There Once Was a Man in Pawtucket

After two and a half days of being a tourist in Boston, today’s plan was to put Boston behind me and resume my journey south. With no specific timeline in mind for arriving in Florida, my travel days from now on have a pretty high level of flexibility. I still hope to do about 100 km a day as that seems to be a good daily ride (depending on the weather and hills).

Well, my 100 km target got trumped before I even started today. I was looking at the map during breakfast and noticed that I’d be passing through Pawtucket at some point today. More specifically, about 42 miles down the road – according to Google – or about 70 km. The main reason Pawtucket caught my attention is that I know they have a minor league baseball team there which, depending on their schedule, could mean I could add another minor league baseball stadium to the list of stadiums to which I’ve been.

Well, the schedule isn’t a perfect scenario but I can work with it. The Pawtucket Red Sox don’t play tonight but they play tomorrow night. So, with that news, Pawtucket became the official goal for the day. I’m not really sure what I’ll do with a full day in Pawtucket tomorrow but I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

The ride to Pawtucket was pretty easy. As mentioned earlier, it’s only 70 km away from Boston. The ride ended up being a very leisurely experience. Getting out of Boston was a little slow as I had to deal with quite a few stop lights along the way. Also, I wasn’t travelling on one highway for the entire day which meant I had to make frequent stops to ensure I was following the map. Other than having to consult the map somewhat frequently, the biggest downside to not travelling on the major highways is that there generally aren’t big signs welcoming me to new cities and states. Since moving my crisis south of the border, I’ve now travelled in four states (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) but have yet to see a sign to welcome my arrival.

There may not be “Welcome” signs but, as luck would have it, I found a Wendy’s a few kilometres outside of Pawtucket. Clearly a somewhat mandatory Frosty stop was called for. While there, I used their WiFi to do some investigating regarding hotels in the area. I thought if I could find a good deal I would go the hotel route in Pawtucket so that I wouldn’t have to leave my gear somewhere while I went to the game. As far as I could tell, there’s only one recognizable hotel in Pawtucket – a Quality Inn. That became my new destination for the day.

My arrival at the Quality Inn made me laugh a bit – well, not just from my arrival but by the experience at the front desk. I asked if they could give me the same rate that was posted on Hotwire.com or if I had to book online. The latter was the case. So, there I stood, at the front desk of the Quality Inn connecting to their WiFi so I could book a room at the hotel in which I was currently standing. It seemed a little strange. Anyway, I booked the room online and then checked in about 30 seconds later.

I settled into my room accepting the fact that today would end up being a pretty uneventful day – especially compared to all the tourist activities of the past couple of days. No notable photos. No big adventures. No cannoli. But I am excited about going to the ball game tomorrow evening. I sort of lucked out in that regard too as apparently there are only a few games left in the season (which is now into the playoffs). The Pawtucket Red Sox are one of only two teams still battling for the championship (ie. the Governor’s Cup). Play ball!

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 72.48 km
Time on bike: 3:34:56
Maximum speed: 52.20 km/h
Average speed: 20.24 km/h

I should mention that the biggest highlight of the day would be the fact that I officially crossed over the 5,000 km threshold. Personally, I think that’s pretty cool.