kozmopolit.de

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Along the east coast to the north

Now I´m sitting in Toronto in Canada again, thinking back what happened the last weeks.

But let´s start from the beginning. After I decided to go home last Christmas and to stop travelling for a while I came home to meet friends and family. I could crash at the house of old friends, Anna and Jens and their three kids, who invited me to stay with them for the next months. My mom almost lost her faith in seeing me again and it was fantastic to see all the others again after that long time.

But very quick I realized that this stay is limited in time. Two years on the road changed me, made me more critical, switched the point of view and took away the blinders hat you need to live your Life inside the society.
I decided to use time to fill up my emotional battery, my purse and to sort out pics and videos I made the last years.

I assisted my hosts going on with the construction of their house and took a view around to see home in a different way.

I postponed the idea to write a little travel story about my home country too long. After a while you loose the ability to see the funny or strange way the people do things.

SO: Sorry no Travel story...

A day after I started my new job I booked the flight to the States. To be sure this will have an end ;-)
In the meantime I moved to the house of Andy and Simone, another couple of old friends where I had the great opportunity to use Andy´s Workshop to repair and overwork things for the trip. Thanks a lot my friends for that opportunity.
Simone gave me a proffessional cover for my new Brooks Saddle that i could get for free from RTI Sports and now I´m prepared fort hat trip!

The visit of western USA last year let me get even more curious of the eastern and middle part of it. That´s the reason I now flew to New York to cycle over to San Francisco. From there I will continue with my route south.

New York was awesome! After the Immigration (I was totally afraid of it, but they didn´t even asked me a question) Walt was waiting for me. We got in contact before I started and he was so helpful to host me for the first days in New York. He was a lucky pull, a passionated (hobby-)Guide that showed me around the city and knew a lot of stories. He even survived 9/11 working in the South-Tower. Impressive Tour through the City, thanks a lot for that!

On the 4. Day I had to start, first leaving the city. Over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan and then heading north, crossing Harlem and the Bronx and finally leaving the city. It´s a long way out of NYC...

First I followed the coast up to Maine, cycled in constantly beautiful areas that reminded me of parks. The first part, short after New York the houses had been mainly from Stone, that explained a lot why they call this region (New-)England...
Later the Houses are mainly from wood, then it is difficult to see i fit is old or freshly build. They didn’t changed that much on the Style.

Compared to the west the east is old and full of History and Culture. Settled in the 17. Century you can find old houses and beautiful city centres with a lot of flair. All around it´s America as everywhere: Shopping-Malls and Fastfood Restaurants... horrible!

The Atlantic coast is not as wild as the pacific, most of the coast is private property so it is a little bit difficult to find a quite place with a view to put your tent on. Generally it´s only easy when you stealth camp in the State Parks. After they close I sneaked in and had a wonderful night with all the amenities like a toilet or a table and bench for breakfast...

First goal was Cape Cod, a Peninsula that heads eastwards into the Ocean. It´s totally popular and mostly populated with rich people that stay there for holidays or weekends. So July is the perfect month to visit.. Walt organised me a place to stay in the house of his cousin and so I could take a look at the upper class oft he east coast. To see and to be seen.
But also Cape Cod has it´s quite places and I found them in the east in the dunes. All the way up the in the north is Provincetown, a little town that is extremely popular with LGBT people from Boston. Colourful place and beautiful surrounded by dunes.

Just a 90 minutes fast ferry ride later I was in the Heart oft he Boston, that is also the heart oft he East coast. Here the concentrated history of the war of independency in the 18. Century clashed with the financial world of the 21. Century. Trendy Neighbourhoods with the rich parts oft he city, Rich people and the poor... SO many contrasts wrapped in a very fascinating way. Definitely worths a visit!

After that I followed the coast northwards. Little coast towns with their traditional Luna Parks followed each other. But you can see that the best times are in the past. A few days later I reached Portland in Maine and turned me front wheel to the west away from the Atlantic.
The coast is used to tourists and so I didn’t had a real nice conversation along the way. Hopefully the Backcountry gives this missing link.
Already on the first night I was surprised. A cyclist stopped and invited me to his house to stay there for the night. His Cabin near a little Crooked River was a paradise and David a really nice and deep character. Refreshed i went on the next morning. I crossed the White Mountains in New Hampshire and on top I stayed fort he night. They announced Northern Lights up there and so I (and dozens of others) was waiting fort he things to happen. At the end nothing happened and it took a while before I was alone and could pitch my tent. The next morning I had a beautiful view over the white mountains..
The next two days i meandered through the green mountains and finally reached Lake Champlain. A gigantic lake that goes all the way up to the Canadian Border. I crossed the lake on an old Railroad Trail with a little bit of a ferry ride in the middle and the next morning I passed the border to Canada.

My ride through the North East of the States lead me through 7 States: New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. From the aspect of culture and Nature it was not really spectacular but still a nice ride. The people up here live their sheltered life and only in the cities this bubble gets a few scratches.
I´m looking forward to Canada, to meet Hans again. This Dutch cyclist I met first in Bishkek Kirgistan and now he found a new home in Montreal!

But that´s another story I will tell you the next time...