Monday, June 22, 2009

New York - Bear Mountain, Newburgh

“I started hitching up the thing. Five scattered rides took me to the desired Bear Mountain Bridge, where Route 6 arched in from New England” (9).

(It was raining, but I didn't hear any thunder. I like to think the fog enveloping this mountain looks exactly as it had when Kerouac stopped here).
(I had to zoom in to get this train, just to give you an idea of how high up the bridge is)

This is a terrible shot, but I'm including it because it cost me a $100 citation for not wearing a seatbelt--I removed it as I was parking to take this shot, and a cop who was dealing with somebody he had pulled over saw me drive a few feet to a stop. Absolute bullshit, but at least I get to use this quote:

“The American police are involved in psychological warfare against those Americans who don’t frighten them with imposing papers and threats. It’s a Victorian police force; it peers out of musty windows and wants to inquire about everything, and can make crimes if the crimes don’t exist to its satisfaction” (127). Amen.

“High up over my head the great hairy Bear Mountain sent down thunderclaps that put the fear of God in me. All I could see were smoky trees and dismal wilderness rising to the skies” (9).




“In Newburgh it had stopped raining. I walked down to the river, and I had to ride back to New York in a bus with a delegation of schoolteachers coming back from a weekend in the mountains—chatter-chatter blah-blah, and me swearing for all the time and the money I’d wasted …” (10).




The Bear Mountain Bridge is an imposing piece of architecture. There are taller bridges, but the feeling of the height being absolutely himalayan may be because when you cross, you're crossing between two mountains--Mountains whose peaks I couldn't even see due to the rain. That too probably added to the mystique. As for Bear Mountain itself, the first thing I noticed was how fresh the air felt/smelled. It was beautiful, and it wasn't exactly a nice day.

Newburgh, on the other hand, wasn't anything special. Parts of it had cobblestone streets, which abused my car horribly. One odd thing, however--there are a hell of a lot of Taxis in Newburgh.


1 comment:

  1. This is great stuff; looking forward to seeing it all unfold.

    ReplyDelete