{"id":719,"date":"2013-07-29T19:49:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T23:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/?page_id=719"},"modified":"2017-11-08T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T21:37:12","slug":"2013-ride-up-the-east-coast","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/?page_id=719","title":{"rendered":"2013 Ride Up the East Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mr. Smith and I have decided that we need to visit all 50 of these United States of America (and the District of Columbia)\u00a0on our bikes!\u00a0 Having about 18 states already in the bag, we’re going to try to add another dozen or so with a ride up the east coast.\u00a0 We loaded the bikes onto Amtrak at Sanford, Florida so we could sleep through the most boring part of the ride.\u00a0 On Day 1, we then off-loaded the bikes in Lorton,\u00a0Virginia and headed northeast to Cape May, New Jersey and are spending the night outside of Freehold, NJ.\u00a0 So far, we’ve put about 500 miles on our bikes on this trip.\u00a0 The plan is to continue through New Jersey, Connecticutt, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, then make a U-turn in Maine, and head home.\u00a0 We figure it will take 10 – 14 days and about 3300 miles.\u00a0 Should be a lot of fun!\u00a0 Stay tuned!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Day 2 was a beautiful, sunny day in New Jersey.\u00a0 After a light breakfast, we headed up the Garden State Parkway to Rt 80 east almost to the George Washington Bridge, but jumped onto the Pallisades Parkway north just before the bridge.\u00a0 This was a bit of a harrowing ride, but we were able to avoid a lot of the normal NYC congestion that occurs in New Jersey near NYC\u00a0on most weekdays.\u00a0 The Pallisades Parkway is a forgotten road in desperate need of repairs, but a pretty ride none the less.\u00a0Once we crossed over to New York, we hopped on the NYS throughway (87\/287) and took it over the Tappan Zee bridge over the Hudson river (a beautiful crossing by the way!) and then caught the Hutchenson River Parkway and Merritt Parkways through to the Yale Campus in New Haven.\u00a0\u00a0The roads through the Yale Campus are\u00a0a mess and by random luck we ended up on\u00a0Connecticut State Route 80 (yes kids, another of Dad’s famous adventures)\u00a0which turned out to be a great quiet ride\u00a0through much of Connecticut.\u00a0 SR 80 brought us onto I95 which we took for a short ride to Route 234 and Westerly, Rhode Island and the beach house of our good friends\u00a0pictured above\u00a0(Sorry, no names).\u00a0 All-in-all, a great day of riding with another 260 miles under our belts and our belts slightly extended after a dinner of linguini with white (freshly harvested) clams sauce, sauteed mushrooms,\u00a0blueberry pie, and roasted smores on the beach.\u00a0 Oh yeah, we drank a little wine too.\u00a0 Question: “What’s better than a beach house on the shores of Rhode Island?”\u00a0 Answer: “Friends with a beach house on the shores of Rhode Island!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On Day 3, we thanked our great friends for their generous hospitality and headed on the rode to Maine.\u00a0 It was another beautiful day and we had some serious miles to travel, so after a side trip to Newport, Rhode Island, we took I495 around Boston to avoid that traffic mess, then alternated taking US1\u00a0north and\u00a0I 95 north through New Hampshire and into Portland, Maine.\u00a0 First a quick word about Newport.\u00a0 EASILY ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES IN THESE UNITED STATES!\u00a0 I could spend pages describing the beautiful mansions that make South Hampton look cheap or the awesome shoreline, but it’s quicker if you just go and see it yourself.\u00a0 We also took US 1 through some of the famous beach towns like Kennebunkport, Maine which were crazy busy.\u00a0 Speaking of Miane, you’d think you were in Santa Cruz, California instead of the southern Maine shoreline with all of the cars carrying surfboards.\u00a0 That is some cold water!\u00a0 Anyway, another 320 miles to our total brings us to 1080 miles and a half dozen states to our total.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Day 4 started out bright, sunny, and cool as we left Portland, Maine headed to Burlington, Vermont and the home of friends of “Mr. Smith”.\u00a0 We took a great scenic route west, starting with ME 112\/114 which took us into New Hampshire where we jumped onto NE 25 west over the White Mountains (sorry dudes, we’ve ridden along the Pacific Northwest, now, those are mountains!).\u00a0 NE 25 is great with some great turns, hills, lakes, and rivers.\u00a0 Unfortunately, as we headed up a slight incline I attempted to downshift, but couldn’t find my toe shifter!\u00a0 It turns out that the shifter loosened and slipped down.\u00a0 We were able to re-tighten it and got back on the road.\u00a0 As we got closer to Vermont, we took NE 302 which is another great ride, but noticed rain clouds gathering and got a little wet once we got close to Burlington on I89.\u00a0 We finally arrived at the beautiful white pine home (built from a kit!) of our friends, a little wet, and 220 miles later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Day 5 was chilly, but pretty as we prepared to leave the beautiful Vermont log home of our hosts.\u00a0 Mr. Smith had to play one hole of golf at the house (yes, they created an 18 hole golf course on their property) and then we were off.\u00a0 We jumped onto Vermont Route 17 south through the Appalachian Gap which had great curves and hills, but was in need of repair, and then headed for Route 100 south all the way down to the Vermont\/New York border.\u00a0 Route 100 is a beautiful, tree-lined road with some great curves that took us through some famous ski resorts like Killington (pictured above). From Rt 100 we took 9 west into New York and jumped on 22 south (another great scenic road) to 32 west which brought us across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge to the New York State Thruway (I87).\u00a0 We are staying in Kingston,New York just outside of the famous Catskill Mountains (really large hills) of New York after a pleasant day of 280 miles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Yep…Day 6 was rainy and chilly.\u00a0 We jumped onto Route 209 south through the Delaware Water Gap, the Poconos, and great little towns.\u00a0 The ride would have been real fun with nice curves and hills, if not for the rain.\u00a0 Route 209 brought us to I 87 west that in one hour took us across Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.\u00a0 After 345 wet miles, we were glad to put out feet up in Winchester, Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>…Nothing but blue skies do I see..Day 7 is a glorious, crisp, sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky.\u00a0 We spent the day on Route 17 south which took us all the way from Winchester, Virginia 357 miles to Williamston, North Carolina.\u00a0 Route 17 was a great ride with a speed limit of 45 to 70 miles\/hour full of gentle curves, tree studded meadows and hills, interspersed with canopy covered stretches through Virginia.\u00a0 We rode through vineyards and cities like Fredericksburg and Tappahannock (Tappahannock river is pictured above).\u00a0 The road got a little congested as we approached Newport News and Cheasapeak, but opened up into a four-lane, 70 mile\/hr highway when we got into North Carolina.\u00a0 About 2300 miles down, and about 1000 left!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Day 8 is another glorious day as we leave Williamston, NC headed for South Carolina, but boy did it heat up as we got closer to Charleston!\u00a0 We continued on Route 17 south after a short divergence on Route 55 to Oriental, North Carolina (pictured above).\u00a0 Oriental is the sailing capital of North Carolina and is so small, we actually rode right passed it!\u00a0\u00a0We got back to Route 17 south which continues to be a wide open highway where we can stay at 45 to 70 mile\/hour.\u00a0 The road got fairly congested as we approached Myrtle Beach and then again as we got close to Charleston.\u00a0 After 385 miles in mostly 85 degree weather, we were glad to pull into our hotel in Charleston, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Day 9 is a hot and muggy one.\u00a0 We started out on Route 17 south again (our favorite north\/south route) into Hilton Head, South Carolina and then took 315 and a couple of other back roads to Savanah where we had pizza at the Mellow\u00a0Mushroom for lunch.\u00a0 Savanah is a prototypical southern city with grand homes and spanish moss-laden oak trees (see above).\u00a0 From Savanah, we continued south on 17 to Amelia Islanda where we had cocktails at our favorite watering hole, the Palace Saloon, and dinner at Ciao Bella owned by a family from Brooklyn (oh!).\u00a0 Tomorrow is our last day on the trip, which will add 350 miles to the 310 miles today which will bring out total mileage for the\u00a0 trip to just about 3300 miles.\u00a0 All in all another great, memorable trip with 17 more states and the District of Columbia added to our state total which is now standing at 32 states riden through.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more pictures and stories.\u00a0 Either click on the “slideshow” or arrow down to page through the pictures one at a time.\u00a0 Enjoy!\u00a0 Don’t forget to sign in\u00a0on our Guest Page!
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