Atlantic City to Ferry and Across the Delaware; 63 miles

No visibility.  Fog and light rain were the prediction.  I had to backtrack through an area of Atlantic City.  As a child, Atlantic City came up at Miss America time in the fall. There was one TV in the house and it would have been unthinkable--Un-American--for a patriotic family to pass on host Bert Parks from Atlantic City with 50 or 51 beauties in the Miss America Pageant. Mothers and daughters would cry  when he would sing.

That was a more innocent time that would bore most younger people; Atlantic City was a dream place then.  The boardwalk and hotels were elegant and an enormous source of pride for New Jersey. It had something that neighboring New York didn't.

I'm sorry Chris Christie, I hope everything works out for you.  You probably want to be President and your weight would undoubtedly be an issue....  I see it is a national point of discussion today. Many boomers remember the glory days...you and Donald Trump can't make it better. Enough.

Atlantic, Baltic, Ventnor. Oh, Monopoly must been inspired by this place!

The town of Ventnor is next. I had a roommate, Rizzo from Philadelphia. His parents had a giant summer house here. This was long before The Sopranos, but the pieces started coming together.

There are a thousand or more intersections between Atlantic City and Cape May at the southern tip of NJ. On a bicycle, every intersection could be a problem. I've drawn the free from jail card: there is almost no traffic.

The giant brick homes of Ventnor and Margate set on postage stamp lots become wood by Ocean City.

I turn and go a couple blocks and ride the boardwalk. The Atlantic to my left, a wall of two- to three-storey perfectly kept summer homes mile after mile after mile. This is the scene for nearly sixty miles except for estuaries and bridges that cars pay $1.50 to cross between towns. I relish my cyclist status, passing free through tolls.

  

Sandy's impact not as great as closer to NYC but it explains the small army of contractors in panel trucks and pickups that are painting, sawing, and generally readying homes and rentals for next month.  That's  about all the human activity here this time of year in this weather  Flat as a pancake, good tailwind, no traffic or rain.

My way of crossing the Delaware.