Day One Hundred Forty-four, 090722 - Boston, MA

Day One Hundred Forty-four, Date Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Time in Saddle: 5:34
Distance for the Day: 32.6 miles From Attleboro, MA To Boston, MA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 6719.6 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 267’/324’, Highest: ?? Accumulated: ??
Speeds: Avg: 8.7 mph, Max: 26.7 mph
Weather: 67° rain in early AM, turning to drizzle in morning, becoming overcast with no rain
Expenditures: $12

The ride from Pawtucket to Boston was actually a relatively short hop of 30 or so miles, so I took my time. I stopped in at a Dunkin Donuts in Attleboro at 8:30am – 9:25am for breakfast of bagel and cream cheese with hot coco ($4), and found a bit of wi-fi from *somewhere*, so handled email for an hour or so. Along the way, there was a point where road construction on Route 1 created a narrow, one-lane passage. The police lady there was nice enough to hold the traffic a few minutes, while I rushed to get through it. I lost the route a couple of times along the way from road splits and not paying attention, but have developed an almost “spider sense,” (see the comic book, Spiderman, which describes the superhero’s uncanny precognitive ability to tell when something bad is about to happen) for when I think I’ve gone off course, such as noticing a street sign that isn’t the name of the street that I was supposed to be on. I would then stop, whip out my computer, look at the map, and even get a GPS fix, to find where I was, and what I had to do to get back on track. About halfway there, at 11:30am, I stopped in at a newly constructed business site that had no business set up in it, yet, to lay out all my wet gear to dry in the noonday warmth. It wasn’t clear enough for sun, but the clouds weren’t so thick that solar infra-red couldn’t get through. I pulled out and set up on the clean asphalt my tent, lay out the tent fly, hammock, air mattress, sleeping bag, ground tarp, and even the ropes. Then I sat in my trike, ate my sandwich, and read my book, while I waited for my stuff to dry. I only noticed him when he swung around to leave, but a state police car had come to investigate me, and probably figured out exactly what I was doing after a quick glance, and decided I wasn’t a threat, and left without comment. After 1.5 hours (11:30am to 1pm), my stuff had dried pretty good, so I packed everything back up, and continued on at 1:15pm. I picked up drinks and food items along the way ($8) as usual. I made it into Boston right around 4pm, having arranged earlier to meet my Warmshowers host in Boston, Carol M, at 5pm. Perfect! I spent the next half hour locating her house, and parked in back up a short, steep driveway to read my book and wait. She left me a couple of messages saying she’d be late, but I didn’t check my phone – no biggie. She showed up on her bike a little after 6pm, all hot and dripping with sweat – a true cyclist! Carol showed me her home, the second story of a quaint three-story house. The place was immaculately clean, beautifully furnished and appointed with vases and pictures – very homey, indeed! I set up my sleeping bag on the spare bed in the living room area, took my warm shower, and hooked into her local wi-fi to begin the blogging. It was her birthday, today, so she went out with friends to celebrate. When she got back a few hours later, we chatted for a few more hours about our experiences on the road (she did a cross-country trip 20 years ago), where we went, the things that happened, our gear, blah blah blah! I really enjoyed talking with Carol; she’s a natural conversationalist, and made it easier for me to talk, as well. It got almost late, so she retired, while I tried to continue blogging, but I was a bit tired, myself, so only made it to about 12:30am before hitting the hay. Whew! It’s nice to not have to be stealthy, every now and then.