While we are on I295 N I realize we are going right past an Inking VC for the Blackstone Valley. It is one of the RI rest stops. There is another place for the BV about a mile from where we live, but being so close this will be the one we never get around getting. The person at the desk in the VC looked happy when we came in. We broke up her day a little bit. At first she didn't know where the stamp was, but quickly recovered and found it. Alot of times the folks don't have a clue what I am talking about.
Next stop was in Cumberland, RI for a Tour of Honor memorial. We drove right past where I had marked it and headed back for the place called the Monastery. The waypoint had the memorial marked right at the gate. I ended up asking someone and they pointed to this building and said jump the little yellow barrier and go straight. We heeded his advice and drove to the gray building. We asked another couple who began to argue with themselves what was the best way for us to get to the memorial. She pointed to the yellow barrier and said "cross thru the fields and follow the white painted rocks. It is really not the far." I have heard this before, but we dutifully jumped the yellow barrier (more like a step over) and headed down the trail.
The field. Now I wasn't sure if we were suppose to follow the trail this point or go cut across the field. The lady that gave us the instructions wasn't explicit about this.
While we really don't have a choice about getting this memorial, I want to make sure we are not going to waste any unneeded calories we have been storing. I see another couple and stop and ask. They said just up the path and then said "follow us, it really isn't that far". Well lets say their pace is faster than my pace and MeAsWe thinks I walk fast. So we get our hearts pumping and tongue hanging out like dogs and follow the couple. We did have a discussion between gasps of air about Geocaching and they seemed very interested. I looked back and MeAsWe was keeping pace with grimace but determination.
They finally stopped and pointed, "Right up that little hill, You can almost see it from here. You see that green object". I didn't but trusted them and thanked them for their time. There are really nice people in this world.
I squinted and briefly saw a different green than the natural green of sub tropical forest surrounding us.
We headed down the mountain ( really just a small hill ) and back up the other side of the next mountain, finally arriving at the Nine Men's Misery Memorial. I know why they named it that because getting to the memorial you suffer nine mens miseries. Actually it is only 4 1/2 men because we have the expedition back to the the yellow barrier.
Actually the husband and wife who argued about the best way to get here told us the story. During the King Philips War (King Philip was the Indian) stopped 10 guys on this very spot. Nine of them were killed with one getting away. A stone memorial was constructed here in 1676 and it is believed to be the oldest veterans memorial in the US. Read HERE for more info.
We headed back to complete the other 4.5 misery effect. I grabbed some pictures of the survival food we found along the way.
This was a beautiful site.
Not to far away we grabbed Ink at Roger Williams National Memorial.
And this memorial right in front of City Hall.
Which was parked right in front of the Police Station and we were on the sidewalk
Which led to ....
Us deciding it was time for something to eat. Louis Restaurant is smack dab in the middle of Brown University and we ate there back in February after watching DDD. For some reason I thought it was a cash only place and needed some more cash. Now I could have gone to any of the banks in Providence, but BOA being the bank of my choice (my mattress where I keep all my cash) and having lived in NE long enough to understand a penny saved is a penny earned I decide the ATM should have that waving flag on it. I bring up Favorites on the GPS, select ATMs and find the closest BOA ATM. Head right for it, no ATM. Bring another one up, head for it, NO BOA. So much for ATMs being accurate and so much for BOA having any presence in Providence. We just head for Louis hoping they take CC's. As we pass the door I see that infamous sticker on the door with the BIG 3.
If you are in Providence, Louis is a good place to eat. No food porn today, because I ate my breakfast before I took a picture and the camera was right next to me. Instead I took some more pictures of students art work from Brown and RISD.
This one reminds me of a DaVinci Vitruvian Man
I really like this one. There are alot of stories in the print
Some are really goofy. Imagine 53K a year at Brown for this. That's what my parents said when I returned home for the summer from Ohio University, where I was in the School of Art briefly. Actually this piece is better than any of the crap I turned out.
The wall at Louis.
Up in the right hand corner is this one. MeAsWe and I had a long discussion what this was. I have my own thoughts on this one and it really is quite simple, What does it look like to you? Leave me a comment. All the pictures a clickable and will enlarge.
Back to bike adventures. The temps zoomed while we were having breakfast. They are now well into the 90's.
Off to New Bedford Whaling. Just before the VC I stopped for this to post under That Doesn't Belong There thread at NER.
Grabbed the INK and a pin and headed for the next stop. If you are in New Bedford the Whaling Museum is really quite neat and so is the walk around in the whaling town.
On the way to 1st Regiment memorial in Portsmouth RI I saw this brown thing come flying at me, hit my uplifted visor and thought possibly the dang thing landed inside. I kept moving and then felt something crawling around my beard. I have a piece of something that shuts the air our and fits over your chin on my helmet, so there is no way it could escape that way. I said something to MeAsWe and she said maybe it is sweat beads running down you face. Maybe it was sweat. Then I felt it cross for left to right and I knew sweat doesn't move laterally. The memorial is really not that far away and there is no place to pull over and if I remain calm and if I keep my hands out of the helmet so not to disturb that bead of sweat, just maybe it will go away.
We pull into the memorial. I remained calm and told MeAsWe to dismount. Just as I was about to dismount the brown wasp comes into view in the face cutout of the helmet. No need to panic now, I have come this far. It is crawling around on the lower edge of the face opening and then flies away. Phew.
We are off to the oldest synagogue in the country. In 1658, Providence received it's first Jewish residents. There were 15 families that came from Barbados. The came together and formed the SECOND OLDEST settlement of Jewish congregation in the US. Boston was the first. Now this is why Roger Williams established Providence. He truly believed in religious freedom, where as the rest of the country founded on religious freedom as long as it was their religion. Also why Roger Williams was forced out of Salem.
Now it was not surprising to find the Synagogue closed, after all it is Saturday, but the Visitor Center was closed as well. I suppose it is not a giant leap of faith to figure the ones running the VC are also members of the Synagogue and are not suppose to work on the Sabbath. All I wanted was INK. The IBA permits you submit a picture of your bike and the VC if it is closed as documentation for the NP Tour. Our one year tour ends August 11 and I am not sure we will be back here before than, so we may have to submit a photo.
The temps really have climbed and we have rounded the corner and headed for home. One more memorial is all we need and it is in the direction of home. On the way we saw a bunch of cars pulled over and I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and made a Uey. I tried for a calendar shot, but just couldn't make it work, plus the temps (according to the bike and it is generally accurate) has hit 100. You can find this place HERE.
MeAsWe needed the wind to cool her down so we headed for the last stop, but I opted for some liquid refreshment first.
And then we hit the last memorial
Last Saturday I went and drove a Mini Cooper S at Inskip. We were going right past the place, so I pulled in to show MeAsWe the Mini's and have her sit in one to see if she liked them. She did. A block from Inskip Mini was our last stop.
Not alot of miles, managed 4 National Parks, 4 Tour of Honor Memorials and 1 BBQ Joint.
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