DAY 10 EXMORE TO OCEAN CITY MD TO WINCHESTER VA

Left Exmore this morning under clearing skies and shirt sleeve weather. Headed north up the Virginia peninsula towards Ocean City Md. Ocean City is the eastern terminus of US 50 our road west.

By the time we got there it was high 40's with a strong wind coming off the ocean. Nice lady at the welcome center sent us to a city parking lot that during the "season" fills to capacity early in the day. We got there and besides our bikes there was maybe three other cars and room for hundreds. We walked the boardwalk and most of the bars and tourist traps were shuttered and empty, the whole place had a desolate feel that will be gone in a month when the "season" is here. Looking at the empty stacked deck chairs and steel shuttered windows reminded me of a Jimmy Buffett song

They're closin' down the hangout
The air is turnin' cool
They're shuttin' off the superslide
The kids are back in school

The tourist traps are empty
Vacancy abounds
Almost like it used to be
Before the circus came to town

Chorus:
That's when it always happens
The same time every year
I come down to talk to me
When the coast is clear.

Well that's the way the place looked to me.
Took the necessary pictures at the mileage to Sacramento sign over the road at the start of 50. West on 50 actually takes you north then across the bay to Annapolis and then to Washington DC. DC was a challenging ride that caused the muscles in your neck and back to knot. Light rain, roads under construction, rush hour on the beltway. It all adds up to less than enjoyable for a while.

Once out of traffic and back westbound on 50 the scenery and the weather just continued to improve as we quickly left the suburbs. Soon we were on roads that narrowed through small towns with buildings dating back to civil war or in some cases revolutionary times. In between towns we found farms interspersed with small private label vineyards.

A good day with a great start and a great finish. If you look at a map we took VA 13 to 113 to Ocean City then 50 to DC and from DC, a little bit more of Virginia tomorrow.