Jamestown, Rhode Island, July 19^th.

We awoke to an overcast day with light morning drizzle and finally, a more civilized temperature! Today’s 46 mile ride through flat to rolling country was uneventful along secondary highways with occasional pretty but unremarkable scenery at best, commercial clutter at worst.  The latter included a McDonald’s, Sunoco, Stop’n Shop, Dunkin Donuts, 7 – 11, etc. folio that repeated itself every five miles or so.  I now realize why one never hears much about northeastern US bike tours.  Truth be told, there’s not much “there” here.  Nevertheless, the riding was mostly pleasant for a change, primarily because of the cooler temperature.

Rhode Island isn’t exactly bike friendly.  For example, you aren’t allowed to ride your bike across some major bridges.  An older gentleman with a pickup truck thankfully gave us a lift across one of them.  The roads too were difficult to ride with typically no shoulders and locally heavy traffic.  That said, there were also some nice winding country road stretches.

We reached Newport, RI about 5 PM and waited for a 6:30 ferry to take us here to Jamestown. 

The ferry trip was interesting because we were the only two paying passengers - our own private yacht!  The skipper was an ardent bike fan and we would up sitting in the wheelhouse with him assimilating a lot of local maritime lore as well as the present standings in the Tour de France, which he was following closely.  He even let Nedo drive the boat for a while!  We had a great time with the rest of the crew and were almost sorry to leave the ship.

We’re presently camped in a state park just outside town where we’ve just been fed and beered by the nice Connecticut family next door. 

That’s been the best part of this so-so tour – the many kind, helpful, entertaining and interesting people I’ve met along the way.  As I’ve said before, there’s nothing like wheeling into somewhere on a loaded bike to pick up good company and conversation.  That’s probably because we’re apparently a rarity in this part of the world.  I’ve seen NOBODY except Nedo on a loaded touring bike since I left Montreal and I’m very surprised about the apparent lack of a bike culture in most of New England.

Some more on Nedo, my riding buddy, at least until tomorrow.  He’s a 32-year old teacher from Copenhagen who’s been on the road for a year and a half, first riding from southern South America to Quito, Ecuador, then from San Francisco to Boston where we met.  He makes me seem like a dilettante.  He’s a great guy, we’ve bonded and he’s mercifully decided to reduce his usual pace a bit to ride with the old guy.  Unfortunately he has some family business to attend to in Connecticut, which I’m bypassing for Long Island so we’ll be parting company tomorrow.  We plan to meet again in the Big Apple next week however.

Tomorrow looks to be an easy day for me because I have to work around two ferry schedules to reach the northern tip of Long Island.  Riding down the Island to New York city promises to be much more traffic-free and much less hilly than the Connecticut coast.  Nedo would also prefer that route but can’t do it.  Anyway, it’s getting dark and buggy so I’m retiring to my tent.  All for now.