New Hampshire drivers can go to hell. There has been a steady stream of cars from Westchester County, NY all the way to Raymond, NH. I keep thinking if I keep going north, eventually I will run out of traffic, but it has not happened yet. The towns are getting smaller and further apart. There are fewer houses between the towns. Yet, the traffic keeps coming. Where is everyone coming from and where are they going? In the other states I have gone through so far, the drivers have been good about giving me plenty of room. Not so much in New Hampshire. They barely move over at all. At one point, I was riding up a hill with two lanes uphill so people could pass slow moving vehicles, like a bicycle. The left lane was empty, but drivers still would not move over.
Concord (May 22)
The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. (Emerson)
I woke up this morning sore. Not jut my legs, but my lower back, shoulders, arms and neck. I forget, sometimes, that more than just legs are used in bicycling.
In the afternoon, I took off to Emerson’s home. Like the Mark Twain house, the only way to see the Emerson house is by doing a tour and no photos of the inside are allowed. The house is still owned by the Emerson family and all of the furniture was original to the home.
Suburbia (May 21)
A street sign I saw this morning reminded me of a couple of odd street names in eastern Connecticut. “Wine Sap Run” sounds like a 10k run to celebrate Bastille Day, where they have wine instead of water for the runners along the course. Maybe it should only be a 5k run. To my great disappointment, “Bacon Pond Road” does not lead to a pond filled with bacon.
Woonsocket (May 20)
What a name for a city. It is just so fun to say. Woonsocket. It probably has some weird New England pronunciation, but if you live in a city with a name like Woonsocket, you should pronounce it like it is spelled. Woonsocket.
Shortly before I crossed into Rhode Island, I began to climb. The climbing continued into Rhode Island . . . and continued. When I finally got to the top,
The hills for the first fifteen or so miles in Rhode Island were more aggressive than the last couple of days of Connecticut. For a little bit, I started to think that the whole country was going to be at least this bad. Even western Kansas, which has a reputation of being flat as a pancake, has rolling hills. Do I really want 4000 miles of this? Before I knew it, though, I had already gone 20 miles and it was time to eat. After lunch, everything felt better, and I rolled through another 19 miles before stopping for the night.
I’m having trouble finding paper maps. I thought it would be easy to buy maps as I went along, but since everyone uses GPS now, a lot of gas stations don’t carry maps.
Still in Connecticut (May 19)
I am really not a morning person. I had everything done last night, including showering. It still took two hours to get on the road, and I didn’t even have to break up camp. I am so slow to get around in the mornings. Hopefully, I can reduce that time.
My route today took me through downtown Hartford.
Hartford must be the insurance capital of the world. Every large building downtown had the name one insurance company or another on it. I was in the process of getting myself lost trying to find my way across the river when a bicycle commuter named David pulled up beside me.* He also tours and asked about my plans. When he was about to leave, he asked if I needed anything. I asked if he could tell me how to get across the river. He ended up guiding me across the river and to the highway I was going to take for the rest of the day. Thanks, David. Without you, I may still be in downtown Hartford.
Cold Nights
It has been getting cold at night, down into the lower 40’s. It wakes me up and I have trouble sleeping after about 3:00 a.m. The sun started coming up this morning at around 5:30 and it warmed up a little. Once the temp was above about 50, I felt comfortable enough, so I stayed in bed a little late this morning. Still, I was on the road by about 9:00.
Routines? (May 16)
I’ve got to figure out routines. So far, it has been all about the miles, or lack thereof. How much do I do at night to prepare for the next day? What is my morning routine? What about lunch? Dinner? Sightseeing? I think I had the right idea the first day. I just sort of lost control toward the end. The second day was out of control almost from the beginning. I also need to make sure I pack with routines in mind. It does not make sense to burry something that I might use for lunch or pack something the night before that I need in the morning.
Half Day (May 15)
Sunlight woke me up a little before six this morning. Surprisingly, I was not sore from the day before and thought I could put in another good day. After packing up, I was on the road a little after 7:00. A few miles down the road, I entered Connecticut without realizing it. I was on neighborhood streets, so there was no “Welcome to Connecticut” sign. It did not take long to realize that I was more tired than I thought. Along the “country roads” there are many large houses with huge yards. I considered asking at one if I could pitch my tent in the back yard for the night. That probably would not have worked so well.
Beginning (May 14)
I must have been more nervous than I realized. I did everything the night before, including showering, so all I had to do in the morning was eat breakfast and leave. Still, it took an hour and half to get on the road. I didn’t even make it out of Brooklyn before my bear canister fell off my back rack. I use a bear canister because I’m not quite coordinated enough to hang my food and the northeast has black bears. In past tours, I have put it in one of the rear panniers. I am trying something different this time to save space in the panniers. I have a stuff sack with my sleeping bag and anything related to sleep. The sack and the canister are strapped to the top if the rack. I put the stuff sack next to my seat because I could force it a little under the seat. Then the canister was behind the sack. I kept hearing a little banging with every bump until the canister slipped out from the straps holding everything down. A little rearranging, putting the canister next to the seat and synching up the straps tight into the sack, fixed the problem.
It took about 4 hours to get out of the New York City, which is about what I expected. I took a route that I’ve taken before, crossing the East River by the Queensborough Bridge, then through Central Park, along the Harlem River, into the Bronx and Westchester County. In Westchester, I took the South County Trail and North County Trail. Once I crossed New Croton Reservoir, I headed east to Mountain Lakes Park.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
So . . . I leave tomorrow morning. I am not really nervous. I am not really excited either. For some reason, the only thing stuck in my head today is that I plan to do a long ride tomorrow. I have not really thought past that. The problem with starting a tour this early in the season is that I have not had enough time to build up my endurance. That will quickly change in the next few weeks, but tomorrow may be a really long day.
I am mostly packed, except a few things that I need tonight and tomorrow morning.
This morning I had to run a couple of errands. My belt broke last night; I needed another. I have also been looking for new cycling gloves because my old gloves are falling apart. The old pair has crocheted backs. I was looking for something similar, but could not find any. That style must not be popular anymore because nobody seems to carry them. I finally settled on some that have a thin, almost mesh back. They will work fine. They have more padding than my old gloves, which may be a good thing on this trip. The extra padding feels odd, but I will get used to it soon enough.
Pedaling America 