Tuesday, August 20...Hello, I'm in Delaware (Dallas Green)


The Madison KOA is a busy campground.  Heard trucks moving around throughout the night...fairly hard to hide the sound of a vehicle on gravel and even harder to hide the sound of a diesel truck on gravel. Anyway, I slept good despite the traffic interruptions but I refused to get up at 6:30 when Kim’s alarm started singing “Hey, baby, wake up...come and dance with me.”  And he was just as confused by the alarm going off as I was. Must have been a leftover from the Canadian fishing trip. Seems the early to bed, early to rise thing is a work in progress. 😏
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   This campground is built on a hillside.  We had our choice of two tent sites...one at the base of the hill which gave the site a slight slant and one farther up which was flat but would entail driving up an uneven gravel road to get to it.  I’ll take door number one, please!  And yes, it did have a slant but we made it work. 
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   No rain last night but there was a dew and the tent’s surface had water beads on it this morning.  We took our time packing up making sure that the tent was as dry as possible.  Won’t be using it tonight because it’ll be Yurt time! 
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   Rapunzel determined the quickest route to Lums Pond State Park in Delaware was through Maryland which had us traveling just north of Baltimore.  I didn’t want to get that close to Baltimore so I came up with an alternate route that had similar mileage:  Head east to Hershey, PA, then south to Delaware.  
   We had to break the new route into two sections to trick Rapunzel into going along with it.  First Kim told her to get us to Hershey, PA...she did as instructed.  The majority of the ride to Hershey was on the turnpike through the Allegheny Mountains (part of the Appalachian Range).  We rode through 4 tunnels of various lengths in the process.  When we got to Hershey Kim then told her to get us to Lums Pond State Park in Bear, Delaware.  That route was much less predictable than the turnpike. I’m sure it was the most direct for the roads available but it seemed to be a very convoluted route through 90 miles of very picturesque countryside. We shared the road with Amish buggies around the Lancaster area.  I’ll take Amish buggies over Baltimore rush hour traffic any day!  We crossed into and out of Maryland in about 15 minutes.  Saw the Delaware state sign but missed a picture because of road construction.  Another 20 minutes and we were at the park.  Well done, Rapunzel.
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    EZ Pass Update:  I made sure we each had cash for tolls this morning because of the uncertain status of our EZ Pass transponders.   As we approached the toll ticket booths, we opted for the EZ Pass and Ticket line figuring that if our EZ Passes were working we wouldn’t get a ticket and if a ticket popped out that meant that we were still waiting for validation.  Kim pulled up to the ticket booth, waited a heartbeat and with a note of satisfaction in his voice he said, “There’s no ticket...I’m going!”   So it appears that it didn’t take a full 48 hours as the toll man told us it would.  😛
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   It was a hot one today....I saw 92o a couple of times but mostly it was in the mid to high 80s.  Humidity was still a factor also.  By the time we stopped for lunch at a travel plaza on the turnpike I was done in...hot, tired and thirsty.  At one point I mentioned that it would be great if we had a hand cart available so Kim could wheel me back out to the bikes...we had a good laugh over that but I was serious.  When I came out of the bathroom he was over by the Shiatsu massage chairs.  He sat down and indicated I should do the same, then he put a dollar into each chair😎
and we had 3 minutes of bizarre yet strangely effective massaging.  I walked out of the plaza unaided with a spring in my step...no hand cart needed.
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  Delaware is the first of the last nine states to be checked off the list.  Tomorrow will be New Jersey and possibly New York but not New York City.  We’ll go way out of our way to avoid New York City.  I’ve already tricked Rapunzel once on this trip...I’ll do it again.  
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   The Yurt is interesting....it's just a big circular hut with a couple of beds in it.  The best part is that is has two floor model air conditioners.  Once we figured out how to turn them on we were in business!  The next best thing about the Yurt is that we don’t have to take it down tomorrow. We did bring in our air mattress because the futon is too small and the bunkbeds...well, they're bunkbeds and  there's a double on the bottom and a single up top.   It also has a big sky light...which might prove to be problematic in the morning.  
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   My eyes keep trying to close as I’m sitting here...the hours on the road and in the fresh air are catching up with me.  If I forgot something I’ll just add it to tomorrow’s entry.  I’m going to bed!
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Tuesday’s miles: 295
Total: 884

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