Nickerson State Park and the Cape Cod Rail Trail

We landed in Brewster, Massachusetts and a drizzly Nickerson State Park. We set up the tent, mostly avoided the rain, and crashed out pretty early. We got up the next morning and put our bikes to good use riding the Cape Cod Rail Trail. The trail starts in and goes for 23 miles up the Cape to Wellfleet. We caught it about ten miles in and rode up to Wellfleet. We planned on riding up to Provincetown at the tip of the Cape, but realized it would be another 25 miles so thought better of it.

End of the trail! 

Instead we rode another 6 miles from the end of the trail into the town center of Wellfleet. We were both really glad we did it because it wound through some really pretty scenery, including a few miles on Ocean Drive, which, shockingly, was right on the ocean. Unfortunately due to the fog we couldn’t see very much of it.

We rode down to the pier and enjoyed a delicious lunch at Mac’s on the Pier. We split a lobster roll and a large bowl of clam chowder for $20. Not bad considering we couldn’t both get a burger and fries for that back home.

East coast seafood, can't beat it

On our way back to the campsite we took another detour in the town of Eastham, taking a couple more side roads leading to a bike path that went straight to a beautiful beach right on the ocean. We took some time to kick off our shoes and relax, and enjoyed watching the tide come in.

It was awesome watching kids that were watching for the biggest waves and trying to take them on. Often they won, but it was fun to see the times when the waves were bigger than expected and took them off of their feet. It sounds really lame and cliché, but there is something awesome about standing at the edge of the beach and just watching and feeling the power of the ocean as it ebbs and flows across the beach.

Rock Star Rider!

Tired and satisfied, we headed back. After 40 miles of riding (Heather’s record for one day), we decided to drive up to Provincetown. P-town deserves it’s own post…

PEZ!!!

Our second unscheduled and random stop – the first being the birthplace of John Wayne in Iowa – was in Orange, Connecticut. While traveling up I-95, we saw a sign that said, “Pez Visitor’s Center.” There’s a Pez Visitor’s Center!? We have to stop!

And stop we did!

It was probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, or at least the most amazing Pez related thing I’ve ever seen. It was kind of a one room museum/gift shop containing the history of Pez, as well as a large viewing window into the Pez manufacturing facility. Did you know that Pez is derived from the German Pfefferminz? Or that it was invented as an alternative to smoking; the pez dispenser originally intended to resemble a lighter? Or that Santa Claus is the best selling pez dispenser? Or that Pez has been used to cure cancer in laboratory rats? Ok, I made the last one up, but the rest are true!

Who knew? Orange, CT is the original Pez “dispensary” for the United States. Well, now you know.  On to Cape Cod! Here is some more fun, pez related goodness for your viewing enjoyment:

Next Generation Pez!

One pez to rule them all...

Yep, a pez made from Swarovski crystals

mmmmm, wallpaper pez

Beaver Pond Campground, Stony Point, NY

We stayed at this campsite for two nights. This is the first time I've camped in a state park, and I was surprised about how close the campsites were to each other. The good news is that since it was the middle of the week, we basically had the place to ourselves. It was pretty laid back camping - complete with showers and flush toilets - so we just used the time to relax and enjoy having some outdoor space.

The campground was also right on Lake Welch. The lake had a really nice beach with separate sections for campers that was separated from the general chaos of the public beach.

After living in Colorado with all of the fire bans, I think the best part was being able to build and sit in front of a fire. It was the first time in probably 5 years that I was able to camp with a fire. Awesome. 

               

One of the best parts about this site, was on the morning before we left, I was finishing up my workout, and a large family was using five different campsites all gathered around one. I wasn't sure why until I heard the sound of a violin being played. There was a girl that couldn't have been more than 7 years old playing beautifully. She played for nearly 5 minutes, and it was great to watch, listen, and applaud her talent.

Onward to Connecticut!!!

Hey Tommy, Quit Playing with your Dinghy!

We arrived in Sandusky, Ohio and met up with Heather’s best friend Jess. Jess lives in an awesome older house with a covered front porch. It has two levels, multiple bedrooms, and costs, wait for it, $750 a month! Her landlord said he would probably only be able to sell the house for $45,000. It’s crazy how different housing prices are in different places around the country.

The only thing I knew about Sandusky was the it was the setting for Callahan Auto in Tommy Boy, but turns out it is a pretty interesting little town. It has a lot of low income residents that have been pushed away from Cleveland, wealthy residents that live in huge homes right on Lake Erie, and a population of about 25,000. It is mostly white, but ¼ of the total population identifies as Black or African American. There also are a couple of small islands where people go to hang out/party, and a giant amusement park called Cedar Point with some of the biggest and fastest roller coasters in the country. Interesting.

Saturday we went into Cleveland to run a 5k at the Cleveland Zoo. A number of Jess' friends from medical school joined us, and we decided to make a Target run the night before the race to acquire matching colors for our spectacular team. The best part was, since we couldn't find a color in the men's section to match the agreed upon team color, I ran wearing a women's large, awesome.

Team Blue!!!

Due to my competitive nature, I decided to get up a 4 a.m. to do the Insanity workout. I figured if I wore myself out early, I would just run the 5k rather than trying to race it. It worked out great. I ran the 5k at a nice, even 7:30 pace, enjoyed it rather than stressing over it, and even ended up getting third place in my age group (I guess getting older has some advantages). Sherwin Williams was sponsoring the event, so rather than a medal I received a third place paintbrush.

Team Eckstein

Third place paintbrush

Heather and Jess did a great job. It was Jess’ first ever 5k, there were a few gnarly hills, and they both toughed it out, ran hard, and finished strong. I was very proud of both of them!

Heather and Jess

We were going to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but we were all tired, so we decided to head back to Sandusky and see a movie in a nice, air conditioned theater. We saw Now You See Me. I’ve heard mixed things, but if you can suspend some disbelief and just go in ready to enjoy some fun visuals without expecting academy award winning writing or acting, it’s a pretty fun movie.

We’re on to New York tomorrow for a couple days of camping before heading up the coast to Boston, Maine, and Phish! Thanks so much to Jess for her fantastic hospitality!

Challenging Conventional Wisdom

“If you challenge the conventional wisdom, you will find ways to do things much better than they are currently done.”

-Michael Lewis, Moneyball

I just finished reading Moneyball by Michael Lewis. If you’ve never heard of it, you’re not a sports fan, have failed to pay attention to popular or financial culture, and do not closely follow/are madly in love with Brad Pitt (I don’t believe anyone could make it through all three of these and still live in America).

For those of you who may be unfamiliar, Moneyball covers the Oakland A’s and their General Manager, Billy Bean. In a game that often revolves around teams with massive payrolls like the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, the Oakland A’s showed a remarkable success rate despite their minimal payroll by consistently winning and making the playoffs throughout the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

The main point of this book is to show some of the reasoning behind how this was accomplished. The A’s dumped players they felt were overvalued and grabbed players they saw as undervalued by paying attention to statistics that many teams and individuals overlook. Instead of focusing on the “eye test” that scouts and the majority of major league baseball have treated as the gold standard for evaluating players, they used a different set of criteria (on base percentage, slugging percentage, walks). Essentially, their main purpose was to try to create runs by working to best eliminate the possibility of making an out. It sounds obvious, but it goes completely against the idea of “manufacturing runs” that baseball often swears by.

It was a great book, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in baseball, statistics, or are interested in a great story about the little guy beating up on some of the big guys. It’s also a great example of someone attempting to look at something unconventionally and using it to their advantage, thus the quotation at the top of this post.

Sometimes I feel like Heather and I continue to spend our lives trying to do the same thing. We have both finished school, but instead of settling down, having kids, buying a house, and looking for our piece of the “American Dream,” we are taking a road trip and then heading to Japan.

We hear from many different people that this will be a “great experience,” and “an adventure,” but no one really sees it as a potential career move. Everyone still expects us to, “sow our wild oats” for a couple of years before eventually coming to terms with “reality,” heading home, and settling back in to living the conventional American Dream we are now leaving behind.

I don’t have a problem with the traditional American Dream, and I think it is great for a number of people. I just don’t think that it’s a great idea for us. I’m ecstatic about this current journey, and looking forward to Japan as a practical and profitable way to pay off my fairly sizeable debt.

On to Ohio, more to come soon!

Clint

Inauspicious Beginnings

Well, we meant to leave on Saturday, but due to an unforeseen bout of the 24 flu, we pushed our plans back a day and headed to Lincoln to begin our journey.

It was great to see my parents. I always forget how great it is to be back home until I get there. I am fortunate to have two extremely loving and supportive parents, and I hope that I do my best to never take them for granted.

We had the chance to check out the construction to the football and new basketball arenas (Husker fans love their sports), walk through the University of Nebraska campus, and check out Jazz in June, a Lincoln summer staple with free live music.

It was a bit sad to leave, but exciting to move on with our journey.