A Living Magazine - Day 315 - Homecoming - Poughkeepsie: Queen City South

The first sound I heard was a deer barking right next to me. Apparently he or she was not overjoyed with the presence of my tent. I sniffed a few times and he bounded off toward IBM. Oh deer! Just after that wake up call the first drops began to fall. I'd had a good six hours of sleep and trying to go back to sleep and then pack up later in the rain just didn't make sense. 

Despite still having a bit of a sleep deficit, I decided to pack up and get to Starbucks with a tent and tarps that were still relatively dry. My first stop was the Price Chopper. I'd been wondering whether it might have a cafe in it...

It did have a little cafe, and I made a mental note--I could also pick up an Xfinity signal. I bought a juice and left. Across the road was the Wendy's I'd used the day before. I figured I would go there first to work, so I would not be at Starbucks for such an obviously long time.

I worked at Wendy's for several hours. The only table with an outlet was right underneath a TV that was tuned to Nick Jr., and it was playing children's cartoons all day--even though there were no kids there. When I couldn't stand it any longer, I packed up and headed back down Route 9 to Starbucks.

On the way I passed some protesters outside of Verizon--striking line workers who have been fighting for a new contract. I'd seen them the day before, but hadn't looked carefully enough; thinking they were advertising for Verizon...

Starbucks was packed, but I found a table with an outlet, sat Saggy down in the opposite chair and bought a bag of popcorn along with a large ice water. I continued to work there for the rest of the day. I heard someone mention that Poughkeepsie was known as the "Queen City of the Hudson." Truthfully, I wasn't really staying in the town, but right on the border, in the south. This was often the case whenever I visited cities.

I rarely hung out downtown (with the bus trips down the east side of the Mississippi River being an exception). The center of cities are not practical for me, because they are usually so far away from my sleep spots. Besides, the burghs and boroughs are a bit more peaceful and still have the amenities I need. Usually these outer areas aren't too far away from the central parts of the city's bus and train stations.

When the time was right, I headed back to the sleep spot for my second night there. It was dark this time and I had a hard time finding the spot. I knew I was in the right general place, but I just couldn't locate the specific spot, until I began looking for another spot, then I ran across it. Ha! I set up the tent and crawled in, falling asleep right away...