Day 2: Philadelphia to Newark, DE

Last night, Brooks and I had dinner at the American Sardine Bar not far from Brook’s house. I had two sardine sliders and some fries. I never had sardine sliders before and they were pretty good.

Brooks informed me of a jigsaw puzzle that he saw online that featured Thomas Stevens, the first person to cycle around the world. I was impressed that he did it in the 1880s on a penny-farthing bicycle! I'm only about 140 years behind. Anyway, Brooks said that when he finishes the puzzle he'll replace the name Thomas Stevens with mine. LOL!

When we came back I took a shower and soon went to bed around 9:30 PM. Usually I go to bed around sunset so 9:30 is a bit late for me. I’m sure I’ll be sleeping fewer hours since I’m traveling.

This morning, I got up around sunrise while Brooks was still sleeping. I organized my stuff and waited for Brooks to wake up. When he was finally up he suggested that I should get breakfast at the Two Eagles Cafe that’s right on the corner of his street. I wasn’t hungry, but I decided to get a Western Omelette anyway just in case if I don’t find something in the next two hours. Western Omelette was my go-to breakfast on my 2018 bike tour and it still is.

Me and Brooks

After breakfast, Brooks and I bid farewell and I started riding out of Philadelphia around 8:30. The traffic, the road, the noise, and the debris made the riding horrible. And I almost got hit by a car door when the driver opened it without looking. Good thing I dodged it at the last minute. I would never ride that road again.

Also note, I decided to use the Komoot app and bought their world map to navigate since I heard that’s a lot better than Google Maps when it comes to cycling directions.

One of many resting spots

Good thing I ate breakfast early. I didn’t see any restaurants until I got to Wilmington, Delaware, around 1 PM.

Riverwalk in Wilmington, DE

I was trying to find a place to eat lunch and I spotted Jimmy John’s right on the main drag of downtown Wilmington. I was able to lock my bike in front of the store so I can see it while I had a sandwich.

More importantly, I wanted to charge my phone since I’ve been using Komoot the whole time and it really drained my battery. You'll never guess this, all the outlets are near the ceiling and none are reachable without a ladder.

Finally, a worker was able to charge my phone near where they worked. She later told me that the manager doesn’t allow her to do that, but he’s not in today. I wondered if the manager’s policy is to prevent the homeless from charging their devices.

As I sat in Jimmy John’s waiting for my phone to charge, I started to have second thoughts about cycling the world. The road coming out of Philadelphia was so bad that it took the fun out of cycling. I started to question myself, what is the point of doing this? Yes, I want to see the world, but does it have to be cycling? One thing I know for sure, I will cycle my way down to Florida to my friend Ed’s wedding by May 13. What I’ll do after I will decide then.

Riding on the trail is a delight!

I still had about 15 miles to ride to my Warmshowers host Rodolfo’s place in Newark, Delaware, from Wilmington. If I was riding, my average speed is 8 miles per hour, but my overall speed is only 5 miles per hour taken into account of all the breaks. And I took more breaks the more I rode since I get tired easily.

I ended up riding south to New Castle from Wilmington then west to Newark. That’s the safer path according to Komoot.

I noticed the gasoline price in Delaware is cheaper than Pennsylvania. I saw one station’s regular gas was below $3 per gallon! Not that I need to worry since I’m riding a human powered vehicle.

At 5:20 PM, I arrived at Rodolfo’s house, where he lives with his wife, Hali. After I settled in, I took a shower while Rodolfo attended a web meeting and Hali went to the gym. Rodolfo let me finish the last of the ice cream made at the University of Delaware. It was so good that it's worth the 47 mile ride today! We will be having dinner soon and Hali is cooking some mashed potatoes with bacon. Yum yum!

I don't think I can ride another 45+ miles tomorrow. My body aches and my sit-bone hurts. I will ask Rodolfo and Hali if I can take a rest day here tomorrow.