A few weeks ago, I went to Cape Cod and took a bike ride on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. The CCRT is a 22 mile path that begins in Dennis and ends in Wellfleet. It passes through Harwich, Brewster, Orleans and Eastham as well. My mom and I started at mile 1 in Dennis and went to mile 9 before biking back home. I hadn't biked in years, but the trail is almost entirely flat and though there are many well-marked road crossings, it's mostly off-road and really easy to navigate.
By the end of the bike ride, when we had finished the trail and were biking the two miles home, there was a traffic light at the end of the road. We were going to be turning right at the light, which was green at the time. I was trying not to think about how much my butt hurt and how tired I was and how much I wanted to be home. I saw the green light and felt a sudden, certain kinship with Jay Gatsby looking at Daisy's green light on her dock: the impossible dream so far away.
“…he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away…”
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
(Eventually I did make it to the green light and home, and I look forward to someday soon biking the entire trail!)
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More information about the CCRT here
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