Sleeping outside the church was alright, although it was hard to fall asleep, it being so hot. Ideally I would have slept with no shirt on, but I kept a long-sleeve on to keep the skeeters off. I got about seven hours in. Then I took my time getting ready and packing my bags. I was able to shower at the church, which was nice. I talked to a man who worked at the church, Ken, with whom I had talked the night before, and he suggested taking the ferry to Jersey just a few miles up the road. I had seen the ferry before on the map, but I dismissed the idea because I knew it cost money, and I hadn’t really looked at the map too thoroughly to see that it made so much sense. We looked up the cost, and it was nine fifty. Not too bad.

Taking the ferry instead of going all the way up the Delaware coast into New Jersey cuts out a lot of unnecessary miles. I figured it was worth the ten bucks, although I did have some slight concern about not spending that money on food. Well, that problem happened to solve itself. As I was finishing up packing outside the front of the church, a man (Dennis) walked up with a flat tire on his bike. I asked if he needed a patch, and he replied that a friend was coming. He said he would have me do it, but he had no way to get a hold of his friend now, who was already on his way. We got to talking, about my trip and about a backpacking trip he did through Europe a while ago. After a bit, I said I would go ahead and patch it. So I set to work pulling the rear wheel off. Of course, just as I was getting the tire and tube off, his friend pulled up in a van. I continued working anyway. I finished and put it all back together. Now, even though I couldn’t see him doing it, I knew that while I was patching, Dennis was getting some money to give to me. Don’t ask me how I knew, it was just a gut feeling. I was right. He handed me a ten dollar bill. I told him I didn’t need it, but he insisted, said he wished he had more to give me. I accepted, and off he went in the van. So, the ferry ride was covered.

Boarding the ferry was nice. Everyone was really friendly and helpful. The ride itself was relaxing but not steady. Good reading and writing time for me, though. On the Jersey side: not so friendly. I was walking my bike in the ticket office to find out if they had any maps, and two women yelled at me to get my bike out. They didn’t walk up to me and kindly inform me that bikes are not allowed inside; just yelled, “hey! No bikes in here. Take it outside,” three or four times, even as I was turning around trying to get back outside. Jerks.

The first day riding up through New Jersey was okay. It was really hot again, and the winds got bad at times, often changing directions. I took a few wrong turns that sent me a couple miles out of the way, which didn’t help with morale. Still, I kept my spirits pretty high. As the evening came about and began transitioning to night, I decided I was going to sleep outside a church again. I looked around in the town I was in. The first few seemed pretty uninviting. I generally like some space with a good overhang for shelter and some privacy from the streets and neighbors. I found a Baptist church with little overhang but some people going inside for something. I inquired about camping outside. There was a little picnic spot with tables and some woods right in back. The pastor said it would be fine. He told me it was supposed to storm that night as well: heavy rains, high winds, lightning, flood warning. Well, I hope the rain fly on my hammock is up to par, I thought to myself. Really, I was hoping that someone was going to invite me into their home for a nice sheltered place to sleep. Despite the fact that I talked to the pastor a few times, and he even called the weather service and played the forecast on speaker phone for me: Flash flood warning, sever thunderstorms, heavy rain all night, 15mph winds with gusts up to 30mph or so- he never once mentioned inviting me in, neither to his home or even inside the church. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised, but I wasn’t going to ask. That’s one thing I really don’t do: ask people for any hospitality. If someone invites me in, gives me a place to stay, I may ask to use an amenity, such as a shower or laundry, but I don’t ask people for anything to eat, for money, or for a place to sleep in their home (unless it’s on couchsurfing.com, but that’s a different story).

So I set up my hammock between two trees by the picnic tables. When the sun went down at 9:30, I went to bed. It wasn’t raining then, just really windy. After a bit I fell asleep, but around 11 I was awoken to the beginning of the thunderstorms. Oh man, did it pour. There was lightning as well, but nothing that seemed too close. I wanted to stay up for a bit to make sure that the rain fly on the hammock was going to protect me from the elements. It seemed to be working. As I sought sleep again, however, it did not come. It was just too damn muggy inside that hammock. With the fly on there, it traps all of my body heat and adds it to all the heat and humidity already present. It gets terribly stuffy, as air doesn’t move too freely through. I felt difficulty taking really deep breaths even. But, I was stuck in there; pouring rain outside and beastly hot inside. So I just lay for a while until I could get back to sleep. Every now and again the wind would kick up and blow some cooler air under the rain fly. I got back to sleep, and slept decent, despite a few wake ups later on from the weather.

When I woke up around 8, it was still raining a bit, so I just lay in the hammock for a bit. It let up shortly, just as I was getting to the point of absolute necessity of urination. Perfect timing. Got up and started packing, which always takes much longer post-rain. The pastor showed up again, and we talked a bit. Said there was wireless internet at the church, so I decided to get on and try to find a place to stay for tonight. The forecast the day before called for more rain throughout today, and I knew that I wanted to be in dry place tonight, where I could hopefully do laundry.

It worked out, and tonight I’m staying with a family in Freehold, New Jersey. I’m so very grateful. The ride today wasn’t horrible, with tailwinds most of the time and nice weather. Not nearly as hot today as it has been. Towards the end of the day, however, traffic did get pretty squirrelly. I am finding here, as I move north, there is more of the ‘I, me, mine’ mentality; no one has the patience or compassion to wait for a cyclist to pass by. So I got cut off a few times by people making left turns from the other side and people making right turns as well. Pretty frustrating after the first few times. I’m thinking about setting up a little bin of rocks on my handlebars so I can throw some at cars that cut me off from now on. It’s the only way I have to really get their attention and hopefully make them realize that they nearly killed me.

Tomorrow I may head into Manhattan. I’m a bit weary of going over there, but my friend Max lives there, and I would love to visit him, and it also cuts out a lot of miles, as opposed to going around the city. I’ll figure it out tomorrow, I guess.

looking and feeling a bit rough after sleeping outside. looking at it now, I think I was feeling worse than the picture conveys.

a worldly pirate ship

thanks, i guess

camping outside of church

a nice view this morning