I saw a variety of Delaware roads today. Some beautiful country lanes, some residential subdivisions and some busy highways with mostly reasonable shoulders.

I also saw a little too much of the Hatem Bridge due to an oversight I made…

Things started out well. First sunny day on the trip and even some tail winds. First order of business was to try ordering an Uber to get myself and gear across the bridge.

Without much delay a driver arrived. He wasn’t so sure about the bike, but I showed him how the bags came off and even the front wheel. I had paid extra for UberXL and it fit fine in the Honda Pilot with half seat down.

The driver was mostly watching and seemed impatient (learned later I was charged extra for a “waiting fee”). So I hurried to get everything packed. That was my mistake…

We drove across the bridge. He parked blocking others by a Dunkin so once again I hurried …

Yes, you guessed it… I had forgotten one crucial element, the quick release that attaches my front wheel to the bike was missing. I had a guess where it could be. In my haste, I might have set it somewhere.

So I called back to the motel. Could they check out front, perhaps on top of the large green box out front? They couldn’t find it – not in my room at all. We seemed to have a communication gap.

I filed in the Uber app when you lose something. The driver told me it wasn’t in his car. However we also had a language barrier and I couldn’t ask to check at the motel.

Not much to do, but somehow get myself back across the bridge. I tried Uber and nobody picked up. I tried hitchhiking for a bit, with thumb out in one hand and phone/Uber app waiting in the other… Nope.

Third choice was to look for the bus, which fortunately came about an hour after I arrived. I locked up my bike and put everything in my duffel and got the bus across the bridge. However it didn’t easily go to Super 8 and by now I also had a plan B… get to a bike shop just in case the skewer really was missing.

Buses in Harford County MD are not easy. It would take three buses to get to the bike shop. Google Maps didn’t agree on schedules. One driver let me know to transfer to a second bus.

I took the second bus. It went the wrong direction – but that turned out to be lucky. The driver went to McDonald’s to stop for an early lunch layover – and that turned out to be close to the Super 8.

I dashed over and fortunately the skewer was exactly where I guessed. So now I didn’t need to get to the bike shop (Bike Doctor in Bel Air MD sound like nice people – I let them know I wasn’t coming).

One more step was to catch a bus back the third time across the bridge. Fortunately this was also fast…

Here is a view from the bus. Hard to tell but no shoulders and highway traffic. Glad I didn’t try riding yesterday in the rain.

All this took about five hours. One Uber, many Uber attempts, three buses – all because I let myself get rushed. Oh well…

At least it was nice weather with a strong breeze, tailwind for now. It was easier cycling than yesterday.

The first 15 miles were still busy Pulaski Highway and I stopped after the first eight miles for lunch.

After this came a stretch of ~15 miles of delightful small roads where I also crossed into Delaware. Lots of residential and suburban areas.

There was a bridge over the canal with small shoulders but traffic wasn’t too bad.

I headed further south and that tailwind turned into a sharp crosswind. The weather forecast said small craft advisory. My cycling brim which keeps the sun out – was now a liability as the wind pushed on.

The last miles looked more like this and became busy through Middletown and Smyrna. By now it was later afternoon and I felt tired enough to stop for the day.

The strava link for today – tells me 44.80 miles, 4:06:30 moving time for an average moving speed of 10.9mph. Flatter today with only 1456 feet of elevation gained. 3636 calories burned.