We’re at about the half way point of the East Coast Greenway (ECG). The first half has been hit and miss as far as good riding opportunities and unfortunately more miss than hit. We tried to follow the route as much as possible but found, out of concern for our safety, that we had to skip most of the sections that had us riding on roads instead of bike paths. The ECG made extensive use of US Hwy 17. Traffic is heavy on this road and often there is little or no shoulder. It was not a road any of us felt comfortable including in our ride!
Taking Saddie and Buster (our RVs) through the larger cities has also proved to be more stressful than we imagined during our planning. Although it is certainly doable — as is just about anything — the stress detracts from the enjoyment and since we are doing this for enjoyment, why do it? So, we decided to celebrate completing the first half of the ECG and make some changes to reduce our stress and increase our overall enjoyment going forward. Sarah is leaving us at this point and may visit family and friends on her way back to Wyoming. She did a great job raising awareness and over $64,000 for pancreatic cancer research.
Not sure what my trip will look like from this point — but I know that we are not going to limit ourselves to the ECG route anymore. I also know that we’ll be avoiding larger cities for the most part like Philadelphia and New York City. We may turn west and make a slow return home or we may move inland a bit and see if that suits us better. It may take a bit to get our bearings again — personally, I’d enjoy doing more hub & spoke riding where we stay in one spot for a couple of nights and explore the rails-to-trails in an area before moving on. And, this could all change again tomorrow morning — who really knows! One truth remains though …. that wandering around in Buster and seeing our country from the seat of a bicycle is a hell of a good time!!! Sure beat the heck out of working!!!
So our day started off at the Annapolis Velo shop so Sarah could ship her bike home. We found a new place to camp at the Capitol KOA in Millersville, MD. Once we were all settled in, Randy and I went for a short ride along the WB&O Trail.
