Catching up to the here and now!

As long as I make this quick (racing my laptop battery, which I can charge back up each day as I drive) I might actually get caught up!

I am in the land of tiny states with too many roads and too many people; many of which are bad/scary drivers. I am not having fun! Gone is my resolve to drive the back roads and stay off the Interstates. All you see on Interstates are the lines of your lane and the crazy cars darting between lanes, barely missing cars. It's not a way to see the country. But the smaller roads in these heavily populated places have stop lights every few hundred yards and settlement after settlement, ad infinitum.

That said, I still managed to find a few scenic byways here and there that took me through picturesque towns and through pretty scenery. When I saw a place that might have a decent place to get out and wander I took advantage of it, to break up the drive along the Maine shoreline.

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I stopped in Camden ME pictured above. I know I've heard of it, though I can't remember why. Home of Click and Clack? Or LL Bean?

I got into my campground just before sunset. Living the high life with 110 power to my van and a real, hot shower with unlimited water and no need for quarters to keep it coming. Ahhh the good life! It was a pretty place, due to close down for the season in another few days. I worry about where I'll be able to dump my black water tank as these places all shut down. The tank gauge reads in 1/3s so when it suddenly switches from 2/3 to full I feel a mild panic. How many times after it hits full do I dare use it, before it backs up into the toilet and into my van??? Feels kind of like driving a loaded time bomb! Not a pleasant thought. Must make sure I can always find a dump station when needed.



The campground was scenic enough that it warranted a sunset stroll and a morning stroll (pictured above) before I hit the road again. Where to go on my southward journey? With so many roads it was hard to choose. Cape Cod seemed like a good choice. It's supposed to be a primo holiday destination and it's an interesting geological feature. The online research I did touted their extensive bike paths as 'the perfect way to explore the cape' so off I went in that direction, taking the scenic routes rather than main highways. Slow progress and lots of cars. It took longer than expected to get there. I should've listened to my first inclination to go out of my way, around Boston, rather than through it.  But the GPS kept insisting it was the best/fastest route so I succumbed. Bad idea. Made Seattle's I-5 mess look like a cake walk. VERRRRYYYY slow moving for quite some time to get not very far.

According to my GPS, I thought I'd get to the start of the bike trail at around 10:30; plenty of time for the 44 mile ride I'd planned. But I didn't get started until 2:55. It sounded quite enticing -- Cape Cod bike rail trail. I conjured up images of what I expected to see. It was a nice paved bike trail. It crossed a lot of roads but they had a good motion detector at many of the crossroads that detected a bike approaching and triggered warning lights for motorists. It was 22 miles each way (out & back). The first half of the trail, I rode along some saltwater ponds but the majority of the trail was in a wooded tunnel. I was expecting to see more water. I was sure at the end of it I'd see the cape views I had pictured in my mind, so when it started sprinkling and I was 5 miles from the end I persevered to the end. But, surprise! No view of water, just cars and houses. By the time I got to the end it was raining in earnest and by the time I got back to my van it was nearly dark and I'd been riding in rain and breeze and low 40s temperatures for 2 hours. I was soaked and FROZEN! Thank goodness for my van's heater (for driving) and my RV heater. I used them both to thaw me out and ate a bowl of hot chili. The dotted line on the map in the photo below is the bike trail. The trail itself was nice. I should've taken photos of views on the early part of the trail. On the way back I just had to keep pedaling as fast as I could to get home to my van!

This was the far end of the trail.

I camped there for the night. Even if I wanted to, my frozen feet were in no shape to drive for about an hour after I finished the ride and loaded my bike up. I debated, the next day, about abandoning my exploration of the cape but I was convinced there were amazing views to be had so I drove the long distance to the end of the cape. Again, it was mostly driving without seeing water; just lots of trees and cars and tourist shops and restaurants, most of which were shut for the season. I finally reached the beach near the end of the cape. I imagine in the summer those beach 'houses' would all be full of people.  OK --  been there, done that. I could see the end of the cape, I didn't need to drive there.



I started back up the cape on a different route and decided I should park and get a hike in to a more remote beach in the Shores National Park (or whatever it was called...). The side road I took was heading away from the beach so I pulled off at a parking place and decided to hike across to it. It was nondescript dunes and some brush and small trees but no real trail. I didn't take my GPS, just my phone. I headed on a reasonably straight path toward the presumed beach. There were no I land masses to keep my bearings by, but I paid attention to my direction of travel relative to the sun. It turned out I was hiking toward the airport; no beach in sight. Sigh... I headed back toward my car but by then the clouds were so thick there was no hint of the sun. I had a feel for the direction I needed to go but eventually had to resort to my phone's GPS to tell me where I was relative to the road. I did a bit of circular wandering once I started using the phone before I hit the road. When I got to the road I wasn't sure which way my van was but had a 50% chance of getting it right. Also a 50% chance of getting it wrong. I got the latter and walked probably 1/4 mile each way in the wrong direction. My van was about 50 yards down the road in the other direction. Oh well! It was exercise and the rain held off.

The scenic route back up the other side of the cape took longer than expected (with many more stop lights and road construction  delays) with a few nice views but mostly just driving. Soooo... In retrospect, Cape Cod was not my friend. When I was chatting with my friend on the phone and he was suggesting places to go in the area, he suggested a few big cities and museums and said "I don't know if you want to go to Cape Cod?"  Hmmm... Maybe that was a warning and I should have asked him more about it? Oh well, been there done that. The 'temporarily misplaced' hike I did was yesterday, along with a stroll to the beach in Harwich (still on the Cape) that amounted to just 4.5 miles of walking; but mostly just driving.

As I emerged from the cape and started south again, I came across another accident on the Interstate near Providence, Rhode Island. It look over an hour to move 5 miles. Enough already!!! Siri directed me to yet another Walmart for the night last night and I researched my options. Shenandoah National Park was (theoretically) 8.5 hours drive away on Interstates. The fall colors peaked last week so are still in good shape, there are lots of hiking trails, some of the campgrounds will shut 10/30 but the one with hot showers and laundry will be open for another 2 weeks. So today I drove more than 8 hours (& $26 in tolls) in that direction (I'm in Maryland now), but thanks to several episodes of constricted traffic due to road work and an accident, I still have about 2.5 hours (assuming no more traffic disasters) to drive to get there tomorrow.

I know I passed up some things that would have been interesting to see. I was near Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Mystic Aquarium; I've collaborated with scientists at both of those places and it might have been interesting to stop and tour.  I've never been to New York City (I saw the skyline and some recognizable buildings as I drove past). But I gotta' get away from the traffic chaos and get back to where I can get out and play!!! The forecast for Shenandoah is 70 for a high and 50s for lows. Sounds perfect!

Phew! That catches me up. IF I have cell coverage in the park I might be able to keep caught up. If not, I'll post again when I get out. I'm not sure how long I'll stay. The 100 mile Skyline drive is supposed to be a leaf peepers dream drive but after all this driving I'll be taking that drive in small segments, mostly to get to different hikes.

Since I'd only been sharing the great stuff about my current lifestyle, I figured I better share some of the not-so-great portions too. Figuring out where to go isn't always that straightforward. I'm a simple country mouse. I learned to drive in the country, have never lived in big cities, and I've seldom driven in big cities. So all this driving with all these aggressive drivers has been very stressful. I'm looking forward to getting back to more wide open spaces and fewer cars!!!!

Only 20 minutes of battery left. Time to post and get outta' here.

I hope you all are well!