A Living Magazine - Day 319 - Homecoming - Pleasant Valley to Millbrook

A nice sleep. This spot was good. Something for future nomads to make note of. But now I had to walk while the walking was good. That meant getting to Millbrook before the next downpour. I packed up and hit the road...

More crosses. I Google searched these and found nothing.

I stopped at a gas station and bought a coffee and breakfast sandwich. While I was eating out in the parking lot I noticed snails on the light posts...

When I'd finished and thrown out my wrappers along with my trash from the night before (I never leave trash at a sleep spot), it was back to the road. There was a light rain coming down. For all of these months I'd loathed rain so much. But, in the last week I'd been just facing it "like a man," I told myself. That meant - for me - not running to shelter every time the drops fell.

My green short sleeve button down shirt could become completely soaked, and then dry within an hour. I wore a t-shirt, my IWALLK long sleeve shirt over that, and then the green button down over those. Sweat took a long time to get out to the green shirt. And rain took a long time to get into the t-shirt. In the middle was a drying region which I relied on. A rain coat would be counterproductive in this situation, because it would make me sweat (sealing moisture in) and would still need to be dried after walking through the rain (inside and out). Even better would be clothes made of a nylon-cotton blend. But, cotton was what I had to deal with. And I found that it dried when I needed it to...

An antiques store--one of very many in this part of New York.

Given a second life, or maybe a settled one in the future, I'd love to go antiquing around here.

Buyers wanted?

When I got to Millbrook I didn't know how long I would be here...

Franklin Street.

 

I really liked this place. Besides the curvature of the dormer roof and the round tower,

it was also a very tasteful combination of stone and wood. 

I worked at the library for a while and then had to leave to find a sleep spot.  There was a place about 1.5 miles north east...

Grace Church--an Episcopalian church with a very interesting design.   

Twin Brooks Gardens--nursery and garden center.

And, at the end of Franklin Street where it meets Route 44  is the most interesting landmark of all for me. "Danheim Castle" (also known as Millbrook Estate). The following building seen from the road is the gatehouse to the mansion. This estate , my friends, was where Timothy Leary and his gang hung out for five years in the 1960's...

Ralph Metzner and Timothy Leary in front of Millbrook mansion (early 1960's).

Source: pophistorydig.com

I'm ashamed to say that even with a very stout knowledge of psychedelic history, I did not put two and two together while I was in Millbrook. Instead I discovered all of this Millbrook Estate history after the fact, while researching for this post. This was where the very famous raid took place, when police planted evidence, stripped searched women, and plowed through the house...

Article in EVO about the raid.

Source: eastvillage.thelocal.nytimes.com

The situation would lead to Leary's decades-long conflicts with the law. Fascinating. And, it turned out that I was about to camp at the edge of the property.

The stone gate house was at the end of Franklin Avenue (what locals call Main Street). I took a right and headed down the road for about another half mile until I found a spot with no houses in view, at the top of a hill, and took a left into the woods.

This place was swampy, inclined, and a bunch of deer ran away as soon as I arrived. What could go wrong? There wasn't any spot in the woods. It was too open and had deep mud under a thin layer of leaves. So, I slogged my way back toward the road. I saw an area that was near a fallen tree and a wall of brush. The fallen tree's jagged edges were perfect to hang my stuff on. The leaves were wet, but I didn't have much choice. This would have to do...

Look how well the tent is camouflaged with its green tarp in the above picture. It was needed for rain, but the color was just perfect for this sleep spot. The sun went down, somewhere behind the clouds. And, the light diminished.

In the fading light I heard quite a lot of action down in the trees and brush below. It was the deer who had been near the road when I first arrived. Lots of them. Right when it was impossible to see anything below me, I heard a presence walking up. It was slow and took at least ten minutes to get close to me. All the while, I was wondering what was going on. No deer I'd ever seen would approach me unprovoked. But, there was no other animal it could have been.

The deer approached so slowly and periodically, I'd forgotten what was coming and just thought about other things. But at around 9:00 p.m. the animal had reached me. He stomped on the ground and coughed out that distinctive bark that you recognize if you've been around these creatures enough times. The difference was how close he was--about ten feet away. I stood there as he challenged me.

He wanted to lead a bunch of his kingdom (since he seemed to be the king) across the busy road. I could tell this was a popular hangout spot from the number of deer trails. But why would they choose this particular place to cross the road? I didn't know and didn't really care. But this buck wasn't interested in my presuppositions, he had an agenda.

So, I stamped in return on the ground and he stepped back. And I did my own impression of a deer bark. I wanted to take a movie of all this, but it was so dark and turning the camera on would seem unnatural. Besides, I was pretty hopped up with excitement. I'd never confronted a deer before. He continued huffing and barking. For the hell of it, so did I. I was behind the fallen log with its broken branches and a bunch of thorn bushes. There was no way in hell he was getting at me.

People don't realize that deer are statistically the most dangerous wild animals. They cost $4.6 billion in insurance claims per year and collisions with them cause 150 deaths per year. Not only that, but they can attack without being provoked, and with their heavy muscular bodies, powerful hooves and sharp antlers they can have their way with you if they want.

The thing that bugged me a bit about this encounter was that the trail leading to the road was a good thirty feet away. And, I wasn't blocking it. I was just hanging out. When it was obvious that this was a standoff, he stepped back about ten more feet. I could see his outline under the overcast night sky. His four point antlers were at about mid-growth for the season, but he was a very large whitetail. Eventually, he turned and ran back into the woods. I have a very strong suspicion that they did finally cross in the very early morning.

I was pretty tired and it was late. The rain was beginning again. I had no idea whether I would have to stay in the tent all the next morning. So, I retired, falling asleep quickly. What a day!

Millbrook Sleep Spot.