Woke up at 7 from a fairly restless night, and tucked into breakfast – tropical oatmeal (porridge with pineapple in it) followed by a home-baked bagel. Then we set off for a Rockwood Pond, where we could go swimming. Unfortunately, the route there was marred by the attention of hundreds of mosquitoes – hungry ones at that. We jogged a few times to get rid of them, only to run into their companions. When we got to the lake (it wasn’t really a pond) I took my shirt off. The results of their meal were apparent, since the top of my back, as well as my forehead and elbows, were covered with red and white bumps. Nasty! The swim was worth it though, since once again the water was perfect. The return journey was better, from my point of view at least, since I was wrapped up in a towel like a skeikh, and then with Dennis’s jacket. When we got back, Val dabbed me with Mariann’s herbal remedies, first aloe, and then slippery elm tea – very successful.
Dennis returned to work, and we sat around for a while, bought lunch, said goodbye and left. We took a long way around, through Vermont and then down, that was more interesting, before getting to Peekskill, where Dennis had given us three addresses we might try for a bed for the night. Unfortunately, none of them turned up trumps, despite several efforts and sitting in a car park by a phone for some time. So we bought some beer (with some hassles) and set off to find a spot to park the car + sleep. It proved a little tricky, but eventually we found a place behind a nuclear power station. We played a couple of games of cards while listening to the Beatles story on the radio, but it got dark quickly, so we set the reclining chairs and went to sleep. Val was like the proverbial log, and I wasn’t too bad, except for being disturbed by a policeman, who must have thought we were a courting couple who should go home, he told us it was 4 o’clock.
A couple of firsts here – first time we camped out in a car, first time we had a (relatively harmonious) encounter with the police. Both a prelude to many such.
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