The Windmill Posts

Back on the road properly after luxuriating with fresh home brewed coffee from my sister. We pored over the weather and decided it might just not be big deal. My other sister called by sheer coincidence, and she lives in a complicated weather location on the great lakes. She still had some words of caution, but in the end I decided to forge on to New Bedford MA, as it has been my literal white whale for some time. Every time I got close to going, something threw me off. With the mission statement of this trip being “when are you going to have this opportunity?” it was a done deal. I might not be by here for a long while and I just felt the need to make it happen. Moby Dick is one of my favorite books, and I have read it more than once. It’s my comfort tome, in some ways. The combination of the ocean, boats, and daring do is just too much for me. New Bedford is where Melville wrote the book, and it’s where the story begins.

The drive itself was short and a bit monotonous. It was full on pouring rain the whole way, but the temperature started modest and just rose from there. I encountered no ice, though the wipeout crash on the bridge make me pause. I’m guessing it was distracted driving combined with hydroplaning or a quick jerk of the wheel. It did not look like anyone was hurt.

I stopped along the way at a park that Atlas Obscura pointed out. There were two troll sculptures, and if it wasn’t raining or too muddy I was going to do my best to see both of them. Unfortunately, it was coming down in buckets when I got there. I could see one from the road on which there was absolutely no parking for hundreds of yards. The other was down the muddy trail and I wasn’t up for it. The rest of the largish park was empty. Rain.

My cough is at its bitter end and my drive mojo is back in full swing. It’s nice to be in the familiar sterile comfort of a hotel room. Though at my current rate, it’s likely I’ll be in my own bed in a week’s time. Not sure how I feel about that. I welcome it and I fear it. But let’s put that off for a while. By the math, if I took the absolutely straightest drive home right now, I would exceed 10,000 miles. So that’s awesome. I look forward to the grand total!

New Bedford Whaling Museum

As I said, the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park contains the New Bedford Whaling Museum and a number of other locations in a small chunk of town that has been kept fairly pristine. Cobblestone roads, narrow as can be. Old buildings and the vibe that a gruff sailor in a heavy coat is going to brush past you on the way to the whaling ship he’s been signed on to. The vast majority of the shops and buildings were closed, mostly because it was after 3 on a Tuesday in shoulder season. I expected little. The museum was open, though, and I loved exploring there.

In the lobby are two whale skeletons suspended from the ceiling. One of them is of a humpback, and the other is one of five blue whale skeletons on display – in the world! The whale had been injured, died, and washed up in New Bedford a number of years ago. The skeleton had been preserved for the museum, and after an extensive period drying them out and getting the oil out of them, here they hang. Whale bones are so completely saturated with oil that these bones are still occasionally dripping out to this day.

There were various scrimshaw displays, cultural pieces and discussion not just of the European whalers, but the local native populations as well as whalers from the Azores. Portugal populated the islands and by the time the whalers came to trade, local men sought out positions on the boats. As a result New Bedford has a huge Portuguese restaurant scene.

Plenty of information about the business of whaling, both in the financial sense and in the functional sense. I’ve very familiar with the mechanics of whale hunting, but I was excited to read the small bits of information that I had never known. At some point captains wives began going on the whaling voyages. Something I would like to investigate some more. No books in the gift shop on that!

They have a half scale sailing vessel on display, and surrounded by supporting exhibits – you can even climb aboard, though there is an awful lot of ducking involved. The gallery the ship was in was very distinguished and complemented the material and ship well.

Thoroughly enjoyed the museum and would love to come back. I could spend a week at the National Park and all of the other sights in New Bedford. So glad I came!

Tomorrow: Off to Troy New York to see my eldest daughter! I am now hitting Atlas Obscura to find some distractions along the way.

Deets

• License Plates: collection complete
• States: RI, MA
• Departed: 10:23 am EST, 34 degrees
• Original ETA 1:27 pm EST
• Arrival: 2:00 pm EST
• Warmest/Coldest: Death Valley 90°, Wallace ID 22°
• Weather: Rain
• Music:
  • Massive Attack – Blue Lines
  • Morphine – Cure for Pain
  • Bis – Return to Central
  • General Public – All the Rage
  • Zero 7 – Simple Things
  • Mix

Observations

• Stopped along the way to see some troll sculptures in the woods, but it was raining hard. Got to see one, the other was down a muddy path.
• I apparently have “distance callouses” – anything under a couple hundred miles just flies by. I almost missed two turns at 28 and 50 miles today.
• More Point Break vibes driving near big water in the pouring rain. I still do not look like Keanu Reeves
• Saw a spinout crash on a bridge today. Bridges ice before roads, you know.

Pictures