Lifestyle dichotomy on the Cape

After a great evening with Barb Freeman, we headed off down the back roads to Cape Cod. We crossed at the Bourne Bridge, noting the horrendous traffic in the opposite direction from all those weekenders heading back to the mainland. Yuck.

Now on the Cape, we headed up the coast of the canal until we reached the Sagamore bridge, where we found route 6A and headed down the coast of the bay.

They layout here is a bit unique. Each town is a narrow strip of land along the main road that passes through it. So you have long stretches of individual homes, every one nice, some of them absolutely gorgeous. Nearly all of them follow the old practice of using cedar shingles for siding. Some have painted wood siding on the front and cedar on all the other walls; a bit of a facade effect.

I found it strange to see a sign welcoming us to a given town and then riding five miles to get to the town’s center and another five miles before the town ends. If, however, we turned off the main road through town, the town ends about 100 yards away.

Needless to say, there is plenty of money on Cape Cod. Several of the homes double as a business front for a photographer, an art gallery, a pottery shop, etc.

After a leisurely ride down the Cape, we reached the elbow region around Brewster and rode into Nickerson State Park, which is where we had a reservation for the night. We registered, found our campsite, made camp, bought firewood and stashed it back at the site, and headed out to finish our tour of the cape.

We stopped in Orleans and found the Yardarm, which Ken and Cathi had suggested as a good place to eat. We’d come back and eat dinner here later. We then continued up the Cape and eventually reached the outskirts of Provincetown (P-town). I took a turn off the main road and followed 6A along the string of cottages and hotels on the bay at P-town. We stopped and walked out to the beach for a moment before continuing to downtown.

Navigating through P-town is not for the faint of heart. The streets are narrow, most of them are one-way, and there is not apparent order as to which streets go one way or another. Consequently, if you find yourself on the wrong one-way street, you may find yourself taken all the way to the edge of town before you can turn around and make your way back. This is exactly what brought us to the Pilgrim’s Landing Park. We took a few photos and ventured back into town, where we found a reasonably priced parking spot (with dedicated motorcycle parking) and made our way into downtown.

I had heard that P-town was a popular destination for those of alternative sexual lifestyles, whether that be gay, lesbian, bi, fetish, farm animals, whatever. Needless to say, P-town does not hide this quality in seedy side streets or a dedicated red-light district. It’s is the defining characteristic of the town. I found it to be a refreshing and hilarious contrast to the staid old-money tourist vibe you get closer to the mainland. We had to get back to our campsite before it got too late, but I couldn’t help but wonder what a late evening is like in this town. I’ll wager it’s not boring.

We rode back up the Cape and stopped at the Yardarm for dinner. It was a good meal in an intimate yet casual setting. Kudos to Ken and Cathi for the good suggestion.

Upon return to our campsite, we were ready for a late-night campfire and some sleep. Unfortunately, someone had swiped our firewood. I’m sure they’ll burn in hell for their crime. They did leave us our little firestarter log, so I lit that and found a few left over burnt out chunks of wood to lean up against it. As this actually started to burn, I ventured out into the surrounding woods and found some deadfall and was actually able to make a nice little fire that lasted about an hour. That was enough and we made our last bathroom runs and went to sleep.

We knew the weather was going be wet the next day for our ride up to Maine, but we had no idea just how wet.

One thought on “Lifestyle dichotomy on the Cape”

  1. looking forward to your arrival .let us know if its today the 18th or 19th. I’m watching your blog waiting for you to post new details on your whereabouts..:-)

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