Day 35: Goodbye Delaware: we’ll miss your flatness

We did it!  All of our stuff is stuffed in the truck and we can still out of the rear view mirror. Mission accomplished!

The Pasleys have a long-running practice of stretching our hands across the dashboard in a competition to be the first to enter the next state, county, etc. However, as we left Delaware at the same place on Route 404 where we entered a month, ago Betsy and I jutted our arms backward in an attempt to be the last to leave Delaware.

It really was a “small wonder”.

As I have said before the thing that surprised me the most about Delaware was the amount of agriculture and the rural character of much of the state. Simply put; Delaware was a lot more like Texas than I expected it to be.

Another thing that surprised me was how much the roads in Delaware resemble the roads in Texas.

First of all they are in very good condition and the parts that are not seem to be under construction; often with the contractor working under the lights at night, a practice pioneered in Texas.

Like Texas highways, the Delaware state roads often have wide shoulders.

There are some significant differences however. Delaware is far more aggressive in striping those wide shoulders for bike lanes, and requiring developers to provide bike lanes, than is Texas.

Another noticeable difference is the attention paid to drainage.

TxDOT does a spectacular job of draining its rural highways, using a center crown and what we in Texas call a “bar ditch”, which is essentially a grassy swale on either side of the highway that removes the water. Unless there is a flood condition it is rare to encounter standing water on a TxDOT facility.

Delaware roads are much different in this regard.

Most of Delaware is flat as a pancake. Thus, you would think, that if any state should be concerned about drainage it would be Delaware. But that is not the case. DelDOT roads are virtually flat and there are no bar ditches. As a result, even a relatively light shower produces puddles in the main lanes.

Another huge difference between DelDot and TxDot is speed limits. As a general rule I would say the speed limits in Delaware (and Maryland too) are set about 10 mph less than they should be. DelDot loves to change the speed limit; from 25, then 30, then 35, then 40 - all in a half-mile stretch. After that you can go miles without seeing any signage to reinforce the existing speed limit. As a result, as the locals whizzed around me, I was often left wondering if the speed limit had changed and I missed the sign.

We stopped in Annapolis for lunch with Tex and Laurel and then headed into the Maryland panhandle on I-70, crossing into Pennsylvania about 5 p. m.

The change in topography was dramatic. In this part of the Maryland it can be a real challenge just to find a flat spot.

We arrived at the peak of Mt. Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania, about 5:30 and were treated to some spectacular views from an observation tower that allows one to see out over the treetops.

It was windy and there was a fairly intense rain shower on a portion of I-70, but by the time we reached the highpoint it was clear and quite comfortable.

We twisted and turned through hills and farms to the Flight 93 Memorial, but arrived at 7:30 and it closed at 7. Twenty more miles of twists and turns and nice farms and pleasant vistas brought us to Johnstown and the perfect trifecta of a Holiday Inn Express, a beer store and a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The trifecta had a downside however, because of Pennsylvania’s liquor laws. Only cases of beer could be sold at the beer store. Normally that would not have been a problem but with space in the truck at a premium we passed on a case of Pennsylvania beer.