2012 Upper Middle Delaware Valley Meet - March 24, 2012

[Roadgeek Adam]

Here's the announcement, on January 15, as promised:

2012 Upper Middle Delaware Valley Meet
Date: March 24, 2012
Time: 12 pm
Location: Four Seasons Restaurant and Diner, 5000 Milford Road (U.S. Route 209), Marshalls Creek, Middle Smithfield Township, Pennsylvania

Itinerary:
The continuation of the 2009 Upper Delaware River Valley Meet, this meet will focus on the area between Belvidere, New Jersey/Riverton, Pennsylvania to Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania and stuff in between, including the Marshalls Creek Bypass for US 209, a proposal that's been in the works for 22 years until finally being constructed. We will also see the Old Mine Road, National Park Service Routes 602 and 615 and the abandoned portions of Sussex County Route 615 in Sandyston Township. Just like in the meet in 2009, there will be a bridgewalk, specifically the Belvidere - Riverton, which includes the former alignment of PA 709.

How to get there:

From Interstate 80 east or west: Take Exit 309 (former 52) for US Route 209 / PA Route 447 north for Marshalls Creek. Follow U.S. 209 north to the hamlet of Marshalls Creek, where you will pass the bypass alignment, currently in construction. When you reach a light with US 209 Business, turn right onto US 209 north, cross through Marshalls Creek, passing the intersection with Route 402, and soon entering a two-lane stretch of 209 North. After passing the Pocono Bazaar, you should see a diner on the northbound side of the road. This is Four Seasons Diner and Restaurant, where we will be having lunch.

From U.S. Route 209 South/Milford: The portion of U.S. Route 209 would be pretty simple, however, after Irene and Lee, a good portion of Route 209 between Dingmans Ferry and Milford was washed away in October. So right now, 209 is closed between Route 739 and US 206. Instead of taking US 209 through Milford, if the weather is clear, take 209 to US 206, cross the Milford - Montague Toll Bridge into New Jersey, take the first right after the bridge, which is Old Mine Road. Take Old Mine Road down several miles to the intersection with County Route 560, which will lead you to the Dingmans Ferry Bridge, which you have to cross (and pay a dollar) to follow PA 739 / QR 2019 to US 209 South (where you will see the closed alignment).

Alternatively, you can follow US Route 206 from the bridge down to County Route 560 just north of Stokes State Forest, where you can follow the 5 mile alignment to the Dingmans Ferry Bridge. Follow US 209 South for the 13 miles in the park, then you will enter the area of Fernwood Resort. Keep following 209 for 4 1/2 miles till you see the restaurant on your left, across from Dunkin' Donuts and the new park & ride.

My email is richardpetty43@msn.com - which you can use to RSVP by March 22, 2012. I also have an official Facebook page for the event at http://www.facebook.com/events/127050197411903/

Hope to see you there!

[froggie]

From U.S. Route 209 South/Milford: The portion of U.S. Route 209 would be pretty simple, however, after Irene and Lee, a good portion of Route 209 between Dingmans Ferry and Milford was washed away in October. So right now, 209 is closed between Route 739 and US 206.

Are you sure on this?  It was open and fine during Thanksgiving.

[Dougtone]

From U.S. Route 209 South/Milford: The portion of U.S. Route 209 would be pretty simple, however, after Irene and Lee, a good portion of Route 209 between Dingmans Ferry and Milford was washed away in October. So right now, 209 is closed between Route 739 and US 206.

Are you sure on this?  It was open and fine during Thanksgiving.

That section of US 209 was open and fine on October 18th, even.

[Roadgeek Adam]

It was closed on November 11. Also the shutdown occurred on the 21st, Doug.

http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2011/12/08/pike_county_courier/news/4.txt

On November 11:

[Alps]

http://www.nps.gov/dewa/parknews/closure-updates.htm

Also, you can use Mill St. out of Milford (SR 2001) down to PA 739 to get around the closure.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Just wanted to bump this, considering the meet is just 2 weeks away! As of February 3, US 209 is still closed in the area of MP 14.8 - 18. (See here) RSVPing ends March 22. Again, my email is richardpetty43@msn.com in case you don't use Facebook.

[Roadgeek Adam]

I'll do a full writeup later, but here is the group photo, taken at Walpack Center, New Jersey:



From left to right (standing): Anthony Costanzo (NY), Carl Tessier (QC), Michael Temme-Soifer (NJ), Dylan Lainhart (NY), Robert Sargent (NJ), Keith Thomas (NJ), Travis Fuguet (PA), Daniel Case (NY), Daniel Greenstein (MD)

From left to right (kneeling): Steve Alpert (and the SEND HELP sign, NJ), Adam Moss (NJ)

[Brandon]

I see the "SEND HELP" sign travels widely. 

[hbelkins]

Y'all don't know how much I wanted to be there. My wife was apologizing today for causing me to have to miss.

I hope there are some pictures of Steve without that "Send Help" sign obscuring his shirt. I can only imagine what kind of graphic a shirt with the caption "Cow Pi" might have.

[mgk920]

Y'all don't know how much I wanted to be there. My wife was apologizing today for causing me to have to miss.

I hope there are some pictures of Steve without that "Send Help" sign obscuring his shirt. I can only imagine what kind of graphic a shirt with the caption "Cow Pi" might have.

From last year's Wausau, WI meet:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ssoworld/6204975179/

(Steve is second from the left, back row)

Nope, just plain light green.



Mike

[SSOWorld]

I should photoshop a send help sign into my hands

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I don't know who has photos of the Ohio meet, from last year, but the "Send Help" sign didn't make it there either.

[hbelkins]

I have a couple of those somewhere, but I don't know what I did with them.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Here's a little trip report for your enjoyment.

As usual, the trip started down QC 205, QC 219 and NY 22, all SB. After another attempt at catching the button copy sign at the very beginning of (unsigned at that point) NY 22 with my camera, I drove through Mooers and Sciota and entered Plattsburgh on the narrow Catherine Street. After making my way through the city on 22, I exited downtown Plattsburgh and drove past the Canadian Pacific railroad and Plattsburgh's International Airport. Peru and Keeseville were next, without too much fanfare.

Arrived in Keeseville, I made a left on Front Street (U.S. 9) after crossing the Au Sable River, just to cross the river again and properly begin my clinching of NY 9N. After shooting a couple of Autoroute 15 shields there, I made my way along the river on NY 9N, crossing I-87 for the fourth (but not last) time at the curvy folded diamond interchange there. I then followed the river through Au Sable Forks and Jay, where I caught a glance of Whiteface Mountain, and then continued on the east bank of the river to Keene, where 9N suddenly leaves its alignment and veers east in the valley between Hurricane Mountain and Giant Mountain, towards Elizabethtown; going straight would have made me go on NY 73 through St. Huberts, on the other side of Giant Mountain, ending up on U.S. 9. I followed 9N through Elizabethtown and Westport, on the western shoreline of Lake Champlain, where the route meets up with NY 22 for a second time. On the way, I could get a good distance shot of the new Champlain bridge before driving through Crown Point and Ticonderoga, were I left Lake Champlain (which was about to end anyway) and instead headed west of Mount Defiance, then along Lake George. Good scenic shots were taken at Sabbath Day Point, then the highly touristic Lake George region began, with countless lakeshore motels and a very nice village, where U.S. 9 and NY 9N meet. I stayed on 9N and bypassed Glens Falls and drove through Corinth as the Adirondack Mountains were finally behind me.

I then entered Saratoga Springs on Church Street and turned south on Broadway (U.S. 9) – a road name that I'll see a lot in the next hours. I drove through the city and then through the Saratoga Spa State Park on 9, then through the roundabouts in Malta and Round Lake. I went through Half-moon and Crescent but couldn't see either moon phase in the sky. I then crossed the Mohawk River and stopped in Latham for gas. I couldn't pay at the pump since it asked me for a zip code and I don't live in the U.S... had to pay inside. I was told that they get a lot of Canadian customers and are looking into a way to fix this. I made my way into Albany on the short U.S. 9 expressway that was never really completed... but hey, it has a stack interchange! (with I-90, and there's another stack just next, at I-90 and I-787.)

I continued on Henry Johnson Blvd and Clinton Avenue and made a very short ride on I-787's frontage road before making a short detour on the South Mall Expressway, another expressway that was started but never finished, and ended up becoming a highly overengineered access road to a mall's interior parking lot, complete with a multilevel interchange with I-787 and U.S. 20. The expressway then ends at Swan Street, in a tight U-turn into itself. I drove under the "egg" again and finally crossed the Hudson into Rensselaer, a Dutch name making it obvious I was heading into New Netherland. It also marked the beginning of the portion of U.S. 9 that I had not clinched yet. The drive was much less busy on Columbia Turnpike, although no pikes had to be turned and no tolls had to be paid. After crossing U.S. 4's short North-South spur into NY, U.S. 9 became a rather rural road, crossing the towns of Valatie, Kinderhook, Stottville and Hudson. Rhinebeck and Red Hook had little traffic and were easy drives too; a welcome break before getting into NYC's highly traveled suburbs.

Indeed, once I had driven past Franklin D. Roosevelt's house, Poughkeepsie was a change of beat, with U.S. 9 turning into a busy, wide boulevard approaching the old railroad bridge. A few traffic signals had me stop, then I drove past the U.S. 44 interchange on the left lane, not the best idea as the interchange has two congestion-prone and accident-prone sections of traffic weaving on the left. Leaving Poughkeepsie, traffic diminishes a bit, especially after Fishkill and until U.S. 9 enters Bear Mountain Park. Before entering the park, I decided to not cross the the Hudson and instead continued down U.S. 9 which became and expressway again, through Peekskill and Croton-on-Hudson, which pretty much marked the return of medium-to-dense traffic. I exited back on Post Road to Ossining, and the drive became progressively slower as I approached Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, where U.S. 9 became Broadway. Unlike what I had expected, I had no unblocked view of the Tappan Zee Bridge, as I only new I had passed it once I saw the signs for it. The drive through Hastings was slow but eventless, and traffic densified once more as I entered Yonkers, which I had expected to be nicer. After avoiding the one-way section of Broadway there (via Wells Avenue, Warburton Avenue and Prospect Street), longer lines were forming at traffic signals.

Entering the Bronx by what I heard was not too bad of a neighbourhood (still on Broadway), I saw several young african americans about to fight. My windows were already up and doors already locked by that point, hoping that the next signal would turn green soon and that I'd make it past the green phase despite the traffic, which I did. Soon, the Elevated Subway joined Broadway, and once I was at the Van Cortlandt Avenue intersection, I realized I was in a left turn lane (and I initially wanted to stay on Broadway). Therefore I went and turned left, and after pondering my options (and going east into the Bronx was not one of them) and missing the I-87 south ramp, I turned left onto I-87 northbound. Unsure of how to get back on Broadway (in retrospect, the parkways through the park would have made it easy), I made a U-turn at the 233rd Street interchange and headed south on I-87, missing U.S. 9 through half of the Bronx and through Mahnattan. After passing minor traffic jams at 230rd Street and Fordham Road, I, too, got stuck in a jam under the Washington Bridge (181st Street) and inched through the I-87/I-95/U.S. 1 spaghetti interchange slowly and finally got moving again, albeit slowly, once I was on 95. I then swerved across to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge and crossed into New Jersey.

Once in New Jersey, I followed U.S. 46 as it varied several times between a full freeway, a large RIRO artery and a busy urban boulevard. In all cases, traffic was dense but very fast, as it is often the case in NJ. Township and city lines were crossed in quick succession and I was past the Garden State Parkway and the first bridge over the Passaic River in a matter of minutes. I then drove past what was the rendezvous for last year's meet and crossed the river two more times (and a large interchange with I-80 and NJ 23), drove some more, crossed I-80 at another interchange and finally arrived in Parsippany–Troy Hills, where I would spend the night.

***

For the return trip, I chose to head east on I-80 and I-95 all the way until the Palisades Parkway, then clinch that, stopping at many parking areas to admire the scenery and take photos. I then made my way north on U.S. 9W once I had passed Bear Mountain Park. The drive was very scenic until Newburgh, where I had to stop a a few long traffic signals. Once the city was done with, the drive was pretty uneventful until Highland, where I turned to U.S. 44 and NY 55 and crossed the Mid-Hudson Bridge into Poughkeepsie. After wandering through the awkward interchange with U.S. 9, I headed north to NY 9G and parked next to the Rail Trail. I crossed the Walkway Over the Hudson to Highland (a former railroad trestle) by foot, then came back. After taking some photos of the train station and the two bridges from the park, I crossed the Mid-Hudson Bridge again and went back on U.S. 9W, then used NY 299 to get on I-87 northbound, which I followed all the way through the New Netherland, the Capital region and the Adirondacks, over 200 miles. I exited on U.S. 11, went west then headed north on Hemmingford Road in Mooers, following my usual route home from there.

[agentsteel53]

I couldn't pay at the pump since it asked me for a zip code and I don't live in the U.S... had to pay inside.

do Canadian gas pumps not require a zip code in general?  I think I remember paying directly at the pump once in Alberta, but generally speaking I've erred on the side of caution and gone inside to pre-pay before pumping.  also, Canada seems to have more full-serve gas stations, especially in BC, Yukon, and NWT.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Full-serve stations are common in Canada, but not a majority. With good planning, I think one can even drive without ever having to fill their tank by themselves. I think the major reason why full-serve stations are popular is the cold winters, as people hate getting out of their warm car in mid-February to use the pump.

I don't remember having a canadian pump ask me anything to validate my identity. Canadian postal codes would be impractical since they contain letters. Also worth noting, many canadian pumps don't accept U.S. credit cards at all, you have to go inside.

[Duke87]

Entering the Bronx by what I heard was not too bad of a neighbourhood (still on Broadway), I saw several young african americans about to fight.

You were probably still in Yonkers when you saw that. The city line, while not explicitly signed, is nonetheless obvious since you go from a cruddy neighborhood to a nice neighborhood basically instantly. Also, it's the north edge of Van Cortland Park.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Indeed, it happened near the park. I knew exactly where the city line was.

And you're right, Yonkers didn't seem to be a very happy place to live in. I decided to lock my doors and lift my windows shortly after entering that city.