rumrunn6

Closing the bridges is as likely as draining the canal. But if they do, we can just take the tunnel

Hoping things are better enough, not to interfere w my week in Wellfleet, in July

noglider 

There's a tunnel?

IsleRide

Yeah, that's how Kennedy smuggled Marilyn into the compound.

nlerner

How could you not know about that?

Ghazmh

Yes. Permits are only issues to residents, property owners and commercial fishermen.

noglider 

You're pulling my leg.

IsleRide

And.....C&V Rail Trail riders.

nlerner

And definitely not to New Yawkers.

Ghazmh

yes to pulling your leg. Faux Cape Cod Tunnel Permit stickers used to be sold at the many souvenir shops on the Cape. I haven’t seen them on shelves in years and admittedly see them less frequently on cars than in years past.

jimmuller 

As I recall, the commuter rail track through the tunnel was never completed.

ScottRyder 

The tunnel sticker is a classic!! Same with the parking permits to the nude beach.

In my day on Cape Cod back in the 60's we'd always play a trick on the tourists. Off of the bayside beaches, on a sand bar, sat the Liberty ship SS James Longstreet. The Navy had set her up to be a target for the Naval bombing crews. On a very regular basis they would unload bombs and rockets on her. We thought it was pretty cool.

Their schedule was so regular, we'd go down to Thumpertown Beach to watch the show. Arriving early, 9 times out of 10 a tourist would ask what ship that was. Oh, we'd say, it's the Cape Cod mail freighter waiting for high tide in order to get in Rock Harbor (which is pretty much a big creek, They said thanks, feeling lucky to get a sensible answer.

And on the dot at 2:30 in rolls the first jet overhead and unleashes a pod of rockets. A P2 Neptune comes in from the the north and drops bombs. A huge noise and smoke would result and us kids would run up and down the beach screaming " The Russians are attacking the mail freighter, the mail freighter is being bombed!!!!!"

hahah then we'd all jump on our bikes and ride home. Seemed funny at the time anyway.

Cheers,

Scott

ScottRyder 

Ha! That's what you think!

Scott

rumrunn6

but draining the canal once a year for cleaning & maintenance is real

jimmuller 

Oh, I know it was completed but we were told not to tell anyone, just deny it if asked.

noglider 

OK I'm getting a good sample of Massachusetts humor. I lived in the state for three years straight and used to visit a lot before that, too. Maybe you can 'splain me this. As you, with the crappy street signs the state has and with the weird shapes of the roads, it's easy to get lost. Why is it that when I asked directions and people didn't seem to know but rather than say so, they made stuff up that was completely wrong? Is that humor or something else?

jimmuller 

What crappy street signs? I've never seen any crappy street signs.

TriBiker19 

Thank you! I'm probably on the younger end of the group but I'm the designated traveller in my house. I was actually worried about exposing all you guys. I did just drop off some supplies to a friend who is a diagnosed Covid case yesterday. Oddly, she got hit hard but her wife has no symptoms. This virus is a bear, truly.

TriBiker19 

It's simple--the roads were originally cow paths. Cows don't travel in a grid.

I remember a decade ago when I was following a GPS and it told me to take a right on "Etta May Way". Etta May Way was a path in the woods with several 5-6' tall trees in the middle of it and a wooden sign nailed to a tree. Yey, rural New England.

nlerner

Heading to French Fender Day from Providence a couple of years ago, we took a road in CT labeled a “turnpike”; well, it was a series of deep puddles and mud through a dense forest. New England’s finest!

daviddavieboy

Not cycling related but once I was delivering 12' x 30' concrete slabs with a semi in South Boston. The hole I had to get into was a blind side reverse with a hard turn going down hill. I did get into it but took almost 20 min and a lot of swearing with the foreman razzing me the whole time. After I asked if everyone or just him was a a$$h0Ie here and matter of factually laughed and said 'buddy ya gotta be if u live down hear' We had a mutual understanding after that and I took every load I could get to the RI - ME area, love the people !

rumrunn6

I've had that happen in NH & VT as well. one time I remember crossing a low mountain range in Western MA / Southern VT using a cpl fire roads & old jeep trails. came out in a completely different area. asked a farmer how I could get to where I started & he actually said: "you can't get there from here" ... it was a fun moment

another similar regional "quote moment" unrelated, was visting my folks in NY. getting ready to leave w/ an impending snow storm beginning. mailman came by w/ their mail & we chatted. he knew my folks & was friendly. told him of my concern with the storm heading back to MA. he took one look at my car & said: You've got a Subaru, "fugget about it" ... it was a fun moment

jimmuller 

There are some interesting old rail lines in New England. Periodically someone wants to start one up.

There were plans to connect the Kankamagus Highway to Lake Champlain. They were going to call it Kankamplain, just in case anyone questioned them staying on schedule.

ascherer 

40 years ago Vermont Bicycle Touring cue sheets were famous for indicating turns onto "the unnamed, unpaved road". Had to rely on some natural landmark to signify which of the unnamed, unpaved roads was the correct one. No GPS, phones or other electronics. This was as good as it got:

rumrunn6

fwiw - the Cape is not closed, the canal bridges are not closed, the parking areas are not closed & I found one unlocked porto-John.

as much as I would love to meet up w/ fellow BF riders, doing this ride again, yesterday ,reminded me, it's a big effort for me & I need to go at my own pace. parked in Wellfleet, 420 Lecount Hollow Rd, South Wellfleet, MA 02667 & rode 26 miles to West Yarmouth, stopping at a bench at the Bayberry Hills Golf Course 635 W Yarmouth Rd, West Yarmouth, MA 02673

approx. 54 miles -1:30pm start, 3:30 pm reached W. Yarmouth, 6:12pm back at car

dressed for stealth, so was able to duck into the woods only once for the whole ride, aside from the porto-John at the beginning. used almost both water bottles. aside from breakfast at home, early AM, had a little meal in Orleans (Wendy's drive-thru open, attendants wearing gloves, no masks) & a PB&J & banana at the 1/2 way turn around. did not see any porto-John's at the parking lots in Dennis & Yarmouth

it was sunny & windy. mostly devoid of ppl, but not baron. waaaay better that the trails near home. glad I did it, wasn't going to, until about an hour before I left. something clicked & I went



some of the bike shops along the trail were open but not all. the one in Orleans was open & appeared to be renting bikes. Orleans town streets baron tho. never saw that before

jonwvara 

Town roads in Vermont actually did not have official names until the state adopted an emergency 911 system in the early 1990s, came up with names, and put up signs. Up until then, road names were purely discretionary, and to some degree depended on which way you were going. For example, the road down the hill from me--now designated Route 215 because it connects Routes 2 and 15--used to be called the Marshfield Road by people in Cabot. People in Marshfield called it the Cabot Road. Part of the confusion for non-locals, even now, is that a lot or locals have never really taken to the new official names, and in a lot of cases don't even seem to know what they are.

There's the story about the visitor who gets hopeless and contradictory directions from a local, and finally says, in exasperation, "Say, you're not very bright, are you?" The local answers (you already know this; the joke is an old chestnut), "Nope--but I ain't lost."