Day 36 - Virginia Beach to Cape Charles - Two Far 2022 Reunion Bound (the long way around) - CycleBlaze

May 15, 2022

Day 36 - Virginia Beach to Cape Charles

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Today we left Viginia Beach and rode to the Cheasapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel to take the shuttle I had scheduled for 11AM.

Riding out of the beach area was easy early on a Sunday morning.  The whole hotel/shops/restaurant/amusement area is a crowded mess.  We were glad to get out of it.

Virginia Beach Ferris wheel
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Rose SamsonI remember my childhood days I rode the Ferris Wheel over & over again!
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Entertainment abounds on the main street.
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Bike lanes are paved green for a short distance. We love to see this.
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Between the busy beach area and the CBBT, there were a few miles of this quiet wooded avenue.

The rumble strips were perfectly placed between the traffic lane and bike lane.
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We arrived at the CBBT at 10:30 for the shuttle I scheduled for 11AM.  I told the woman making the reservation that we had a 9.5 foot long tandem and needed a vehicle to accommodate the bike and both of us.  

While we were waiting for the shuttle, we had a good time talking with Brenda who was traveling from her winter home in Florida to her summer home in Delaware.
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About 11:15, this truck pulled into the parking lot to load us up.

The truck had bucket seats and a center console - no room for two passengers!
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No room for the tandem either!
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Kerry explained to the driver that there was NO WAY to get us and our bike in that truck.  She said that the information I gave with the reservation was noted on the form, but her supervisor told her to drive the pick-up, because the bike wouldn't fit in the cargo van!  After lengthy discussion, she finally realized the only thing to do was to go back to the north end, get the van and come back for us.  Our new acquaintance Brenda was waiting for a driver to drive her car across (another service the CBBT provides), so our driver drove Brenda in her car across the bridge and tunnels, retrieved the cargo van and returned for us.  By 12:45, we were finally on our way with the bike and Kerry in the back of the van and me in the front with the driver.  It was not really a problem, but it is frustrating to deal with people who do their jobs so poorly.

Once we were on the north side, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, we had a quiet, relaxing ride on nearly traffic free back roads to our motel.

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Most of what we rode through was farmland.  In addition to the corn and wheat, we saw lots of potato fields.

Wheat
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We saw many potato fields
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Planting a field
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There were many old, well maintained, large farm houses.

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Besides all the nice farm houses we saw, we also saw a number of old houses and other buildings being reclaimed by Mother Nature.

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An old store?
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Once a school
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This seems to be a school which has been saved and repurposed as a home.
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We are in a recently renovated old motel tonight.  It has everything we need, but the 50's bathroom, while clean, is very small and cramped.  It was nice to roll the bike right into the room though, without steps or corners to negotiate.  

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 1,198 miles (1,928 km)

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marilyn swettWell, crap! We've acutally jumped ahead of you today. We also took the bridge-tunnel this morning and are staying near Cambridge, Maryland for a few days before moving to Harrington, Delaware next week.
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1 year ago