Could I have asked for a more perfect day for my first day on the road?  I said goodbye to 95 Horatio Street and hello to Upstate NY, starting with a two hour guided tour of The U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  A strange choice for a first stop you say, not really, if you think about the spirit of my journey.  I want to see and experience everything and not make judgments (please don’t confuse judgments with making fun of things because that I just won’t give up, ever!)  So why not start with someplace that’s as different from me as possible?  The tour was fascinating and the tour guide Helen was really nice and extremely well informed.  The Academy opened in 1802 and has graduated some very distinguished cadets as you can imagine!

My favorite story Helen told was about Douglas MacArthur when he was Superintendent at West Point.  He had a dinner party one night and very proudly showed his guests a standard cot in a very sparsely appointed attic. He told them that he didn’t need all of the fancy things in the house and didn’t sleep in the big bed in his opulent bedroom. The morning after the dinner party a member of the staff came to him and said that a place setting from the dinner party last night was missing. He sent out a letter to all of the guests saying it was a funny joke, but whoever took the place setting needed to return it.  No reply. He sent a second letter a little more sternly worded with the same request, again no reply. The third letter was pretty threatening; he was clearly no longer amused by this practical joke. He got a response to his last letter and it said: “Why don’t you look under the sheets of the cot you supposedly sleep on every night, you’ll find the missing place setting there!”   

I left West Point and headed to Fleischmanns New York to visit a friend. Lori moved back from London seven years ago and wanted to be in a peaceful community of like-minded individuals. She’s a gifted stone carver, incredibly adept at building things (she’s currently renovating her house and doing almost all of the work herself) and is a pretty damn amazing cook!  Lori really made my first day on the road special!  We ventured into Woodstock and met a wonderful friend of hers who owns an inn there. We had a little wander around and then had a fantastic dinner at the Peekamoose Restaurant.  Below are photos of the day.

View of the Hudson from West Point