{"id":3099,"date":"2019-09-27T23:24:13","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T03:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/?p=3099"},"modified":"2019-09-27T23:24:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-28T03:24:13","slug":"from-haven-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/27\/from-haven-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"From Haven to Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In our last episode, I had spent Sept. 1 biking down to New Haven, CT. After getting there, I checked into my lodging, showered, and put on non-bike clothes. I walked a few blocks to get dinner, and the place I stopped was really good: Mamoun’s Falafel<\/a>. I had a falafel sandwich and a glass of mango juice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, I went out to get breakfast, and as I was walking down the street, someone asked me if I was going to be in “the race”. I said “No”, not really sure what race that was, but I soon found that a number of streets were blocked off, and soon I saw some runners come by, so apparently there was a Labor Day road race going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After breakfast (which was a mini-quiche and a turnover at a coffeehouse), I put on cycling clothes, packed up my stuff, and started heading back north. I should mention that, earlier this year, I received a pair of large, waterproof pannier bags as a birthday present, and I was using them as my luggage for the trip. This was particularly important for the return trip, as there was a good chance of rain predicted for the afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than wend my way back to the Yale campus on various one-way streets, I took a more direct route north that converged with the trail. After about a mile I was able to go a very short distance on a side street to get on the trail, and I headed north into Hamden. I stopped to photograph this mural on the side of a building (click to view larger photo):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heading on, in Hamden I passed under the Wilbur Cross Parkway, and eventually back up to Cheshire (where I stopped briefly by the scummy pond again). And then on to Southington. I passed by these butterfly shaped benches:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Iron<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Frontal<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And soon after those, there were a whole series of murals, one after another:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mural<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After heading through most of Southington, the trail came to an end, I rode on Routes 10 and 177 up through Plainville. I then got back on the trail and wheeled into Farmington just as a slight sprinkle of rain started. It was not enough to be bothersome, and the sprinkle came and went as I followed the Farmington Canal trail through the rest of Farmington and into the town of Avon. I stopped for lunch at a cafe in Avon, and it was good timing, as it rained in earnest while I was inside eating. That rain had stopped by the time I left and got back on the bike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I continued to have reasonably dry conditions as I headed into, and through most of, Simsbury. However, in the northern part of the town, it started to rain steadily, and so I got out my rain jacket and rain pants, as well as changed my shoes into a pair that can be worn in water. I made the change under a tree that provided good rain cover, and then, sealing up the panniers again, I headed out into the rain. It rained consistently for the rest of the time I was in Connecticut, and was raining pretty hard when I crossed back into Southwick, Massachusetts. The first mile or two in Southwick is a nature preserve, and I saw a number of frogs and toads on the path, some which jumped out of the way as I came by, and others which sat stoically in the rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halfway through that town, the rain let up, and soon after that the sun came out. It had rained for about 90 minutes. I changed my shoes back to ones that were a little better for pedaling, and then continued into Westfield. I kept the rain outfit on so that it could dry out as I rode, but I did unzip the jacket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After reaching the northern end of the trail, I went through the rest of Westfield and back into Holyoke on Route 202. The total distance for that day was 73 miles – so about 150 for the whole trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next: a short ride exploring more non-roads<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our last episode, I had spent Sept. 1 biking down to New Haven, CT. After getting there, I checked into my lodging, showered, and put on non-bike clothes. I walked a few blocks to get dinner, and the place I stopped was really good: Mamoun’s Falafel. I had a falafel sandwich and a glass … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,19,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3112,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3099\/revisions\/3112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}