We set out for Santa's place with more perfect weather, perfect scenery, and promising food options. As we approached the first likely town, things looked great - there were lots of people around on bicycles. Always a good sign. I stopped briefly to make a few notes (my brain gets mushier every day) and one young guy stopped to see if I was ok. We got talking and he asked about our trip. Where in Connecticut were we headed? When I told him, he happily announced that he works on a very cool farm in Old Saybrook! He told me a bit about it. Did I know what a stupa is? Oh, you're from San Francisco - you must know. (An interesting perception about our city - and as it happens, I did have a vague idea). Anyway, he encouraged me to visit if we have time.
When we pulled in to Boulder Junction, I was not too surprised to find that it is the sort of resort town I had expected to see more often on the trip. Plenty of newish cafes and gift shops, places to rent bikes & kayaks. We immediately found lunch and more great ice cream at a place with a very full bike rack. We set out to do the next stretch on a nice little bike path. The maps only told us to take it for about two miles, but it must have been extended considerably since the maps were made; we stayed on it for maybe four miles, and could have gone on. We chose to get back on the road, though. It was surprisingly busy and there was no shoulder. I was mildly surprised that Adventure Cycling had chosen it. Well, sometimes there's not a lot of choice. The bike trail continued to appear regularly beside us for about four more miles. Hmm.
We reached a major intersection, and Bruce had the presence of mind to ask why our supposed road was not mentioned on any of the signs.
Oh.
Cost us about 8 miles. We found a way to rejoin our route without starting all over again, but so much for another perfect day. I think this was our first serious wrong turn, though, which isn't too bad.
Really, it was ok. It wasn't a very hilly day & we were moving right along & the temperature was very pleasant. So we found our way back and continued towards Santa's. Just short of our last turn, Jim and Aline came along. Jim & Bruce decided it was time to give Jim a turn to ride, so at about mile 70, I had a new companion who was not familiar with Shimano road gearing, who did not have bike shoes to go with the SPD pedals, whose shorts wrre meant for swimming, who is mostly a runner these days, who is pretty darned competitive, and - oh, yeah - who was not a bit tired. He gave me quite a workout. I was actually pretty excited to realize I could do it without much trouble. I guess 2500 straight miles have really made a difference.
So we pulled up to Santa's Backwoods Motel. (What will I have to talk about now that it's behind us??!) It turns out to be a very small, basic but very clean motel in a very remote area. Oh, the walls in our room were green, and there was a green lace curtain, but the pictures were of wolves, not reindeer. Turns out the whole area has a bit of a Christmas theme - of sorts. The place we had dinner had subdued Christmassy decorations. When we rode out this morning, we saw Christmas stuff in a front yard. The others told me the motel offers for sale Christmas tree lights - multi-colored lights in shotgun shells.
Oh, and this is a day late because Santa has yet to get WiFi.
Miles Friday: 84
Total miles so far: 2628
I had to google stupa.
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