Painting of Philly skyline.
A signature building in Philly downtown at night.
Honeysuckle flower at a rest stop.
Mural in Newark, Delaware.
Elkton, MD watertower.
Stretch of road on Pulaski Highway on way to Elkton.
My route until Newark, DE was good--Pulaski Highway continued to be a great biking road, only I had to get a ride across the Hatem Bridge, which does not permit bicycles, but offers escorts on weekdays. Today being a weekend, some folks helped me out. The first guy I asked had a small SUV, and he consented to take me across. As we put my bags in the back, a family in a pick-up pulled up, and the dad offered to take the bike. I threw the bike in the back, he secured it, and said he'd meet us on the other side. The guy in my car said it is Father's Day weekend and he wanted to extend the good spirit. Happy Father's Day, Dad! Pulaski to Elkton was more of the same great bike lane. In Elkton, I picked up Elkton Rd, 279, and it had a bike lane as well, and was a very nice ride. In Newark, I rode the bike lane through town. I stopped to check my tire pressure. A couple guys came over to check on me. One of them helped out at the local bike shop, Bike Lane. I told him my bike was fine, but I would like to compare notes on route. As he pulled off to meet me at the shop, I got on my bike and my chain broke. I hailed him over, and we threw the bike in the van for the three blocks to the shop. In the van, I repaired my chain. At the shop, I put the chain back on, and asked the mechanics for a route to New York if the knew any. The route I told them I planned on going went through towns they considered dangerous. I never like to listen to fearful talk because in my experience, those places that people say are dangerous usually turn out to be the most interesting. But they designed a route for me, taking me north to Route 1, where, "You might get killed by a car, but you won't get mugged." In other words, a rich man might kill you with his car, but a poor man won't rob you. The mechanic's priority was avoiding the black drug dealer, more so than the white man's SUV. The route through Marcus Hook and Chester was a straight shot to Philly, and it was along the Delaware River, so it would be flat. But he recommended I go the long way around, and through the hills to avoid the drug dealers, who would probably take my bike, he said.
After I sat down for awhile to rest, and I had something to eat and drink, I decide I thought that avoiding places out of fear of people struck me as ridiculous, so I decided to take the route I originally had set out for myself. However, when I got to the place I needed to turn to follow my route, the road had no shoulder (at least at that first little stretch, and many cars were all lined up to turn onto that road. I reasoned that perhaps the mechanics had other reasons to suggest the route the suggested, including safety with regards to cars. So I turned around and found his route. It started off just as it would continue throughout--hilly. It had a bike lane for a good while, but that soon disappeared. I managed. When I got to Route 1, there was a shoulder. But eventually, Route 1 came to a point where no bicycles were allowed! (at the Media Bypass) This is one reason I do not recommend this route. The other reasons being the hilliness, and the fact that it is very boring--you just go through rich people's territory, and all you see are big, expensive cars and big houses. I would have prefered the flat, straight shot through all the interesting small towns with poor people all over the place, outside--CULTURE. When I finally got to West Philly, and I cruised into town at sunset, I got to see all the black people out on the street, hanging out, congregating, talking, listening to music on their porches, riding bikes, etc. But I did get a good workout with all those hills.
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