Great Ride Dangerous error!

After taking care of things around the house I loaded the trike into the SUV and got ready for a ride. I drove the 5.5 miles from my home to the D & R Canal tow path at Blackwell's Mills crossing. I unloaded the trike and got my self ready for the ride. I then noticed that I had forgotten my shoes with my cleats on and had one of three choices, cancel the ride, go back home and get the shoes or ride with my New Balance athletic shoes. I chose the later. So off I went heading west toward Rocky Hill which is 7 miles give or take a tenth of a mile. This leg of the tow path is a lot harder due to the rough terrain. Lots of pebbles and uneven surface, and two spill ways where you must walk across. I was doing real well despite that I was missing my shoes, and was proceeding at 10 mph most of the way, until I hit a real bad section and my foot came off the pedal and dropped to the ground. I was very lucky that my foot did not get sucked under the front cross member and tie-rod. I then decided to slow down in-order to avoid these holes. I made it to Rocky Hill and started back, and maintained a 9 mph 99% of the way and the return was uneventful. I will never forget my shoes again. The tow path goes by some beautiful sections of forest land and a mixture of fields. All in all it was a beautiful 14 miles, which I will repeat soon.