Day 2 - 33 miles
Dennis Port to the Bourne Bridge
We took the CCRT from Dennis Port to the end and then hopped on route 6a through Barnstable and Sandwich and other delicious locations. We rode along the Cape Cod canal past the Sagamore Bridge and ended at no other than the Dunkin’ Donuts at the Bourne Bridge Rotary. We celebrated Hannah’s birthday with pizza and cake later that evening.
Day 3 - 39 miles
Buzzard’s Bay to Tiverton, RI.
We set off from Captain Al’s Tiki Bar and lounge and rode along route 6 through Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford and then took route 177 through to Tiverton, Rhode Island (our 2nd state!) We spent the night at our cousin Eileen and Rick’s home in New Bedford.
Day 4 - 54 miles
Warren, Rhode Island to Providence to Woonsocket to Burrillville, Connecticut (our third state!)
We rode on part of the East Coast Greenway trail up to Providence. We got a bit turned around in Providence (our second “Ptown” of the journey) and wound up walking our bikes up college hill near Brown University and RISD. We got directions from a nice server from Ohio at Andreas’ restaurant (thanks again if you’re reading this!) We took the Black Stone River Rail trail up to Woonsocket and then headed west through Nasonville and Burrillville, CT.
We had our first campground experience at Chamberlain Lake campground. We had an electricity hookup and bathrooms with a shower. How luxurious.
Day 5 - 59 miles
We rode from Woodstock, CT (campground) to Southwick, Massachusetts
Wow… the hills in central Connecticut to western Massachusetts are NO joke. Some of them were 11° steep (for reference, most places in Glacier National park where we’ll be riding later this summer are around 5°). We stayed and camped at Southwick Acres campground. Fun fact: Southwick, Massachusetts us where they say the drunk mapmakers hand slipped and changed the southern border.
Day 6 - 40 miles
Southwick to Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Today earned the title for “hilliest, hardest day” of the journey so far. We were met with a ominous forecast of gusty winds, thunderstorms and small hail in the morning, because 12° hills weren’t enough. This day was one of the shorter days of the journey considering that we had to walk large chunks. We stopped for lunch in Tolland, Massachusetts and had a rainy day biking a bit further to Southwick. We met up with cousin Hannah and her boyfriend, Matt, who is doing his own cross country ride this summer from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine for beers at Barrington Brewey and stayed with an absolutely wonderful Warm Showers host, John, Kate and their kids. They fixed us up with two delicious meals and even helped me fix the gears on my bike.
Day 7 - 48 miles
Great Barrington, Massachusetts to Rensselaer, New York
Today was much more downhill (thank goodness) we had beautiful, warm weather today just as the good lord intended.
We are currently writing this blog post from a Cracker Barrel parking lot as we wait to chow down.
Tomorrow, we hit the Erie Canal path heading western through New York.
