The Road To Alice's Restaurant - Day 6, To the End Of The Road

Greetings from Provincetown, MA -- quite literally the End Of The Road. Provincetown lies at the end of US-6, on the far tip of Cape Cod. It's quite literally as far as you can go on land, and is one of those "End Of The Road" kind of places like Homer, Alaska, or Key West, FL. You can't go any further and you have to turn back or stay. It's the folks that stay that make towns like these so unique and quirky at the same time. Provincetown is no exception, and reminds me very much of Key West -- lots of lost souls, old hippies, people who can't make it anywhere else -- and a town where the industry consists of t-shirt shops, ice cream stands, and bars - and in a few cases, all of them rolled up into one establishment!

As far as miles go, the route we took was just a bit over 200 miles -- but where it ends is a world apart from Stockbridge where we were last night. We pulled out of Stockbridge at 8am on the button and the sky was quite overcast with a heavy post-rain mist in the air. It had rained over night so the bike seats were nice and wet this morning. We debated the rain gear and decided to head out in just the leather this morning. Our first leg took us down US-7, which is lined with more antique shops than I thought could ever exist. I didn't think there was that much old furniture left in the world. We then turned on MA-23 through the heart of the Berkshires, and the heart of the rain storm that had left its mark on Stockbridge earlier. Just like us, the storm was headed east, and we went along for the ride at about the same speed. About 10 miles down the road it started to get very wet so we to put on the rubber suits. Just our luck, we pulled into the only wide spot on the road under a tree -- right in front of an old farm house with a very yappy Yorkie of some sort who we were afraid would wake up the world. We got the rubbers on and headed back out on the road. Even in the rain the Berkshires were very lovely, and the road a nice twisty two lane with no traffic. With the rain it took us about 90 minutes to get the 50 miles to Springfield where we rested at the local Harley dealer and took the time to get out of the rain gear and more importantly, re-map the directions.

Since this is such an unfamiliar part of the country, we found the easiest way to navigate is to carefully study the map, and then write down very simple directions on a yellow sticky note and put that on the inside of my windshield. Things like MA-23 to US-44 to CT-169. Unfortunately the sticky notes don't really stick in the rain, and the one for today had washed off somewhere way back in the mountains, so we had to re-calculate the route in Springfield as you can see me doing here. What's really irritating for me is the windshield on the Heritage Softtail I'm riding is one of the XXL sized ones, and combined with a Softtail's lower seat and my already vertically challenged stature, I find myself looking THROUGH the windshield rather than over it. It's fine when it's dry, but when it's misty or raining, it's not that easy -- try driving in the rain without your windshield wipers sometime. I end up sitting up as straight and as high as I can and peering over the windshield when it's raining.

This is a very different part of the country, and for someone like myself, growing up in the west where the distances are vast, and the oldest stuff is generally from AFTER the Civil War, it's fascinating to be driving through small towns and villages that have signs that say "founded in 1719" or something like that. In Utah, the towns tended to be about 15-20 miles a part -- or a day's ride on horseback when Brigham Young founded the place. Elsewhere in the West they are even further apart. Here they are all a mile or two apart. Each one also has a traditional old cemetery -- just like in the old horror movies, with huge cool gravestones that are weathered and have very intricate carvings on them, and leaning this way and that. Usually you'll also find a traditional white church with a high steeple as well (though in PA we did actually find one stock 1997 Model 5757-L, Medium Size Mormon Ward House with Satellite dish, looking quite out of place).

These twisty back roads take a lot longer to traverse -- but that's the point. We averaged about 35-40 mph, but we saw, and felt the countryside, and we could read the dates on the buildings, and the gravestones and smell the bacon frying in the roadside diners. We could read the "Welcome to Westfield, MA -- Founded in 1743 -- the Whip City", sign. We didn't stop however to inquire as to exactly WHY Westfield is the Whip City. We also traveled the old "Boston Post Road", now US 20, east for quite a ways out of Springfield.

As part of this trip we are also compiling our entry into the Harley Owners Group "ABC of Touring" contest. In this contest HOG members take pictures of themselves, the current HOG magazine, their bike, and the "Welcome to..." sign of someplace. The goal is to have a City and a County that begins with each letter of the alphabet, and as many of the 50 states as one can get, plus a few other odds and ends such as Harley factories and National Parks. We've already got all but the letter "x" in towns in Washington, so now we are collecting county and state signs. With all these little tiny states back here, we are stopping frequently for pictures. Here's Tony as we enter the smallest state.

We dipped into Rhode Island on the way out to the Cape today, and had lunch just outside of Providence. We then picked up US-6 for the ride out to the tip of the Cape and Provincetown. I'm not sure what we expected along this route -- I had envisioned sand-dunes, grass, and ocean. What we got however was much like the ride to Key West along US-1 -- without the bridges, and only the ugly slow parts through places like Key Largo. However unlike the Key's folks here INSIST on driving at least 10 miles UNDER the speed limit. In some places the road twisted and turned and ducked under the rail line that doesn't appear used though the tracks are still here. Provincetown itself is very reminiscent of Key West as I said, and we had a chance to wander the main street, which as I write this at 11pm on a Monday, is still teaming with people. We had a nice bite to eat in an ocean front cafe and did some people watching before heading back to the hotel. We are meeting up with some friends tomorrow and will explore a bit more, do the laundry as we are both out of clean socks and undies, and rest up for a day of little or no riding (I sorely, and I mean SORELY, miss my custom padded seat on my Dyna back home -- I'm getting saddle worn on this stock seat.) Tony, being a Floridian by birth wants to spend some time laying on the beach as well (I try to avoid places where I'll be mistaken for a beached whale). We'll spend Tuesday night here as well, then head out on Wednesday morning and go back around the cape and up through Boston and into Maine.

Good night from the End of the Road in Provincetown, MA --
Gary and Tony