Maple Shade to Philly bike ride

http://www.phillyburbs.com/00redesign/news/local/tacony-palmyra-repairs-highlight-lack-of-bike-access/article_49639d30-a6b6-5b8d-b1f2-2185f3e321ea.html

Today's bike ride:  Maple Shade, NJ to Philadelphia via Tacony-Palmyra bridge and back

Objective:  Buy Banjo Brothers Saddlebag Pannier
Destination:  Bicycle Stable
Weather: 39 - 36 degrees Fahrenheit

Total Distance: 29 miles

Total Time: 4.5 hours

It started off nice and easy.  I wanted to go Northwest to the Tacony-Palmyra bridge to catch a view in the sunlight, but I ended up heading West and ultimately through Camden via Federal St.  When I realized I had gone the opposite direction, I decided to take PATCO to Philly from the Walter Rand Transportation Center.  PATCO rail only cost $2.40 for a one-way, and I was in Philadelphia in 5 minutes after waiting another 5.  I got out on 8th St., and I immediately fell in love with all of the bike paths Philly has to offer.  Although south Jersey has some in Camden and other parts of Camden county, it's definitely lacking in a lot of areas in the state.

I take a quick 10-15 ride north to Bicycle Stable in Frankford, and the guys couldn't be nicer.  I was surprised to see that not only did they carry Banjo Brothers, but also the exact rear saddlebag pannier in red that I had wanted.  It cost $65 (8% sales tax?!!  Yabba Dabba Doo!) and took a minute to put onto my bike rack.

It is really spacious, yet I'll reinforce it because it seems like it'll break if I have cans along with other groceries and roll over bumps and whatnot.

The ride from Bicycle Stable to the Tacony-Palmyra bridge was a little longer than expected, mainly because I chose a road with a lot of stop signs.  Even north Philly has a ton of bike paths, and I only had to ride with traffic twice because people were entering/exiting a strip mall and crowding the bike lane.

Walking over the bridge was lovely because I just caught the sunset, and the oranges and purples hovered over Philly like a mother singing sweet lullabies to her newborn in the crib.  I saw a lot of deer prancing around and took chase to see if I could live in their world, but they were too shy.  Instead, I played Air Guitar outside of the NJ State Police HQ in Palmyra.  It just seemed appropriate.

I stopped at a pizzeria, that was open, but not open because of renovation, but was still open...or so the sweet pizzeria mama told me.  I asked if she could heat up a slice, and she said no, so I wished them a happy new year and took off.

Swerving and weaving, I didn't have a care in the world...until the cars behind me started honking...then I straightened out my act.

I found another pizzeria, had two slices, went to the bank, and cruised on home.