May 17, 2024
To Wildwood State Park: Mike Unfiltered
There's an energetic vibe at breakfast this morning in the Duclays' kitchen. Thierry has Chopin Nocturnes playing on the stereo while Veronica cooks up eggs from the hens in the yard. Maya is headed out the door for her morning group run. Sean makes notes of ideas for videos to raise money for Sail Ahead. He and Killian have a boat delivery today.
I've been reading up on Sail Ahead's mission employing the therapeutic power of sailing to curb the veteran suicide epidemic. They've earned recognition from the United War Veterans Council for their work to help heal at-risk veterans suffering from the hidden wounds of war.
The boys must have been in high school when they founded the organization 11 years. Jenny was even younger. Now she handles social media and PR for the organization and is the official Boat Jumper. She buzzes around at sailing events on an inflatable powerboat and jumps on boats to take pictures of the veterans and their families on board.
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While everyone in the family has things to do today, they all go out of their way to make us comfortable and be sure we have everything we need.
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7 months ago
We take our leave from this wonderful family and start out riding through neighborhoods and small villages. The hills aren't as steep as yesterday. There's plenty of traffic on the big roads but it's not stressful and there are lots of quiet smaller roads.
In Kings Park Mike flags us down at Park Bake Shop. Second breakfast? Sure, why not.
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At mile 24 we pick up the shady Setauket-Port Jefferson Greenway and follow it through the woods for the next eight miles or so. About halfway through Barry and I find a park bench to stop at and finish off the rest of my leftover giant pannini from yesterday's lunch.
The path is all very zen until we come to a cross-walk and watch in horror as a pedestrian is nearly taken out by a speeding motorist. It looked like the driver actually sped up and veered toward him. Fortunately the guy was able to jump of the way. I keep replaying the scene in my head as we ride on and shudder. It's making me much more circumspect at all the cross streets.
Besides that deeply disturbing incident, the only other thing that mars the day is that my right eye will not stop watering. Trying to wash it out with eye drops doesn't help at all. Mike says the pollen is thick here, especially oak pollen. I don't usually have allergies, but after I wash my face the eye is much better. Seems like pollen might be the issue. At least now I know what to do.
Near the end we hit a Stop & Shop close to the path for dinner provisions. A camp night is usually a cheap date. Good to have those to balance out the big dinner out nights.
Wildwood is a beautiful park with shady paths under tall trees and nice clean bathrooms. There are no mosquitos although we see tick warnings everywhere.
When Barry and I pull up to the site number Mike texted us, it looks like he just got here. Usually by the time we pull in he has pitched his tent, showered, hung his kit on the line and is sipping an adult beverage. What gives?
I often ask Barry and Mike about their thoughts on the day and try to include them in the journal. This time as Mike launches into his tale of trouble registering for the campsite I have my recorder on. Let's get the story from him directly without the Jan filter ....
"When I showed up, they said that they do not take walk-in registrations anymore. They quit doing that a year ago. So I tried to log into Reserve America to register. I hadn't logged in there in a long time, so it forced me to change my password. Of course, that took a while because I made a couple of mistakes and it's always a pain in the ass trying to get your password reset, because they changed the rules on passwords.
"When I got to the point where I pick the spot I went back up and asked for a map because I didn't want to go by the online map. I was looking for an open site close to the bathroom so I had to compare maps. That took a while. When I finally found one I tried to reserve it online. Then Reserve America said you have to do walkups after 3 pm and it's nine minutes after 3.
"So I went back up to the window and told the guy I can't reserve a site online because it's after 3 pm, and he said, I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing we can do about it. I said you gotta be kidding me. I'm on a bicycle. You guys can't make accommodations for bikers? He said No, so sorry, sir. You're gonna have to find a different place. And then he mentioned three or four other campgrounds. I don't know this area and I started thinking, wait a minute, it's gonna be the same thing with the registration when I get there after 3, isn't it? Why don't we just call Reserve America and see if they'll do something if you guys can't do it.
"There are three other people in the office and two of them are conferring. I think they're trying to figure out what to do before I get pissed off. One walks up and says I think there's a state law or something that says you can't turn away bikers and I'm like, okay, cool. I would really like to have a campsite. It sure would be great if you guys helped me out here.
"The guy who mentioned the state law had to be the manager because he recited this thing about why it is that Reserve America said walkups only. Their platform is made for many different parks. Most parks do take walkups after 3 pm but each park has the right to set their own rules.
"Since they hadn't done registrations in a while, they didn't know how to do it on the computer. The manager was more tech savvy than the others and starts working on it. Another one says well, don't just push buttons. Show me how to do it. And they made some mistakes so that all took awhile.
"I could understand if they were trying to save time and manpower, but they had four people in there. So I just don't get why they didn't want to take my money. Honestly, they need to have a talking point. Just saying no, sorry, just pisses people off. Why wouldn't they have a spiel saying why they can't take walk ups, when every other park takes them?"
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The whole story is a reminder of how lucky we are to travel with our speedy friend who rides ahead and sends us texts on what to look out for, always gets to the hotel or campground first and deals with all the registration crap, shares his stinky gorgonzola and other high class snacks for happy hour, and is persistently in good humor. We honestly don't deserve him.
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7 months ago
7 months ago
Once we get settled I have look at the map and see that we are close to the beach, maybe half a mile away. Better hustle on down there while there's still daylight.
We're on Long Island Sound where the beach feels very different from all the ones we've visited on the open ocean. For one thing, it's really rocky, not anything I want to walk on barefoot. Most of the people here are fishing, or with someone who's fishing.
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7 months ago
7 months ago
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Back at camp, we have more company now that people are returning with their catch of the day. Most of the people camped around us are Spanish-speaking folks deep into the fishing. Latin pop music cranks up for a couple hours. After it shuts down promptly at 10:00 the talking and laughing around campfires swells up. We put in our earplugs and pass out.
Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 2,228 miles (3,586 km)
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7 months ago
I like rocky beaches because they're usually emptier. I like sandy beaches because I can squish my toes in the sand.
7 months ago
7 months ago