White Knuckles, Horse Chuckles and Two Forks

(2022 Newfoundland Ep 1)

When we decided to travel north to cooler temps and magnificent vistas in the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland, we knew getting there would pose some driving challenges.

Ed had white knuckles as we drove from Virginia to the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. The four lane (two each direction) bridge portions of the 17.6 mile crossing weren’t bad, but the two one-mile-long tunnels (with one lane each way) were stressful. What if Oscar hit the side, what if we had a flat tire, what if Max had engine problems, what if…

But we made it!

View of tanker as we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel

As we approached one of the tunnels we saw a Navy Destroyer on one side and a large tanker on the other, both at eye level.

Proceeding northward on the Delmarva peninsula, we camped a couple nights at Maryland’s Pocomoke River State Park. We visited nearby Assateague Island National Seashore, where we rode our bicycles across a bridge to the barrier island and then several miles south passing nearly full parking lots and crowded beaches.

The highlight of the ride was seeing the wild horses that roam Assateague – you see their ‘evidence’ everywhere. When we stopped to watch and take photos of a group of nearby horses, the horses turned toward us and passed within 10 feet of Ed!

The next day was our second while knuckle experience as we traveled on the New Jersey Turnpike and crossed the George Washington Bridge to skirt New York City. Traffic was heavy and it began to rain.

But we made it!

White knuckle crossing on George Washington Bridge

We continued toward our Long Island campground for a four night stay and learned something critical. Our GPS routed us via the Cross Island Parkway. As we neared the parkway entrance, we saw signs indicating ‘car traffic only, bridge clearance 7 ft 11 in.’ We quickly rerouted to I-295. Had we continued on the parkway it would have been disastrous – Oscar is 11 ft 6 in tall!

It turns out all parkways in the area have low bridges and accommodate cars only.

We drove to the northeastern end (called the North Fork) of Long Island one day, past numerous farms and vineyards. Among them was Lavender By the Bay, with acres and acres of purple-flowered sweet smelling lavender.

The next day we went to the end of the South Fork to the Montauk Point Lighthouse. The lighthouse is the fourth oldest active lighthouse in the United States, authorized by George Washington in 1792 and completed four years later. We climbed 137 steps to enjoy the view from the top of the 110 ft lighthouse.