Day Two - Cumberland MD to Haverstraw NY (423 miles)
After our normal 7:00 a.m. departure we start by heading east on I-68. We pick up I-70 at Hancock for a few miles before we decided to try the old National Road for awhile. We began heading east on U.S. 40 just before Indian Springs. This is a grand old road, straight as an arrow for the most part, but chocked full of old roadside buildings that used to beckon tourists years ago. We passed over the superslab often but stayed on U.S. 40 for as long as we could. At Frederick U.S. 40 hooks back up with I-70 and into Baltimore . We took the beltway around Baltimore and got on MD 2 that took us to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that is U.S. 50 & U.S. 301. Just before the bridge we stopped at Sandy Point State Park for a better view of the bridge. The bridge took us across the bay where hooked up with MD 213. This road, commonly called the Bayside Byway, runs up between the bay and the Atlantic Ocean . It appears flat and featureless to those luckless souls who are intent only on reaching the Atlantic coast's famous beaches. Yet many nice country roads meander along the inlets and tributaries of the much-heralded bay, running through many a small town or village tucked away on the quiet shores. MD 213 runs about 60 miles from Wye Mills in the south up to Fair Hill in the north. Most of the country road twists near, over or alongside scenic bodies of water, both fresh, and salt. Bridges took us over the Chester, Sassafras, and Bohemia rivers, and across Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, part of the Intercostal Waterway. About half way up the peninsula we stopped in the town of Chestertown. This was supposed to be an historic town, but nothing much was open on Sunday afternoon. So we continued up the road in an effort to find some crabs. We made a stop in Chesapeake City underneath a huge bridge, and found the Tap Room restaurant where we pigged out on some of the famous Maryland crabs. Also in Chesapeake City is the famous Bayard House. This looked like a great place to eat, but we couldn't pass up the Tap Room. Continuing on, we jumped on I-495 across a small part of Delaware , and into New Jersey . We had planned on taking some smaller roads in NJ, but we were running behind schedule so just stayed on the NJ Turnpike. The Turnpike is not at all a motorcycle friendly road. The one saving grace was the speed of the traffic. We cruised at 80-90 M.P.H. just keeping with the flow. With the New York skyline off to our right we got onto the Palisades Parkway and followed the Hudson River north. We stopped at one of the scenic overlooks to get a better view of The City. Just into NY we exited the Parkway and traveled north on NY 9W. We passed a decent looking motel (by our standards, which aren't very high), but continued into Haverstraw. We did not find anything better there, so we went back to the Green Motel next to High Tor State Park for the night. We quickly discovered this motel must have been renting rooms by the hour. Several taxis came in and out of the lot while we sat and watched the sights.
