We did drive down the Hudson River Valley. It rained the whole day, but it was a pleasant drive through the land of Rip Van Winkle, the Headless Horseman, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

We stopped in Hyde Park. The buildings at the Franklin Roosevelt historical site were closed due to the federal shut down but the grounds were open. Steve and Jasper wandered around; too cold for me.

Drove through Poughkeepsie, home of Vassar College. Had the best chili burgers there.

We camped at Turkey Swamp Campground. Actually a very nice place even if the name doesn’t sound inviting.

We spent a delightful evening at our cousin, Connie Reilly’s home. Her daughter Maureen joined us for dinner. So much fun!

Every evening or morning we spend at least an hour mapping our route for the next day and identifying our next campground. We have only made reservations at the popular National Parks. The rest of the time, we just show up and have been able to get good campsites.

New Jersey has very expensive toll roads, U-turn and left turn lanes on the right side of the freeways that loop around, and signs that say “drive friendly— it could save lives”. Steve would rather pay higher gasoline prices and drive on “free”ways than the toll roads. He found it a “real pain in the butt”.

As we drove through all the small villages in most of the states, many house porches are decorated with lots and lots of pumpkins. Nurseries have hundreds of pumpkins to sell.

Maryland is so green. We drove along part of the Chesapeake Bay with its coves and inlets.