Day 22: To Exmore, VA

May 7, 2017

I walked to breakfast at a pancake house on the boardwalk 2 blocks from my hotel. Today will be a short easy day, but I don't know how long it will take to get across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

I arrived in Virginia Beach just before sunset yesterday. It was obvious that morning sun would provide better views. I was pleased that the morning dawned cloud-free. The boardwalk looked great.

Virginia Beach "boardwalk" in glorious morning sun.

During this tour I passed other historic Coast Guard stations. Also a couple of historic Lifesaving Service stations. I had never heard of the U.S. Lifesaving Service. The agency was created to rescue shipwrecked sailors. Lifesaving stations were established in the areas known to have frequent shipwrecks. I should have visited the Lifesaving Service museum on the Outer Banks.

Historic Coast Guard station on the boardwalk at Virginia Beach.

People were out exercising on the boardwalk. Temperature was about 60F, so it was a bit too chilly to sit still.

The separate bike path is used by pedestrians more than cyclists.

The concrete boardwalk is 3 miles long, lined with high rise buildings. At the north end I went out on the beach for the first and last time here. That gives a very different perspective compared to the views from the boardwalk.

After the boardwalk ended I continued north on Pacific Avenue, US 60. That road wraps around the east and north shore of Virginia Beach. On the north shore the name changes to Shore Drive. It's a multi-lane road but has a separate bike/ped path. Virginia Beach is the largest city on my tour route but pedaling across the city was surprisingly easy. Most of the roads are bike friendly and the navigation is very simple. Today is Sunday, so I presume the traffic is more troublesome other days of the week.

This is in Fort Story, in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

In the northeast corner of Virginia Beach is an army post called Fort Story. Inside the base is a lighthouse built in 1791. I was less than half a mile from the lighthouse but never saw it because the view is obscured by trees. I don't have a military ID, so I can't get into Fort Story.

The north shore of Virginia Beach faces Chesapeake Bay but has a partial ocean view because the opening is 18 miles wide.

The north shore of Virginia Beach faces Chesapeake Bay. But it still has some waves and ocean views because the mouth of the bay is extremely wide.

There was construction on the small bridge before the Chesapeake Bay bridge. The bike/ped path was only 3 feet wide. A couple of pedestrians going the opposite direction had to literally climb around me because I occupied the entire width of the path.

Super narrow ped/bike path because of construction. Bikes will have the entire bridge when the new bridge is finished. Chesapeake Bay bridge visible on the right.

Somehow I expected the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to be very tall, but most of the bridge is only 20 feet above the water. Even that low, I could see the bridge from miles away.

The last 3 miles to the bridge entrance was not bike friendly. A 6 lane suburban road with curbs, no bike lane. Many cars turning in and out of the shopping centers.

Before the tour I researched how to get across the bridge. I found a web site for a company that advertised shuttle service, but when I called the company I was told that they now only do shuttles for the bridge near Baltimore.

I didn't know what to do, so I tried hitch hiking across the bridge. I stopped on the entrance ramp, made my bike very visible, and waved a $20 bill while thumbing for a ride. Nobody stopped. Nobody even looked at me. There were basically no pickup trucks crossing the bridge. It was all cars.

After a fruitless half hour of thumbing for a ride, a bridge policeman drove up and asked me if I want to get across the bridge, and if I can pay the $13 toll. He said they can transport me across the bridge if I pay the toll. So I pedaled up to the toll plaza and the cop went to find a bridge authority employee to help me. A guy was available, but his only vehicle was a car. He has transported upright bikes in the back seat before, but I explained that my recumbent is too long to go in the back seat of a car.

The bridge authority employee had to drive to the opposite end of the 18 mile bridge to retrieve a pickup truck. That took an hour. I arrived at the south end of the bridge at 10:30. He dropped me off at the north end of the bridge at 12:30. It took 2 hours to get across the bridge.

View from the bridge authority truck that transported me across the 18 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The first of two tunnels is visible on the right.

There is no town and no store at the north end of the bridge, but there is a resort a couple miles away. I had lunch at the resort. It has a nice view of Chesapeake Bay. For the rest of the day there were no services of any kind.

North end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Both ends have a tall section for small ships. Large ships go over the tunnels in the middle.

Lunch stop at a bay side resort just north of the bridge tunnel.

After lunch I still had another 40 miles to the next town with a motel, Exmore. The most direct route would be on US 13, a busy 4 lane highway. Fortunately there are parallel roads that have almost no traffic. And the first 3 miles was on a bike trail parallel to US 13. The rest of the day was on VA 600 which had maybe one car per minute. Delightful.

North of the bridge is a 3 mile bike trail adjacent to US 13.

I didn't have high expectations about the DelMarVa peninsula because I knew it has no ocean views. But I found it to be a great cycling region. The back roads parallel to US 13 have basically no traffic.

I saw farms for the first time on this tour. Also frequent tiny villages of very old houses. Not exactly spectacular scenery, but consistently good scenery.

Nearly every building I saw appeared to be built before 1900. This area is sufficiently isolated from the "mainland" that it remains sparsely populated.

I found the southern DelMarVa peninsula to be quaint and charming.

The DelMarVa peninsula is where I transition from "the south" to "the north". Today I'm still hearing a southern accent, but it is much more mild than it was at the beginning of the tour. Today I saw only one Confederate battle flag.

Farm scenes are rare in the coastal lowlands.

The southernmost part of the peninsula is totally flat. The terrain becomes more gently rolling as I go north. It's an easy ride and most of the time there are enough trees around to weaken the wind.

I really enjoyed looking at the farms. Farms are a rare novelty on this tour. A welcome change from endless forests.

The population density is very low. A farm house here and there. A tiny cluster of houses every 4 or 5 miles. The pattern of tiny villages close together reminds me of New England.

Sand dunes in the middle of nowhere. Not near the ocean.

Today had a high of only 65F with a gentle north wind. Just about perfect when the sun was shining. The morning was totally sunny but the afternoon was mostly cloudy.

Tunnel of trees on VA 600 south of Exmore.

I arrived in the sleepy town of Exmore at 6:35 PM and got a $77 room at Quality Inn. Dinner at a Mexican restaurant 1/4 mile away.

Today was a day of great contrast, beginning on the urban boardwalk at Virginia Beach and ending in rural farm country on the southern DelMarVa peninsula.

Distance: 53.5 mi. (85.6 km)
Climbing: 358 ft. (108 m)
Average Speed: 9.7 mph (15.5 km/h)

Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 1,011 miles (1,627 km)

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