Sunday, June 9 - Friday, June 14, 2019
If Massachusetts wasn't all that much fun, it's probably not Massachusetts' fault. When we chose our route for the beginning of the trip our goal was to get to Albany as directly as possible with a minimum of climbing. We weren't looking for tourist attractions.
If Massachusetts wasn't all that much fun, it's probably not Massachusetts' fault. When we chose our route for the beginning of the trip our goal was to get to Albany as directly as possible with a minimum of climbing. We weren't looking for tourist attractions.
Two years ago when we were aiming for the northwest corner of Massachusetts to visit the Clarke Institute and Mass MOCA, we planned to ride west from Brattleboro to Bennington, a distance of about 46 miles, in one day. It was the fourth day of our ride, we were feeling strong, and, having driven it before, we knew it would be a beautiful ride. But the 17 mile climb out of Brattleboro, coupled with relentless traffic and minimal shoulders, ate us up. So this trip, we skipped Vermont, thinking that the climbing in Massachusetts would be a bit kinder.
We still had mountains to get over. We had a climbing day (day 4) from Townsend to Athol, then had a two-day break as we approached the Pioneer Valley and rode south into Northampton. Then two more days of climbing to get to Albany. Still, we kept telling ourselves it was better than Vermont.
We passed through a lot of towns that have a name on the map but when you arrive you find only a church and a town hall, maybe a general store. The towns that host a park with benches and a gazebo, or a cafe that calls to you to come inside for a cup of tea and a pastry, seemed to be elsewhere, not on our route. The countryside was engulfed by trees; we passed numerous creeks and wetlands.
We spent two nights in campgrounds, one night at a Red Roof hotel, and two nights with Warm Showers hosts who fed and sheltered us.
Anne and Tom live at the top of a hill in Athol on land that abuts a state forest. They have an extensive vegetable garden and live in an old farm house that has been lovingly cared for, with the original wood floors. I loved how neat and uncluttered their house is; I immediately felt at home.
Like many Warm Showers hosts Anne and Tom don't bicycle tour themselves. They started hosting when their daughter and son-in-law spent 22 months cycling from Alaska to the tip of South America. You can read about that journey here:
https://pedalingperspectives.wordpress.com
We enjoyed much interesting conversation over a dinner of a coos-coos salad with feta cheese and peppermint and a black bean salad with tomatoes, rice, and olives, accompanied by beer. Anne is a retired librarian and Tom a retired sixth grade teacher. Now they work part-time for the Harvard research forest nearby. They are both concerned about preserving the forests in their town and are fighting companies that want to cut down large tracts of forest to put in solar farms. I hadn't thought about environmentalists being at odds with solar power before. But if you think about it, with global warming, we shouldn't be cutting down any trees, which take carbon dioxide out of the air and replace it with oxygen.
I have been pondering this while pedaling, thinking about folks I know who are proud to be carbon neutral, running their homes with solar panels on their roofs, and creating enough energy to power their electric cars. And they should be proud. But I expect that even these folks use electricity they don't produce themselves when they go out to eat, fly somewhere, drive beyond their local range. The answer is still to cut down on our overall energy use.
We chose not to linger in Massachusetts, as we wanted to get to places we haven't been before. However, we did take one detour to Northampton, a vibrant small city in the Pioneer Valley, home to Smith College, the small private women's college that our daughter attended. We have many good memories of our visits there and hadn't returned since Kylee's graduation in 2014. We looked forward to the opportunity to rekindle some happy memories.
So our sixth day of riding, June 12, we took an easy day, riding just 15 miles south from Deerfield, along mostly flat, quiet country roads. Along the way we stopped to pick a couple quarts of strawberries. We also jumped onto the bike path that runs from Amherst to Northampton on an old railroad bed.
Based on presidential election data, Massachusetts gets the award for being the most liberal state in the nation. Northampton can certainly claim to be one of the most liberal cities in this most liberal state, with its rainbow colored crosswalks and its first-in-the-state recreational marijuana dispensary. It also hosts a wide variety of restaurants from classic yuppy cafes to diverse ethnic choices.
We had a delicious lunch at a Moroccan restaurant where we shared an angel hair pasta dish and an eggplant moussaka wrap for $17. But the best thing about Northampton is the chocolate whipped cream that you can have on your ice cream sundae at Herrell's. Even though I was full from lunch, I knew I could make room for a hot fudge sundae; I had to have that chocolate whipped cream. I got the kiddie size, and it was delicious. Rob is not the chocolate junkie that I am, but he'll never pass up ice cream. He settled for a strawberry kiddie cone.
We enjoyed much interesting conversation over a dinner of a coos-coos salad with feta cheese and peppermint and a black bean salad with tomatoes, rice, and olives, accompanied by beer. Anne is a retired librarian and Tom a retired sixth grade teacher. Now they work part-time for the Harvard research forest nearby. They are both concerned about preserving the forests in their town and are fighting companies that want to cut down large tracts of forest to put in solar farms. I hadn't thought about environmentalists being at odds with solar power before. But if you think about it, with global warming, we shouldn't be cutting down any trees, which take carbon dioxide out of the air and replace it with oxygen.
I have been pondering this while pedaling, thinking about folks I know who are proud to be carbon neutral, running their homes with solar panels on their roofs, and creating enough energy to power their electric cars. And they should be proud. But I expect that even these folks use electricity they don't produce themselves when they go out to eat, fly somewhere, drive beyond their local range. The answer is still to cut down on our overall energy use.
We chose not to linger in Massachusetts, as we wanted to get to places we haven't been before. However, we did take one detour to Northampton, a vibrant small city in the Pioneer Valley, home to Smith College, the small private women's college that our daughter attended. We have many good memories of our visits there and hadn't returned since Kylee's graduation in 2014. We looked forward to the opportunity to rekindle some happy memories.
So our sixth day of riding, June 12, we took an easy day, riding just 15 miles south from Deerfield, along mostly flat, quiet country roads. Along the way we stopped to pick a couple quarts of strawberries. We also jumped onto the bike path that runs from Amherst to Northampton on an old railroad bed.
Based on presidential election data, Massachusetts gets the award for being the most liberal state in the nation. Northampton can certainly claim to be one of the most liberal cities in this most liberal state, with its rainbow colored crosswalks and its first-in-the-state recreational marijuana dispensary. It also hosts a wide variety of restaurants from classic yuppy cafes to diverse ethnic choices.
We had a delicious lunch at a Moroccan restaurant where we shared an angel hair pasta dish and an eggplant moussaka wrap for $17. But the best thing about Northampton is the chocolate whipped cream that you can have on your ice cream sundae at Herrell's. Even though I was full from lunch, I knew I could make room for a hot fudge sundae; I had to have that chocolate whipped cream. I got the kiddie size, and it was delicious. Rob is not the chocolate junkie that I am, but he'll never pass up ice cream. He settled for a strawberry kiddie cone.
 |
| After stuffing ourselves with lunch and ice cream, we took a walk to Smith College and meandered through campus. This is the river that runs through it. If you are ever there, make sure to stop in at the art museum and check out the downstairs bathrooms which they have made into a work of art. Sorry I didn't think to take a picture. |
Our stay in Northampton was topped off by an enjoyable evening with Warm Showers hosts Adam and Priscilla, who cooked us three pizzas in their wood pellet-fired pizza ovens in their backyard. Once the oven was hot enough, the pizzas took less than a minute to cook. Priscilla sliced asparagus paper thin to put on one of them, which I never would have thought to do. It was delicious. All of them were. As we were getting ready for dessert, Adam said, "Look, we're all being polite New Englanders. No one wants to take the last piece." Someone had to do it so I volunteered.
Staying with Warm Showers people gives us a snapshot into so much diversity in home and garden decor. Adam and Priscilla had a number of raised beds in their backyard with numerous old wooden ladders standing up in them. It made a lovely picture. We sat until after dark in that backyard listening to their stories, particularly Adam's adventures living and working both in San Francisco and in the Northampton area where he currently works as a library director. In San Francisco he worked as a bike mechanic and he graciously took the time to check the adjustment of Rob's front derailleur. Rob hasn't had any problems with it since.
It turns out that Adam was part of the early incarnations of Burning Man and had some stories to tell about that as well. We've never been and it is not on our list of things to do, but I'm always interested in the stories.
Again, Adam and Priscilla enjoy hosting and have only been Warm Showers guests once. Priscilla told me that, while they bicycled the length of the Connecticut River from its border with Canada, their preferred annual vacation is to spend a week or two on an island in Maine, 23 miles from the mainland. It's hard to fit in the time to do everything you love.
After leaving Northampton, we passed through many nothing towns, both in the rain and after the rain stopped in the early afternoon. We climbed a lot of hills, but also got to fly down those hills. That's the fun part. Before reaching Pittsfield, we passed through Dalton, which looked like a fun town to explore, but by then we needed to get to our campground.
We stayed at the Bonnie Brae Campground in Pittsfield, a small family-run place in the heart of the Berkshires. As the owner was showing us to our campsite I asked him what brought people in. He said they get a lot of people who come for the Tanglewood concerts. They are also close to the Clarke Art Institute and the Mass MOCA. We're going to keep it in mind for a summer visit in a few years.
Staying with Warm Showers people gives us a snapshot into so much diversity in home and garden decor. Adam and Priscilla had a number of raised beds in their backyard with numerous old wooden ladders standing up in them. It made a lovely picture. We sat until after dark in that backyard listening to their stories, particularly Adam's adventures living and working both in San Francisco and in the Northampton area where he currently works as a library director. In San Francisco he worked as a bike mechanic and he graciously took the time to check the adjustment of Rob's front derailleur. Rob hasn't had any problems with it since.
It turns out that Adam was part of the early incarnations of Burning Man and had some stories to tell about that as well. We've never been and it is not on our list of things to do, but I'm always interested in the stories.
Again, Adam and Priscilla enjoy hosting and have only been Warm Showers guests once. Priscilla told me that, while they bicycled the length of the Connecticut River from its border with Canada, their preferred annual vacation is to spend a week or two on an island in Maine, 23 miles from the mainland. It's hard to fit in the time to do everything you love.
After leaving Northampton, we passed through many nothing towns, both in the rain and after the rain stopped in the early afternoon. We climbed a lot of hills, but also got to fly down those hills. That's the fun part. Before reaching Pittsfield, we passed through Dalton, which looked like a fun town to explore, but by then we needed to get to our campground.
We stayed at the Bonnie Brae Campground in Pittsfield, a small family-run place in the heart of the Berkshires. As the owner was showing us to our campsite I asked him what brought people in. He said they get a lot of people who come for the Tanglewood concerts. They are also close to the Clarke Art Institute and the Mass MOCA. We're going to keep it in mind for a summer visit in a few years.
We left Massachusetts on Friday, June 14, our eighth day. I can't give an accurate mileage for our time in Massachusetts since those six days included bits of New Hampshire the first day and New York the last, so it is something less than 200 miles.
We were eager to get to Albany and start tackling new territory.
We were eager to get to Albany and start tackling new territory.
Day 3, Sunday, 6/9/19: 31 miles to Pearl Hill State Park, MA
We passed through a lot of nothing towns but the riding was fine. We rode through Nashua along a street lined with auto mechanic shops and peppered with potholes. Then we had lunch and ice cream at Charlotte's Cozy Kitchen in Pepperell, MA.
Day 4, Monday, 6/10/19: 37 miles (our longest so far!) to Athol, MA
Warm Showers hosts Ann and Tom
Day 6: Wednesday, 6/12/19 15 miles to Northampton, MA
Warm Showers hosts Adam and Priscilla
Day 7: Thursday, 6/13/19 43 miles to Pittsfield, MA
Bonnie Brae Campground
Day 8: Friday, 6/14/19 43 miles to Albany, NY
Warm Showers hosts Mark and Maggie
Heavy traffic on the highway to Albany past shuttered and burned out businesses, and more than a few hills to climb. When we arrived in Albany we were treated to a wonderful dinner, comfortable bed, and a chance to do laundry, thanks to our Warm Shower hosts, Mark and Maggie.
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