Troop 61 Nantucket Bike Trip
Good morning,
We have had a number of new Scouts join Troop 61 since March when I first sent out the announcement for this year’s Bike Trip. Welcome again! The Bike Trip takes place Friday May 19 through Sunday May 21, 2006.
For a number of years the Bike Trip was on Cape Cod. We are moving the Bike Trip to Nantucket this year. The Troop Committee voted to make the move after considering the additional costs and the logistics to make a Friday evening ferry. Also, our normal camping site on Cape Cod at Nickerson State Park is closed the weekend of the trip while they repair winter storm damage and parts of the Cape Cod Bike Trail are under repair.
The trip requires some pre-planning. We are going to load a truck with troop equipment and bikes the Thursday evening before we go. Personal gear will also need to be packed and ready to go the day before the trip. As soon as school lets out on Friday afternoon each Scout will have to get to the church, at the latest by 3:00 pm and hopefully sooner. We will leave promptly at 3:15 pm. The only school’s schedule that may directly conflict with this plan is Haynes, so for the few scouts who may be Haynes students perhaps parents could arrange for an early release. The Noyes end of day schedule is also does not leave much leeway. The trip departure schedule is necessary to get to Hyannis and get on the ferry to Nantucket. The ferry we must make leaves Hyannis at 7:15 pm and is the last ferry of the day. The ferry is a high speed passenger-only ferry that arrives in Nantucket at 8:15 pm.
Because of the cost of and limited availability of space for vehicle transport on the ferry we are taking only the truck to Nantucket. The plan is to have all the bikes and Troop equipment loaded into the truck. We have a reservation in place and the truck will precede us on an afternoon vehicle ferry. The truck will meet us at the ferry landing in Nantucket where the bikes will be off-loaded and the Scouts will put their personal gear into the truck for the short bike ride to the camp.
There is parking in Hyannis for the vehicles that will be transporting Scouts from and back to Sudbury. The Scouts will be traveling light, as if this were a backpacking trip, and their personal packs will have to be transported in the vehicles that bring them to Hyannis. I would like to get a commitment as to who is going to drive to Hyannis by the May 17th Troop meeting.
We have group passenger rates for the ferry based on round-trip reservations on specific ferries. (The scheduled return trip is at 12:00 noon Sunday, arriving Nantucket at 2:15 pm - it’s the slower and less expensive vehicle ferry.). Hopefully we will all be traveling together both ways. If some Scouts or parents need to make other ferry arrangements to meet personal schedules you will need to check the ferry schedule: http://web2.steamshipauthority.com/ssa/
To help with planning an early sign-up would be greatly appreciated. Many have already indicated they plan to go on the trip. The attached trip announcement has an estimate of costs. The individual costs for the trip will vary slightly depending on how many sign up. Sign-up sheets will be available at all the Troop meetings before the trip.
As we get closer to mid-May we have to collect the trip payments. The attached announcement specifies that payments must be made by the Troop meeting on May 17th, two days before we leave. To avoid last minute accounting hassles payment before May 17th would be greatly appreciated. We need to have the payments in hand before the trip to be able to pay the group ferry charges and pay for the truck rental.
The May 17th Troop meeting is our annual bike tune-up meeting. Bring your bikes - and helmets - to the meeting.
This will be a great trip. We are staying at the only Boy Scout camp on Nantucket, Camp Richard http://www.camprichard.org/camp.html and have the use of four large Adirondack shelters. Nantucket is a beautiful place to ride bikes. The trip is especially suitable for all Scouts and adults; the bike ride will be on level ground with plenty of stops.The long-term forecast looks exceptionally promising.
Attached is a detailed trip Announcement, plus a Permission Slip and Packing List.
Dick Landrigan
Assistant Scoutmaster (443-8547)
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