September 9: Horseneck beach state park

 So at the end of August, Gene and Gina packed up and headed off to Mexico City, and I packed the RV and headed down to Westport, Massachusetts which is in the southwest corner of Mass on the border with Rhodes Island.  The RV park is basically on the beach and its the only stretch of Massachusetts coastline that gets direct ocean swell from the southwest.... it also has the advantage of getting warm gulf stream water from down south, so we could swim without a wet suit.

Chris joined me for the first weekend, and we tested out the paddeboard in knee-high waves. 

Had lots of fun until the leash broke - due to old age and little use rather than big waves and...

Was great to have him there and we had an excellent dinner at the Bayside restaurant.  Chris also decided that the electric bikes were there as motorbike substitute, so we drove around at 30mph everywhere and the battery only lasted about 10 miles - but it was lots of fun.

Unfortunately the coyotes also got Rosie - our 14 year old cat that weekend.  Not a nice way to go, but she did spend all her life in the Hollenbach household as the uber ruler (all the dogs were scared of her), so cat heaven is not that big a step up from where she was.

Westport is an idyllic little town.  The whole area is unlike the rest of Mass.  Stone walls everywhere, lots of water and money, no 'roads' and 'streets', only 'lanes' and 'way'.. but also areas with Trump flags and shanties on the beach.  Could never figure out "Women for Trump", but that is for another day...

So, except for not the best wireless reception, the first week went without incident.  Everyone I spoke to lived within 15 minutes of the campsite and my neighbor would come down to the campsite for sun-downers, and then go and sleep at home...

The whole next week was wet, and there were huge swarms of birds gathering for their big trek down south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The local springkaan/grass hopper...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday Gene and Chris and Stanley and Milo arrived.

  Chris was heading up to Amherst for move-in day the next day and the van was packed to capacity.  We did not want to leave any of the left-over animals in Nahant, as we were running short, so everyone camped out.  To be honest, it was not too bad with the 2 dogs.  We had their cage in the RV, and I was up at 6 every morning to take them for a walk.  On Saturday, Chris' birthday, he headed out early to go do his thing in Amherst.  Gene and I spent a great day exploring Westport.  We walked the dogs along the beach for probably 5 miles (one-way), and so could go out in the evening as the dogs were toast and quite happy to stay in the RV.  We headed out to "Westport Sea Farms" - which was a great outside restaurant which only serves Oysters - which they farm themselves in the area, lobster roll and hotdogs (I still cannot figure out how the locals can put a hotdog and a lobster in the same bun).  In any case, we had 12 small oysters and then decided to go somewhere else for a real meal.

Long story, but worth telling ...

That afternoon we went to Lee's Market - classic upmarket grocery store, with great stuff no one really needs - not overpriced, but good quality.  Anycase, they have a liquor section that is as large as the grocery section and the best assortment of wines, etc.  Gene comes up to me laughing and tells me about overhearing a 50+ year old suntanned, sporty guy with a manbun and in tennis gear talking about playing tennis at his friends house in Newport, Rhode Island.   All fitted the scene very well.

Fast forward to us after the oysters... Gene talks to some arbitrary people at the restaurant and they recommend we go to the Westporter for something more substantial.  We get to the Westporter - small converted house with 5 tables inside and 5 on the deck and a small bar in the back and who is sitting at the bar watching the US Open.... manbun man.  It was just too good to be true.  Naturally we took up position at the bar, started watching tennis and talking tennis with ????? and had a great meal.  

Another interesting fact is that the whole Fall River/Southwest Mass is full of people of Portuguese decent, so this restaurant had a Mozambican dish - which I promptly ordered.  I was kind of expecting a Nando's style meal, which is was not... but it was tasty.  Just the weirdest place to run into that.

The next day was Gene's birthday and Chris promised to come back from Amherst for lunch and to swap the van for his car.  He managed to arrive at about 2 with a bunch of flowers for his mommy - which was very sweet.  Had a great lunch at Backeddy's on the deck.  Next day was Labor day, Gene headed home and I could look forward to a week of rain...

Just before I headed back on Saturday, I had my first non-family sleepover visitor - Jaco.  Turns out he works about 40 minutes away from the campsite, so decided to stay over on Thursday night.  Had a great sunset and some excellent burgers.

First full rainbow I have seen in quite a while.

 

 

 Friday some fun surf came through so I could at last take out the waveski and get some real surfing in.  Next morning, after a great bodysurf/swim, I packed up and headed back home to Nahant.