Two More States

The count of states is now up to 34 after a 35-mile, two state ride this morning.  Yesterday I drove up to southeastern Connecticut (stay off of I-95 between Stamford and Milford, CT around rush hour!  I could have covered that section much quicker on my bicycle than in the car!)  and this morning met up with Leslie who was one of the cyclists on the Alaska tour in June.  She was kind enough to take half a day off work to take me on her “Two Lighthouses” route—one in Rhode Island and one in Connecticut.  We actually started in Connecticut at the LaQuinta Inn in Pawcatuck, Connecticut where I stayed last night, and after about a mile or so crossed into Rhode Island.

We passed the Westerly Amtrak Station

and rode through the attractive New England town before heading south to the Watch Hill lighthouse.  This lighthouse sits at the point where the Long Island Sound officially empties into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Just before reaching the lighthouse we rode through the restaurants

and shops and there were many pleasure craft docked across the street. Early on this Tuesday morning the streets were almost deserted, although Leslie informed me that she hates to cycle there on summer weekends because of all the cars driven by the hordes of weekend tourists.  We rode up to the Lighthouse which was placed to help boats pass safely into Long Island sound, and posed to prove we had reached one of our two ride objectives.

Heading north from the lighthouse we passed through streets with huge homes that looked to be in many cases a century old.  We tried to speculate which category of millionaires might have decided that this was where they wanted to be back in the early 1900’s, at least during the early summer.  Before we could come up with an answer, Leslie pointed to a large house up on a hill overlooking the water.  The white house looked like it had been modernized, and there was someone visible on the second floor porch. 

Taylor Swift's House

That’s when Leslie informed me that the house was owned by the very popular singer—Taylor Swift!  Could that have been her?  Two far away to tell, but the presence of two police cars indicated that she might have been there.  And their presence also dissuaded me from suggesting that we see if we could get buzzed in at the front gate!

After a wrong turn or two we made our way back up north to Pawcatuck and then headed down to Stonington Beach where we visited the old lighthouse.  Then it was a stop at the Indulgence Coffee Shop for coffee (or in my case hot chocolate) and we shared a piece of decadent chocolate cake, erasing all of the benefits of our ride to that point.  But the last 13 or so miles had the most significant climbing of the ride so I think we worked off those tasty calories!

Tonight I’m at my cousin’s in Boston, heading up to Portland in the morning to ride with a friend who I rode with on a 2016 bike tour.  If we’re not rained out tomorrow, I’ll be up to 35 states.  I’ll publish a new version of the scorecard tomorrow, and also add some photos to this blog which Leslie took today and is forwarding me later.

If you want to see the data from today, check out  https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3923968690

Thanks for following my blog and my quest to ride in all 50 states.