"Gas prices aren't great, but they're not that horrible"
Everything was in place to kick off a summer of discontent.
Ever-rising gasoline prices. Grim economic news. Global environmental worries. Election year partisan wrangling.
None of it intruded at Rehoboth Beach early Saturday, though, as Miles, Lexi and Riley Keogh of Alexandria, Va., opened Memorial Day weekend playing tag with a gentle surf.
"We came over early, so we missed a lot of the traffic," Miles said during a break in the action on the city's storm-battered but recovering beach. "It wasn't the worst we've ever been in. I'd say it's probably in the top third. Gas prices aren't great, but they're not that horrible."
So it went, as much of Delaware crowded highways, beaches, stores and backyards for a mildly defiant entry into summer despite gasoline prices near and above $4 a gallon in some areas.
"It's Memorial Day weekend and it's sunny and warm, and it was forecast that way in the Washington area, so people are here," said Bethany Beach councilman Stephen Wode.
"Memorial weekend weather in the past has been lousy. I've heard all the reports about the price of gas and rentals are up and rentals are down, but I see a lot of traffic where I am."
Early reports from Dover put mid-day traffic flows on the Del. 1 toll road only slightly off last year's pace, when Memorial Day coincided with NASCAR races at Dover Downs.
"It was a little heavier last year. This week it's a little more spread out," said Dot Ottinger, acting DelDOT toll sergeant at the Dover toll plaza.
George Panerello, owner of All Wheels Bike and Scooter Shop, looked on the bright side Saturday as he buzzed along a side street in a two-seat, three-wheeled Tango scooter.
"I own a diesel pickup, and between scooter bikes and these things, I'm going to try to not drive my truck unless I have to tow something," Panerello said. "Not a person who has bought a scooter or bike hasn't commented about gas prices and trying to save money and how vindictive they are toward the oil companies."
Along Del. 1 near a busy Dover Air Force Base, travelers could catch glimpses in the distance of the original reason for Memorial Day.
White, corporate-size jets owned by Kalitta Air waited in the sun to ferry home fallen troops whose final journey passes through the large military mortuary at Dover. The Ypsilanti, Mich., based company was chosen for the duty in late 2006, after a national outcry over instances of impersonal handling of the remains of some troops lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"There are a lot of flags out, I noticed, coming in to the post today that I haven't seen before," said Fred Dobrzynski, sergeant at arms at American Legion Post 5 in Rehoboth Beach. "It looks like people are keeping it in mind. We'll have to see on Friday, when we have the official ceremony at the bandstand."
The Friday event will mark the original "Decoration Day" set aside after the Civil War to honor fallen soldiers. Congress moved the official day to the fourth Monday in May in 1971.
Near Frankford, farm and farm market owner Alyssa Ziff found May 2008 a world apart from last Memorial Day, when a worsening drought led to disastrous losses later in the year for farmers across Delaware.
Ziff, who grows everything from tomatoes and eggplants to corn and grains, described traffic Friday as "outrageous."
"We're very busy," said Ziff, who owns East View Farms. "Most of my business is fairly local, but I have a lot of out-of-state customers. In fact, I have like six cars in the yard right now."
Fritz and Joyce Ackerman of Wilmington spent Saturday morning pedaling along the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk with a granddaughter.
"We came down last weekend to beat the Memorial Day rush," Joyce Ackerman said.
source: delawareonline.com
