Rosie and The Operator are heading out onto the open road and our tour of the East Coast is about to begin. First we need a car, so we caught a $56 fixed fare taxi out to the car rental pick up at JFK airport…..the UN was in town and Obama was talking, alot of the city streets were being shutdown and it took about an hour and a half to get to the airport in what normally takes about 45 mins, we got a good scenic tour and running commentary from our Guyana taxi driver…..he would not shut up…..it did make the trip interesting though….
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…….our first choice rental wasnt available……so the Operator was quick to jump on another, which was really his first choice to begin with. He sacrificed the idea originally for the purpose of suitability for big suitcases and it only having 2 doors…..not sure who was planning on picking up in a 4 door……so here we are, Rosie and The Operator do the East Coast in a…….2012 Dodge Challenger..jpg)
The boot is huge, there is plenty of room in the back seat, up front the legroom is mega large, comfy seats and all the mod cons, plus Rosie isnt sitting on the ground so doesnt need help to get out…yay. Apparently it handles well and has good get up and go…but The Operator thinks it will be a hungry beast and for the size of it The Operator did think parking sensors would have been handy….pussy. 
We hit the road running as usual, The Operator was getting into his stride and we hit the first Toll Booth..jpg)
To get off and on Long Island you have to pay a $6.50 toll. We pay cash because we do not have a programmed EziPay meter card that all taxis and locals have. It sticks to your windscreen and is scanned when you whiz through the toll gate and the money is deducted from your account which is kept in credit, no need for stopping. Like all toll gates its the free for all to the exit on the other side….
After a couple of hours of driving along Interstate 95 we crossed the Cape Cod Canal bridge and crossed into another world.
The pace automatically dialled down to slow, the roads became narrower, the traffic became less. It initially looked like Middle Earth straight out of a Tolkien novel. Our first stop was a place called Sandwich.
Sandwich is the Capes oldest town, established in 1637, its small historic centre wraps itself around the picturesque ‘Swan Pond’ 
Rosie certainly didnt see any swans, but, there were plenty of huge geese basking in the sun and Rosie stepped in plenty of goose shit picking her way across the minefield of grass.
It was nice to stretch our legs after being in the car so Rosie and The Operator walked over to the Dexter Grist mill who’s Oak waterwheel still grinds cornmeal today. It is very olde worlde looking, the sun was shining and it was warm but as soon as we got out of the car….we thought we were home….we were blasted by the wind.
Hoxie House on the left, is the Capes oldest dwelling, it dates back to the 1670s. It is the start of the Cape Code style that uses shingles for cladding.
The town was full of similar styled homes, so many of them had National Historical signs on them as they dated back to the 1680s it was incredible…..Rosie would have loved to have had a nosey inside and see how they would be able to modernise their homes…..
The Operator couldnt be bothered driving any further today. We have no fixed accommodation on the road so the town was ours. Rosie had red about the Dan’l Webster Tavern and Inn online so we rolled up and got the last room , literally, at the Inn.
This Tavern was the first ‘Ordinary House’ in the village in the 1640s, this was the name given to all Taverns. The area was a hub for travel and trade on and off the Cape and a stopping point before you went to other villages on the Iskand. It has survived as a pub on that site in some form or other right through from that time. The tavern was burnt down in the 1970s and they rebuilt it into 4 star quality accommodation and re used the old plans from the late 1600s to rebuild the Tavern in its authentic style, this is attached to the side of the accommodation, it not only houses the bar but an award winning restaurant.
The bonus of getting the last room at the Inn. Two beds! Rosie and The Operator well and truly spread themselves out. We had a lovely sleep, it was so quiet….deafening quiet, after the sirens, jack hammering, sewage sucking, voices and car horns that you could heard all night in our New York Hotel room.
