2009 Summer Trip

Hyde Park

The day after West Point we rode up to Hyde Park to tour Franklin Roosevelt’s home and library. We got there early and toured the house where he was born and where his mother lived until she died. It was a nice house as the family had money. After the house we went into his library and spent quite some time in there. While we were in there it started raining and rained off and on all day. The first picture is of Franklin D. Roosevelt's home.

The second picture is a bronze statue of Franklin and Eleanor. There was a place on the bench to sit and have your picture taken with them but I could find no democrats who were willing to have their picture taken with them. The whole town of Hyde Park was republican and they never voted for him. After lunch we took a bus ride to Eleanor Roosevelt’s home away from home, Val Kil, named after a stream that ran nearby through the property. She used it as a place of her own to entertain friends and after Franklin died she lived there until she died. It wasn’t much but she made it comfortable and she hosted several dignitaries there, including JFK when he was trying to get her support for his presidential run. The next day we departed the West Point campground heading for Seekonk, Massachusetts for our Motorcycle Club Rally. Just after we turned onto the main road we had to break hard for a bear that ran across the street in front of us. It was probably within 15 feet of us and we had two cameras within reach of both of us but we were concerned because the oncoming car looked like it was not going to stop in time and we didn’t think to get a picture.