Bicycling trails in Lewes

We bicycled on the Junction and Breakwater Trail while in Lewes. Round trip was about 18 miles from Cape Henlopen State Park.

It's a really nice trail. One leg of it is still being finished, but it's tightly crushed gravel and easily ridden on even with skinny tires.

Directions on how to get there were a bit sketchy. No one really knew where it started. We picked it up right after the High School on Route 9 at a traffic light. 

The motorists in the area were a bit moronic when it came to bicycles. They gave no leeway, and drove far too close to bicycles. Not very safe. Fortunately, the breakdown lanes are very large. I found myself hugging the right of the breakdown lane when on the highway.

-Leah

Dewey Beach

Dewey Beach is one of the ONLY beaches on the East coast that allow dogs to run free, without a leash. I have to say that I completely understand why dogs are not allowed on beaches.

During the Summer dogs are allowed on the beach after 5:30, that's about the only restriction.

A one time fee of $15 and your pooch can romp on the beach. Money well spent for our little water lover.

But, please, pick up your dogs poop, don't be "that" person.  There's no excuse, poop bags are right there next to the trash can.

-Leah

....and then they arrived...

Our first night was lovely, peace and absolute quiet except for the Chuck-will's-widow at dusk. I've never actually seen one of these birds, but their call is unmistakable.

Afternoon number two arrived with the sounds of four teen-age boys setting up camp right behind us. Oh. No. Here. We. Go.

They came over and told us that if it got "too loud" to just let them know. Oh, how nice. Amelia told them if they're warning us about being loud, maybe they should find another site. I generally just scare people with silence. Why does silence scare people? I don't know, but it works. Sometimes. They stayed next to us.

At three a.m. the little rodents were still wide awake, guzzling Natural Light beer, breaking tree limbs down, running around shirtless with torch-like objects, and hurling themselves repeatedly into something trying to break it. Four words came to mind for me: Lord of the Flies. It's all fun and games until Piggy is dead.

The morning after:

Four teenagers, eight hours.

With the Conch nowhere to be found, the Crows and Grackles declare war over the carnage.

There's always a silver lining.  Most people, regardless of age, can't party like that every night. There is an ancient camping proverb, "Hangovers make night two a quiet and early one."

In the morning, Amelia let them know that yes, you were loud and obnoxious, and no, we aren't here to police you, you need to police yourselves.

As fate would have at, at 11:00 that night, they packed up in the dark and left.  Good-bye Jack, good-bye Roger, good-bye Beast, good-bye Conch. And R.I.P. Piggy.

-Leah

Cape Henlopen cute cabins

Amelia and Eesah went to investigate the new cabins at Cape Henlopen State Park. Looks like they'll be ready for Memorial Day week-end.

No water or bathroom, just a kitchen/dining room, and living/sleeping room. Each one has air conditioning though, which you're going to need very soon.

I really like the screen porches.

I love tiny houses.

-Leah

Eat my sausage

On our way back home a friend suggested we check out Helen's Sausage House. Amelia has a slew of face swelling allergies so she couldn't eat any sausage. She had chicken salad, while it wasn't exciting, it didn't kill her or make her face swell up.

I had the sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. It was HUGE. It was really cheap, under eight dollars for both of our sandwiches. But, I have to admit, I expected something better. The sausages were filled with several preservatives, the cheese was a bright orange tasteless goo-fest, and the eggs I couldn't taste at all.

If you're looking for cheap roadside food, this is your place. It just wasn't my thing. But, when you're traveling some things are about the experience. This is one of them.

I guess I'm spoiled. I get bread, eggs, sausage and cheese back home from farmers less than five miles away with no fillers and no preservatives, no crap.  Just good old fashioned unadulterated food.

-Leah

Cape Henlopen Site

Our site and Cape Henlopen.

Trip saver

We're back! In Delaware.

We arrived a full month later than last year due to that nasty April snow storm. May is quite different than April.

We made reservations and went with site number eight, a seemingly innocent little site tucked back from the road about 20 feet. Looked really nice last year... Well, this year it was the only row in the entire campground that was filled. It was spilling over with strange, silent staring people, five tents next to us on one site, screaming children on trikes and bikes. (Shouldn't they be in school?)

Side rant:  You know when you go to see a movie and only a handful people are in the theater, but some nimrod has to sit next to you, maybe two seats away, but too damn close when virtually every seat is available. What is this about? I have ideas, but I won't bore you with my philosophy on the needy pack mentality of humans.

After a quick visit to the camp office we found another site. Hurray! We were the only campers in our new row. Boo! It was 8:30 at night, and started to downpour. The rain drops were the size of small dogs - Pomeranian-sized rain drops.

 I will not lie. Things like setting up camp in the rain can create really tense situations. It's not fun. The good news is that we're pretty quick and efficient at getting the job done.

The Northern Breeze tent was the first thing to go up, and it goes up in minutes. This thing is ah-may-zing.

It's a waterproof shelter that's also a screen tent, and two sides have large awnings. The footprint is 12'x12'. This is larger than most of the rooms in my tiny house, so I feel right at home. This tent is a trip saver. It can handle whatever you throw at it: cold weather (in Maine we zipped the sides down and it was downright toasty inside), wind, bugs, and....Pomeranian-size rain drops.

-Leah

First trip of the year

I wish I could say it's been a long winter, but it hasn't been. We didn't really have winter. In fact, we hardly burned any wood this year, less than a cord. Pretty amazing, and pretty disturbing. The snow we finally got was in April, and it did a number on all early blooming trees and shrubs.

I could roll right into glooming and dooming about the world, but that's not what this blog is about...

We're planning our first trip of the year, and decided to go back to Cape Henlopen in Delaware. We're going a few weeks later than we did last year, so we're hoping for no stupid people antics.

Unfortunately, we must prepare for the worst because the campground had limited sites available.   -le sigh-

 Hey, you never know, we have had great luck with quiet neighbors for the most part.

The next three days will be spent inspecting, improving and packing up the Teardrop for the adventure.

 I'm really looking forward to unplugging for a few days.

 -Leah

Camp Coffee

Morning coffee is a ritual.

We must have good coffee, made in a French press with freshly ground beans each and every morning. Whether we’re camping, away for a weekend, or at home, this is how we start our days.

For camping, we bought a manual grinder. I read some reviews about manual grinders with complaints that it actually takes a little effort, oh-my-god!! You have to manually grind it?! Absurd!! Well, it works like a charm. Grind for about one minute (two for Amelia), and you have a nice, coarse grind perfect for the French press.

On our maiden voyage to Delaware last April we camped in Henlopen State Park. The park had no electric or water at sites; we used solar and filled up a 5 gallon jug of water every few days. The Park forbid the use of generators. Yay!

The campground was nearly empty and we had no neighbors for most of our stay. Then a giant 5th wheel RV came and parked right next to us. They were a family of four. After they got situated with parking the RV and setting up camp, they came over said hello and checked out the Teardrop.

Before they left the man and I had this conversation –

Man - “You drink coffee in the mornings?"
Me - “Yes.”
Man – “Boy, that's the one thing I can’t go without.”
Me – “Yeah, me too, gotta get that caffeine.”
Man – “You’re welcome to bring your coffee maker over, (with a whisper and a wink) cuz’ I brought my generator, it’s whisper quiet.”
Me – “We don’t use a coffee maker.”
Man – “What? Then, how do you make your coffee?”
Me – “We manually grind our beans with this grinder and then we use the French press, no electricity. Best camp coffee ever.”
Man – “What’s a French press?”
Me – “It’s this.” (show him the press)
Man – “Huh, well, if you change your mind! (with a whisper and a wink) I’ll be running it for just a few minutes in the morning, and it IS whisper quiet.”

Our coffee is ready within about 5 minutes every morning. Put the water on, grind the beans, steep, plunge. Drink.

He ran his whisper quiet generator (and it was really quiet for a generator) for about half an hour each morning for his coffee.

Buy yourself a French press, and leave your generator at home.

-Leah