Day 12: Tivoli to Hudson

May 16, 2025

Day 12: Tivoli to Hudson

Yesterday, I left the Suminski Innski in Tivoli around 10 AM and cycled on the road all the way to Hudson. I passed by many farmlands where animals roamed.

The forecast indicated light rain throughout the day but it never rained. I got lucky again.

I cycled for about 20 miles and reached Hudson around noon. I had over five hours to kill before meeting my Warmshowers host at her apartment at 5:30 PM.

As I was searching on Google Maps for a place to eat lunch, I realized that some of the restaurants cost $30-50 per meal. These days, the average restaurant meal cost is about $20. I ended up having a $10 lamb gyro from a street cart.

It has been 11 years since I first visited Hudson on a solo road trip. I remembered there were many art galleries and antique stores. They are still here today, including many restaurants.

I walked my bike down Warren Street, which is the main street where all the shops are. Then I turned back to visit the Hudson Area Library. I sat on the front porch of the library while deciding what to do for my next night’s stay since none of the Warmshowers hosts confirmed. I decided to pay the $20 yearly fee for Couchsurfing.com, a website that I had used for traveling, to see if I can get any hosts in the Albany/Troy region. Luckily, a woman replied and said that I can stay with her in Troy. It’ll be about 48 miles of riding from Hudson.

Since an older woman sat next to me and had her laptop speakers on the whole time, I decided to leave the library and go to the Promenade Hill Park on the west side of the town. I felt very hot there and couldn’t find a bench in a shaded area so I left the park soon after.

I waited until 5:30 PM at the train station, where there was some shade and not too far from my Warmshowers host’s place.

I met my host, Elaine, in front of her apartment. Elaine showed me the basement where I can store my bike and a mat where I can sleep for the night. I took a quick shower then the both of us went to dinner at La Mision, a Mexican restaurant.

Elaine is a 32 years old medical doctor working at a community hospital. She actually graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. I went to the University of Rochester as well. Elaine also bike toured with her twin sister before and now is doing more mountain biking. Her husband Armen is an economics professor at Hunter College in New York City. Since he’ll be taking a late night train back to Hudson, I won’t see him until the morning.

When we walked back to the apartment after having delicious enchiladas, I was tired. The total milage for the day was only 22.2 miles, including some walking.

Someone from Warmshowers finally confirmed that I can stay with him in Troy, but I already found someone on Couchsurfing. I might take a rest day in Troy and stay with the Warmshowers host if he allows me to stay the night after.

This morning, I woke up at 6. I had slept in my sleeping bag, but I didn’t use my sleeping pad so I slept on a harder surface. That was my mistake.

During the writing of this blog post, Elaine woke up. Then Armen woke up as well. Since Armen is an economics professor, I asked him why inflation has to be targeted at 2%. He said that if inflation is negative then the firms will have more trouble paying back loans. It’s also hard to keep inflation at 0%. Glad I asked.

I will leave Elaine’s place soon.