Lunch at South County Cafe
Ride leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Joni Forman, Lois Lightfoot, Karen Morgan, Lisa Petersen, Patricia Sanders, Mary Scala
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54852607 a 32 mi visit to Deale for brunch at the South County Cafe, followed by a trip south on Rt 2 to Fairhaven to ride the newly-reopened McKendree Road.
Weather: Sunny with a light layer of clouds, around 60 at the start rising to an unanticipated 70 degrees by early afternoon, and far windier than expected: a 5 on the Beaufort scale ("fresh breeze," enough to have blown at least one empty trash wheelie bin and one plastic garbage can lid into the road).
Mishaps and mechanicals: none
AMS: 12.5
A beautiful sunny, breezy day and a very pleasant ride. We never need an excuse to visit South County Cafe, and the route there on Greenock, Brooks Woods, Nutwell, Franklin Gibson and Deale Rd never fails to entertain and thrill -- especially today, with cross winds over 20 mph on the descent into Deale. This was our first visit to McKendree since it was closed last fall for the replacement of a culvert. As far as I could tell as I was flying by (McKendree is a twisty roller coaster at the point where you pass the culvert) they did a lovely job, too. I wasn't entirely pleased with the route, though: I was sure there was a traffic light at Fairhaven and MD-2 but no, just a stop sign; we should have stayed on Rt 2 rather than turning off onto Old Solomons Island Rd, avoiding the crossing. I'll modify the route to make that change.
