Our plan for Tuesday, July 7 was to get as close to Boston as possible to park the bike. I did some investigation and riding our GTL into Boston proper pulling a trailer was not a safe idea. Besides, like New York City, at these historical sites there is no way we were going to park in front of any of them to get a picture of our K1600 in the foreground! We decided to take the train into Back Bay Station and subway it to the heart of the city. That was the safest option and frankly, the most convenient.
We started at the Boston National Historical Park Visitor Center located at Faneuil Hall (pronounced like Daniel) that is also a National Historical Landmark. Faneuil Hall was actually on the waterfront in Colonial times but along with Quincy Hall, are about two blocks away now. From there we walked to the harbor front to visit Boston Harbor Islands National Recreational Area to see the attractions of the Boston Islands. Back at Faneuil Hall, we picked up the Freedom Trail that is a walking tour trail that links the majority of the historic sites in Boston. It turned out to be a great walk! Winding through the downtown area and over into Charlestown where you can find both Old Ironsides (the USS Constitution) and Bunker Hill, the Trail is a must. We did that portion early by taking the harbor ferry from downtown to the Charlestown Navy Yard and walking back via the Charlestown Bridge. Don’t forget, in Colonial times, people really didn’t live far from one another and cities weren’t that big. After the Charles River crossing, we wound our way through the older part of Boston, the north end. Along the way we saw Copp’s Hill (where Charlestown was bombarded from) the Old North Church (site of Paul Revere’s signal), Paul Revere’s house on North Square and stopped to have lunch at the Union Oyster House (the oldest restaurant in the country AND a National Historical Landmark) and then finally back to Faneuil Hall. All the aforementioned were historic landmarks. Back in the center of town, we walked to the Old State House where just on the sidewalk in front, was the site of the Boston Massacre. All these places have pretty powerful histories! After, we made our way further along the Freedom Trail to the Old Corner Bookstore and Old South Meeting House. I guess by now you’ve noticed that a lot of places are ‘old’! We had a wonderful time in Boston and so much so, we plan a return visit. Just SO much to see and all of it just the kind of things and places we like to explore. All in all, we bagged 12 historic sites and had a wonderful walk through a time in our nation’s history that was crucial and quite heady! Back on the train, we were at our hotel in Worcester in no time.
On Wednesday, we planned to be in Acadia National Park by the afternoon and since it was only about 300 miles, almost all highway, we decided to stop at Minute Man National Historical Park (the North Bridge area) and Lowell National Historical Park. The Minute Man Historical Park is actually a park that starts in Lexington, where on the Lexington Green, the King’s troops first confronted the Patriots. From there, the British Army marched on to Concord and at the Old North Bridge (the bridge across the Concord River) the shots that were heard around the world took place. Though not the original bridge, the area is very cool! We got to stand in the same place that we Patriots confronted a detachment of British soldiers and, in an act of treason, returned fire and killed fellow countrymen. There, the Revolution began.
After our visit, we headed to Lowell, MA to see the beginnings of the industrial age in America. There, at the Lowell National Historical Park, you can visit turn of the century water powered textile mills that employed thousands of immigrants. Not only that, it was also the beginnings of what we now know as the ‘company town’. Prior to this age, there were no villages or cities developed specifically for the purpose of housing factory workers. Not only can you take a boat tour of the canals that wind through the remaining mill buildings (that have been preserved as condos and the like). Tours are available to see the mill operations and all the related support businesses. Very interesting. We found out that Lowell was developed in the later period of the industrial revolution yielding to Pawtucket, RI, in the lower Blackstone River Valley where is site of the first textile mill in the United States (1793). We’ll get to that in a few days! Because Lowell is so close to I-495, and it is a pretty interesting place, if you miss it, you’ll miss some pretty important history.
Back on the road, we headed up I-495, eventually linking up with I-95 and the long slog up to Bangor, ME. I say it’s a slog because I can’t tell you how many times I have driven this road back and forth to Newfoundland many years ago. Before we knew it, we were headed off I-95 to take ME 9 and US 1 to Ellsworth and onto ME 3 to Bar Harbor. Thinking that I knew where the Seawall Campground was, I just motored on without checking the GPS or map. That little oversight cost us an hour of touring the Blue Hill Bay area of Mount Desert Island and put us at the campground around 5:00. But no worries. Our plan was to stay for three nights and RELAX. And relax we did. The weather was great, high 70’s and no humidity. The only downside was the mosquitos. We were prepared though, having bought the screened 10x10 canopy at REI before we left Baltimore.
Even with that, our tour of Mount Desert Island, up Cadillac Mountain and through the park road was really nice. The park is broken up quite a bit with private land around park land but it is not too hard to tell where you are. No houses are in park land! Acadia is a nice National Park and the first east of the Mississippi. While on a run up to Ellsworth to our weekly Walmart visit for resupply, I eyed a business at the airport that offered biplane rides. Well, since we got a floatplane ride in Florida, it was time to scratch a biplane ride off the list! Built in 1996 as a replica of a 1935 biplane, it didn’t take much to convince us to sign up for the 40 minute flight that actually lasted more than an hour. After getting specific directions on how to get seated (in the front of the plane), I asked the pilot if he’d do any loops for us to which he replied, “sure, if you want”. All I can say was from the time the rotary engine fired up to the very end it was an awesome experience. Once airborne, we headed out over the water to see some lighthouses and Bar Harbor from the air. Next thing we heard was Steven, our pilot say, “are you ready for a little excitement?” We couldn’t wait! Then we went into a STEEP dive, rolling over and descending an unknown amount of altitude we leveled out and tried to keep our composure over our excitement! A biplane ride is a MUST! The owner was right when he said that flying a biplane is REALLY flying. We couldn’t agree more. After a little more sightseeing, Steven took us on another similar dive before we headed back to the airport. The whole experience was a BLAST! We highly recommend it!
It took more than a few minutes to get my land legs back and feel completely at ease riding the BMW back to the campground but we’ll never forget that ride! Once back at our camp, we relaxed the day away and a walk on the rock strewn beach was beautiful. By our last day, Saturday July 10, we started to get the travel itch and by Sunday, July 11 we were greeted with a sunny day, perfect for motorcycling and our trip back south to Massachusetts.
We decided to take I-95 from Bangor all the way south instead of the cut-off we did on the way up. It was a good decision until we got to just north of Boston. Since we were headed to just south of Boston, it seemed like a good idea, since it was Saturday, (how bad could the traffic be?) I planned our route right through downtown on I-93. Well, it can be pretty bad. Combined with the 90+ temp, humidity and traffic, it was a pretty miserable trip from New Hampshire to Wompatuck State Park just outside Quincy, MA. This is a great campground! Not far from the red line subway, it is only about 30 miles from Boston (this will be our next base camp). Besides, there is an REI close by. A note about the GTL- since we lost (traded for lighter, smaller equipment) the majority of the stuff that was piled up on the top of the trailer, our mileage has greatly improved. No longer were we seeing the high 30’s, we are now getting in the low to mid-forties mpg. That’s pretty good.
We’ll be off to a few places in Rhode Island after a visit to Adams National Historical Park and then a visit to NYC to see Cynthia’s cousins and aunt and uncle. Till then- Stay tuned, much more to come! Greg & Cynthia.