Day 12 – July 14, 2003
Ride through a place I like less than Kansas
Boston
I didn’t think it was possible, but I found it. A place I
would not recommend and would even recommend you stay away from. Boston!
We started out this day from Portland,
Maine. I thought it might be nice to ride
down the coast on highway 1. We stopped to eat at a place that rents cabins
that I thought looked cute. I cannot remember the name, but maybe they will
email me with it. When I walked in, I got an instant order of fish, not great
for breakfast, but I got used to it very quickly. We had the buffet, good food
for a great price. The gal that waited on us was very pleasant and we enjoyed
our breakfast and some shopping in the gift shop before we left. There were a
few moments of speculation before the bad luck started. I noticed that they
have Flea Markets here instead of swap meets. A lot of their bars are still called
pubs. Many a building that has long since lost its usefulness is still
standing. A lot of the towns/villages are named after things that happened, or
things that just are. Where does Kennebunkport
fit into all of that? I’m just not sure.
I figured we had only about 200 miles today, so why not take
it easy. Well that was my first mistake. You cannot take it easy in this area.
If you don’t move immediately when the light changes, they will be honking at
you, even if they can see the next light 50 feet away is red and blocked. These
drivers out here have less patience than the ones in LA. We didn’t even see the
state sign as we drove across the boarder of New
Hampshire, and we had to look it up and go back 2.5
miles to find the boarder sign to Massachusetts. The problem was not the sign, but the pot
holes in the street are so bad that you must constantly be looking directly at
the road. I suspect there is not even one manhole cover in this state that sits
even with the street. It seems almost as if they designed the covers to set
just about 2 to 3 inches below the surface of the road. To top that off the fastest you can go at any
time is about 30, and there is no passing allowed. You are not allowed to go
around the slow cars, and you cannot make a right on a red light. To top it all
off, you must wear a helmet. Considering the roads though, that last one is
probably a good thing. I tried to take
some pictures as we passed through Salem
and Boston, but there is no place
to pull over and the drivers of the other cars don’t seem to even want you in
their state, much less their sight. When
we got to Boston, we were stopped
at a toll booth and charged $4.50 to cross into Boston
via a tunnel. It started in the tunnel when we apparently were not going fast enough,
then when we came out the other end, there was another tunnel that I guess we
weren’t supposed to take, because that dumped us out on a bridge that went
right back where we started. I can only assume we were not supposed to visit
this city.
We decided it was time to stop wasting time and just get out
of Boston. We plotted the shortest
route to the 95 from where we were, which took us on the 16. This was another
large mistake, because it took us in a convoluted west, north, south, east,
west, south, west, etc route through the streets of Boston’s suburbs. The roads
here were not much better. My back feels like I’ve been riding a Harley all day
instead of a Honda. If you’ve ever seen that, “Little doggie in the back window
with head that goes up and down and bobs around while you drive.” Then you have
an idea of how my neck feels. I can only
begin to sympathize with a woman that must ride these streets. I guess that is
why you see almost exclusively Harley riders around here. They are already used
to it, so the pot holes don’t bother them so much.
There was one redeeming item that happened today. The
Friendy’s Restaurant that we stopped at! The receptionist, Lisa was indeed
friendly and made us feel welcome. The server, Jeff took care of us quickly and
courteously and our food was really good. We had some good conversation with
both the staff and some customers. We
also found a Comfort Inn just a couple of blocks away to spend the night. It
was not the best Comfort Inn I have stayed at, but they had all of the conveniences
that we required. Tomorrow we will visit
with a friend in Providence, Rhode
Island and try to catch up a little. We might even
have a little time for sight seeing. I
am keeping a positive thought that the next few states will have better
roads. If you see me riding down the
road looking like I’m cold, then you will know I was wrong. Till then, I’ll see
you on the byways….