This is a continuation of the previous post. I am writing the Point E to Point I on the map in this post.
Type: Long Trip (Multiple Days)
Distance: 626 miles (This leg 305 miles)
Riding Time: 11 hours 3 min according to Google Map
(5 hours 41 min this leg)
Now, the return trip. It was 7.5 hours (including some breaks) coming back to Maryland.
Point F:
The highlight of the return trip was this modern marvel, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. (Don't get confused with Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which I wrote in detail last week. I later crossed it in this trip too,) According to the Wikipedia article, this 23 miles long combination of bridges and tunnel was named one of the "Seven Engineering Wonder in the World" by American Society of Civil Engineers in the '60s. It is a system of 12 miles (19 km) of trestle, two 1-mile (1.6 km) long tunnels, four artificial islands, two high-level bridges, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) of causeway, and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) of approach roads. It is too large to be captured in a single photo, so here is a representative stock picture.
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| Courtesy of vbbound.com |
The picture above kind of shows a system and a scale of this structure. It shows probably about 40 percent of the system. (Note: this picture is looking from the Eastern shore heading to West. I went the opposite way, but you'll get the idea.) As you can see, the road approaches from the shore (at this point you have already gone through another large bridge and a small island), goes over a large bridge, long stretch of trestles, then the road disappears into the ocean. Actually, the trestle ends at a small artificial island, and dips into an underground tunnel, then come back out on to another artificial island. Then you have more trestle, ... repeat this pattern one more time.
There was a fishing piar on this island, and there were many people fishing there. In fact, that seemed to be the majority of the traffic this day. You can actually turn around on this island and head back to the western shore of Virginia. So, people come here to fish, or tourist come to see the bridge, and head right back to where they came from. After passing this island, the traffic was less. Judging from the number of people, and the fact that you have to pay 12 dollars to get there, it must be a pretty good fishing point.
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| This pic. came from longestbridges.com. A kind of a neat site. |
The toll was $12. It's a kind of steep but if you really want to go somewhere in the Eastern shore of Virginia, this saves a ton of time. Just think about the alternative. You would be going all the way up to DC, then MD, cross over the other Bay Bridge from Annapolis, then come back down all the way to the Virginia side of the peninsula. It easily shaves off 10 hours in good traffic. Well, I found out that many people enters this bridge-tunnel don't cross to the other side. I will get to that in a minute.
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| Photo from marinerchesapeake.com |
The ride is fun. Four lanes on a water. It makes you feel like you are flying just above the water. Then you reach this artificial island. There are total of four such islands, but they let you get out on only the most Western shore side one. You make a right, right before the road goes down into the tunnel to pull into the parking lot.
Just as I was pulling into the parking lot, I saw a huge, white cruise ship passing through the channel, then a large cargo ship goes into the channel in the opposite direction. It was a bit surreal. I wish I was there a 5 minutes earlier, so that I could take a picture of it.
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| This was a cargo ship just pass the channel. |
The bridge-tunnel continues for another 10 miles though. This is just the first island/tunnel entrance. It's definitely a unique experience. The other side of tunnel-bridge is a nature preserve. It has a beautiful beach there. I am not sure if you are allowed to set foot on it though.
From Point F to Point G
There is really not much special for another 110 miles. It is not a bad scenery though. I like riding through firm lands.
Point G
Actually, there is not much for even longer if you don't get off the highway in a small city of Salisbury. If you google map the route, it comes out like this.
Right at the junction of US-13 and US-50, the route makes a big loop and avoids this town all together. In fact, these two main highways avoids the town. It got me curious. What is hidden from the travelers? Why did this town chose to let the highway constructed this way? So, I decided to take a this way instead, and see what's out there.
I was kind of expecting run down, forgotten city. Like so many ghost towns and semi ghost towns you see in Colorado. The town in a middle of nowhere once thrived and now forgotten. Not so. This is a city very much alive today, complete with a university. I later learned that it is actually a largest city in Eastern shore. It left me perplexed though. How does some city survive, and some goes down?
The ride was pretty smooth up to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (yes, the other bay bridge : ). Essentially re-tracing part of the previous week's route. As I approach the Bay Bridge, the cloud has descended and it started to rain. The good thing was that the view was beautiful in totally different way from the previous week. The foggy rain made a view surreal. The bad thing was, the rain started just as I approach this 4.3 miles bridge. Well, once you get on the bridge, there is no shoulder nor place to pull over to put on a rain suit. I did have a new rain suit. The replacement for the one got burnt with the saddle bags, but did not have a chance to put it on. In a mean while, the traffic slowed down due to the rain, and made me more wet.
Point I:
By the time I got off the bridge, I was wet anyway. I decided to press on without the rain suit. I as soaking wet by the time I got home. I got home around 7:30. The kids were still awake. They made me promise to take them to my next outing.
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