Traverse City Adventure: Day Two - Dirt roads of Caroline County

13 AUGUST 2017

We logged 35 miles after breaking camp in Martinak State Park.  Our first day was steady rain.  Our second day brought a steady head wind - northwest.  But it was a warm wind, not as dense as cold air, and the roads of middle Delmarva are flat.

Sussex County gives way to Maryland’s Caroline County across Delaware’s western border.  In Caroline, Google Maps took us on great back roads bounded by head-high corn, waist-high soybeans and thick, knee-high alfalfa. Rain and sun have been timely this summer and the crops show it.

There aren’t many dirt roads left on the Delmarva Peninsula, but Caroline County still clearly sees their value.  At one point the map lady told us to turn right on Crouse Mill Road west of Ridgely - a dirt road.  It was pretty as it passed between two tall, old cedars but the washboard effect from rains shedding in both directions from the crown made us happy that stretch of dirt road was less than a mile in length before it gave way to another paved section.  The washboarding rattled our bikes and their sixty pounds of gear.

Larry and Alison, on their way back from Ocean City, met us at the Rams Head Tavern on Route 18 on Kent Island.  We finished a couple of glasses of white wine while waiting for them.  It tasted good after several hours of hot and slow riding.  

Part of the route took us on a stretch of Route 50, from Wye Mills to Queenstown.  Horrendous traffic, about as opposite to Crouse Mill dirt road as you could get.  We finished the day’s ride on the Cross Island Trail on Kent Island before we stopped at the Ram’s Head.

We loaded our bags and bikes in Larry’s rig and they carried us over the Chesapeake.  Now it’s Monday morning and Larry’s going to drive us to Hyattsville for the beginning of the Anacostia River Trail and then on to the Chesapeake and Ohio towpath.

Later I will tell you about the subtle encounter I witnessed between a soldier and a man in a Subway. It came in the wake of the Charlottesville incident surrounding the white nationalist rally, but now bacon and eggs are calling.  Thanks for reading.