Day 52: Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, NJ

The weather is improving.  It was two degrees warmer yesterday when I started riding than it had been the day before when Alea had stopped riding.  There hasn't been any sun to speak of, but the winds have died down and are mainly coming from behind us.  It looks as though we are now just north of the rain.

An aqueduct and train trestle in Phillipsburg, NJ.

We were within sight of the Delaware River much of the day, on roads with very little traffic.  We still have the occasional steep climb to deal with, though most of the riding is flat or rolling hills.

Hmmm... I wonder why we haven't seen any fifth wheels or motor coaches today?

It seems that every bridge over the Delaware River is posted to require cyclists to dismount and walk across.  So I did that a couple of times today, including along I-80 at the end of the day.

The midway point of the I-80 pedestrian path.

Our daily drama took place at Worthington State Forest Campground.  We learned when we arrived that pets are not permitted here.  Fortunately for us, the place was nearly deserted, so we were allowed to stay on condition that Lana remain in the cabin.  The sites here are all primitive, but hot showers are available.  The base price is $20, plus another $5 for being a non-resident and another $5 for a booking fee.  That's not any kind of a bargain, but it is incredibly scenic here.

We tried leaving Lana in the cabin for a while, but she couldn't understand why she had to be stuck inside the camper.  At first we drove a few miles down the road to a place where we could play ball with Lana, figuring if she was well worn out that she'd be happy enough in the camper.  But tired or not, she wanted to be outside with us.  At first we set up the screen door on Alea's side of the cabin and moved our chairs next to her.  That worked well enough, especially once we decided to leave the bottom of the door unzipped.

But after 5 pm we decided to re-position the van and camper so that my side of the camper wasn't visible from the campground loop road (in case the police or a ranger happened by).  Then we chained her up to the picnic table and we all sat out around the campfire for a couple of hours.

I suspect all these dog rules are the result of these campgrounds being located so close to so many large metropolitan areas.  The message to the locals is to board your dogs for the weekend - don't bring them with you.  Of course that doesn't work for us, so it creates another layer of complexity in our daily trip planning.  For the coming weekend, we managed to get one of a handful of sites where dogs are allowed at Taconic State Park.  The vast majority of private campsites allow pets, so we've usually got an option if we can't get into a public park.