Florida Is South, Why Am I Going East?

Having not been on a bike for over a week, it was time to once again start pedalling. My Florida plan is still the main plan, but I decided to do a little side trip today before continuing on my way to the sunshine state.

I woke to another sunny Philadelphia morning – the weather continues to prove that it is in fact always sunny in Philadelphia (still a good name for a TV show). My plan was to hit the road by 8:00. It turns out, I’m a little out of practice at getting things together and I didn’t end up getting away until 8:30. That still seemed more than reasonable as I was only going to be riding 105km today. The destination, Atlantic City.

The ride to Atlantic City was pretty flat and made somewhat easier by the fact that I was able to leave much of my unneeded gear in Philly (ex. tent, sleeping bag, air mattress). I have to go back that way anyway so it didn’t make sense to take everything with me. With a lighter load, minimal hills and light winds I was able to cover 60km by noon. The biggest challenge came when crossing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. The good news is there was a bike path along the bridge so I didn’t have to worry about cars. The bad news is that this was clearly not always a bike path – as indicated by the stairs and improvised ramps at the far end of the bridge. I’m not looking forward to that on the way back.

I stopped for lunch shortly after 1:00 at the Harbor Diner. I figured since I didn’t have to be in Atlantic City until 4:00 I could take a longer break for lunch. It was a good decision. I went with the homemade meatloaf (because I didn’t eat enough meat yesterday) and it was excellent. As was the soup that came with it.

With my stomach once again full – well, full-ish – I found myself back on the road at 2:00. I only had 28km to go, which made a 4:00 arrival in Atlantic City more than reasonable. The planned 4:00 arrival was because that’s when I was meeting Chris (not Chris from the barbecue) at Harrah’s. Family Tree Alert: Chris is a cousin of Jack’s. Jack is Gage’s husband. Gage and Jack are who I’ve been staying with in Philly. No, there won’t be a test on this. Anyway, Chris arranged a room for me at Harrah’s (thanks Chris!) and I needed to meet up with him so I could get checked into said room.

I arrived at Harrah’s shortly after 3:00. I made really good time over the last 28km as the ride was much easier once I got onto the highway and I didn’t have to stop regularly to check my directions. I’m sure the lighter bike didn’t hurt either. Eventually I met up with Chris around 4:30. Since entering the US, I’m still operating without a phone so connecting with Chris was a bit challenging but it all worked out. I got checked into my room before heading over to the Golden Nugget with Chris for another feast. This time at the lounge at the Golden Nugget.

I’ve since returned to my room and the rest of the day will be pretty low key. There likely won’t be any gambling tonight as I still have to sort through today’s photos before heading back over to the Golden Nugget to use their free WiFi. Harrah’s wants $12.50/day to use their internet – clearly, that’s not going to happen.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 106.41km
Time on bike: 4:49:26
Maximum speed: 41.26 km/h
Average speed: 22.04 km/h