Cape Cod Labor Day Traffic - Bad as Ever

I live about three miles from the Sagamore Bridge. That's one of two bridges that gets people on and off Cape Cod. Every Sunday during the summer, we see heavy traffic and backups on Route 6A which is just around the corner from my house. Labor Day is just about as bad as traffic gets and today was no exception.

Everyone was very well behaved, there was no road rage and we all survived it. I'm just glad that I wasn't sitting in it. I ventured out to take this video, pick up a few things at the supermarket and then came home. I admit that I haven't left the yard again.

There's talk of adding a third bridge. Right now there are two bridges with 4 lanes on and 4 lanes off. A third bridge will add another two, maybe three lanes. Just what good will that do when we are looking at these tie-ups. All that will do is encourage more people and more cars to clog our streets. Oh wait, then they will want to make the Cape Cod roads bigger. Remember the Joni Mitchell song, The Paved Paradise and Made a Parking Lot. That's about what that would be.

Weather-Damaged Ancient Cemetery in Sandwich

Winter Storms Wreaked Havoc on Our Ancient Landscape

Today is a very dark day. They sky is filled with gray clouds and the wind is blowing. If it wasn't for the increasing humidity, I would have thought it was late October and not May 27th. It put me in the mood for exploring one of our ancient cemeteries. Years ago, genealogists would spend hours staring at blurry headstones to glean some knowledge about a family's past. Now that everything is online these places are much quieter. On days like today, they feel very eerie and deserted.

I was sad to see that our rough winter weather wreaked havoc on the oldest portion of this cemetery. Large tree trunks damaged some of the oldest headstones. You can see that the damage extends to the split rail fence that defines the edge of the cemetery. These are usually family-owned cemeteries. This generation may not even know the damage that has occurred. 

Recycling Plastic Bottles and Aluminum Cans

Clean and Convenient Recycling

While I don't use that many plastic bottles or aluminum cans, I am always aware of the impact they have on our landfill. All of our garbage is sent to a facility about 70 miles away to be burned. The costs have started to skyrocket. Therefore we have easy recycling at the landfill. However, because Massachusetts has a bottle bill, we are charged a deposit of 5 cents for every plastic bottle or can of soda we buy. The place that sells it has to take it back. If I bring it here, I get my nickle back. If I take it to the landfill, the town gets the nickle. It was only $2 after I recycled at the Stop & Shop, but it was my two dollars and it did buy a loaf of bread. 

Tuesday Morning Farmer's Market in Sandwich

Quiet Day at the Sandwich Farmer's Market

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I posted a picture showing the Memorial Day weekend leaving Cape Cod from this spot. I was just standing down the road and looking back. Today, it's just the typical traffic whizzing by. Farmer's markets have really become micro business markets. I do think that some of these folks are farmers trying to find year round income. Other cases it just seems that it's a venue for small business owners. Because it's so early in the growing season, there wasn't any fresh produce.

There was a meat producer, which is a form of farming. A man was selling home made kettle corn. A brick oven was set up to serve pizza. Homemade jam was one sale as was barbecue sauce. 

Cape Cod Memorial Day Traffic Nightmare Begins

Traffic Started Backing Up at 9:30 am

I truly think coming to Cape Cod for Memorial Day weekend is the dumbest thing anyone could do. People sit in traffic for hours to get here, then they try and leave at the same time on Monday. That's a lot of effort for not much down time.

Anyways this is Route 6A at the intersection of Dewey Avenue, which is about 4 miles from the Sagamore Bridge.  I live around the corner from here. Normally the traffic just whizzes by. Not today. Although I am a bit surprised that traffic started backing up as early as it did. Usually it's later on a sunny day. 

I picked up Mom to go to the Stop & Shop and Sandwich Marina about 9 am. Traffic was completely normal. I had told Mom that we probably wouldn't go anywhere else because of the traffic. As I left the Sandwich Marina, I told her we would go explore an old cemetery, the traffic was still light. I was really shocked at the traffic backup that happened in only one hour.  This was the scene at 10 am. One of the people who live on Route 6A said it slowed to a crawl at about 9:30 am.

Usually Route 6A will back up about 15 to 20 miles on a typical Memorial weekend. I do resent it a bit, because we can't ever have a Memorial Day barbecue or go to one out of the neighborhood. No one is willing to fight the traffic. 

Sandwich Marina on Memorial Day Weekend

Boat Trailers Wait for Sailors to Return

Until last week this parking lot was full of boats left over from the winter. Those boats are now moored in the marina. The boat trailers you see dumped boats into the water this morning. Their owners will return later in the evening. Look in the back and you can see a large truck backing up to put their boat in on the boat ramp. On weekends like today, it's a non-stop activity. That's because there's a 20-year waitlist for slips in the Sandwich Town Marina!

Recycling at the Sandwich Transfer Station

Recycling Books at the Sandwich Transfer Station

Disposing of household trash is very expensive in the Town of Sandwich. We pay about $100 just to enter the facility. Then we pay about a dollar for plastic blue bags to throw in the general trash bin. That does make it fairer for individuals like myself compared to large families. Why should I pay the same amount to dispose of trash as a family of four?

It also makes us very aware of what we put in those trash bags. The town has made it very easy to recycle. I have a bunch of old books that need to be thrown out. Putting them in trash bags would be very expensive. Instead I just put them in the Donate Books bin. Every day I take 10 or 15 books to the transfer station. I can conveniently park beside them. Because they are so heavy, it's hard for me to do too many at a time. However, since I go by the transfer station daily, I just pop in and unload a few. In a few weeks, they will all be recycled.