Oh, and while I’m at it…
Instead of a long ferry ride in the rain here last night it was an even longer bus ride in the rain. But here I am, arriving around nine last night.
For reasons I will explain in a bit I will have the day to sightsee here. It’s cloudy and still windy, but dry. Catch you later today.
It seems like it was just a few days ago that I was leaving Halifax, Nova Scotia and already here’s
I rode through the heart of the downtown, which was very exciting and at the same time sad, because it was in Boston five years ago that my daughter Stephanie, her husband Gary and we in the rest of the family had to come to grips, after several months of unsuccessful proton radiation treatments, that their son Aidan’s very aggressive brain cancer was not treatable.
Aidan passed away a day before his second birthday late in 2011. He was very much on my mind today.
My route out of Boston was planned to be the ferry to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. Brisk winds caused the Atlantic to be too choppy for the ferry to run, so I wound up on a bus for almost three hours instead, going the long way around. The wait to depart was cheered by the opportunity to meet two longtime friends made over the Internet. I was treated to several beers (truth be told, about half the beer I have drunk during my entire life) and great conversation for most of an hour.
It was really nice to put real faces with names, but I was surprised at the degree of connection that online interaction over the course of the past decade had created. I can only hope that I can be as gracious a host in Alaska when folks drop out of nowhere and visit me there.
So, with about 1,300 miles down and 2,100 left to go, my trip is getting close to 40% complete. I’ll go into greater detail in a coming post, but for now I’ll just point out as well that three-quarters of the trip’s projected elevation gain is behind me. This is a big deal, as I will need to pick up the pace in order to keep my promise to my wife to be in Key West by November 10th. My average riding speed has definitely increased several miles an hour over the past few days as the terrain has flattened.
I had to break out the banana suit today- my long sleeve, err… high visibility jersey.
It is not supposed to even reach 60 degrees (F)/15 degrees (C) today. But I’ll blend in with the ever-increasing fall colors perfectly.
The winds are supposed to reach 16 miles/25 km per hour by this afternoon.
But they are out of the northeast and that’s a good thing, as I’ll be headed in their direction.
Well, it looks like my ferry ride from Boston Harbor to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod is going to turn into a bus ride. There are 9-10 foot/~3 meter seas later today due to the high winds in the area and that is apparently too rough for the ferry. The company is substituting a bus, which I am told will accept my bike and panniers.
So I’m disappointed. I had looked forward to seeing Boston from out on the water, but that’s just not going to happen, I guess. The day will still be a good one- I’m getting together with some friends when I arrive at the ferry terminal, which will be a treat.
Concern has been expressed about my riding in downtown Boston. Here’s my route.
I am riding across the city on the “cover” that they built over the Big Dig- the former I-93 Central Artery. I rode on it in May on one of the city’s rent-a-bikes, and have no qualms based on that experience. So, film at 11.
Well…
Third state down, 11 more to go.
My ride yesterday was pretty much into the teeth of a 5-10 mile/8-15 km per hour wind out of the southeast. The noise alone had me batting at my helmet. But it was very satisfying to ride a little over 50 miles/80 km under those conditions. Whatever is going on with my weight I am sure I am slowly trading pounds of fat for equivalent muscle mass.
The sights weren’t too shabby either. I rode past a lot of American Industrial Era infrastructure,
nice beaches,
and what the locals call “cottages.”
A ‘down-east’ fixer-upper
Today it’s on to Salem, and tomorrow into the heart of downtown Boston, where I’ll catch the ferry out to the Cape. So let it rain if it is going to- nothing is going to keep me from enjoying my ride.
So yesterday was Monday and, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you know what that means.
That says, for the hard of seeing, 318.4 pounds. That’s up from 314.8 pounds last week, a gain of 3.6 pounds.
I noted the one other time that my weight did not decrease from Monday to Monday that I refuse to freak out over an occasional bump in the road, and especially a bump that can be accounted for by so many possible things. I will say that I am pleased that my weight remains by all indications in the three-teens where it has been for three weigh-ins in a row. So we’ll see where I’m at next week. I still firmly believe I’m headed into two-nineties, and the only question is when I’ll get there.
And it’s
I’ll only have until early afternoon to enjoy it, though, as I’ll be crossing another state border today. I’ll keep you posted.
I had a 60 mile/95 kilometer day yesterday. I’ll be needing to pull off a whole string of those once I’m south of New York City. Oh well, nobody said that this would be easy.
Speaking of easy, it doesn’t look like the rest of the week is shaping up all that great either.
I’ve had several folks along the way ask me what I do when it rains. I tell them, “I get wet.” Well, what else can I say?
First really chilly morning. Sunny though. Should warm up quickly.
I’ll ride through Kennebunkport today. Anything you want me to pass along to the locals?
I’ll remind anyone who wants to be in touch directly that my email during the ride is:
And here I am, just where I’d planned to make it to yesterday.
I’m headed off on a short side trip to get my shoes fixed.
The glue kinda sorta worked- it never sealed up tight, but it stopped further progress of the front flap separating from the shoe.
The right shoe has more or less stayed where it was. I’ll be glad when they’re back to spec.
Then it’s on to New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Beantown, where I’ll catch a ferry to the tip of Cape Cod. Stay tuned.
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