Island hopping and Cape Cod, Day 55, Mile 2434

New England Islands and the Cape
PierceThe ferry from Orient Point, Long Island came into port in New London, CT along side a huge cruise ship. I guess it was a big deal for the town and they put on a historical artillery demonstration at old Fort Trumbull south of town. Many of the passengers filled in the down town historical district all afternoon. This old city was set on the side of a hill next to the mouth of the Thames river. It was full of cobblestone streets, old brick buildings, and a collection of old stone churches with towering tall steeples. I toured through the old streets myself riding along some of the old cobblestone streets and up and down the steep hillside. I stopped in at a bike shop to ask about info on bike routes and how to get across the massive I-95 bridge spanning the Thames River into Groten. The manager and I had a great long conversation about bike touring in New England, Maine, and Canada and he showed me how to get to the tricky bike path across the river. I stayed in a nice little motel on the waterfront, where I watched the cruise ship leave port in the night time fog.

The morning was foggy as well and I traveled onward to Stonington. It was a nice quaint little village by the sea with old wooden houses painted in bright colors and an old stone light house. I tried to use the library internet but instead was invited to use the internet at a real estate office near by. The lady who invited me was a cyclist herself and wanted to help me out and give me a comfortable free place to do what ever I needed. I appreciate good deeds like this and was definately happy about not getting kicked out of town for trying to use the library. Later I rode through Pawcatuck for lunch and entered into Rhode Island at Westerly. Westerly has a beautiful town park designed in part by Fredrick Law Ohlmsted and has very similar characteristics as both New York City's Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect Park. What a great place to relax but I moved on through the hills of South County to Point Judith and the ferry to Block Island. It was late and the evening fog was thick and cold so I checked into a motel for the night.

Again the morning was drenched in fog and I took the first ferry out to beautiful Block Island. I immediately took off around the south side of the island, through the blooming shadbloom and over the sandy hills to the south lighthouse and the cliff stairway. 140 steps down to the oceanside to watch the waves break against the rocky shore. I continued around to a large fresh water pond surounded by shadbloom thickets and green grassy fields divided by mossy rock walls; the fog still lingered in a blanket of wetness. I imagine this is what Ireland would look like, I have never been to Ireland but that is what I thought of as I peddled through this quiet rural island. The southern loop took me straight back into town and I stopped in at The Mohegan restaurant for lunch. I was preparing to spend the afternoon here to wait out some rain clouds and I had had some great company at the bar to spend it with. Locals in on their lunch breaks, vacationers, and my energetic bar tender. Her name was Colby and we could not agree on which of the restaurants beers were the best. We continued great conversation all afternoon eventhough the raincloud never did bring any rain. I did not have a place to stay for the night so Colby proposed a deal to me. I would help her move some stuff into her apartment from her VW Bus so I would be able to stay in the Bus for the night. Quite a good deal if you ask me. I waited till she got off work to help her out, then we went out for a bike ride to the north end of the island. It was a short ride and the fog was getting thick again in the evening so we went back to rest. I rested in the old '68 VW Bus and waited to go out to see Colby play guitar and sing at a local bar for open mic night. She was a fantastic performer and she dedicated a song to me and my journey. We closed the bar down with plenty of fun and drinks. Later that night or mabey early morning we took our bikes back out through the darkness to the south side of the island, the light house, and the 140 steps down to the beach. We explored the beach for a while till the break of dawn started to light up the sky. We watched the sun rise on our way to the airport cafe for an early breakfast. Colby lit up my life with her constant energy and spontaneous lifestyle. She is a beautiful worldy girl and I will always remember her friendship and the time we spent on the island.

Colby and I took the first morning ferry back to Point Judith and I peddled north to the Jamestown bridge. This bridge and the bridge into Newport were both colosed to bicycle traffic so I was able to find a bus stop and a quick bus route over both bridges. It all worked out very well and I watched my bike on the front of the bus nervously as we bounced along into north Newport. I rode the loop south of the city and walked along the cliff walk where all the rich and famous have great big mansions right on the rocky coast. Some of them have been turned into museums and some are still elegant summer homes for the wealthy. I checked into my downtown hostel and was expertly toured around the countryside and the city night life by my hostel host. We went to a great locals seafood restaurant and then hopped around the bars later that night.

My hotstel mates were quite interesting; a crazy russian computer software specialist who shared many stories of his travels in Europe and two pretty young girls who shared stories about their own bicycle tours along the east coast. We all went our separate ways in the morning and I continued north out of Newport through the beautiful quiet countryside off the island and into Massachusettes. I rode through New Bedfords busy fishing port and historical whaling village then along Buzzards Bay to meet up with an old soldier buddy from Fort Bragg. He picked me up in the small town of Buzzards Bay and took me onto Otis Air Force Base where he had a small apartment with his family. We drank and shared stories of the Army and later filled our bellies with a great family dinner at his inlaws house in Mashpee. I had a great time and was glad that I had a good friend to spend time with along my Journey. I felt very welcomed at Johns house and spent most of the morning visiting with the family before I left on my way to Hyannis. I took the scenic route south through Woods Hole where the National Oceanografic Institute and Research Center is located and then along the southern Cape Cod Coast into Hyannis. Hyannis is a lively port village with plenty of interesting things to see and do. I Stayed here for the night and sampled a bit of the lively night life. This would also be my home base for a fantastic day trip out to Nantucket Island.

I took the morning ferry out to Nantucket through rough seas and made it onto the island on a cool cloudy day. I strolled throught the old village observing the beautiful historical buildings and narrow cobblestone streets and chatted with the manager of Youngs Bike Shope over lunch. He gave me some great information about the island and recommended some great places to see and some great things to do. I took his advice but mainly wanted to visit the tripple eight brewery, distillery, and winery and that is what I did for a good portion of the afternoon. I sampled fresh brewed beer, shared great conversation with the brewers and other beer tasting connoisseurs, and learned about some interesting flavored spirit infusion techniques. One of the brewers invited me to a brewery party but I opted to hang out at a popular locals bar, the Cambridge Street Bar on Cambridge Street, back in town and sleep out under the stars on a grassy hillside in the hilly center of the island. I took the first ferry in the morning back to Hyannis and stopped in at the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory. I took the self guided tour down a hallway in the middle of the building and watched all the workers and machines wash, cut, and fry the potatoes. Then watched the golden brown chips ride around on the conveyor belt to dry and get salted, flavored, and packaged. The tour ended in the gift shop with complimentary chip tastings straight off the assembly line. I spent the rest of the day peddling around the south and east side of the cape into Orleans for the night while a rain storm passed through.

The next day I spent all day riding the back roads of Cape Cod National Seashore. The beautiful deserted beaches were still being washed with frantic winter waves and the wooded forests were just beginning to sprout colorful new spring time foliage. It was still the off season here so I stopped in at a small quiet restaurant to talk to the locals over a hot bowl of chowdah and a delicious basket of fresh cranberry raisin bread. I ended the day on the tip of the cape in Provencetown and immediately noticed the draw toward only a certain kind of people and it wasn't anyone of the hetero persuasion. Aside from the inhabitants, the town was very interesting, full of all kinds of great shops, restaurants, and art gallerys. I could not wait to get out of town in the morning allthough it was raining cats and dogs with no sign of letting up. The forcast was for constant rain for the next three days and the high seas had cancelled the ferry into Boston for the next two days. This was all bad news with the thought of being stranded in a place like this so I rented a car at the airport and sped off as soon as I could get my hands on the keys. With the rainbow flags waving in my rearview mirror, I drove all the way around the cape to Plymouth to do a quick drive by of the famous Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower replica ship then hurried up into Boston. I did a quick tour of the city in the middle of Friday rush hour traffic and saw a few of the sights that I was planning on seeing anyway: The JFK Library, Boston Commons, Commonwealth Ave, Fenway Park, Cambridge Square, Harvard University, and the Tanner Fountain. With the rain still pouring down, I drove up into Andover to stay with my Uncle Chuck in his historic old farmhouse. I would spend all weekend, three days, here while the dreary weather and rain passed through.

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