This Must be Heaven

Occasionally throughout our lives we have moments, days and maybe even weeks when we feel we are exactly where we ought to be, doing exactly what we want to do and that is how I felt yesterday as Dick and I toured Block Island.  I have wanted to visit the island for a long time,  and the experience did not disappoint-from the sunny day and the perfect biking roads to the exceptional vistas, it was a top notch spot.  Block Island is so unspoiled.  You can walk into the The National Hotel which was built in 1888, and feel like you are there in 1888 instead of 2008.  Everthing appears to be original.  Now to backtrack a bit to bring you up to date on the last few days…

 

We left the Cape on Tuesday, a day early as the weather ahead looked so perfect.  Monday had been a beautiful summer-like day; warm enough to swim.  We biked about 52 miles through the lower Cape to Woods Hole where we caught the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard.  Vineyard Haven was our spot for the night with dinner at The Black Dog Tavern after a short tour around the town. 

 

Telegraph Hill on Martha's Vineyard

 

 

 

Wednesday we were tour guides for Jim Brygger as the island was not new to us.  If you have never seen information on Oak Bluffs you might google Martha’s Vineyard Campmeeting Association–this is a fascinating collection of  Victorian cottages which had a religious base in 1835- starting with tents. 

 

Campmeeting Association cottages at Oak Bluffs

 

 

We finished the day on the Vineyard with a tour of Edgartown and Chappaquidick before catching the 5pm ferry to Rhode Island. 

 

Streets of Edgartown

 

 

To report the bad with the good, our ferry landed, not in a quaint fishing town as do most of the east coast ferries, but in an old military base with nothing around.  It was 6:45 pm and getting dark-what to do!??  We ended up walking along a very busy road for a half-mile or so after dark to the first motel we came across-we won’t be sending any photos of it to you!   However, it was across the street from a pretty good restaurant with excellent hot fudge sundies, so all was not lost.

Thursday, September 18 we said a sad goodbye to Jim and we headed south to the ferry at Point Judith while Jim headed north to Providence airport to pick up a rental car to drive up to his own car in Portland ME. 

 

First farewell to Jim Brygger

 

 

After an early morning 20 mile cool and sunny ride to Point Judith we arrived at our 9am ferry to Block Island.  You have already heard what I had to say about BI above. 

 

Block Island arrival

 

Carol at the Block Island lighthouse

 

Block Island artists at work

 

 

 

 

We did not spend the night there as there is only one ferry a day at 5pm to Montauk Long Island and we didn’t feel we could spend 2 days there.  Again we arrived at our port late and decided to spend the night in a motel again-this time the lodging was much cuter and right on the water. 

 

Motel at Montauk LI

 

 

Now you may have recalled that we sent my really warm sleeping bag back and bought a lightweight sleeping bag- to date I had had to sleep on top of the bag.  If you are following the easterm weather, you may have noticed that we are experiencing record lows today, and I’m not sure that my wonderful new sleeping bag will keep me all that warm.  However, I just love the color- pale purple! I’m sure the weather will warm up again sometime before Florida. 

Today (Friday) has been our day in “the Hamptons”  It’s been mostly sunny but quite cool and we rode in long sleeves and our tights.  It’s very beautiful-especially the area from Wainscott to Southampton.  There is a lovely blend of tasteful homes, meadows and farms right along the coast.  By tasteful I don’t mean small, by the way. 

 

Rural Long Island

 

 

Unfortunately, all this loveliness comes at a price and our motel is outrageously expensive.  The campground was too far away for today’s ride and it’s quite cold as well.  We are taking advantage of the computers in the Southampton Library to update the blog. Dick and I were talking this morning about this turning into “ferrying to The Keys” instead of biking to the Keys, as we were on 5 ferries in 3 days.  However, our biking miles have still been between 38 and 52 miles a day.  That’s all for now folks–thanks for all the comments.  More in a few days.

Love, Carol and Dick, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma

Port Jefferson, Bridgeport, and headed for New York

Lunch at a farm

Yesterday we set out from our dark pricey room, with just a brief thought about bedroom number and size in all those palaces behind hedges we glimpsed yesterday. An outrageous amount of resource is flowing into these ego expressions all along the east coast, but we assume it’s a good tax base!

We rode generally east and north to Port Jefferson, a 49 mile day with huge ups and downs at the end. In the morning we were mostly in farmland, hence our lunch stop at a farm fest where we met Gary and Linda Bass, shown with Carol in the picture. Gary is an avid cyclist who rides today in a (long) Long Island cycling event.

 

Now, after another night in a dark pricey motel (thankfully followed this AM by wonderful pastries from a bona fide boulangerie) we are on the ferry to Bridgeport, heading north toward Quebec City. But we won’t go that far; just below the Mass border we’ll turn west into New York…

 

Bonanza breakfast before boating to Bridgeport

 

 

 

Carol at the ferry

 

The weeks are flying by too fast, but at least we don’t report for work tomorrow morning!

Ups and Downs avoiding Manhattan

Our Ship Coming In

Sorry to be out of touch- AT&T phone service and libraries with available computers have been far from ubiquitous!  By the way, thanks to Linda Bernheim for the last post and for all the pictures posted previously- it has been a big help.

We are in Port Jervis, where NY, NJ, and PA meet.  Four days ago we celebrated our first 1000 miles, and are now almost to 1200.  The riding has been gorgeous; we made it as far north as Rhinebeck before heading back south.  One adventure has been the failure of my fancy schmantzy Rolf Vector Pro rear wheel, which proceeded from making a subtle rattle the day we left the Cape, to a creak, and then a hearty squeal by the time we reached Rhinebeck.  I now have a quiet new Mavic wheel and the retired one is headed back to Davis.  

With my time limit on this computer I’ll have to stop this post after the report for Sunday, 9/21:  After a fine breakfast at the La Bonne Boulangerie in Port Jeff, the ferry ride to Bridgeport was just as fine.  Unfortunately we had bad advice and lost our way leaving town, winding up in Fairfield.  At last we were headed north on the Black Rock Turnpike, and felt a touch of nostalgia as we passsed within a mile of my sister Mary and husband Bill’s former house.  We had a second breakfast at the Bluebird Inn, on our way toward Danbury.  

 

The Bluebird Inn for lunch

 

 

Next we stopped in Bethel at the Relay Bookhouse so we’d have reading for the long hours in our tiny tent.  Still planning ahead, we bought a footlong Subway sandwich for our camping dinner.  Arriving after a 44 mile riding day at Squantz Pond Park, we found we couldn’t camp; but it was a beautiful spot to eat that sandwich.  We snuck behind the Volunteer Fire House across from the park and found a secluded place to pitch our tent.  It was a long quiet night…more later!

On to Millerton NY

Where We Were

The Simmons Way Inn B&B

Monday 9/22 (Dick) We emerged from our hiding place behind the fire station and were greeted by an aging (i.e. even older than we) volunteer with whom we made some conversation to prevent arrest, which luckily was not apparently imminent.  Heading north toward Kent my wheel was beginning its squawk, and in Kent met Frank Galterio who runs the Kent film festival, a growing event slated for its fourth annual next March.  Frank directed us to Sal Lillianthal who operates The Bicycle Tour Company HQ’d in Kent.  Sal was kind enough to devote more than an hour to helping with my wheel problem, narrowing the diagnosis to something in the hub.  Overall, including lunch, we spent 2+ hours in Kent and then headed north toward Millerton NY, having decided to skip Kent Falls.  We intended to camp north of Millerton, but in town we discovered the Simmons Way Village Inn, a beautiful old B&B that we couldn’t resist.  Jay the owner helped us stash our bikes in the barn.  It’s a charming town that is the starting point for a major annual bike ride.  We shared an Italian dinner, walked the town, and retired to sleep in a four-poster bed.

Since I typed for 25 minutes last night and then accidently hit the floor switch with my foot, turning off the computer, I’m now going to post these day-by-day…

Rescued in Rhinebeck

Rescuist Dave Schleede

Who named this creek?

 

Tuesday September 23 (Dick)  Here in Port Jervis, Carol is doing laundry at the moment, so I’ll continue the blog.  After fabulous “Martha’s pancakes” by Jay (his wife Martha was out of town) at the Simmons Way, we headed off in the fog.  With a major climb to start the day, we were soon above the fog; and in the damp weather my wheel was a little quieter.  Soon we were riding in full sunshine along a beautiful country road where we crossed Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk Brook (panoramic photo above).  This was a beautiful riding day on country roads with little traffic, but my wheel resumed its warning complaint; I had previously called the Rhinebeck Bicycle Shop to see if they would work on my exotic wheel, which they didn’t want to do.  So we rolled in anyway, and proprietor Dave Schleede was busy on other work.  But recognizing our plight, he installed a new wheel for me and helped us package the old one to send home.  After an hour there, we had the job done and the wheel mailed home from the nearby post office.   Thanks Dave!!  We enjoyed a fine 5 PM outdoor Italian dinner at Gigi’s in Rhinebeck before heading west (me with a wonderfully quiet wheel) for the Mills-Norrie State Park in Staatsburg NY.  We were the only tent campers there (a repeating theme) and were in our tent by 7:15 PM, arduously reading our new books with flashlights (Carol had the headlamp and I needed a third arm to hold my small light).  It was another nearly perfect day, with 52 riding miles.

Tourists for Sure

Dick at the CIA

Wednesday September 24 (Dick) Our camp spot was just a few miles north of Hyde Park and by the way, we had turned the corner and were heading south toward Key

Across the Hudson

West! We passed the Vanderbilt Estate to find breakfast (the highest priority) in Hyde Park; then we went back to the Estate to find we had missed the tour and would have to wait until 11. Carol looked distressed enough that the agent took pity and let us squeeze in with an earlier tour. This was a horribly out-of-place palatial building and an expression of inflated egos- lots of copies of European art and architecture, all very cold and dark. It turns out this huge building and estate is the smallest house Vander built; one in Ashville NC is apparently the largest home ever built in the US. He made his $$ mostly from the NY Central RR, and in those days before income and estate taxes he couldn’t find enough places to stash all the money. Next we went to the FDR home in Hyde Park; it was a strange feeling to walk the rooms and touch the railings where FDR, King George, and Churchill met to combat what is still the greatest evil the work has ever known- in a graceful country house that just felt folksy. I am too young to have been a great FDR fan, especially since my father thought so little of him, but the visit gave me a lump in my throat. FDR refused to yield to his polio- no barrier-free design here; he slept on the second floor and pulled himself up arm-over-arm via pulleyed elevator. We highly recommend touring this home and museum (we needed a full day there, but finally listened to our stomachs and read our watches). And so from there, we traveled just a few more miles to the Culinary Institute of America, which we visited with son Jon ten years ago. We had a fabulous lunch on the CIA campus, and we “came to” on the way out to the realization that it was 2:15 PM and we had only ridden 8 miles!

Carol and Yogi at Jellystone

We cranked the pedals to try to make it to (really) the Jellystone Campground south of New Paltz NY. By the way, thre was a lot of history in New Paltz, with six old stone buildings built by the Huguenots from France in the late 17th century. It was another gorgeous ride until we became plagued with “road work.” It’s the time of year when the crews are furiously trying to ready roads for winter. So we rode about five miles on a horribly dusty gravelly mess before finding our destination. It was an excellent camp that we had (again) almost all to ourselves.  Dinner was an issue- thank goodness for the iPhone. No one was manning the campground, but we called a nearby Pizza house and they delivered. Pizza and beer in the tent! We retired to read and listen to the babbling brook.

A Touch of Fall

Thursday Sept 25th–We left Jellystone Park-refer to photo of me already posted, on a cold and foggy day, wearing 5 layers of clothing and gloves. Of course by noon we were again riding in shorts and t-shirts. We’ve been surprised by how much fall color we are seeing here in late September. I’ts so beautiful. We ate in a great old time diner in Middletown and then promptly got lost trying to get out of the town. It seemed very depressed-our least favorite town next to Bridgeport, CT. The afternoon flew on by filled with lovely country roads all the way to Port Jervis where we decided to bed downtown in the Erie Hotel due to the forecast of heavy rain for the nest few days.

Friday morning was very dreary-rainy and windy. We decided to spend another day in Port Jervis doing laundry, catching up on the blog, reading and sleeping-a pretty satisfying day all in all. Great food and entertainment that night, and we didn’t turn out the lights until midnight. I guess part of the entertainment was the Debate which didn’t keep us up as long as the music.

The Erie Hotel in Port Jervis

Saturday the weather prediction was for possible rain, but we decided to head out regardless of the possibility of getting wet. It was cloudy but a wonderful riding day along roads with so little traffic, it seemed as if we had our own private bike path. Our route took us through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area with forest, river and meadow views. We passed through several lovely towns which had been abandoned when there was a plan to flood the area-Walpack Center and Millbrook Village have been redeveloped and maintained as part of the park by the State of New Jersey. We had a great lunch at the very old Walpack Inn before riding on to the Deerhead Inn in Delaware Water Gap. Here we had what I’m sure will be our cheapest dinner of the entire trip–both a hotdog and slice of homemade pie for $1.49 (a $3 total dinner!) at the fabulous Village Farmer Bakery. Now this really was a bargain. We enjoyed meeting several couples at the Deerhead Inn–that has been a highlight of this trip. It’s so easy to meet people when you’re biking. 44 miles that day and NO RAIN!

Sloggin' Along

Dinner at the Village Farmer Bakery

Sunday Sept 27th–Oh no–steady rain when we opened our eyes and through our breakfast. It did stop by the the time we had packed up, and we left around 10:30-I in my raincoat and Dick in his t-shirt. Within a mile he had put on his rainjacket and shortly after we had to take cover under an overhang at the Delaware Water Gap overlook.

Under cover at the overlook

Finally we headed off again about 11:30 in a light rain. Our luck had run out and we rode in the rain-not a downpour most of the time but definitely not a drizzle either. We stopped for a very long lunch at Uncle Buck’s Diner hoping it would let up or stop but it wasn’t to be. Luckily the day was saved by the lovely riding roads with no cars-our personal bike path or so it seemed much of the time. Dick used his iPhone to call ahead for reservations at the wonderful Indian Rock Inn in Upper Black Eddy PA, where we had a gourmet dinner after drying off.  Despite the rain, we rode 54 miles, arriving just before dark.

The Indian Rock Inn on the Delaware

Along the Delaware River

Monday Sept 29th (Carol):  We headed off in the sun in our shorts and t-shirts.  We hated to leave the Indian Rock Inn but soon stopped at a great general store to use the vouchers we were given by our inn as they didn’t serve breakfast on Mondays.  Then we headed off to ride along the Delaware River, passing through the lovely towns of Milford, Frenchtown, Stockton and Lambertville.  Lambertville deserves four or five stars and we would have loved to stay there longer.  We picked up the tow path along the river/canal in Frenchtown and rode this off and on along with short bits of time on the road.  Both were great.  A real highlight of the day was touring Washington’s Crossing before leaving the Delaware River (in order to by-pass Trenton).  (Dick: The museum highlighted the 10 days that changed history, when Washington, whose bedraggled and nearly defeated army (down to 2400 men from 35,000 three months earlier) used two brilliant strategems to capture Trenton and Princeton,  sending a message to the world that his army had some fight left, and could even win some battles.)

We’ve now left behind fresh blueberries, lobsters, root beer floats and ice cream at most every corner- are the residents of New Jersey and Pennsylvania more healthy?  Maybe not, as these have been replaced by eggcreams, Phili cheesesteak sandwiches, fruit pies and pizza places at every corner.  We have loved the stone houses of this area-so much history here.  I had no idea how beautiful parts of New Jersey can be.

After 50 miles we bedded down at a Comfort Inn in a shopping mall, of all places, after getting a little lost in the huge mall where our country road was supposed to be- that’s the progress of our times.  The area had changed a bit since the map and the tour book were published.  We walked across to the mall for dinner in a sports pub.  More Guinness for Dick, who may be hooked on the nitrogen.  After Hightstown PA we’ll really be heading south.  So long for now–Love,  Carol and Dick, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma

P.S.  The present computer at the library where we are updating our blog does not allow us to upload photos–we’ll post them next time!

Halfway; Cape May!

(Dick) After six riding days, today (Friday 10/3) we’ve taken a rest day in Cape May at the southern tip of New Jersey.  My trip odometer is at 1514 miles, so by the numbers we have completed half of our journey.  We’ve decided to call this whole jaunt “cycle-therapy.”  Here’s an update on our trajectory…

Our last blog was sent Tuesday 9/30 from the library in Hightstown, northeast of Trenton.  From there we zigzagged south across the flatlands of New Jersey, through New Sharon, Allentown, Cream Ridge, New Egypt, Cookstown, and into Browns Mills where we searched frantically but unsuccessfully for a root beer float.  We rode mostly through farmland with little traffic.  We set our sights  on camping in the Byrne State Forest, and a strategic web-search and call with the iPhone helped with the plan.  For bicycle camping, logistics can be challenging.  It’s nice to arrive at the campsite, set up the tent, shower and change clothes, but what about dinner?  You don’t want to go off in search of food and leave all your belongings at the campsite; the best approaches are to either eat before arriving at the camp, camp next to a restaurant, bring in dinner, or have it delivered.  We have now tried all of these options, and this night we ate first.  But the problem was, it meant dinner at 4 PM!  And without any known source of breakfast, the early dinner triggered the fear that we might be 18 hours between meals.  To allay this fear we each took out a big piece of favorite cake (Carol chocolate, me carrot) which we ate at bedtime (7 PM) in the tent.  Actually, we did read by flashlight until at least 8 PM.  As usual, we were the only campers in sight and on site; like flowers, where have all the campers gone? (Kingston Trio, I’m sure I’m dating myself.)  We logged 54 miles for the day.

 

Misty morning at Byrne State Forest

Wednesday 10/1:  Wow, it’s October!  After a ferocious midnight thunderstorm (first rain to christen our tiny tent, which kept us warm and dry) we awoke to clear skies, packed, and headed south in search of breakfast.  By 10 AM we were growing desparate as our trail mix supply was dwindling and we hadn’t seen an open store.  Finally in Chatsworth we found an attractive cafe but it was only open Thursday through Sunday- we were a day early.  While I did some iPhone sleuthing, Carol inquired at the only visible business in town, a motorcycle repair shop.  The grizzly owner offered to drive her 15 miles down the road and back for breakfast, but she coyly explained that she had a husband along.  He sold us two packages of potato chips and we headed south, passing huge cranberry bogs owned by Ocean Spray.  We thought Cape Cod was cranberry HQ for the US, but in fact it is a much bigger business in South Jersey. 

Cranberry harvest in South Jersey

Our next destination was Batsto, a ghost town with unique history.  150 years ago it was a thriving steel town, producing pig iron from bog iron.   We talked with the postmaster (see picture with Carol) of this company town, whose philanthropic final owner before it failed was the same Wharton who donated $$ to start the U of Penn business school.  We really enjoyed Batsto (strange name- sounds like a place for baseball players to buy their weapons) and highly recommend it to potential visitors.  Since there was nowhere to buy lunch there, the staff suggested a restaurant in our direction, and by 2 PM we finally had a real meal.

Carol with Batsto postmaster

 

After lunch we made rapid progress south through Egg Harbor City into Mays Landing, searching in vain again for root beer floats.  Our maps showed three nearby campgrounds, but we couldn’t confirm by phone that any of the three was open to daily tent campers.  Figuring we would just find them and see, we turned southeast toward the coast on SR 559, but on the outskirts of Mays Landing we bought a big Italian sub sandwich and packaged desserts in case we faced the dinner/camp detachment dilemma again (we did).  The first opportunity was the River Beach Resort, where owner Jim Vuocolo was on his tractor leveling the long driveway.  Jim told us he only rented seasonally to RV and mobile homers.  He started helping us search for other nearby camping, and after first offering to drive us in his pickup to another campground, he kindly violated his own rules and gave us free camping at a site right across from the large boat landing on his lakefront property.  Thanks Jim!!  We ate our sub on the dock with its scenic view, and then retired to our humble tent.  This was a 51 mile day.

Carol packing up at the River Beach Resort

Thursday 10/2:  After more showers in the night, the morning was again clear.  We packed, ate some breakfast snacks bought the night before, and headed southeast toward Ocean City NJ.  With a quartering wind behind us, we made it to OC by 10:30 and enjoyed a wonderful “brunch” at the Beach Club restaurant on the boardwalk.  Carol had an amazing french toast croissant with an integral top layer of sliced almonds, which I’m sure she will copy at home ASAP on our return.  But now the SW wind was not our friend as we headed down the coast.  We pedaled down Ocean Drive through fabled Jersey beach towns:  Strathmere, Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood.  Wherever possible we rode on the boardwalks, now deserted with the season over; we felt like survivors of a deadly plague.  These beaches are incredible and continuous, perhaps with the world’s finest sand.  Most of the towns are unbelievably neat and trim; we noticed that Ocean City must not allow deciduous trees, since there just aren’t any!  The only difficulty of the cycling was the bridges, where shoulders disappear, lanes narrow, wind speeds increase, and the midspans have steel grates that scare the breath out of our skinny tires. 

We rode the entire 3 mile length of the Wildwood boardwalk looking for either a root beer float or the frequently-advertised funnel cakes, but everything was closed until we came to an open establishment with funnel cakes featured on their sign.  They had closed down the cakes for the season and the soda clerk had never heard of an RBF, but the owner came out and fixed us one of top quality; enough to fuel us over the last seven miles (of our 55 for the day), and three bridges, to our current haven in Cape May. 

Crucial RBF on the Wildwood boardwalk

We came straight into the heart of town, past the pedestrian mall onto Jackson St., where this block is mostly quaint old B&B’s.  We checked out three and settled into the Saltwood House, where our second floor room overlooks the street.  Owners Don and Eric have many repeat customers and we  feel lucky to have found it.  But with Octoberfest on Jackson St. starting Saturday AM, they could only offer one night.  After a fine dinner at Louisa’s nearby, we opted to see the play “Rounding Third” at the local playhouse.  This after deciding we must be in a room rather than a campground tonight so we could see the VP debate! The play was well-done, and we still saw debate excerpts afterwards.

Saltwood House in Cape May

Today, Friday 10/3, we walked and enjoyed the early morning ambiance of Cape May, then returned to a fine breakfast.  We were mostly packed when Don let us know they had a cancellation so we could spend another night; we already knew we would if the chance arose.  So, we set off to explore more of Cape May: Sunset Beach, the lighthouse, and the grand old hotels.  This is a very special town.  We also found a bike shop where I had my rear tire replaced as I had developed a slow leak.  On some of yesterday’s riding we saw much glass on the road, which on inspection turned out to be in the road- they had actually mixed glass bits in the asphalt, for its durability and traction!  Fine for auto tires, not so fine for bike tires…After a gourmet lunch at the Island Grill, we explored the northeast side of town, then returned to the Saltwood where we merged with six other guests on the front porch.  The others return here every year for Octoberfest, which we hope to enjoy briefly tomorrow morning before our departure for Delaware via ferry.  Two kind guest couples have offered us lodging later in our journey.

It is hard to believe that at this time next week we should be in Southern Virginia.  We have now passed through Quebec and seven states, with seven states to go.

blog drought-excuses

Due to some long days, much to see and do, camping, and a general lack of accessible libraries, we have not had a chance to write about our adventures for the past week. We are in Barco-N.C. and have decided to split up the writing.  I, Carol, will take the first part of the week and Dick the remainder.  

On Saturday Oct, 4th we left the Saltwood Inn with a wonderful sendoff by all the other guests and Don and Eric. What fun it was meeting these couples who come here each year for the special Octoberfest weekend and always stay in the same place.  While having breakfast around the dining room table, I met Alexis Eckert who teaches 3rd grade at the Ho-Ho-Kus School in New Jersey. She expressed an interest in having her class follow the blog for some geography. I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome all the 3rd grade class to our adventure. You can have Alexis point out our locations on a large map. We will send you a postcard when we reach Key West.

 

Saltwood Sendoff

 

Leaving Cape May was difficult on this very warm and sunny day.  We’d have loved to stay longer and do more exploring and maybe even a little swimming. The street festival-Octoberfest- was going strong as we rode out to catch the ferry to Lewes, Delaware. We really had to hustle to catch that ferry, making it just before they raised the “gangplank”. We met our first fellow bike traveler in over 1500 miles- Dave Loyd was riding from Boston to Florida.  He was using his iPhone exclusively for map directions. Dave, if you see this, give us a call or send a comment as we have lost your phone number and want to check on your progress. Dave was traveling faster and further each day then we are, but we did drag him along to the famous ice cream parlor in Lewes- Kings. Our plan was to ride to Assateague where we would camp for the night, but after having to have funnel cakes and Thrashers fries in Rehobeth Beach, we couldn’t ride fast enough to reach the park. Really, the problem was the mess in Ocean City. Who knew that it would stretch out for about 10 miles of high rises with lights at every corner. We would get up a little speed and then have to stop again. As you can guess by now, we didn’t care for O.C.  Dick had been there a few times as a teen and was aghast at the changes. We spent the night in a motel in the old area next to the bridge (good water views!) which would take us toward Crisfield the next day.