Day 00: Chelmsford, MA to Salem, MA

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As a test run, I decided to do an overnight trip to Salem, MA.  This would not only be a good training run, but it would also give me a chance to figure out what I’m doing wrong as far as equipment goes.  More importantly, it would allow me to legally claim I rode from coast to coast (and, yes, I’m expecting many legal challenges to such an outrageous statement as that).

I’d ordered my front rack, but it hadn’t arrived yet, leaving me to do my shake-out ride with just my rear panniers.  I booked a rather expensive campsite on Winter Island ($35!), plotted a route and away  I went.  The 33-mile ride went smoothly, and I arrived a little before 4:00.  The ocean-side tent site was great (okay, maybe it was worth the 35 bucks), and I had a scenic view.

After I got my tent set up, took a shower and washed my riding clothes, I walked a couple miles into town for dinner.  On the way, three high school kids passed me on their bikes.  One was riding the centerline of the road, one was in the middle of the right lane, and the third was in the middle of the oncoming lane.  All I could do was shake my head like the curmudgeonly old man that I am.  Kids today!  Following behind them was a fourth member of these rebellious rough riders.  He too was in the middle of the travel lane and fiddling with his phone – look, ma, no hands!  A few moments after he passed me, his front wheel hit something, turned violently to the right, which sent boy and phone flying with a sudden crash into the center of the road.  Good thing no cars were coming!

When I got to him, he was picking himself up off the road in somewhat of a daze.  I wanted to tell him he got what he deserved, but instead I asked if he was all right.  He was more concerned about his phone that anything else and appeared unable to comprehend what possibly could have gone wrong.  Aside from some scraped up hands and a cracked phone screen, he was okay and limped off, obviously annoyed none of his friends had come back for him.  Fun times!

Ten minutes later, an SUV trundled by and lost a hub cap, which rolled by me then traced a few lazy circles before coming to a rest on the sidewalk across the street.  The SUV pulled over about a block farther on and a young woman got out.  Instead of coming back for her hub cap, she headed off in the other direction.  I hurried to catch up with her, but she disappeared around a corner before I could get her attention.  I decided that I could use all the good karma I could get, so I went back, retrieved the wayward hub cap, and left it by her driver-side door.  How would the world survive without me?

I ended up at O’Neil’s, an Irish pub and restaurant.  I was hoping for some bangers and mash, but it was not on the menu.  They did have some sort of odd, battered sausage thing that I tried instead and found to be of middling okayness.  The Trӧegs and Dog Fish Head beer, however, were quite tasty!

I hiked back to camp, passing several witch tours on the way.  I arrived "home" at about 9:30, climbed into my tent and was out like a light in a matter of minutes – one of the many benefits of spending most of your day pedaling a bicycle is immunity to insomnia!