The road out of Albany up through Troy is a rough one, at least it was last August - if you're thinking of Route 7 towards Bennington. It was stop and go and all uphill, from the east side of the Hudson all the way up through Troy, for about 4 miles. Bumpy, narrow and a royal PITB with a lot of traffic. Once you're out of Troy, US 7 through the hills towards Bennington is not too bad, but we had a (stupid) breakdown in Hoosick that was all my fault, and that kinda killed our Vermont run for the time being.
http://lens-flair.net/blog/mini-vacation-day-2-croton-to-vermont-well-almost/
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