We managed to get the air mattress on a slant last night with our heads
at the downward end. I didn’t notice it
until this morning when I tried to get off the mattress...I was fighting
gravity. No wonder my head felt stuffed with cotton this morning but that
started clearing up as soon as I was in the upright position. 😊 Kim said he noticed the slant as soon as he
laid down last but was too darn tired to change it.
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New Jersey Turnpike traffic patterns...6 lanes each way with cement wall
creating a 3 lane separation. Trucks,
buses and cars allowed on the outer three lanes and cars only on the inner 3
lanes. Exit lanes were available for
both sections. I was glad to be out of
range of the semi-trucks for a while.
It’s the size mostly because for the most part the truck drivers seem to be a courteous lot. Some of the cars, though, are
driven by real weenies, for sure.
--------------------
I survived my foray into New York City traffic but I will say that I
drove more aggressively than I ever have before on my bike. Out of necessity. I had
a throttle and I wasn’t afraid to use it...blinkers optional at times.
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Part of the fun of this journal is coming up with an appropriate song to
highlight a little snippet of my day. Sometimes Kim and I reach into the song list
stored in our heads and sometimes a Google search is required. I’ve also learned to search lyrics of songs I
don’t know since I don’t want to use a song that has questionable lyrics by my
standards. And since I listen to each
song this little game has also expanded my musical knowledge.
--------------------
We take a part of every campground we stay at to the next stop, whether
it be dirt I couldn’t get out or spiders, flying insects or ants that just
didn’t get out in time. They are free to scatter when we open the tent. It’s all part of tent camping. 😏
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Evening thoughts:
Rhode Island and
Massachusetts can be crossed off the list.
Down to three: Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
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We stopped at a ‘Parking Area’ which had picnic tables, port-a-johns,
and an information center. We sat down
at the closest picnic table which was also not far from the port-a-johns but no
big deal, there wasn’t any smell. Not
five minutes after we sat down to eat our granola bars the ‘honeywagon’ pulls
in, backs up between us and the johns and starts pumping them out. Now where we sat is a big deal because there is a smell and it’s not pleasant. So we gather up our things and I find another
table farther away...and laughing, Kim pointed out I didn’t move us away from the
smell, I only moved us farther downwind of it.
Just as we were preparing to move again, the pumping stopped and we
could breathe easy again. It’s all part of the
adventure, right?
--------------------
Well, today certainly didn’t
go as planned. We’re ahead of schedule
and I wanted to explore. We really haven’t
done any of that yet. Everything we’ve
seen has been on the route...no side trips yet.
Today was the day.
I had noticed there is what I
call ‘a finger of land’ extending out into the ocean...thought it was part of
Rhode Island. I thought it would be fun
to ride out to Provincetown, which is out at the end of the finger. Contrary to yesterday’s memorizing of the map,
today I only gave it a cursory look.
Just enough to get a basic feel for the look of the route; after that I booked
a cabin at the Boston/Cape Cod KOA. We’d
ride out to the end of the finger and then ride the same road back because
there was only one major road out to Provincetown. Then we’d head a little north to the
campground. We could take our time because
there’d be no need to put up a tent tonight. Yay!
Kim told Rapunzel to drive us to Provincetown, RI and she couldn’t find
it...but she wanted to know if we wanted to go to Provincetown, MA,
instead. Well, knock me over with a
feather! I know that Rhode Island is
small but I assumed it extended to the coastline...no, ma’am, that would be
Massachusetts. Then the other thing I found out later is that that ‘finger’ is
actually Cape Cod. Knock me over with a
feather again...I thought Cape Cod was a city, not a finger of land. Should’ve looked at the map a wee bit closer. **A woman we met out at the Cape Cod Bay
described the Cape as being shaped like an arm with the wrist bent a little.**
We left a bit later this morning
than usual so we didn’t quite get all the way out to Provincetown. Traffic out on the Cape was bumper to bumper in
a few areas which was unexpected. But
had we known we were heading out to Cape Cod, a premier vacation hotspot, we
might have anticipated the traffic issues.
Found public access to a beach on the Cape Cod Bay where we took a
picture and felt the water. It was
warmer than Lake Michigan. Then we factored
in the time, the distance left to get to Provincetown and back to camp, and the
traffic and decided to call it good. We
headed back.
We knew it’d get dark before we got to the KOA but since we didn’t have
to set up a tent, no problem. Got to the
KOA at about 9:30 to find that I must not have fully completed the reservation
process because there was no cabin waiting for us. Ding Dang!! What to do? A worker came along
who offered to take us to a tent site; we could just square up with the office
tomorrow. Well, it was either that or
find a motel somewhere. We opted for setting
the tent up in the dark. Luckily we are
well practiced at setting up camp. Doesn’t
take us long. Not at all what we had planned for the day,
but as Kim said, “It’s all part of the adventure.”
--------------------
Yesterday when we were somewhere on the New Jersey Turnpike, I saw
flashing lights in my mirrors. An
emergency vehicle was approaching...I radioed Kim so he was aware and pulled
off on the shoulder of the road. I was
amazed that no one seemed to slow down and certainly no one got off the
road...I thought that was a law! The
sheriff’s car just weaved his way through traffic. It was tricky for Kim and I to get back in the
flow of traffic so maybe that’s why the drivers didn’t pull aside...they didn’t
want to lose their place in line. Because their place in a line of traffic is more important than an emergency call.
Today out on Cape Cod emergency vehicles approached from behind and I
was pleased to see traffic parting to the side of the road like the Red Sea did back in the day. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
--------------------
So far I haven’t taken a lot of pictures because we haven’t been
sightseeing, we’ve been riding on highways and turnpikes. No picture opportunities under those
circumstances. Even the state sign
pictures haven’t happened because the signs have been in the middle of a bridge
or near a toll plaza on the turnpikes...again, no opportunity. Today, I mentioned to Kim that I’d like a
picture of the Rhode Island state sign if possible...if only to prove to people
that we really are on a bike trip and I’m not just sitting on the couch at
home making this all up. The state sign was just
standing there alongside the highway waiting for someone like us to stop to get
a selfie with it. We took advantage of the opportunity and 40 miles later we
were out of Rhode Island. 😏
Happy happy joy joy....Massachusetts has the green ‘distance to city’
signs so I can play my mental math game once again.
--------------------
We're within 315 miles of Ellsworth, Maine...maybe a bit more if I plan the
route to avoid the Boston traffic. But
even so we’re well within the Sunday deadline.
Just might be able to get in some more sightseeing on the way up the
coast. 👍
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Thursday’s miles: 271
Total: 1,422 miles
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