50 States, Day 172

  50 States, Day 172 Galloway to Cape May and Back, 154 miles
 
"Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations."
~Earl Nightingale



What a treat we received at Cape May; cute houses, seaside views, motels standing alongside each other fighting for space to see the ocean. The houses ranged from cute little old places to huge Cape Cod type buildings, both single family giants and refurbished ones with multiple domiciles.


Got to see the lighthouse first. The adjacent beach was almost completely devoid of human life, but above a lagoon, dozens of people stood with binoculars, telescopes and cameras. Apparently Cape May is home to assorted species of birds, including raptors. Stupid me, I thought a raptor was a dinosaur. That's velociraptor. A raptor is a bird of prey, like falcon, eagle or hawk. You knew that, right? They soared overhead and people identified them. This time of year is when they gather, as opposed to humans, who have left in droves, the towns empty and bare.



We met Norm and John who have been in four states in the last few days. Norm's bike, a 900 Kawasaki, sports a cool paint job, with Pittsburgh (Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, stadium) memorabilia airbrushed on it. Very cool. John rides a sport bike and what do you know, all three of us got along, sport bike, tourer and motobago.


I climbed the stairs of the lighthouse and enjoyed the views, getting valuable information from the docent up there. Like it is freaking cold up there in the winter, the chill wind whipping off the water, going through the uninsulated building and freezing the poor lighthouse attendant. Hopefully, at that time, we'll be in Florida. The South part.
Returning to terra firma, we rode along the coast, lazing through towns and stopping to enjoy them. Stopping at a (PP!) 7-11 to get a pop, we met Jane, a single lady who-how do I say this politely-was youth challenged and was traveling and camping on her own -- you go Jane!



Back on the scooter to check out more cool towns. Wildwoods differed from Cape May with a huge boardwalk lined with arcades, shops, water parks and ferris wheels. Just no people. Getting hungry, we hunted for a restaurant. Nothing. The town was closed up like Bill Gates at an Occupy Wall Street rally. Off we went to Stone Harbor, more like Cape May except more condos and motels and less cute. No restaurants open. What, do people cease to eat after Sept. 30? Do they go to Wawa and just buy groceries? Yes, their grocery stores are called Wawa, like the parents speaking in a Peanuts TV show. But I digress.


We gave Ocean City a shot and found a place, fortunately as I was getting hungry on the brink of crabby. These towns look like Mad Dog Barlow came in and everybody took off. After a sumptuous meal (I'll let QG give you the download on that), we headed back to the motel. Since Mr. Sun looked to be beating a hasty retreat, we elected to-against our morals-take a toll road, a turnpike. Wrong! This road must not have had an exit for twelve miles. And it drove right over our highway while not only not providing an exit, but no information on what it crossed. We overshot it by miles and returned on the brink of crabby.  

With the exception of the restaurant search and the missing highway however, the day was filled with warm weather, great riding, beautiful countryside and awesome beaches. A very nice ride indeed.

And now, not crabby at all, Quilter Girl!

A great day for a ride, no rain at all, just high clouds in the afternoon. It really was a long search for a place to eat. After driving forever down a wide street with numerous lights where we stopped for no one, we found a shopping area.  There was a small pizza place called Pinini's.  There were two signs on the door, one said no credit cards and the other one said children must stay seated in the dining room.  I was glad for the second rule anyway.  Their menu was full of interesting stuff, very creative pizzas.  I had to try their version of a Hawaiian pizza that had cream cheese, ham, pineapple, chives, coconut and maraschino cherries.  I had them leave off the coconut in case Kevin wanted some.  It was very good, in an unusual way.  Kevin opted for the chicken parmesan which he really liked.  We both came home with midnight snacks.  It may be the only place open to eat for miles, but I could go back there!
QG
 
Off we go tomorrow through Atlantic City (maybe) and up the beach toward Newark. Thanks for following.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey it was a pleasure meeting yinz. Good luck on the rest of your journey. Please be safe and always enjoy the open road.
P.S your pal Norm from Pittsburgh Pa. Meet in Cape May.
P.P.S. Go steelers.

Unknown said...

Hope you enjoy the open road too! And nice paint job.
Go Steelers.