This ain't some hardcore long distance ride. This is just a few minutes from my house. But I wanted to post it here cause it's just a very cool town with a lot of good spots & a lot of cool people, and it's on an awesomely good road for sightseeing and pure riding bliss. This is Callicoon, New York. Sidetracks Bar....with a bunch of weekend warriors leaving. The Western Hotel. The owner Joe is a good friend of mine. The place is an old-timey bar & hotel, and their liquor store has the best prices within 50 miles. P.S.- The restored '57 T'bird is for sale....PM me Matthew's On Main, my fave place. They got good food, good people, and the prettiest bartenders in 3 counties. The ugliest bike would be mine....Cap'n Krunch. Inside, the pretty blond hiding behind the bar is (sweet incredible) Sarah!!! The dining room @ Mathhew's. (It was hot as a mofo, but they came & they conquered) Daily Specials The Dinner menu changes weekly The Delaware River just upstream from Callicoon. Lander's River Trips has canoes, tubes and rafts available for river runs. The 1906 Restaurant, one of several excellent places to eat in Callicoon Klimchok Real Estate......I just had to give them a bump, I'm their computer geek and they take good care of me. Random sign on the kitchen door @ Matthew's Grilled chicken filets with herbs & salad.....smelled so good I had to take a picture. Beautiful bartender Julia. She's from Belarus, and has a very cool accent that's a mix of Slavic and BBC British. Oh and she's such a sweetheart it kills me.....cause she's married View of the bridge next to Lander's River Cafe. That's PA over there, anybody got a rock to throw? Lander's River Cafe. One of several fine resaurants in Callicoon. Cap'n Krunch with my handicapped parking permit on the bars LOL Skinners Falls. Just downstream from Callicoon. Popular spot for sunbathing & tubing the rapids. You can bring beer to the rocks, but no glass bottles allowed. And there's a campground within walking distance. This is "Hawk's Nest," a stretch of Rt. 97 south of Callicoon about 7 miles. You may recognize it, cause it has been on innumerable car commercials. It's VERY fun to ride Well there you have it, my first ride report. I hope you all enjoy it, and hope to see some inmates up this way at Matthew's. Keep the rubber side down, shiny side up
but hawks nest seven miles south of Callicoon? Now don't be throw'n rocks over the river at us, ( You never know what we may throw back. lol ) Cool Pictures. Nice to know another "Local inmate" is in the area. You went down to hawks nest yet no pics of Robling bridge or Minisink battle field? No mention of proxcimity of Callicoon to Bethel Woods, aka "Wood Stock" Nor any mention of world class resort at the "Villa" ? Hmmm, what kinda tour guide are you? lol Well, I'm not one to hit the bars, but I do get to town from time to time so feel free to wave to the big guy on the tall dark KLR.
Hey bro, this was only the first installment. Have camera, will travel. And I hope if you see Cap'n Krunch in Callicoon you'll wave me down. I'd sure love to have a beer with a fellow inmate!
Most of my trips thru Callicoon I am either on my way to Landers for high test on my way home, or on my way to getting lost on some back roads in Catskill State Park. I grew up on the PA side and just reexploring the area. I would post pictures, but as my dialup speed is at 24.4 kbps ( the norm of dialup is 56.6.) to load pictures would take me forever. If I see your Kapt Crunch in town I will stop and say hello. I never know it what direction my journey will take me. ( other then this weekend a revolutionary war reinactment down near Hamlin PA. A friend is in it so I gota show my support. No matter rain or shine.) But you took some nice pictures and thanks for posting.
There's gonna be a band playing in the park behind Matthew's this coming weekend on Sunday. I'll probly sit in w/them ans do some lead singing & harmonica. Roll on over if you got nothing else going on.
Great stuff! I love being exposed to the heart and soul of a community. I was in NY a year ago - Albany, Schenectady, Cooperstown, NYC, etc. I just love those smaller rural towns we were in along the way. I could live in any number of them. I really appreciate the shots posted.
I am not 10 miles from Callicoon just across the river. It sounds good. Let me see how I feel after my Saturday juant to Hamlin. They were talking about rain this weekend. you going to play inside if it rains? If I come by, I will most likely be on the tallest bike there. Hopefully I will see you there.
Scott F. here, A.K.A. - Critter. Hope to see you Sunday. I don't know what the plan is if it rains. They might play inside @ Matthew's. I'll be down there selling my Armadillo Eggs....stuffed jalepenos wrapped in bacon & grilled. They are my specialty
Skinners Falls looks low to me. Is it? I have not been there in a long time. Back in the 70s I had a gig as a canoe guide at a summer camp in the Poconos. We'd put in at Callicoon and take out at Dingmans Ferry. Three day trip. Only Class III rapids and lots of paddling but I remember a neat rope swing at, I think, Narrowsburg bridge. Nice photos.
No more rope swings on the river. A good friend of mine Clatey Kirschbaum died jumping off the bridge @ Skinners, drunk. The river was low & he broke both legs when he hit bottom. A friend, Bob Francis tried to save him and almost got drowned too. Was a sad time. Skinners is still a good spot for sunbathing & tubing. You gotta get there early & pick your fave rock.
OK, so I got some fresh batteries for the camera, cause today is a special occasion. My best friend of 20+ years is here visiting from Texas. I haven't seen him for over 3 years, cause he was living it up in Hawaii when I left Texas (lucky bastard). He was recovering from a severe T-bone bike wreck, and his lovely wife Shannon is a dialysis nurse (very high demand)....so she gets to pick where she wants to work. She picked Hawaii!!! So Frankie (that FF) ran off with her and left me in West Texas while he recuperated, fishing for Mahi Mahi and hanging out on black sand beaches watching the wahinis float by. Hell with physical therapy! Gimme some of that therapy! So here we are at Matthew's, catching up & having a few. Me & Frankie Me & Frankie will prolly get in trouble for this....But we used to play in the same band, chase the same girls, fish til the skeeters bled us dry, bring ugly ol' bikes back from the dead, build scary fast junk cars and drive 'em so fast we just kissed the high spots in the road, do illegal things at night, with illegal girls, and just generally do what young studs do.....that was a long time ago Shannon Bro, I never knew anyone who was as solid as you, not even my own family. You are the solidest Bro there ever was or ever will be...... So here's the video that best describes our life in boring-ass Sullivan County back in the day (you had to MAKE your own fun!!!) <object width="480" height="385"> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7TcOhIhY_s8&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></object> Shannon & Frankie.....(She's a real Texas girl (& she's tough ). Ahh juss luuv the waay she tawks, y'all ) I love these two After we got toasted and toasted some stuff, they went to do some touring around in their rented town car (GAK!!!), and I rode around town and took some more pics. Now don't get me wrong about Frankie....he is a rider. One that would make a lot of ADVers jealous. He just ain't got no interest in the web. I tried to get him in here....he was like "meh." So I left Matthew's and cruised down the main drag to the Delaware Community Center. They have a nice pool there: And next to the pool is The Community Center where Master Micheal Hrynko was teaching a Martial Arts class. I caught them by surprise..... But the Master soon had them all ready to bow for ADV Master Micheal Hrynko has been teaching martial arts in this area for approximately.....forever. As long as I can remember, and I'm 44. No wonder he looks like Santa Clause (but he could still kick your ass grasshoppah). And he is oldschool scooter people, with stories to tell from hell His web link is: http://www.martialartsdefense.com/ Here, as the light is failing, we have a view of the baseball field, across the tennis courts. Local softball teams play here regularly. This is the north end of Main street with the Library & Flea Market. The fle market is an antique paradise But be aware....all the antique stores in Callicoon are only open on weekends. A little further down, antiques, a Native American craft store,a coffee shop, a health food store and a cafe. Then a pizza shop, more antiques, a realtor, more antiques....and back to Matthew's. Acroos the tracks then, to the Western Hotel Liquor Store (it's around the back And Cap'n Krunch is there) BTW, Harmonie Hall is the dance hall at the Western Hotel. They try to keep everything in the spirit of the 1800's railroad town palace she was in her day, and owner Joe is a refined gentleman & connoisseur of fine cigars. This pristine '57 T-bird belongs to Joe. It's for sale for the right price. Anyone interested feel free to PM me & I will put you in touch with him. From thence, I head home. But there's more. Delaware Valley Job Corps. A former monastery, now converted to a juvenile vocational reform school. It's unfortunate there is a necessity to put a beautiful building like this to use for such a purpose. It is like a castle..... And the sign at the gates (they wouldn't let me any closer). I've known kids who came out of Job Corps. Some did well, some didn't. Either way, this is a kids prison. Very sad.... On a side note: Napanoch State Prison (A.K.A.- Eastern Correctional Facility) is such a shame. What an amazing piece of architecture.....to be wasted as a prison Sorry to leave you on a sad note. Next post will be better, I promise Going to BBQ with Frankie & Shannon tomorrow night, after I see the orthopedist & stay over at Swinging Bridge Lake (A.K.A.-9 Mile Lake). Gonna do some fishin', take some pics & just generally have a blast!! And you're invited. So subscribe See ewes all next time.
I was in Callicoon on sunday evening, but never saw "Capt Crunch" All is good. I waited till almost 8pm then headed home as I was starting to get a chill. Sunday I rode around the area and up to the "Villa" just for a ride. Just a Lazy day to ride around. Well, maybe I will run into you in town. I hope that you had a good visit with your friend.
Sorry I missed you Johnny We hung around till about 6:30, then I went & took the latest pics that I posted. We'll run across eachother sometime soon
I have had the pleasure of cocktails at Matthews one afternoon. Had a great time gettin' liquored with the locals one winter day.
Is this you Chris? Yes those 606's didn't last long with all my street riding plus I was having a hard time keeping air in the front one. It went compleatly flat on one ride to Callicoon. Plus they made the bike "Oxyplane" at high speed hiway travel. They really didn't give me any better real off ride riding ability. I now have Kenda 670's on the bike and they so far seem the best 50/50 tire on the bike. Of late I just been exploring between Binghamton NY to Monticello NY to Lackawaxen and all over the Catskills. The 606's wore fairly quick and the front tire was dangerious before I put the Kendas on. I tried the 606's in all diffrent terrains and they really didn't give the bike any extra bite as I hoped they would as I rode thru woods and mud. Thanks again.