thevcblog: Eastern Shore Ride Day 4 - Salisbury to Chincoteague

No stinky chicken houses today! Instead it was a beautiful ride through forests and wildlife refuges.

There was light rain all day, which was actually no big deal, and a nice tailwind. We knocked out 55 miles and we were done by 4:00. All in all, a terrific day of riding.

We rode by the Nassawango Iron Furnace, which is a historical landmark. They made bog iron here in the 1830s. There used to be several furnaces in Elkridge where I live in that time period, but they are gone now. likely because their bricks were valuable and were reused. Also because they exploded when the river flooded while they were in blast. The Nassawango furnace is intact and preserved. Probably because it's in the middle of a swamp far from anything and it was never worth salvaging the bricks.

The whole site is a museum, with various support buildings still there that were part of the iron-making operation.

It's all run by the Nature Conservancy.

Lunch was at the scenic town of Snow Hill.

And just a bit later, we crossed into Virginia. We had a lot of quiet back roads today.

We are in Chincoteague tonight.

Chincoteague is an island between the mainland and Assateague Island, which is a long barrier island next to the ocean. Assateague is famously home to wild ponies, which possibly descend from the survivors of a shipwreck in the 1500s. The herd is managed by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department, who round them up every year and auction some off to keep the herd at a sustainable level. Sure beats running a Bingo game.

To get to Chincoteague, you have to ride down a 5 mile causeway, which mostly has no shoulder and is pretty much no fun. One side of the causeway has billboard after ugly billboard.

Chincoteague is a popular low-key vacation spot in the summer. There is a nice undeveloped beach on Assateague, which is a wildlife refuge with fantastic birding. This time of year, it's pretty dead.

There are a couple restaurants open, and I had a ton of oysters for dinner at Danny's.

There are two big motels right at the bridge, a Comfort Inn and a Hampton Inn. The Comfort Inn is cheaper, and humorously, the Comfort Inn's parking lot is jam-packed with work trucks, while the Hampton Inn is deserted. You know you have the right place when all the highway crews are staying there.

The Comfort Inn is really nice, especially for a Comfort Inns.