Saturday July 2nd 2016

Today’s lesson, post offices without parking lots can result in adventure. I set out this morning to mail a couple of things at the post office. With a little help from Google maps, I had no problem finding the local post office. The only issue being it was in the center of town with no parking lot. I had nothing else planned so I kept going south toward the Cape. There were other post offices I knew how to find.

I wasn’t thinking about the potential of traffic until the Interstate started to slow down. Still confident that I know my way around, I got off the highway onto the lesser routes. These were fine for few miles. Soon I was in a bumper to bumper crawl for about 6 miles. It took about an hour to cover the distance that would usually take 20 minutes.

I parked at the Corp of Engineers Railroad Bridge parking area and walked to the Buzzards Bay post office. It was less than half a mile along the main road. I was making about as much progress as the traffic on the road. I walked back to the railroad bridge along the canal service road.

Primrose bush along the canal service road

Canal Cruise boat with very few passengers. I blame the traffic.

Sail deployed to assist the engine against the current.

The canal was full of small boats. Some of them had to keep their engines wide open to make slow progress against the current. Some sailboats kept their jibs deployed to assist the engine against the current. I’ve know stretched my sailing terminology to the breaking point.

The canal service road was not as busy as usual. Perhaps the traffic was impacting access to the parking areas. The parking lot was only half full. The number of people taking advantage of the beautiful weather was less than it was on Thursday.

I spent about an hour on the canal trying not to get a sun burn. There is next to no shade available. On my way back to the campground, I stopped for lunch at the Lobster Pot. The rest of the day was home at the campground.