To Philly/West Chester KOA

I slept in longer than I really should have, since people arrived for work before 8:00, but no one said anything.

A man in the motel parking lot yesterday morning had warned me against following US-40 into Wilmington, but it was such a good ride yesterday that I went back to it this morning.  When I got to Chesapeake Bay, however, I found that the toll bridge was off-limits to bikes, no exceptions.  The lady at the visitor center (of the town, not the bridge) referred me to the local florist, a man named Richard who has bicycled "all over," mainly Utah.  He makes it known on both sides of the bridge that he'll give any bicyclist a ride across in his van.  He not only drove me across, he took me a few miles north so I could follow US-1 into Pennsylvania rather than continue my ill-advised route.  He said Delaware is bicycling hell; the drivers there are extremely hostile.  He seemed to know what he was talking about, so I took his advice gladly.

Things started looking up as soon as I entered Pennsylvania: I passed the Herrs Snack Food factory in Nottingham and went on a tour.  I saw lots of cool assembly-line equipment, but I wasn't allowed to take photos.  The quality-control robots were especially cool, knocking green potato chips out of mid-air and detecting incorrect seasoning levels inside sealed bags.

Richard had assured me there would be lots of campgrounds along the way, but the closest I found was the KOA west of West Chester, PA, which made for a longer day's ride than I'd had in mind, but it's a beautiful place and very close to Philadelphia.

46.6 mi