1949 Peekskill riots, when the locals violently protested a Paul Robeson, (most well known Negro in the country at the time) concert in Peekskill. This was just the beginning of the communist witch hunts, and it combined nicely with the racist and anti-semitic fervor of the time. Many were injured, police turned a blind eye. There was a successful rescheduling if the concert, but when those concert goers left the venue they were attacked, including Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie who had their car stoned with Pete's infant children inside.

Westchester County locals raging against a Paul Robeson concert 1949

Pete Seegar and the Clearwater, lightly fictionalized, also appear in World's End.

Off to visit the home town, East Aurora NY, by car, and a family reunion, then a quick trip to Maine before re-boating.

The Catskills come into view. Good to see mountains once more.

Cheers
Sarah & Joel