Day 1

I launched yesterday from Long Branch, NJ and rode 79.7 miles to my home in Feasterville, PA.  The graffiti in Long Branch was well done but apart from that the town wasn't too interesting and a little run down.  I chose long branch as the starting location because it was, for the most part, the shortest route across NJ.  Drivers in NJ were surprisingly well behaved and the road quality was bearable.  Much of the scenery was the same small houses and fields over and over.  Occasionally new housing developments popped up in the middle of the farmlands; the large estate style homes were completed but unoccupied.  I took 206 into Trenton then crossed the Delaware river on Bridge St.  Trenton is my least favorite city in general and riding a bike through it solidified this opinion.  The roads are bumpy  from being patched and re-patched dozens of times, it was a mosaic of concrete, asphalt, and stone. My house is only about 10 miles from the Delaware river so it was a quick ride home on familiar roads once I crossed into PA.
     
The trailer will be the most consistent issue on the trip.  On the flats and downhill it's stable and nearly unnoticeable.  However, climbing and standing while pedaling are a big hassle.  The bike instantly become weighed down on hills and it doesn't help that I've only got a double chain ring.  While standing the entire bike flexes like a wet noodle.  If this becomes too much of a hindrance I'll look to swap out some cassette gears for easier climbs.       

As for now I'm at home and continuing on tomorrow morning.  I'm using today to finalize everything and reorganize and adjust my route, gear, and bike.  Tomorrows goal is to camp around Lancaster, most of my route will be along US 30 once I'm west of Norristown.