Today was another bike day, but quite a bit less ambitious. We had more time, and let’s just say we enjoyed taking frequent breaks from bike seats. Starting right in Oak Bluffs at the town square where we found this somewhat unusual war memorial.
4438 Honoring Opponents
We’ve seen plenty of statues around the country, but riding up to read this I was surprised at the inscription. Tonite I googled it and found this story. I’d snapped this square yesterday as we flew over, and that’s the monument at the bottom-right.
4387 Oak Bluffs Ocean Park
Surrounding the park are beautifully maintained homes, many with “widow’s walk” rooftop viewing platforms where wives of sea captains could watch for returning whaling ships.
4439 Watching Circle
One stood out from the rest, and I’d noticed it from the air yesterday so we paused to look in more detail.
4445 Glass House
In several places on this home are tastefully displayed signs letting tourists know this is a private home, and it got me wondering what it’s like to live there during peak tourist season when more than two passing cyclists stop to admire it. Then along the bike path with estuaries on one side and ocean on the other.
0888 Bike Path View
It’s very placid and relaxing when there are no cars and trucks going by on the nearby road, but I shudder to imagine what it’s like in peak tourist season. Happily there are a few places where the road isn’t next to the mostly separated path, and the views are so spectacular it’s easy to forget the vehicles and even what century you’re in.
0897 Quiet Moment
Eventually we rolled into Edgartown where we paused to look at the more traditional war memorial.
0906 War & Flowers
Reading names of the fallen, I was reminded of a line from the old folk song, “Where have all the flowers gone.” Then the path abruptly ends and you’re admonished to not ride on the sidewalks, and to ride with traffic. We did neither, even though most local drivers are exceptionally courteous. Instead we walked the bikes for a block past a colorful yard that attracts both bees and passing women with cameras, to Green Ave. and took a left to get off the busy Main St.
0907 Admired Yard
Tonight our thoughts are turning toward our first steps on the journey Home. We’ve been planning to visit dear Zubair and family in the Boston outskirts, but then what? Well, here’s our current vision of the path.
Return Route – Plan A
Basically, a stop to see relatives in CT and then past ancestral ground in PA. Maybe an Erie jog up to fly past Detroit, possibly another dose of fascinating Chicago, and then more exploration in Iowa and Nebraska. Skirt the Rockies in CO, possibly pause in Santa Fe, up to Durango and over to Monument Valley (!) and Grand Canyon, then a day or two until our first night at home since this Islander Adventure began 3/17. I wonder what if any of this trip we Plan we’ll actually do, and even more fun is the certainty we’ll have many unexpected delights and discoveries along the trip we Take.
John & Anne Wiley 
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