To Great Barrington

August 4, 2021

We are at the motel office nearly first thing when it opens for breakfast. It’s a definite ten-jammer, if you’re rating based on fruit and nuts rather than pastries. In quite an odd setup though, there is no dining room. There’s only this small office space, with two tiny tables next to the reception counter which is wall to wall food. We’re lucky to have arrived early enough to be able to score one of the two tables, with the other already claimed when we enter.

The Willows Motel doesn’t have the best WiFi, but they have an amazing breakfast spread. And for $10 they’ll do your laundry.

In a last minute change we’ll be arriving at Vance and Laurie’s home in Connecticut a day earlier than planned, on Saturday instead of Sunday. This will give us more time to visit, relax, and get ready for our departure to Europe. With the end of this tour so close now we’re both getting a short timer’s attitude, our thoughts turning more and more toward Part Two.

First though, there is the business of this rather long ride south to Great Barrington. With a lot of miles to cover, I’d say that we got an early start. Rocky wouldn’t though - we somehow never leave early enough to meet her druthers.

Hurry up, pard! Can’t we ever get started on time?

For the first six miles we follow River Street east out of town and up to North Adams, where we’re greeted by a massive brick industrial complex sprawled along the bank of the river.

I really don’t know that much about New England’s history. Most of what I learned was in US History back in eighth grade at Nathan Eckstein Junior High in Seattle, in one of those years when I preferred to sit by the window with my eyes cast out the window, my mind on things other than the subject matter being presented to us by Mister Rasmussen - a tall, lanky, balding man who was a pilot in the Canadian Air Force during World War II.

Oh, wait, that’s not right. Mr. Rasmussen taught World History, which was in ninth grade. I still remember him turning ashen when another teacher entered the room and whispered in his ear that President Kennedy had just been shot. I don’t remember our US History teacher at all.

So, recollections are very dim of the industrial revolution and the textile mills that powered the Massachusetts economy in the mid-1800’s. In case you’ve forgotten too or came from elsewhere and never sat through US History, here is an excellent article to give context for the day’s ride.

Leaving Williamstown. This will be spectacular when it’s done.

Entering North Adams, at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Hoosic River. Both branches are confined by concrete chutes through their course through town - they were built during the 1950’s by the Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding, especially needed because the river was polluted with toxic waste from the textile mills.

Remnants of North Adams’ industrial heritage. Like many towns in Massachusetts, its character was shaped by the textile mills that sprouted here in the 1800’s.

In front of MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art): Big Bling, a creation by Martin Puryear.

The Hoosic River’s two branches come together at North Adams. We turn south here to follow its southern branch on busy Highway 8 for another six miles to Adams, where we leave the highway for one of the best rail trail experiences of the whole tour. For the next twelve miles we ride the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail south as it continues following the South Branch of the Hoosic. Wonderful miles, the best of the day by far and some of the best in weeks.

A real mouthful, but a name worth taking note of.

Following the Hoosic River on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.

The Hoosic River is much healthier and more attractive now that the mills aren’t dumping dyes into it.

Pit stop on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.

Two bike and fence portraits in the same day!

Along Cheshire Reservoir, an impoundment of the Hoosic River.

Berkshire Pond, the southernmost lobe of Cheshire Reservoir.

So that was wonderful. However, we still have another 30 miles to go until reaching Great Barrington. Sad to say, these miles are significantly less enjoyable than what we’ve just experienced. We’re never on highways, and several roads we bike down seem like they should be quiet and relaxing, but they aren’t. There’s seldom a substantial shoulder, and there’s always just enough traffic to keep you focused on that instead of the surroundings.

It’s a shame, because this is scenic, renowned terrain. We’re cycling through the famous Berkshires, passing through the town where Susan B. Anthony was born, past Tanglewood, and then the Norman Rockwell Museum. It’s busy enough that I only stop for exactly one photo through here. For a better look, check out today’s video.

Video sound track: Juvenescence, by Yasmin Williams

We’re getting pretty tired of the experience (I told you we have short timer’s attitudes) when we come to a sign warning of a bridge out ahead. We each groan when we reach the spot where a bridge used to be and see a chasm in the road ahead. We’re just checking our maps to see how long the detour will be - and it appears lengthy - when a member of the construction crew approaches us and tells us there’s a short cut not far away. He says the turnoff is signed to not enter, but that it’s fine. Great news. The detour adds two miles to an already longish day, but it could have been worse.

Like North Adams, Housatonic is defined by its textile mill past. This is part of Monument Mills, a complex of several mills here along the Housatonic River. Until shutting down in 1955, Monument Mills was a major American manufacturer of jacquard fabrics, which I’d never heard of before.

Monument Mills. Some of these structures have been renovated for use for artist housing and small shops, but not this part from the looks of it.

This impressive structure greets us as we approach Great Barrington from the north. This is the Rising Paper Mill, begun in 1873 with the intention of creating the largest paper mill in the world. That didn’t happen, since its owner went bankrupt soon after its construction.

Ten miles later we enter the outskirts of Great Barrington and are greeted by a horrendous traffic jam. We’ll pass bumper to bumper cars for the next mile to our hotel, skirting them carefully on this narrow, shoulderless road. Madness.

Remind me again of why we’re booked to stay here for two nights, Scooter?

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Ride stats today: 56 miles, 2,500’; for the tour: 2,503 miles, 79,900’

Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 2,503 miles (4,028 km)

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