Stopped in Woodstock for lunch, small little village, but nice, went thru to the campsite to shower and get my car. Trip over an heading home now. I will post more pics from my camera later today.

Posted a few new pics to Flickr.

Slept good last night and got an early start from Devils Tombstone this morning. Riding to Woodstock now.

Yesterday was a brutal day on the bike, it was hot and my first time riding long distance with all the weight. A lot of hard long climbs that went on for miles. my day started off really good but I took a wrong turn somewhere and when I figured it out I was 20 miles from where I needed to be and 56 miles from where I needed to go....SO I cut out Mongaup Pond and headed straight to Devils Tombstone. Day 1 on the bike 43 miles.

Camping the first night was cool. Hot shower in the morning and breakfast before starting the 45 mile ride to Mongaup Pond. Nice and cool at night here but hot during the day. Roads are safe so far with little villages around. About 15 miles done so far today, I will stop soon for lunch when I can.

Posted some pics to Flickr, the ghost town was cool, went in some bldgs and took lots of pictures, the area is nice but mosquitos the size of birds.... I pulled over on the NY Thruway to take a call from Beth and a cop pulled up behind me so I finished quickly with the call and the cop came to the window, he said " Is everything ok?" i said "sure, I just pulled over to take a call" he said, " ok I just wanted to see if you needed help (pause) this van is awesome!" he said as he looked it up and down.

link to Flickr

If I cant figure out how to post photos from the road I may post some here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52104571@N08/

Test post from iPhone.

The Route

The bike trip starts out on day 1 out of Kenneth L. Wilson campground in Mt. Tremper, NY to Mongaup Pond campground in Livingston Manor, NY.
Day 2 to Devil's Tombstone campground in Hunter, NY.
Day 3 off to North South Lake park then thru Woodstock NY then back to my car at Kenneth L. Wilson Campground in Mt. Tremper.
The whole trip should be just over 100 miles but the mountains I will be pedaling over gain up to 4000 feet so I may break the 10,000 ft mark of total climbing on this trip!
I may not be able to post on this blog from the road so I may utilize Facebook for mobile uploads of cool photos so keep your eyes out. I also may not have cell service in all areas so I will check in when I can. I should be headed up on Monday morning June 6th and will return on Thursday night or Friday morning. My neighbor Eric is watching our cats while I am gone.

The trip to Lundy Rd. before the tour

Just south of where I will be camping the first night is a ghost town I will be visiting on Lundy Rd. in Kerhonkson, NY. The story goes that a wealthy NY city restauranteur built a mansion on Lundy road as a summer retreat and a small town sprouted up nearby, in the early 1900's a townsman murdered a neighbor and was hung for his crime in front of all the towns people. The town started having its residents disappear after the hanging so they all left. Most of the town has been torn down but there are a few creepy homes like this one still standing. The Lundy mansion is occupied by someone new now, Its just behind a 12 foot stone wall on the same road. This should be a cool side trip before I start sleeping in the woods just north of the ghost town......

The Gear

This is most of what I am bringing with me on the bike.
Tent, groundcloth
55 deg. sleeping bag
REI compressible camp pillow
thermarest
camp towel
headlamp
MSR waterworks water filter (to fill up at streams while riding)
camera
ipod
solar charger
shower wipes (in case showers are not an option)
lightweight cycling rain shell
couple pairs of cycling shorts
couple cycling jerseys
one pair lightweight, quick dry, convertible pants
2 casual shirts that double as cycling tops
2 pair underwear
4 pair socks
flip flops
toiletries, liquid hemp soap, 1/5 tube of toothpaste, toothbrush,  travel size deodorant
granola bars
ramen
jar of peanut butter
I will be buying a half dozen plain bagels day before trip
lightweight cable lock
10 Advil
ultra light MSR Pocket Rocket stove, fuel, cook bowl, fork
Leatherman multi tool
Garmin Nuvi
Topo Map of Catskills
All of this except the cook-set and food fits in my two rear paniers, I will use the front paniers for food cook-set and maybe the water filter and the handlebar bag for granola bars, camera, wallet, phone, gps, sunblock, chapstick etc.

This is my cook set. ^

This is my repair bag that fits under my seat, rubber gloves, Co2, tubes, patch kit pedal wrench, spoke wrench, tire iron, park multi tool, assorted bolts and zip ties.^