Monday, February 04, 2008

Low bridge, everybody down......

While driving on the first leg of my cemetery road show through NY, I had the good fortune to drive through several small quaint villages with very familiar names from literature of my childhood. I drove through Tarrytown ("Frog and Toad"), Sleepy Hollow ("The Legend of"..... starring Ichabod Crane), and Wappinger Falls (what is this from?????).
I drove along the Hudson River and saw sights that must be much more beautiful in the spring. And the hillsides whose trees are now barren of their once beautiful fall foliage. I saw the Vanderbilt Mansion and the home of FDR. I saw the Rip Van Winkle bridge. I drove through Scarborough and West Point. I drove through Peekskill, Pigskill, Catskill and Fishkill, the "'ville's" and the Manors and the "somethings-on-the-Hudson". It made me want to spew poetry with city names in the verse.
There are also some wide open spaces in New York where I thought there were only apartment houses and train stations. I saw several abandoned mines, and textile plants and lots of hills where dead bodies could hide for decades without notice. I wondered if the Red Coats had marched through these hills and if Deliverance could have been filmed in this area.
I saw the signs pointing to "Erie Lock 2, 3, and 4" and then had to sing the song for the next 15 minutes.

"Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge for we're coming to a town,
And you'll always know your neighbor,
you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal."

I'm in love with New York as long as I don't think about airports and luggage. I want to come back here on a road trip when I retire...... maybe sooner.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home