Drums Along the Assabet and a Double-Stacked Coachlace

Launched into the Assabet River in West Concord, MA before 7 yesterday morning and headed upriver under cloudy skies.  The Sunday morning quiet of that early hour was occasionally broken by the far-off sound of drums and a few bursts of gunfire.  Because it was the actual April 19th and not the official designated Monday holiday I knew it must be the Sudbury Minutemen on their way to the Old North Bridge in Concord.  When the State of Massachusetts, in 1969, changed the Patriots' Day holiday to the third Monday in April, the Sudbury Companies of Militia and Minute decided to stick with tradition and commemorate the event on the actual 19th day of April.

While awaiting their arrival in West Concord I made a quick trip up Nashoba Brook...

...wondering if a better view of them might be had at Commonwealth Ave.  However the current was a little too strong so it was back to the Assabet and up to Main Street's "Derby Bridge" (aka Harness Company Bridge) where the Sudbury Companies of Militia and Minute crossed over the Assabet River at about 9:25 am...

There I heard my first "Huzzah!" of the morning.   Knowing that the marchers would be stopping for refreshment at Barrett's Farm, I decided to paddle downriver and land on the riverside of the farm...

The river's good current helped me get there with time to spare before the marchers arrived.

A walk across the farm brought me to...

I'm not much of a video guy but tried to capture the arrival of the group's Ancient Fyfe and Drum Co. at the historic farmhouse...

The group rested there a bit before continuing another few miles to the Old North Bridge...

I headed back upriver passing this high-stepping deer along the way...

The previous Friday I launched on another cloudy morning at the South Meadow Pond Complex in Clinton, MA...

...and headed towards Coachlace Pond under an uncertain sky...

After passing through the culvert beneath the railroad tracks I paddled northward on Coachlace Pond to its outlet into Counterpane Brook (and ultimately the Nashua River's south branch)...

The serenity of the morning was soon broken by Norfolk Southern RR's double-stacked container train Z264 seen passing over the culvert...

...and soon the train stretched along the pond's western shoreline...

The containers had been loaded in Chicago approximately 42 hours earlier.

Once back through the culvert I encountered some ducks a little different than the ones I usually see...

I believe they're greater scaups but not really sure.

Trash found Friday on Coachlace, half of which was laying on the ground at the boat launch...

 Trash found along the Assabet on Sunday...