Forked River to Atlantic Highlands

May 27, 2015

Another early riser and another beautiful day. But this day, a real breakfast at a real Jersey diner.

The *Forked River Diner*. In the same family for 30 years, but, I think, an older establishment.

After breakfast we were ready to roll. Only one quick stop to pick up some fruit, and we then headed north on US-9 before making a left into a residential neighborhood.

Today's ride to Atlantic Highlands

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After about a mile, however, we discovered a phantom development that was quite large. RWGPS uses Google as its underlying routing software, and we were being asked to use roads that didn't exist. They exist on Google Maps but nowhere else! Check out the intersection of Grand Central Parkway and Northern Boulevard in Berkley Township, NJ (turn the satellite imagery on).

Dropped Pin

near 540 Northern Blvd, Bayville, NJ 08721

http://goo.gl/maps/zArwr

But we made our way around it with success and continued north. North through Toms River and more residential neighborhoods. But it was clearly getting denser with heavier traffic volumes. We finally ended up on Hooper Avenue, where we started about 10 miles of very busy highway. Busy enough that the opposite lanes were divided by concrete barriers.

We survived, although the faint of heart may have fainted. Actually, we were able to ride mostly in the dedicated turn lane. All turns in New Jersey, at least on major roads, are to the right — you turn right to go left in New Jersey — so we had to deal with the exiting traffic a lot. But we figured it out pretty quickly and finally arrived at the beach again!

The beach! A little fog but a nice strong breeze out of the south!

From there, it was pretty much a straight shot up the coast, with the only diversions being the palatial homes and remnants of times gone by:

Palatial may be an understatement. Almost everyone has a flagpole.

Remains of a casino in Asbury Park. Seems to date to the 20s or so.

This is the far side and was probably the main entrance to the casino.

This was a very cool structure next door to the convention center. Happy thinks this was once a Howard Johnson's.

Further north we saw this structure, which may or may not be old . . . but it looks sorta old and is kinda cool.

We finally reached Sandy Hook, otherwise known as the Gateway National Recreation Area. We had originally planned to camp in Sandy Hook but made other plans after figuring out our travels through New York City and the limited services available in the park.

So we traipsed over to Atlantic Highlands (actually Leonardo), where we secured the last room available in the Leonardo Motel (a Bates 7 per Happy). And we got it for two nights, as tomorrow we will return to Sandy Hook for the day, and Friday we will take a ferry from Belford to Manhattan at Battery Park. So the motel is well located and near food and other services.

The bridge to Atlantic Highlands. Traversing this was easier than you might expect . . .

The ramp up to the pedestrian bridges across Ocean Avenue. There are two pedestrian bridges depending on which side of the channel bridge you use. Plus bike lanes on both approaches and the channel bridge.

A view of Sandy Hook from the channel bridge.

Atlantic Highlands (the lowlands part lol).

From the far side of the bridge, we made our way through Highlands and then took the Henry Hudson Trail to Atlantic Highlands. This part of the trail pretty much follows the coast and is mostly unpaved. It's fairly rough in some locations, and thin tires are not recommended.

Today's ride: 55 miles (89 km)
Total: 2,030 miles (3,267 km)

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