The Berkshires

If you’ve ever lived or traveled extensively on the East Coast, you’re aware that the Appalachian Mountains extend from Georgia to Maine (not coincidentally, so does the Appalachian Trail). Depending on what state you’re in, they may be the Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge, the Shenandoah, the Poconos, the Kittatiny, the Catskills, Adirondacks, Green Mountains or White Mountains. It’s all the same thing. In Massachusetts, they’re the Berkshires and they’re beautiful to travel through, particularly at 12mph on a bike. The dirt roads yesterday notwithstanding, the roads in Connecticut (admittedly a small sample) and Massachusetts have been collectively the best of the ride. Wide shoulders, terrific scenery, and very modest traffic, even on a beautiful weather weekend that seemingly had everyone in New England out and about in all the small towns. The mountains are not high, but they are everywhere. Out west, you go up and over the Cascades and then you’re on the other side. Here you go up and down constantly. It is an unending sequence of climbing and coasting. Somehow, it is still pleasant. One way to keep it that way is to keep the rides short. Today was 41 miles and consisted of 2 big uphills and 2 even bigger downhills.

I was done by lunch, where I met up with another old Rice friend I hadn’t seen in 30+ years, Bert Rothenbach. Turns out Bert is also on the verge of having his youngest kid graduate from high school. Turns out Bert also likes his burgers so we had a tasty meal at Locals Burgers in Northampton, MA.

I learned a hard lesson this evening, though. All afternoon, there have been warnings flashing across the TV about a T-storm warning through 7:45 this evening. Of course, with my extensive meteorological background, I knew better. I waited to go out to dinner until about 7:15 because watching golf on TV was much more important. I took my bike and, in flip flops, I set off in search of food. All that’s around me is chain restaurants. My first try was Taco Bell. I pulled up, locked my bike and tried to go in. I tried all 3 doors and all were locked. I could see a handful of people inside ordering and eating. Frustrated, I decided to go to Chipotle. Better choice anyway. I ordered my food and got it to go, but then decided to sit and eat (so I could get free refills on the drink). At approximately 7:44, the rain began, right on time. At about 7:45, I got my food. At about 7:46, I realized there were no forks. I guess it worked out fine because I was trapped in the Chipotle for a solid 30 minutes. I ignored the very thing I talked about yesterday - know what you don’t know. Instead of listening to the weather experts and getting Uber Eats, I got to ride through puddles and eat lettuce with a spoon.

Not sure what that’s all about, but definitely curious …

Some very kind folks put this about halfway up the hill.

The Holy Grail of roads. Freshly paved, no traffic, beautiful scenery.