(Ridden June 21st). 51 miles. We completed the eastern leg of our trip today, a rainy and windy ride through heavy traffic onto the
Bourne Bridge and beyond on Cape Cod. It was like two different rides. The first 20 miles or so were on quiet secondary roads and we were able to ride down the middle of the right lane for much of the morning. And while we were damp, initially we rode in a morning mist rather than true rain. However, once we approached the bridge (one of two linking the Cape to the mainland), the rain began to fall in earnest and the traffic volume ramped up dramatically. As we approached the bridge on Route 28, the shoulder suddenly disappeared. We had some anxious moments riding on a busy 4 lane highway with no shoulder in a steady rain and limited visibility. Then, for the second day in a row, we found ourselves in a frightening situation. We had ridden up the on ramp to the
Bourne Bridge, which has no shoulder or bike lane, to find the east bound lanes packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic moving past us at very high speed. We had wrongly assumed that there would be little traffic going to the Cape on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The reality was quite a shock. So we decided we should cross the bridge on the sidewalk, only to discover that there was a high chain link fence between the roadway and the sidewalk at the point where the on ramp joins the bridge. We were trapped on the bridge in the traffic lanes and had no choice but to pedal (uphill) into the traffic lanes to a point further east where the fence disappeared and we could pull the bike and trailer onto the sidewalk. It was only a very short distance - perhaps 20 or 30 yards - but it seemed like an eternity as cars, trucks and
buses flew past us in the mist and rain. After calming our nerves a bit, we walked the bike across the bridge and found a place to get something to eat, thankful that we had avoided another dangerous situation.
We again met some terrific people along the way. The owner of a local convenience store near South Middleboro welcomed us out of the rain with hot coffee and baked goods. We spent a good 45 minutes there chatting with her and another customer, who were very interested in our trip. After the harrowing Bourne Bridge experience we stopped in the Lobster Pot, a shoe box-sized roadside restaurant that sold live lobsters to go as well as sandwiches, chowder, etc. The owner apologized for the cramped conditions in the place (there were at least 10 people inside) and offered to help dry us off (we declined, as it seemed pointless). We met another couple there who had done some tandem touring and had previously lived in Colorado. They spent a long time chatting with us, then went outside into the rain to check out our rig. They had a lot of questions, but after several minutes outside again we began to get chilled, so we politely disengaged ourselves and set off again down Route 28.
It feels great to have completed this portion of the ride - 2,600 miles over just under 2 months and covering 9 states. At the same time we are a little wistful knowing that this part of what is likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience is over. We genuinely appreciate all of the supportive comments and interest you blog readers have provided. They really helped keep us going on days when things weren't going so well.
Stay tuned here for the western section narrative, to begin around the third week in July.
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