September 5                                Solomons, Maryland

On our earlier trip in 2008 to this area, we had docked at a lovely marina in Solomons, just a short distance north of the mouth of the Potomac River. We decided we would make a return visit but would choose a different marina.  That proved to be a good decision and a bad decision.  The marina was well located and we were pleased that we could easily ride our bikes into the town.  The marina also had a very good seafood restaurant.  The negative part of our choice was that the marina was inadequate to care for a boat our size and the dock help was untrained.  Fortunately, the weather remained calm and the boat was secure though the old dock was not very strong.

Solomons is a charming small town with an impressive waterside area and lovely little churches. Our bike ride was almost finished when I unwisely decided to make a reverse turn by stopping with my foot on a curb.  This threw me off-balance and with the wheel turned to the side and no longer in motion, the bike slowly fell onto the pavement of the street.  I abruptly made contact with the rough asphalt, cutting my chin, bruising my knee, and scraping both hands.  Traffic behind me came to an abrupt halt and a motorcyclist quickly came to my aid.  He apparently had watched many ER shows on television because he kept giving me instructions to “lie still, say my name, etc.”  Blood was streaming from the small cut on my hand and I appeared to be more injured than I was.  David helped me to my feet and we slowly walked the short distance to the boat.  I was grateful to have escaped with so little physical damage.

After cleaning my face and hands, examining the bike for damage (there was none), and overcoming my embarrassment, we went to dinner.  David decided to have steamed clams and was given a large bucket filled with them, all covered in Old Bay Seasoning. Using a mallet to crack the shells, he began the tedious task of separating the meat from the body and claws of each clam.  An hour and twenty minutes later, he finally finished his last one.  It was a lot of work but he deemed it a worthy effort!