Bike-cation!
The other week we decided to take a brief autumn vacation. We all know vacations are even better without lots of driving. So I looked for a getaway that didn’t involve being stuck in a car.
I thought a smaller town would have an easier, more relaxing vibe. What could go wrong?
Yep, I forgot about stroads. It was a very long wait for a very small break in traffic.
But once we were on the rail trail I relaxed. Maybe my plan was brilliant after all.
We wandered, explored towns, shops, farms, ate lots and filled our panniers with new books. After dinner we made our way back in the dark well-equipped with super bright lights. Still we discovered another limitation.
Yep, it was so close to being a brilliant vacation. Small towns need safe streets and infrastructure that takes bikes seriously too. It’s good for recreation, transportation, and my vacations tourism. Even if driving is sometimes necessary, it’s always nice to drive less.
The bike path in Memphis closes at dusk too. Crazy. When the path was proposed one of the selling points was that it would be great for people commuting to work. No one said “as long as you don’t work past 4:30 in the winter.”
It’s great that you were able to come and explore the growing rail trail network in Amherst and Northampton. I agree that there are many places where the stroads and trails are not yet working as we’d like them to. I’d be interested in hearing more about what worked and what didn’t, as simplifying and improving things for future bike-cations is something that we hope to do.
See you on the trails!
Nick Horton, President
Friends of Northampton Trails and Greenways
We do a fair amount of travel with bicycles. We prefer larger towns like Portland, Or or Vancouver B.C. We take Amtrak.
Bike-cation-love it!!
The bike path in my town (Escondido,ca) has hours posted closed at dusk. Funny part is they also have lights on the path at night. That I assume is for the taggers.