I enjoyed Vermont even more than i hoped and I am doing my best to get back there to spend at least the next winter, probably in Burlington, a place which is unnecessarily, excessively, extravagantly beautiful. I made some nice initial contacts there and I think I can find a comfortable niche.

I started the ride home on Sunday, Sept. 23. The first day's ride brought me to Meriden, NH and a Grade A Number One Prime Warmshowers stay with the family of a prep school teacher (serious bicycle tourists) in a postcard NH village. On Monday I petty much crossed NH (long day) ending up at the Warmshowers farmstay described in the previous post. Tuesday involved threading my way among the little towns of NH and northern Massachusetts culminating with the commuter bikepaths that lead into Boston--Jamaica Plain to be precise. I was distressed to experience extreme disregard for safety and the rights of others (especially pedestrians, but also less-serious cyclists, like me, and motorists) among the local serious bicyclists: roadies on their skinny tires and hipsters on their fixies. Odd that these last three hours on bike paths were among the scariest and most stressful of the entire ride. But, as always, the host was warm, hospitable and simpatico and I left Boston optimistic and refreshed.

Wednesday the riding south out of Boston was a lot mellower and discovering new aspects of towns I have driven through only on the major highways before was lots of fun. I especially enjoyed the diner in Randolph where I stopped for lunch. I had arranged to visit an old friend and colleague in Plymouth for the night. I had my first chance to set up my new tent there (I bought it on a ride between Montpelier and Burlington at a place where the price and selection were just right. I had said goodbye to my leaky but otherwise trusty tent some miles earlier. Bear in mind, I only had one or two rainy nights all the way to Ohio. I also researched and learned the technique for setting up a modern tent in the rain--fly first--while in Vermont. I'm ready for another wet evening, I think.)

So Thursday was the big day. My friends' house was only about 5 miles from the Bourne Bridge. The ride to Falmouth was just a little weekend jaunt. I did some business in Falmouth and pulled into Woods Hole, a hero in my own mind, just after one.

Among many other gratitudes that I have tried to express in this blog as I have progressed, I am especially grateful to the powers of the universe, if any, for allowing me to complete this ride, as I completed the voyage around the world, without the slightest injury or damage to my physical being. The growth I have experienced in other aspects of my being cannot be quantified, but is a matter of huge satisfaction.

Thanks for following me on this adventure. I will try to come up with a worthy sequel in a few months.