EAST COAST USA (DAY SEVEN)

The rain that had been forecast for Thursday did not materialize until last and and then it hit with a vengeance. The rain was very heavy for much of the night but I remained dry and safe inside my little  camper. Needless to say it was a soggy scene waking up on Friday morning. It was still overcast but the light breeze was moving the clouds and there was some promise of a brighter day ahead.
I hate to have to fold up the camper when it's still so wet but in this case I had no choice.
My plan today was to get as close to New York as possible so that I would only have a short ride in to Brooklyn on Saturday morning to meet my daughter, Erin.
I started out traveling south along the slower coastal Hwy. 1 and 1A, which is even slower, because I still wanted to take in all the local scene. As I progressed the sun emerged, the temperature began it's climb and a gorgeous day evolved.
When I rolled into this small seaside town of Narragansett, Rhode Island I was immediately drawn to this very imposing structure. As you can see the roadway went right under these twin towers. I had to get a picture and learn more about this beautiful stone building. It had been built in 1883-1886 using some architectural cues from French Medieval times. The original building was actually a massive complex of a casino and luxury hotel. The area was attracting "the rich and famous" and large extravagant summer homes were being built all down the coast. In September 1900 there was afire which destroyed most of the complex. These towers were spared and are all that remains of this slice of history.

   I rode out on a pier just south of the towers to get a few shots of the shore and a beautiful home built back from the beach.

Just north of the towers there was a long stretch of sandy beach that was covered with bathers trying to escape the heat.

On further down the coast I spotted this light house at Point Judith , RI. Due to the increased shipping  that had developed up and down the eastern seaboard, there were a lot of ship wrecks so these lighthouses were built to ease that trend.

I had been dawdling along and the day was rapidly passing so I needed to step up the pace and find a campground. Although it was still a 2 1/2 hour ride too New York I settled on a lovely spot in Mystic, Connecticut.

It was a little close to the freeway as most KOA (Kampground of America)  sites are but it was warm and dry and I could finally air out my camper. Their wifi was very poor however so I wasn't able to update my blog until now.