As mentioned in our last blog, we had decided to take the Cross Sound Ferry from the eastern tip of Long Island to New London, CT and avoid the trip back into the City and around to the Cape.  The trip involved driving back up through Greenport to Orient Point to the ferry dock.  We were due to board at 11:00 am so we decided to arrive early and make sure everything was okay.  When we checked in, they informed us that we had prepaid as 2 separate vehicles. We had planned to board connected.  If we wanted to stay connected, we would have to pay more, so we unhooked. Gail drove the Jeep on (her first time drive a vehicle onto a ferry) and I parked the RV.

We found each other for the 1.5 hr. crossing and walked around several areas of the deck to see all the islands and watch the docking.  It was cool and cloudy, but we could eke out a peek at the Montauk lighthouse in the distance.  After docking, we each went back to our respective vehicles to unload.  I went out first with the RV and was expecting a large parking area but could only find a dead-end lot with some police cars and trucks.  I was hoping no one would mind if I parked for a minute or two until Gail could find me.  Of course, with cell phones these days, it was easy, and we got reconnected (literally) and headed to our campground in the famous shipyard of Mystic.

We had reservations at a KOA park on the outskirts of Mystic and got settled in.  We had just one night scheduled there so we headed directly into Mystic to check things out.  We had been there in the early 2000’s when I crewed on my first offshore delivery from Florida to Mystic on the new Hunter HC50 cruising sailboat.  On that trip, we had some weather issues, and I broke my glasses.  So, Gail hopped on a plane to bring me another pair and we spent a day or two in Mystic exploring before going back to Dallas.

Mystic seemed much different than we remembered and much busier.  We walked across the famous downtown bascule bridge and did some window shopping in the interesting maritime craft and other typical tourist stores.  I was feeling tired and probably a bit dehydrated, so we got back to the car and drove out to Noank for dinner.  We decided ended up at Abbot’s Lobster (with Costello’s Clams next door) for dinner.  Very nice and not crowded.  We drove around Noank some more and finally back to the RV for a good night’s rest.

The next morning, we were off early for the drive across Rhode Island to the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts.  We had another KOA reserved about 30 miles from the Cape as it is high season and the normal Cape campgrounds had been booked up for months.  But it was a nice camp and nicely located for our adventures and for our departure in a few days.  We stayed in and got caught up on domestic chores and had tacos on board!

The next day we were heading out to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod and one end of the Cape Cod National Seashore.  We noticed that close to the normal route was the town of Plymouth and the infamous Plymouth Rock.  We just had to make that detour to see it.  There was more than just the rock.  The entire National Park was very well presented, and it highlighted the cooperation between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims.  We also enjoyed seeing the National Monument to the Forefathers.  It is away from the waterfront but well worth a visit.

The rest of the drive out was longer than expected with the distance being shown as 77 miles.  At 30-50 mph, the drive was slower and with more traffic than expected.  And the scenery along the route was not all sand dunes and beaches as we expected until you reached the end near Provincetown.  It was forests and woods and very pretty. 

We arrived and were again in the middle of the tourist crowds.  In fact, there was a ferry we could have taken from Plymouth that would have taken about the same 90 minutes.  In addition to the Plymouth ferry there are many other ferries that bring the tourists over, so it gets crowded.  We did find a nice restaurant on the water away from the central area and had chowder and fish and chips for lunch! 

We did some more walking around town then back to the Jeep to go to the end of the cape.  The area is a national park, but I had somehow misplaced my senior park card and the fees were just too high for the short time.  But at the visitor center, we went to the observation deck with some binoculars that the ranger had loaned us.  People were getting excited as there were whales breaching just offshore. They were not close, but we could see them with our borrowed binoculars which was very cool.

The ranger also pointed out some additional stopping places for the trip back that were mostly lighthouses.  We took advantage of her ideas and stopped at several on the way back to the RV.  One of the most interesting was the location of the first wireless trans-Atlantic transmission at the Marconi Wireless Station.  It was in 1903 from here to England between President Roosevelt and King Edward VII.  It later became famous again in 1912 when it received the SOS from the RMS Titanic and alerted the RMS Carpathia of the situation and helped save many of the passengers.

The next day was a toss up between visiting Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket.  Since Nantucket is more centered in the town of Nantucket itself and Martha’s Vineyard has multiple towns, and we only had the one day, we decided on Nantucket.  We booked the round trip on the fast ferry with Hy-Line out of Hyannis Port.  That area is famous of course because of the Kennedy family compound that we had heard so much of when JFK was President.  The fast ferry is a hydrofoil and makes the 30 miles in just about an hour with several hundred passengers. 

When we arrived, we realized that we were one of the tourists that we had seen in Provincetown!  But we managed to get away from the crowds by getting away from the dock area and into the town itself.  We first went to the Whaling Museum. It had been highly recommended and after seeing it, we would agree.  It covered not only the history of whaling in Nantucket and around the world but also the fall of the industry and the transition of the island and its citizens into several iterations of change. 

We also met by coincidence a historian on the streets who explained that Nantucket had it’s own Meridian line (similar to the meridian in Greenwich, England) and showed us the two markers that had been used as their zero time measurement to synchronize they clocks on the whaling ships.

Finally, we walked up to the historic windmill just on the edge of town.  Although we did not get to see it in operation due to some repairs and renovations going on, we were given a private (as we were the only ones there) tour and demonstrations of the mill.  It is the oldest remaining operational windmill in the US that is used to make corn flour!  Very interesting.

So back on the ferry and back to the RV after a long day (and 6 miles of walking) we were ready to get some rest and head to the mountains!