Bon Jour

It was game day at ORR High School which found me on busy route 6 in Mattapoisett Ma just as dusk was setting in.  Up ahead I spotted a loaded touring bike with a  Bob Yak trailer attached.  I drove ahead to a restaurant parking lot so I could offer any help to the rider.  There have been a few passing through town on their way to Cape Cod, but this is the first time I have spotted on heading west.

I waited a few minutes for him to round the bend wondering what could be taking him so long.  I decided to back track and found him on the sidewalk checking his map.  I yelled across the busy road for him to meet me in the parking lot.   Michele and I hit it off pretty easily and I invited him to stay with Brandon and me for the night.  He told me all his concerns were gone once he saw seven bikes in my garage.  I told him that we are regular tourers and my wife is now touring with a group in Germany and Austria.    It seems Michele has been touring every summer, sans one,   since 1989.  His latest was Australia last year.

After a hearty supper I supplies him with directions to get to Providence, RI and Newport RI.  Fall River, MA is the point where he has to make a decision.  East to Providence or West to Newport.  I mentioned that if he did Newport first, he could do both without backtracking.  Michele needs to be back home in Northeastern Quebec by October 4th.  He has been traveling for 31 days and doesn't mind the solo touring in the least.

We left my house at 8AM and I rode along with him and gave a poor mans tour of Fairhaven.  The Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket steamship authority maintenance area was a hit because two big car and truck carriers were in for repair.   We rode to McLean's wharf where the lobster boats dock and the two commercial shipyards in town.  I would have like to give a more in depth tour but had to cut is short for my nine o'clock appointment to get my hair done. 

If you bike tour you have experienced the goodness people demonstrate to the riders like we got this summer in upstate NY.  It was very gratifying to be on the giving end for a change.