This morning I left Worcester, Mass. on Hwy 9 and then to Hwy 20 after Shrewsbury; and on through Northborough, Marlborough, South Sudbury, Wayland, and Weston. After Weston, I took Wellesley Road to Hwy 30 into Boston, and then to Beacon Road. I turned off Beacon Road at Park Drive, to Hwy 203, to Hwy 28, to Hwy 53 to Hwy 3A. I went through Milton, Quincy, Weymouth, Assinppi, Hanover, North Pembroke, and Kinston and into Plymouth.
I thought that with a good day, about 80 miles remaining, I would make it into Plymouth and finish my ride across the USA on the Yellowstone Trail today. I knew that it may be a long day because cities usually slow me down with heavy traffic and traffic lights. Right out of Worcester, I started up a steep hill. If I was already closer to Boston, I would have thought this was “Heartbreak Hill”. At this point I made a decision to not try to make Plymouth today; I will just get through Boston, down Hwy 53, look for a place to stay, and position myself to finish on Wednesday morning. It made more sense to have two enjoyable days, than one hard day.
As soon as I made this decision, it took the pressure off, and the ride became more fun. I’ve generally lived my live with goals and targets, maybe this is a lesson to know when to back off and smell the roses.
I liked biking through Boston; the traffic was not too bad. I did find that Boston itself may have more colleges and universities than even Indiana has. Boston seemed like a nice place to live. But I noticed that people do not smile, even when greeted. Earlier this year, when I put my house on the market, I created a spreadsheet to identify where a great place to live would be. I have categories for financial and environmental factors like taxes, snowfall (I’m actually looking for a lot of snowfall for XC skiing), etc. Maybe I need to put that all that aside and just look for a place where people smile a lot.
After navigating myself through Boston, I encountered some street repair in Milton. A policeman there, Officer Caputo, was interested in my ride. He told me there was an old marker stone I missed identifying mileage to Plymouth, it was 38 more miles. This route was used in the 1700’s for clergy to travel from town to town. He also pointed out that I had stopped right in front of the house that George H. Bush was born in.
A little further down the road I stopped at a Wal-Mart to buy a duffel bag to carry my stuff on the bike back home in. My plan was to ship my bike home from Martha’s Bike Shop in Plymouth, to On Two Wheels in Jackson, Mich. At the checkout, a young boy asked me if I was doing a lot of biking. I told him what I was doing, and he said that it was more biking than he had done all his life. That made me think, this may be equal to as much biking as I have done all my life.
It was getting to be late afternoon, and I realized I was getting very close to Plymouth, and could easily make it tonight. So I continued on. At 6:30 I arrived in Plymouth, Mass. I rode down to the waterfront, and the Plymouth Rock memorial. The rock is nothing more than a large stone, down in a pit, with a memorial built above it. It had even been cracked in half and cemented back together. Still, it was exhilarating for me to have arrived at this point of the Yellowstone Trail, “A good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound”. I had traveled 3,657 miles across the USA from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. I was feeling really good about this accomplishment. And a lot of people there where taking an interest in it. One woman mentioned that the Pilgrims were on the Mayflower for 66 day, just one day more than I was on the Yellowstone Trail.
It was time to celebrate, so I checked into a motel and headed to Woods Seafood for a lobster dinner.
Epilogue: Tuesday morning I rode my bike to Martha’s Bike Shop and dropped it off to have them ship it back to Michigan. Then I took a bus form Plymouth to Boston Logan Airport and a flight to Detroit, and the Michigan Flyer to Jackson. I’m back home and will sleep in my own bed tonight. I will take a week, reflect on my ride, and write a final report on my bike ride. My initial reaction, what a great experience!!!
