Near Tauton Mass. – July 18^th

The Odyssey resumed today after thre days of touristing in Boston.  Highlights included the JFK museum, a Red Sox (baseball) game at Fenway Park, the hostel itself and some of the interesting folks I met there including Nedo Gubster, my present riding partner.

I’m writing this from our very own closed State Park, near Tauton, Mass. Mass. where we’re camping after being assured by a former park ranger that we wouldn’t be bothered if we camped there.  So far so good…

We put 42 miles on the clock today in fairly flat country.  This would have been nothing muchunder normal conditions but the weather for most of the ride was brutally  hot  - high 90s.  I lost track of the number of gallons of various fluids \I drank en route.  The heat ended abruptly with a. severe thunderstorm just before we arrived here.  The sky grew dark as night and there was thunder, lightening and torrential rain for 45 minutes..  We fortunately were able to watch most of it from inside a friendly gas station/convenience store and escaped getting completely soaked. 

There are few motels in this part of the world and thos tat are there are very pricy.  Camping was therefore our preferred option. We didn’t know that the state park – still shown on our roadmaps - had been closed for two years until we arrived there.  When we pedalled into its abandoned campground determined to “stealth camp” there if required, we met Leon, a former park ranger now apparently marginally employed.  Leon hung out with us for a while and has now left us alone in the solitude of our private campground.  Tomorrow we should continue south to Newport, Rhode Island, then a ferry to the Connecticut mainland and eventually New York City.  That, I’ve decided, will be the end of the ride for me.  Anyway, it’s now dark, the bugs are out and I’m turning in early.  All; for now.