Along with produce farms, we passed several horse farms, much to budding equestrian Olivia's delight. During a stop at a convenience store, a woman started chatting with Charkes and Olivia. She was Sandy Winter, a 1972 graduate from Malden High School who runs 4STEPS Therapeutic Riding Program from her home in Parsonsburg, Md., just down the road. She invited Olivia to stop by and pet the horses, and 20 minutes later Olivia was off her bike and on top of Zephyr, beaming, while they took a few turns.
They packed up the kids and pedaled 235 miles in six days
(Page 3 of 3)
We reconvened at Furnace Town Living Heritage Museum, where we toured the 19th-century iron furnace and re-created industrial village. Olivia and Elizabeth honed in on the gift shop's prairie bonnets, which they purchased and lived in the rest of the week. Ren was stuck with grocery duties with his mother and me, but the rest of the kids hightailed it to the campground pool at Pocomoke River State Forest and Park.
Cycling out the next day through the tiny historic riverfront town of Snow Hill, Md., we discovered we'd missed the annual Blessing of the Combines by a few days. We stopped for lunch at the larger historic town of Berlin, Md., once a popular stop for Colonial travelers.
The 37-mile-long Assateague Island, an hour away by bike, was our pot of gold, and we were not disappointed.
``If we had come here first, no one would have wanted to leave," Will Skerrett said as he surveyed our sandy campsite a dune away from the Atlantic Ocean.
The island's 140 or so wild horses, or ``Assateague ponies," while quite beautiful, are also quite the pests. They make daily rounds of the campsites, seeing what's on the menu, while tourists photograph their every move.
Half the group spent our free day at the beach, while some of us headed to the adjacent national seashore. Finally we saw crabs - being examined by park rangers and being caught by visitors. My husband and I rented a canoe, while Ren and Walsh did a little clam digging.
Ren used a camp stove to steam his lone find. His review? ``It was chewy."
We had a big treat on this night. Will Skerrett's parents, who, coincidentally, live in nearby Georgetown, Del., delivered pizza, perfect crab cakes, and ice-cold drinks. Life was good, even if it had topped 100 degrees that day and the kids couldn't stop playing in the sand after their showers.
We passed several enticing beach towns before reaching our final campground: lively Ocean City, Md., small-town Bethany Beach, and old-fashioned Rehoboth. Our campground at Cape Henlopen State Park, known for its World War II lookout towers, was only a 10-minute walk from the ocean.
The scenery reversed on our final day of riding, in Delaware. We zipped by more lovely historic towns - Lewes, Milton, and Milford. And having left the ocean, it was back to that other sea - of corn.
Diane Daniel, a freelance writer based in North Carolina, can be reached at diane@bydianedaniel.com.
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