Greg & Camille Go Bike

We woke up well before dawn. After a quick coffee and breakfast, we walked a few blocks down to the beach and sat to watch the sunrise over the ocean. It was beautiful and a wonderful reward for waking early. There were a few others on the boardwalk and beach, but for such a well populated area, it was surprisingly empty. Back at the Air B&B, Greg was a bit slower to pack up, so Camille spent a while playing fetch with the adorable dogs Peggy & Emma.

On the way out, Chris wished us good luck from the upper deck. We returned to the boardwalk for a few miles before crossing back onto the mainland. The bridge had a narrow fenced off sidewalk that signs indicated was part of the bike route. It was full of busy recreational fisherman and a few pulled up catches right in front of us.

Leaving Ocean City, the bike path gave way to local roads and aside from 10 miles in the wide shoulders of route 113, most of the day was spent biking through local farmland. Occasional trucks would zip by, but they usually provided plenty of space when passing. The biggest stressor today ended up actually being dogs. Twice, dogs dashed into the street chasing us. The first occurrence had a pair of medium-large dogs wander into the street barking aggressively but they grew disinterested after we'd passed. The second time was much more concerning with a similarly sized dog chasing us down the street for several blocks, yapping at our heels the whole way.

Later in the day, Greg got his first flat after switching to the new tires, finding a big staple embedded in the tire. After two failed patches and a couple false starts, we suspected that adhesive might be going bad. With sunset approaching, we swapped in a new tube for now, but swapped the tube of adhesive with our alternate for next time. While fixing the flat, we were particularly struck that not once did anyone stop to ask if we're okay. Along with some of the sour looks we've seen from passers by, it just left an impression that bicyclists aren't looked on as kindly around here.

The sun set on us maybe 5 miles from our final destination. We were pretty hungry, exhausted and justifiably anxious to be biking in the dark. We slowly made our way to Wachapreague, arriving maybe half an hour after sundown. We ate a quick dinner, cleaned up and settled down for rest.