Tri-City Rails to Trails Harvest Ride 11-5-19

27 hardy Tuesday groupers turned out to ride through early morning sporadic rain on Election Day. Lots of folks donned wild and crazy socks for the occasion which was documented in pics taken. Starting in Portsmouth, we rode a short .5 mile crossing over into Chesapeake where our first stop was to check out one of three farms we visited during our ride. The horses and cows took notice of those soggy looking folks on the other side of the fence. At this point we turned onto a hard packed and gravel trail for a bit and then took a neighborhood street cut through to the newly paved section of the Western Branch Trail. Another interesting shortcut had us walking around some pot holes, but avoiding busy traffic to cross over into Suffolk and connect to the Seaboard Coastal Trail.

Our weather improved and by the time we reached the Driver end of the trail, the sun had come out and temps warmed up nicely. Still not sure what that dinosaur was about, but he provided a good background for more pics. We retraced our route and made a stop at the Lilley farm where Carolyn Lilley talked about the past 100 year history of the farm. She also provided us with decorated tables for our picnic lunch and delicious samples of pickled pumpkin, strawberry and strawberry pepper jam along with local honey, all made with products from the farm. After lunch, several folks entered the corn maze which provided a challenging adventure. Not so easy to do, even with a map! We then hopped back on our bikes for a short ride over to Ron and Sue's place for ice cream. All seemed to enjoy this new ride, so maybe we can do it again next year.

Sue

To view Bob M's Great Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DkanouJsjBbJXEzN9