New Jersey -- One Big Off Ramp or More?
By Forrest MacCormack

Location: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Date: June 9, 2000

Hello everyone from Delaware Water Gap, PA

Finally it is hot! I'm in heaven... sort of. I'm not really a person who cares too much for cold weather. Once it gets much below 68 degrees, it is too cold for me. I crave warm weather. I know that sounds strange to most folks but I get along fine with hot weather.

I woke one night in Maine and had frost all over my tent and bike. I had a hard time sleeping because I wasn't warm enough. Despite the fact that I was wearing two jackets, gloves, long johns, two pair of socks, had a shirt wrapped around my head for warmth and was inside a sleeping bag. I was cold.

Later in the day. I'm pedaling on one of the hottest days of the year. Well I said I like hot weather but this is brutal. 94 degrees and my head feels like it is in an oven. I've staving off heat exhaustion by going real slow and drinking lots of water. LOTS of water. I bought myself a gallon jug of water and put that on the back of the bike. I have plenty of water. I still like the heat better than cold... even though I'm a bit uncomfortable.

I've bicycled through some of the most beautiful countryside in America in the past few days. New Jersey! The region around the Delaware River in Northwest NJ is amazingly pristine and beautiful. Just today I've seen several wild turkeys along the road, seen numerous woodchucks, deer by the dozens, and have listened to the amazing song of cardinals and orioles resonate in the trees of the forests as I rode my bike past. The clarity of the birds' singing was not diluted by urban noise. Yes... IN NEW JERSEY!

Experiencing New Jersey from interstate I-95 and a trip or two into Newark in the past, limited my perception of the state to those thin slices of a mostly urban setting. I can't say I was ever intrigued with New Jersey in the past. I perceived the state as one big off ramp connected to a freeway. Not my idea of pristine or pretty. But after biking down a large portion of the Delaware River, I'm now intrigued. It definitely is a diverse state.

Peace,

Forrest

Forrest Stuart MacCormack Photographer (703) 241-1374 FAX: (703) 241-0764

Check out my website: http://www.fsmphoto.com