8/19 In the morning Branton's mother Lisa arrived with a new bike for Branton. We assembled his bike and Lisa kindly took our group pot set, tents, and stoves to lighten the load for our ride to Poughkeepsie. We biked twenty miles to Ellenville on the bumpy Route 52 and stopped for a snack break. We continued to New Paltz on the beautiful Berme Road, circling around the last of the Catskills. Tyler's rack snapped off along the way, but we zip tied it back on and changed our route to avoid bumpy bike paths. In New Paltz Tyler got a professional zip tie job done and the crew ate a big late lunch/early dinner at Lemongrass Thai. We rode on the rail trail from New Paltz to Poughkeepsie and took group photos on the Mid Hudson Walkway. We stayed at the Vassar Townhouses for the night, where John's friend Erin donated fresh veggies from the Vassar Farm and we ate cookie cake (a favorite of Branton's). The kids had a sentimental last night of tenting outside and we're excited about their last day of riding.
