"Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will --whatever we may think."
Lawrence Durrell

Thursday, August 12, 2010

48 is Looking Great

I am now to state 41 and will be in 42 this evening.  Currently it is storming outside, but I am hoping it will clear in another hour or two so I can make the full ride without assistance today.  I am planning on getting to a suburb of DC to stay with my friend Bill.  He and a couple other friends of our family just finished a coast-to-coast tour a couple of weeks ago.  

After leaving Atlantic City I had a nice ride over to the coast and along the shore for quite a ways.  I went through Ocean City, which was very beautiful and bicycle friendly.  The day had started out foggy in places and I had to ride through some patches with low visibility, but it made parts of the ride more beautiful as I could see hills enshrouded in a mist.  It had a serene yet eery feeling.  I then proceeded to cut across southern New Jersey to Cape May.  I was hoping to get to the ferry for the 1pm ferry so I wouldn't have to wait till 2:30.  It was a 1 1/2 hr ferry ride and then I needed to find a place to stay.  I arrived to the entrance at about 10 minutes till, but needed a picture of the Welcome to NJ sign.  I stopped and took that and then talked to a guy in a truck who has done some touring.  I then proceeded to the ticket line and purchased a ticket.  I got there just in time, went outside, and boarded.  I was let on right as I stepped over to the line and then they started loading cars.  I tied up my bike, went to the middle deck, found a bench outside, and we were off.  It was a very smooth ride and I could rarely tell I was on a boat.  I researched where I could stay for the evening and got some results.  Once I was off I proceeded towards Georgetown to stay for the evening.

I left the next day for northern Delaware and my warmshowers hosts of Pat and Karen.  I got in mid-afternoon and Pat and I began sharing stories of the road and continued to all night long.  We eventually went to bed after deciding when I would leave tomorrow.  

Pat, his daughter, and her friend, all decided to join me on my way off and showed me the backroads out of town.  They rode about 10 miles with me and then turned back and I was on my way.  I was now in Maryland and proceeded to head towards Baltimore.  There is only one place on the east side of Maryland a bicyclist can cross the bay and the Susquehanna river.  I headed that way and then turned south east to highway 40 into Baltimore.  Once in Baltimore I made my to some bike trails and over towards the airport.  After a dead end on the google route and a detour I eventually made my place to stay.  In downtown Baltimore I was greeted by a guy who seemed a little crazy and was yelling at me as he crossed the street.  I couldn't make out what he was saying at first, but then I realized the voice sounded threatening, but the words were telling me to push it and keep going.  As I got closer he asked if I was touring, which took me off guard because he did not act or look like he would know what that was.  I said yes and he said "obscenity yeah man, looking good."  This gave me a chuckle as I continued to climb past him.

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