September 28, 2022 Day 5 around Princeton New Jersey 121.7 miles
Today started out mostly sunny and ended mostly cloudy. We traveled multiple lane roads today. For the most part these are smoother and some actually have shoulders. We drove through small towns, horse country, farmland and mansion areas. The most memorable town was Cranbury. School was about to start and I think there were more crossing guards than kids. It’s a pretty little town with numerous unique stores. All the housing today looked middle to high end. Our first stop was Monmouth Battlefield State Park. This was the site of another major battle of the Revolutionary War. Surprisingly both sides claimed victory. Historians call it a draw. The historian at the park showed a video and answered questions about the battle and conditions at the time. He loved to talk about the time period. He was supposed to talk for an hour and then repeat the presentation. He just ran from one story to the next without stopping. Then it was off to Sandy Hook. This is a small peninsula that sits between the Atlantic Ocean and the New York Harbor. It has lots of nice beaches some nude and some not. It has served as a military fort for a long time. Now it is favored by beach goers and bird watchers. The housing is in need of repairs but must have been nice at one time. One of the oldest operational light houses is located here as well. Unfortunately it was not open. We had lunch at the small sandwich shop located near the light house. Touring the area was on our own. We drove around some and then parked in one of the lots and walked a short distance to the edge of the sand. Off to our left we could see Manhattan. Out of the park was a line of houses that had the Atlantic on one side and the harbor on the other. I bet those are worth a lot of money. They didn’t have yards to care for however. The return trip took us back to the battlefield for ice cream bars from another Good Humor truck. The car radiator is leaking again so we went back to a Napa store to get some stop leak. Rob put this in the radiator after we returned to the hotel. We passed many very small signs that marked historical events or locations along todays route. We didn’t stop to read them and they were certainly too small to read from a moving car. We miss the turnouts that we have in Idaho to view historical signage. We did pass the inn where George Washington had breakfast before the big battle. Also passed the house where the British general had stayed. Supposedly many of the roads we traveled today were in existence during the war and were used by the armies. I bet they were really rough then and the road markings have not improved very much.
Spoffords Travel 