Rhode Island

After a wonderful, refreshing, and relaxing week in Branson, MO, I am back on the road. The time in Missouri was great and the perfect mixture of rest, relaxation, and physicality to give me rest, yet allow me to fall back into riding with no problems. I rode 80 miles into a headwind and along some hills. When I got back to Boston I was debating packing right up and leaving that afternoon and trying to get a few miles down. After thinking it over I decided that wouldn't help enough to justify doing it, so I stuck around. Bob and Emily, the people I was staying with, invited me to go sailing in their boat in the harbor. I decided to take them up on it and it was a great way to finish my breather break. We went to the harbor, hopped on, and set sail. They even allowed me to man the helm for a bit as we circumnavigated an island. The wind was perfect and we were able to average about 6 knots.

I then headed out this morning and used mostly bike paths and a few back roads to get myself into Rhode Island. This is the 49th state I have ever been to in my life and the last one other than Alaska I needed to get to before this trip started. The ride was very scenic and I could tell the break was a good thing. My energy is back and the enjoyment of just hopping on a bike and going were back. I actually rode through the Providence, RI area and got a good view of the downtown skyline on a bridge I crossed. A lot of the day was spent on trails, many of which were in this area. The trails were fairly well maintained and relatively unused. I decided I didn't need to push myself as hard as I wanted to my first day back and so rode until I was out of the metropolis and called it a day.

The tree covered trails and occasionally rivers and streams made for a very relaxing ride through a part of the country I continue to be nervous about due to the population density. If this continues to be the case, I could enjoy this portion a lot more than I thought, except for the expensive camp grounds and motels.