All 3 of us had an excellent nights' sleep and awoke to a beautiful Sunday morning...pleasantly cool, sunny and low humidity!
After breakfast and preparing for another day of cycling, we packed up our tent and belongings into the van, as we needed to be off the site by 11 a.m. We all agreed that, except for the cutesy-spelling, the KOA Kampground in Middleboro was top-notch...very well managed and operated.
Ava dropped us off at yesterdays' endpoint, a quiet suburban street in Raynham, just before noon. The weather was perfect and the next couple of hours were fantastic. We cycled thru a quiet industrial estate and onto a wide, relatively flat road which wound its way between the towns of Norton and Attleboro. We were in "the zone", keeping a steady pace without much effort. At about the 10 mile mark, we stopped to buy lunch at an old Country Store and decided to pedal another 5 miles to a lakeside park to enjoy it.
By the time we got there at 2 pm we could glimpse Greenwood Lake thru numerous private properties, but could find no public park. As we paused to ponder the map, a voice across the street yelled "Can I help you at all?". I replied "Yes, as a matter of fact". I crossed the street and found out from this man in his 70's that the only access was from the grounds of a government Fish Hatchery, which was closed on Sundays. But then he pointed to a wooden picnic table on the front lawn of his pristine lot and said we were welcome to use it! We chatted for 5 minutes...he lost his wife last year, but had recently taken a 3500 mile bus trip in the western states & met a number of Australian tourists along the way. (So I think my accent worked in our favor!). He then actually drove away, as he had a function to go to in central Mass., leaving us 2 (total strangers) to enjoy his picnic table and garden! Now that's hospitality!
(I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of the scene for our blog).
As enjoyable and carefree as our start had been, the rest of the afternoon got more challenging and we faltered a bit.
Heading almost due north toward Wrentham, we seemed to stop every 1/8 mile. To reposition a slipped bike chain. To answer our cellphones. Then a bathroom stop. Then Elizabeth's hydration pack was found to be empty, so we stopped to buy a gallon of water to refill it. I joked to her that, for once in my life I was hoping there was not a Dairy Queen around the next corner, because that would necessitate yet another stop....for soft serve ice cream!
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| Ava's "van support" knows no bounds |
Then some unexpectedly tough hills followed. There was one long incline along the edge of Wrentham State Park that was particularly draining. The shoulder was narrow, traffic close & speedy and shade in short supply. This was at about the 22 mile mark for the day.
Over the next hour and a half, we were cycling thru the residential hills of Wrentham, Norfolk and Medway. Plenty of interesting properties to look at, when we weren't 'head down' pounding away at the pedals! At one point we passed a large property with a chicken coop and a brown hen was out on the roadway.
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| It was refreshing to see a LIVE bird on the roadway (we see so much road-kill) |
We phoned ahead for Ava to meet us in Milford, but then called her again to request a closer rendezvous. We were both getting weary after our 3 consecutive days of cycling. Bearing in mind the thunderstorms expected for Monday, and our need to take care of a host of things (including back-logged blog posts!), we have decided to pause for at least a day.
We have learned a lot in the past few days that will allow us to "fine-tune" our daily operations in the weeks ahead. And we feel that the rides have definitely helped get our bodies in better condition.
Until the next post in a few days....sayonara!
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