Day 8 - July 13: Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey

Fortunately the rain that started last night did not turn into much. Also, the forecast for today did not look very promising last night when I went to sleep. The forecast was for 60% rain in most of the places I planned to travel today. Fortunately I was able to dodge most of the rain. I put on my rain gear once and drove through some heavier rain for a few minutes on 2 occasions but other than that it was dry. It was obvious by the debris on the roads that in some places there were some heavy rains that I missed.

I put on just over 500 miles today but there really wasn’t much to see. In Maryland, a few of the roads I went on were OK, but nothing to write home about. I did a loop around part of the Chesapeake Bay but in most places, you really couldn’t see that much. Then it was off to Delaware and Delaware Bay area. Again it was difficult to see much of the actual bay. The final state of the day was New Jersey. Again, not much exciting about this state. With the day wearing on, I decided to cut my route short and skip the areas around Atlantic City and Ocean City. There would have probably been more to see in those areas, but I was concerned with the amount the traffic I might have to deal with.

With all these states, I did learn some things:

• There is plenty of fresh fruit available from roadside stands. I picked up a few peaches along the way and they were the best ones I have had in a long time.
• There is a lot more agriculture in these areas than I expected. I expected it be more heavily populated but where I traveled in all the states, there were farm fields. The crops can’t compare to those in the Midwest though.
• I don’t have a strong desire to visit any of these states again!

Tonight I am staying at the Indian Rock Campground in Jackson New Jersey. There are not many campgrounds in this area. KOA doesn't have a single campground in New Jersey. I have also found out that campgrounds are more expensive in this area compared to other trips I have taken. On this trip a KOA or similar campground is $45 just to pitch a tent. On other trips, similar accommodations were $20 - $25.

Tomorrow I plan to head towards the Catskill Mountains in New York.

Here are a few statics for the first 8 days:

• Miles driven: 2,900 – average of 363 per day (includes 2 half days in and out of Columbus and 2 training days)
• States ridden in: 11
• New states ridden in: 4 (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey)