Day Six: Get Thee to Cape May Ferry!
7AM: Rise and assemble gear, take care to leave Meredith’s Avalon house in approximate condition we found it i.e. commodious and clean. (Mom — are you reading this? Your atttempts at domestication paid off, for someone else at least!) Rule in Meredith’s house is “if you only sleep in a bed a single night, you don’t need to change the sheets, so long as you don’t do anything gross. We don’t since we didn’t. I tossed away a particularly foul looking bottle of Kombucha from last season. Resembled spun glass and I’m thankful it didn’t blow Lizzie apart on her way out to the trash.
20-odd miles to Cape May is our initial leg, missing the 10:30 ferry would pen us into NJ until 3PM, timing hard to judge with 100 lbs of gear so we hightail it sans coffee or breakfast.
We pedal off on Dune Drive, hunting for a quick coffee shop that isn’t a Wawa’s, no luck so we continue straight down Jersey heel to Cape May toes.
Southern tip of Jersey holds its own in boardwalks and bridges, especially ones crossing bayside preserved marshland. I’ve never seen the likes in Maine or Cape Cod, Outer Banks or even California. Bridges almost act braggartly in turn, one sign reads: “This bridge has an open steel grate.” Yeah, well, so did the other two!
9:30AM: Roll to stop at intersection of 109 South and Garden State Parkway. Brief confusion about access to the Cape, ranger spots confusion and follows to tell us we can’t bike on the road we’re on. “It’s a non-issue, we don’t want to be here either!” We point down 109-South and ride bridge shoulder into Cape May.
Eek! No time to take in the sights, which are mostly confusing rotaries and one-ways, we’ve hit the wrong part of Cape May. GPS was pointed to “Cape May Ferry”, turns out to be charlatan, we needed “Cape May — Lewes Ferry” another 5 miles. And it’s 9:56AM!
Recognizing me correctly as miserable person who wrings hands over missed ferriers, Lizzie takes control of the situation, sprints into the lead and bolts back across 109, down the correct turnoff this time, YES ferry building this direction, YES two miles away, YES we can see it! Into terminal just in time, attendant wants to talk New Hampshire SORRY MA’AM I KNOW I AM BEING RUDE BUT SOMETHING COULD STILL GO WRONG AND WE COULD MISS BOAT WHAT’S THAT YOU ISSUED THE TICKET INCORRECTLY WELL YOU BETTER FIX IT FAST.
Made it! Lizzie saved 3.5 hours, made me so happy I won’t even post a pic of her sweaty lip. (I love you, Lizzie!)
Ferry workers treat our bikes as cars, except we may not “drive” but must push onto boat. Winds up involving a half-dozen walkie-talking communication at ten foot range, and a cop.
11:15AM: Wolfishly eat two bananas, two parfaits with added granola from pack, energy bars. Drink some ferry coffee, it’s brutal so I draw hot water into empty hydroflask from coffee stand and press our own. Head outside to sprawl in deck chairs and discourse with James Stevens and Alison Michael, our Oakland friends, who happen to be expecting firstborn the same week we arrive in the Bay.
Back on turf, we deliberately take the wrong way, too curious to explore Cape Henlopen to prioritize the Econolodge awaiting us in Fenwick Island. We ride thru Fort Miles WWII bunkers and observation towers and link up with Gordon’s Pond Path running us 3.2 miles down to Rehoboth Beach.
Delighted by one aspect of park I’ve never encountered: bicycle “Fix It” stations with pumps, stand, and quality bike tools: full set allen wrenches, pedal and cassette removers, even hub lockring removers!
6PM: Check into Econolodge. 7.5 hours on bikes leads to quick catnap. Lizzie makes her famous PB & nutella tortillas, gobble one down and head out to fetch proper dinner supplies. We buy $17 of restock supplies and wind up making a kind of health gruel from lentils, peanut butter, red pepper, sunflowers, and seeded crackers.
That’s our day!
