Wednesday May 11th 2016

I finally got a chance to ride my bicycle on the canal service road today. It was a warm day with a light wind this in the morning. Later in the day the wind increased and it got a little cooler.

This was my first chance to ride the bicycle for any serious riding since the end of March. The tires needed to be topped off and I lubed up the various moving parts. I got out around 9:30 and headed into the wind toward the railroad bridge. Judging by the mile markers panted on the road the railroad bridge is about a mile and a half from my campsite. I could tell it had been a while since my last ride. By the time I got to the railroad bridge my legs were starting to burn a little.

Coming back from the railroad bridge the wind was at my back. I kept going well beyond my campsite when an interesting thing happened. The wind direction in the middle of the land cut area of the canal was in the opposite direction. I was again heading into the wind. The actual direction hadn’t changed just the direction of the canal and a wind tunnel effect from the high hills bordering the canal. I wasn’t prepared to fight the wind so I turned back about a mile and a half or so beyond my campsite. All total on this ride I covered about 6 miles.

Tug pulling a barge coming under the Bourne bridge.

During the afternoon and evening I took another shorter bike ride and a walk along the service road. During my walk I got to see a tug and barge going through the canal. I have not seen many commercial vessels in the canal this spring. I’m just not in the right place at the right time.

Rider on a u Unicycle.

One thing I am seeing is a lot of different recreational uses of the canal service road. In addition to common uses of walking, jogging, rollerblading, bicycling and dog walking, I’ve seen riders of unicycles and other strange contraptions. I wish I’d been able to get a picture of a guy riding a single wheel about 18 inches in diameter. It seem like it might be similar to a Segway with one wheel and no vertical handlebars. Doing a little google searching it was probably a Ninebot One E+ One Wheel Self-balancing Unicycle.

Tuesday May 10th 2016

It didn’t rain at all today. The temperature inland got up into the mid 70s, but it was 15 to 20 degrees cooler at the canal. A strong breeze was blowing in from the ocean.

On my late afternoon/evening walk on the canal service road I got to see one of the elusive lowering of the railroad bridge to allow a train to cross. Over the years I’ve been coming down here I’ve only seen the bridge down a few times. This time of year it is not lowered every day. Later in the year there is often commuter service from Boston which requires more frequent lowering. I haven’t heard if there is a budget for the commuter service be run this year.

Train passing between the canal and bordering homes.

There are two rail lines feeding the railroad bridge from the Cape side. One comes along the canal and the other flows straight into the bridge from the Falmouth MA area. The train for this crossing was a freight train coming along the canal to the bridge. Along one section of the line the train passes between houses and the canal. From across the canal it looks like the train is going through the back yards of the homes. There is actually about close to 100 feet between the tracks and the houses. It’s still very close and there are not significant fences.

Railroad bridge halfway down. Note the counter weights in the tower going up.

Railroad bridge fully down with train starting across the bridge.

The bridge span uses massive counter weights to move up and down in a relatively short time span. A canal patrol boat is stationed in the canal to ward off any boaters getting to close. The bigger traffic is warned well ahead of time to slow down or speed up to avoid the lowered bridge. I’m not sure if the canal or the railroad has priority if there were an issue. I do know that the bridge lowering is scheduled. This one happened at 6PM on the dot.

Monday May 9th 2016

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof. What happened to the sunny warmer than normal day in the forecast? It turned out alright, it was just a passing storm system that was through the area by 8AM. The day turned out great.

Traffic going inland was not a problem. I made it to New Hampshire a little quicker than normal. Today was a productive day. I got a lot of the junk sorted and ready for disposal.

Mr and Mrs Mallard D. Duck taking a swim in the canal.

On way home I made a stop at the Wareham Walmart to stock up on food for the week. Walmart prices are ok, but the bigger advantage is familiarity. The basic layout of most of the Walmarts are similar. The basic products are the same and located in similar positions in the store. However, there are regional differences. Stores care products popular or native to the area they are located. For example, the stores in this area carry Kayem deli products, but that brand was not available in Florida.

Back at the campground a few new RVs have arrived. It may be the good weather forecast that’s bring them out in the middle of the week. The arrival of two tent trailers seems particularly odd. They are usually used for weekends this time of year not vacations. Maybe it’s a fishing trip.

The good weather had quite a few people out on the canal service road this evening. Walkers, bikers and rollerbladers were all out in force, but the boat traffic was not existent. A couple of ducks were the only wildlife I saw.

Sunday May 8th 2016

It was a lazy day today. I didn’t get moving out of the RV until around 11AM and that was only for a quick walk over to the canal and back. It was threatening to rain at the time. The rain never really got started. All we got in this area were a few quick light showers. At four this afternoon a bright yellow disk appeared in the western sky. I think that it was the sun, but since it has been more than a week since it last appeared, I’m not sure.

A couple of boats pushing against the current.

Fishing boat

Most of the weekend visitors were gone early. By the time the good weather arrived there were very few people around to take advantage of it. On my evening walk, about six, I only saw a couple of dog walkers. The southwest breeze was actually warm so if there were people around they should have been out.

Enjoying the afternoon sun. Trying to figure out what the guy with the camera is all about.

With any luck the weather will be better the next few days. I want to ride my bicycle along the canal before I move on from this campground. I’m booked here until the 17th of the month.

Saturday May 7th 2016

Today started in the clouds. The area was fogged in when I got up this morning, but lifted some before I headed inland at 9AM. It stayed cloudy, drizzly and raw all day. At least it didn’t rain hard while I was driving.

When I got back to the RV this evening I took today’s walk on the canal service road. Being a weekend day the canal had a little more activity despite the weather. I saw a couple of sailboats and a few other pleasure craft. One of the sailboats was a racing boat with its sail deployed. Usually, sailboats have there sails since they must transit the canal under power. It seems like an odd time of year for a sailboat race.

Racing sailboat coming under the Bourne bridge.

Another view of the USA 106 sailboat

It was low tide during this walk. This means more of the rock sides of the canal are exposed. In the exposed rocks are a number of abandon or lost crab traps. These traps are used by people for recreational crab or lobster fishing. A properly deployed trap is still under water at low tide. The lost or abandon ones have been shifted by the canal currents and are at odd angles in the rocks above the low tide line. Another sign they are abandon is the heavy layer of slimy sea grass and other ocean growths.

Crab trap exposed at low tide.

Crab trap moved out of the water by wave action over the winter.

Many of the seasonal residents of the campground have crab traps deployed. They tend them at low tide with long poles to reach the ropes that anchor them to the rocks along the bank. I’ve watched many a trap be pulled in, but have never seen anyone remove a catch. From the number of traps lost and the apparent limited success, I think this may be an expensive hobby. Perhaps they are more successful at other times of the year.

Friday May 6th 2016

It was dry today for the first time this week. The rain stopped long before dawn and hasn’t returned yet. Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. The sun only threatened to come out from behind the clouds. It got up to the mid 50s with a strong wind from the north east.

Drying wings.

Wings dry read for the next dive.

My activities for the day were restricted to four walks on the canal service road. As much as I’d like to ride my bicycle, it’s just to windy. Heading into wind walking is cold enough, the ten or fifteen miles per hour increase in wind speed riding the bike into the wind would be painful. I’d guess that combined my 4 walks on the canal only covered about 4 miles combined. It just wasn’t comfortable in the wind.

Traffic in the canal is light. During my walks I didn’t see any boat traffic. I know there was some during the day from listening to the scanner radio, but even when I tried to coordinate my walks to the radio broadcasts I didn’t see any boats.

Species visitation at the rocks

Visit over – floating off into the sunset

The sleeping campground woke up this afternoon with the arrival of the weekend guests. Human voices disrupt the quiet and wood smoke floats through the trees. It doesn’t look like there will be as many people here this weekend as last. I would speculate that is because of Mothers day plans, but who knows for sure.

As I’m finishing this blog post, the dry day has ended. The sound of rain on the roof of the RV has returned. It’s not raining hard yet, but …

Thursday May 5th 2016

Today was very similar to yesterday. I did the same things and the rain followed a similar pattern. The biggest difference is today there was wind. The wind makes it colder and noisier. It causes the rain to hit the side of the RV as well as the roof and it causes the awnings over my slide out rooms to flap.

Tomorrow is forecast to have less chance of rain. The sun may even come out from behind the clouds. I plan to hang around the campground and enjoy the better weather. It doesn’t sound like any good weather is in the forecast. The weekend and next week may be warmer but not significantly drier.  Hopefully, I’ll do something that will make my blog post more interesting.

Commercial fishing boat in Cape Cod Canal

I got a chance to take a short walk on the canal this morning before I drove north. One commercial fishing boat went through the canal. So I got my ship fix. It wasn’t that impressive but it was a ship.

Wednesday May 4th 2016

The weather cooperated this morning. I was able to make the commute to New Hampshire in fair weather and normal traffic. It wasn’t warm enough to get a lot done outside, but I got a fair amount of cleaning done inside. I continue to make slow progress.

The return trip this afternoon was not quite as pleasant. The rains returned shortly after I started for home. Visibility in the rain and traffic was not good. I made it back to my RV home only a few minutes behind a normal schedule.

My motorhome was surrounded by a couple of inches of standing water from the heavy rain. It makes access to the door a tip toe act. From experience during the last few days of storms, I know it will drain off quickly after the rain stops.

I’m spending the evening inside watching TV with the volume cranked so I can hear it over the rain on the roof. The radio scanner set to the canal control frequencies is also turned on. It sounds like a car transport ship will be making a passage through the canal during the rain storm. I wish it were better weather so I could go out and watch for the ship. Car transports are one of the bigger types of ships that go through this canal. The big transports that bring new cars from Europe and Asia make stops at several ports on the eastern seaboard to unload cars. Consequently, they are in close to shore and utilize the canal heading to Boston.

The forecast for the next few days isn’t much different from the last few. It will rain off and on each day. The only variation is a slightly warmer temperature.

Tuesday May 3rd 2016

In some ways the weather this morning was worst than yesterday morning. It wasn’t foggy because it was raining at a good pace. I headed north to New Hampshire to get some more things accomplished. Between the weather and road work on Interstate 495 just north of the Mass Turnpike, it took me about 45 minutes longer than normal to make the trip. That really set the stage for the whole day. Everything I did took longer than expected.

The trip back to the canal this afternoon went much better. I did not experience bad traffic and the rain had stopped. I didn’t take time during the day for lunch, so I was ready for a big supper. I stopped at the Lobster Pot in Wareham for Fish and Chips.

Inside the Lobster Pot restaurant. Notice the columns behind the trash cans. They outline the original gas station service bays.

This restaurant doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it has won numerous awards for its food. The building is a converted gas station. They built the dining area on the front where the gas pumps would have originally stood. The food preparation and service areas are in the office and service bay portions of the old gas station. You can see parts of the old exterior wall outlining the service bays while sitting in the restaurant.

It is a counter service style place, you put in your order and wait for your number to be called. They have two food stations in the restaurant. One is for backed and fried sea food and the other is for rougher preparations such as lobster and steam clams.

As usual my Fish & Chips was very good. In the past I’ve had their lobster and their fried scallops. Both of those were good too. It’s not the cheapest place around but I don’t think you can complain about the quality of the food.

Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge. The thick cloud cover and breeze made for a very damp and raw day.

Back at the canal everything was very quiet. Standing along the side of the canal it felt very raw. Taking a walk was not a good option for the evening so I have retreated to the RV and the TV.

Monday May 2nd 2016

When I woke up this morning it was very foggy. A quick check of the TV news and weather indicated that it was either raining or foggy in all of eastern New England. I went back to bed. There was nothing urgent requiring me to get out on the highways in lousy conditions.

Army Corp of Engineers Canal Patrol boat

A Police boat in the Cape Code Canal. I have never seen one of these in the Canal before. I don’t know if it belongs to one of the towns, the state police or another agency.

When I finally got up had breakfast and was ready to start the day it was around 11AM. I started to take a walk along the canal but was deterred when it started to rain. As an alternative, I got in the car and drove to the other side and end of the canal. Not much was happening in the Sandwich MA area of the canal either.

A lobster boat leaving the Sandwich MA boat basin. Notice how the visibility is impacted by the fog.

Lobster boat and commercial fishing boat passing in the East entrance to the Cape Cod Canal.

The only use of the canal was by the commercial category of traffic. All of the recreational use was sitting out the weather. The Army Corp of Engineers Canal Patrol boat and a police boat were out in the canal down near the campground. Up at the Sandwich MA boat basin, a lobster boat and a commercial fishing boat were in motion. The lobster boat was heading out to check pots I’d guess and the commercial fishing boat was returning to port.

While I was out I stopped at a grocery store to stock up on a couple of items. Monday must be a big shopping day, unless tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I lost track. The store was a mob scene. Aisles were filled with shopping carts and stock carts. Every check out was in use with several people in line. Most of the clientele seemed to be senior couples that needed to debate the merits of every selection. You’d have thought there was only one grocery store for miles around but there are several. Even after I’d checked out, it took a couple of minutes to get through and around people to get out of the store and it was only about 15 feet.

Tomorrow is forecast to be more of the same, but I really shouldn’t hang out in my RV home another day. I have things that I need to keep working on.