23.6 mi / 12.5 mph / 584 ft. climbing
Home: Cedar Point County Park Bike Hostel

When we woke in the morning I could hear the Boy Scout group gathering again near the bathrooms and the pavilion, but when I went to pee it was clear that the three SUVs were all packed and they were heading out soon. So we moved over to the pavilion to do breakfast, partly because there were outlets there where we could charge our devices, it was closer to the bathrooms, and since we hadn’t cooked dinner in camp, the picnic table there was still a dirty mess from disuse.

But before they got in the SUVs, the scouts had to do a visual sweep of the pavilion where I had just plugged in my phone. One of them organized a line arms-length apart to march through and check under the picnic tables. Only at the last moment did he realize that the tables would prevent the line from actually marching with that separation. And then one of them reported finding my phone, which I had plugged in while they were marshaling and looking right at me, and it took a scout master to get him to stop raising the alarm: “I think it’s that gentleman’s over there, it’s ok”. So I’m not quite ready to depend on these geniuses keeping me alive in the wilderness, but hey, hopefully the idea of “sweep your campsite for anything you may have left behind” sticks with them for the rest of their lives (I just discovered the line used to hang our clothes/movie screen still tied to the trees a couple days ago during such a sweep). Anyway, an extra bonus of taking over the pavilion came when we got some unexpected sprinkles once we had the place all to ourselves.

The tip of Long Island and the Montauk Lighthouse was three miles to the east, with little else on the road between here and there, so traffic had died to essentially nothing overnight as we slept 30 yards from the highway. We had visited the lighthouse six years ago when we were in the area for Rett’s cousin’s wedding, otherwise I might have made an argument to add the out-and-back to our overall-westward day.

And really, much of today would be a repeat of that excursion, since we would be riding through the wedding’s home base of East Hampton. Of course I remembered none of it, because it had all zipped by at vehicle-speed, and I had (likely?) been driving. Not that there was too much to see as a cyclist, but I was surprised how forested and undeveloped the entire route to East Hampton was (with the exception of the village of Montauk, which I did remember!) This time, it was easy riding on the smooth, wide shoulder, so we were able to take in as much of the surroundings as we pleased.

In East Hampton we first stopped at the CVS pharmacy to fill some of Rett’s prescriptions, a logistical challenge that probably isn’t the first thing people think of when they consider the challenges of our lifestyle. Then to the grocery store where we acquired ingredients for lunch (Hamptons prices for ingredients are high enough!), and then Rett spied a small parklet with a couple of benches across the street where we could assemble and eat those ingredients. During all of this, at least 30 pedestrians passed near us, and quite unusually, not a single one stopped to ask a question. Ain’t nobody in the Hamptons gonna take the risk of opening a conversation with dirty vagabonds! Even the lady sitting at the other bench cleared out soon after we broke out the mayo packets and block of cheese from our bags. Quite the contrast from the poorer areas of Connecticut, where folks were hollering out their car windows in amazement. I guess we should be happy that no cops came by to hassle us!

That wedding trip in 2018 had been just as east-west linear as Long Island itself is, so our turn north from East Hampton put us in uncharted territory. It was an unusual residential pine forest, with the houses all set far back from the road, but not because they were all rich-people mansions hidden for privacy. There were plenty of modest houses in the forest shade as well, and we even passed an East Hampton trailer park!

Unlike last night’s Suffolk County Park Bike Hostel, this one at Cedar Point was part of an actual campground. So there was an office and rather-unfriendly clerk informed us that we wouldn’t be able to occupy the space until 4pm. But, there was no charge, no registration, just go on ahead. One of the friendlier workers in the back overheard and offered to lead us to the hostel in his utility cart, so off we went. I’m sure if we had occupied the site two hours early, no one would have cared (and a friendlier clerk would have known to waive that “rule”), but we were able to take showers, explore a bit (the park has a camp store that includes a bar and a kitchen!) and then just hang out on the absolutely perfect day in the shaded grass between the hostel and the bathroom. It was the sort of day that would make you feel foolish for not living outside, so we’re glad to be vagabonds able to take advantage of this Hamptons environment. For free!