Martha’s Vineyard Bike Trip

By Dylan, Troop Scribe

After a 45-minute boat ride to the island, we all met up at the port that led us from the boat, and walked to a bike rental shop. When we got there, the troop stood in line, waiting for the scout ahead of them to get their bikes. Once we had a talk with the scoutmaster on where to head for lunch, it seemed that the line had moved quicker than expected, and everybody was soon trying out the gears on their own bikes.

Our first destination was the park in the town over, Oak Bluffs. The ride took everybody about twenty minutes to get to the park, and another fifteen or so to eat lunch. Once everybody had split up into patrols, we planned what we were going to do on the island. My group decided to explore Oak Bluffs, and meet back up again in half an hour or so, around 2pm.

A very tasty ice cream cone later, we met back up and headed out for the big kahuna: Edgartown.

The ride to Edgartown might have been one of the most beautiful six-mile rides I have ever taken. There was not a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining, it was warm, the residents were helpful and nice, and it was just great. Most of the way to Edgartown had a separate path for bikes, so, thankfully, no one got ran over. (At least not by cars!)

Once we had arrived in Edgartown, we stopped and looked at the map. A couple of objectives awaited us. The Black Dog, candy stores, fudge stores, and in some cases, book stores.

After spending some time, (mostly money, actually,) my group departed. Edgartown to go to our destination for the night, the Hostel. It was twelve miles to get there, so we approximated that we would arrive at five 0′ clock. So, we started.

The path there was not as hard as it sounds. There was another path for us bikers, which we took to quickly, and the rest of the time was spent with conversations, smiles, and feeling bad for squashed squirrels on the side of the road. The bike path, after about eight miles, had started to get very hilly. By this, I mean that it got a whole lot more vertical. The hills were so steep, that you might’ve had to pedal only once or twice to. reach the top of the next awaiting hill. One of the hills’ slope was diagonal, so if you didn’t want to crash, you had to do in the middle of the path. The sun was sinking low in the sky when we realized we had got to our destination, the hostel.

The rest of the evening was spent playing nuke’ em, and exploring the inside of the building. Then, as people started to get hungry, we got a patrol to cook us some dinner. The dinner consisted of pasta, sauce, garlic bread, salad, and lemonade. (Another option was water, although it tasted so metallic I swear it was magnetic.)
While one patrol was preparing dessert and cleaning, most of the other scouts went outside and played manhunt, a backwards version (and more fun) of hide- and- goseek. Soon, however, dessert was upon us, this time in the form of vanilla and chocolate pudding.

Seeing as it was nine o’clock, and lights out was at ten, some of the scouts played card games in the common room. Others read, and most of the parents just talked. The time came, however, then it was lights out. Everybody made sure they had made their bed, and then brushed their teeth, and changed. At ten 0′ clock, everybody went to sleep (At least most of us, anyways, because some of us couldn’t sleep.)

***

We woke up early the next morning, and spent most of it preparing lunches for that afternoon and making breakfast; it was the usual eggs in pita pockets, with sausages, of course.

After we had all packed up and brought our duffel bags to the common room to be transported back to the bike rental shop in Vineyard Haven, we got back on our bikes and rode all the way back, this time with a shorter route to save time.

When our groups finally got back to Vineyard Haven, we realized that we had and extra two hours to kill before the ferry was to leave. So, in the happy spirit that we were in, we dispersed to go around the town, and get some last-minute souvenirs before boarding the ferry. The first thing that people noticed was that there was a Black Dog cafe, so, some of us realized that we were hungry (wink, wink), and went in, hoping for something sweet to eat. Another good shop was a regular t-shirt shop, but, upon closer inspection, it was realized that there was another part to the store, and I know that I certainly took advantage of this fact to buy some cheaply priced rock candy and salt water taffy.

Eventually, the two hours were over, and now glum, our troop got back onto the ferry to go back to Falmouth, and, eventually, Sudbury.