Allspice Westward

 11/19- Onanoncock VA    We left the farm early in the hopes of getting a jump on traffic. Siri had us bouncing around on a bunch of side roads as I was just hoping she wouldn’t lead me off the edge of some cliff. The closer we got to Norfolk the busier the traffic was. Now we were on the expressway and trying to follow the winding path that was being drawn for us. We actually had to stop and get inspected before entering one of the tunnels under bay. This proved to be the woman asking if our propane was off, which it was. Back we went into the rat maze. We finally popped out and drove onto the Chesapeake Bridge and tunnel.     This is a 16 mile long bridge tunnel that crosses the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Fortunately the wind was not an issue and we drove along peacefully. We watched pelicans soaring and diving out in the bay. At the end we stopped at the welcome center and took a short walk out to an old gun emplacement. They had this huge gun that was use...

 11/18- Pinetop Farm, Corapeake NC    We got right back on the ferry we took yesterday. We had 2 options, one was to take a ferry to the mainland. This ferry was almost 3 hours long and you had to have a reservation. The other option was to go back the way we came and take the free ferry for an hour ride. Guess which one we took. As it turned out we had to wait a while at the ferry landing as they had to do monthly life boat drills.     By the time we got back to the Hatteras lighthouse it was lunch time. We did get to visit the museum which had been closed the day before. They had a nice exhibit about how they moved the lighthouse and another about the uboat attacks in WW II.     We opted to take a slightly different route and headed west across Pamlico Sound where we crossed the Alligator River draw bridge. We had crossed under this bridge both coming and going on our boat trip south. From there it was swamp for miles. The road was mostly s...

 11/17- Ocracoke campground, Ocracoke NC    We started out the day heading back to the beach to see if Alayne’s hat had washed up. No luck was had as I guess old King Neptune needed a new hat for his collection. The drive was mostly in a straight line through all kinds of commercial enterprises. It amazed me the amount of traffic here. Every cross street had a stop light. I assume in the summer you probably need them just to get on the road.     We finally got to the National Seashore road and the commercialism thinned out. It would seem that some of these communities are pretty far out there but still it is summer tourism keeping them going. The road in places is all but in the ocean. In fact in one place the waves were breaking on the shoulder of the road and it was not yet high tide. The sand is everywhere and I bet they have trouble keeping it out of their houses and everywhere else.     We stopped at the Hatteras lighthouse and took a wa...

 11/16- Kill Devil Hill NC    We started today off by doing a bunch of rv chores such as laundry and some maintenance stuff. We managed to get everything done by around noon. Then it was such a fine day with temps in the 70’s that we thought a bike ride to the beach was in order.     It was only a 2 1/2 mile ride to the beach. It was a very nice beach and we immediately found a couple of shark teeth to add to our collection. Then as we were walking down the beach I guess old king Neptune must have wanted Alayne’s hat. It had blown out into the waves and when Alayne bent to retrieve it a wave flattened her. Everything got soaked and now she had to ride back.      The rest of the day was pretty plain after that. At least it was still nice and warm and the sun helped to dry things out. That gave us a little excitement on an otherwise uninspiring day and we did manage to get the bikes out.       I’m thinking we will head a bit...

 11/15- OBX campground, Kill Devil Hills NC   I want to thank everyone for all the suggested stops for us but we decided in the end that we wanted a little more recent history.     The ride here was relatively uninteresting as we back tracked a bit and then after crossing the James River AGAIN we drove down the same road we traveled yesterday. There were not very many cars out on the road so it made it more relaxing for me. We did have to circumvent Norfolk which didn’t turn out to be too bad. We did stumble onto a toll road and discovered we were without cash. Turns out this toll road took credit cards.     We then buzzed down the coast onto the barrier island. Once we left Virginia and entered North Carolina the commercialism went rampant. There were all kinds of attempts to get you to open your wallet and spend money. Even once we got onto the Outer Banks barrier island the stores just increased. I’m pretty certain I would not want to be here i...

 11/14- Cul’s Courthouse Grille, Charles City VA     It was very nice this morning getting up to the sound of birds chirping away outside the camper. Of course there was the occasional bomb of a walnut falling onto the roof to keep you on your toes.      It was a gorgeous day as we pulled up to the ferry across the James River. This is the first time we have been on a ferry with the camper. The sun was out and it was a tad chilly but the river was calm and we crossed uneventfully. We then motored to Historic Jamestown passing by the Jamestown Settlement. It was interesting that this is really two parks. One side is a national park which we could enter for free and the other side is privately owned and they charged. As it turns out the private side which is owned by a preservation group was much more interesting. We had a really good tour guide and she brought the whole place to life for us. Viewing a lot of the old foundations was ok but after a while one p...

 11/13- Chippokes State Park, Surry VA    The last few days have been very windy. Even at night the van gets rocked by the bigger gusts. Driving along the park roads there were at least 7 or 8 big trees across the road. The Park service must of had a pretty busy couple of mornings dealing with that. I have to say after walking in these woods a bit there are a lot of dead and dying trees. It was a little eerie the the other day listening to the trees moan and groan in the wind.     The road out of Lynchburg was nice with not much traffic. It was however like a roller coaster going up and down repeatedly. It was like driving over drapes. The road was pretty straight except for the up and down direction.     We rolled on down out of the mountains and onto the piedmont. I would never have realized that Virginia had this much just open land. Even once we got close to Richmond there was still a lot of farm land and forests.     We pu...

 11/12- Lynchburg VA    Last night was not quite as cold as the furnace actually shut down on occasion. The morning was slightly warmer as we could see somewhat out of the frozen windows. The van did really well while the furnace struggled with the cold we didn’t freeze. It only used about a third of the propane and the battery was down to about 42%. I thought about hooking up the solar panel but you can’t charge lithium batteries below 32 degrees.      We drove off down the Slyline Drive twisting and turning and stopping at more lookouts. We stopped at one place and decided to do a quick hike. The sign said it was a half mile in and out. Turns out it was about a half mile up also. It did lead to a very pretty lookout at the top of a big cliff.      We got to the end of Skyline Drive and then had to decide where we were going next. After lunch we headed right onto the  Blue Ridge Parkway. Here we go twisting and turning again. This is no...

  11/11- Big Meadow Campground        We pretty much froze our butts off last night. The furnace ran almost all night and the windows were all covered in ice in the morning. We stayed tucked under the covers as long as possible before braving the elements.        We waited a while for the sun to come up but even that didn’t seem to help much. So we went for a hike. It started out nice and level and we saw lots of deer. In fact I would call these pet deer as they were not at all afraid of us. We could walk right up to them before they decided to notice us. After about a mile the trail dropped down into a steep valley. We were at this point following the stream. Eventually we reached the bottom and were treated to a spectacular waterfall. It was even warmer down in this deep crevice.        We then followed a fire road back up to Skyline drive and crossed over to the Appalachian trail which took us back to the campsite. It w...

  11/10- Big Meadow Campground, Shenandoah National Park        We climbed out from under the covers a bit later than usual and just got going. We started out on the highway again blowing along at 70 mph. It was very windy today so it was a chore keeping the van between the white lines. It was chilly also with the temps in the mid forties.    We didn’t have that far to go today and so we were happy to get off the highway early before much traffic.        In the town of Front Royal is where the Skyline drive begins and we wanted to drive it to the campground. Siri tried her hardest to keep us away from it redirecting us away at every opportunity. We prevailed eventually and drove up onto the Skyline drive.        There were many spectacular vistas and at first we were stopping at every turn out. It’s kind of like the Grand Canyon you can only look at it for so long before it all looks the same. It is still very pr...

 11/9- Hagerstown MD    We got on the road around nine and decided to stay off the interstate for a while. We cruised down to Port Jervis where I think we somehow managed to get into 3 states. We wound around a bunch of roads that were twisty and didn’t seem to be going anywhere useful. Finally we crossed the Delaware River and entered the Delaware Water Gap park.      I have been through this several times and it is more of a summer recreation area than a scenic drive. It was just a drive through the woods until you reached the border then you realized what you were missing(?!?). Commercialism at its finest was on display now. This was the Poconos where every variety of hotel, gas station, and casino were lining the road.     Here we hit the highway again and roared down eastern Pennsylvania through Wind Gap, Allentown, and Lehigh. Now we were on the main artery of trucks moving across the country. We pulled into a Loves for a break and ther...

 Nov 8- Wurtsboro NY    Well here we are on the road again. After a little stutter step or deke we drove deep into the countryside today. We had stopped at my Mom’s house last night and helped her out by doing a bunch of chores. I think she needs the company as much as she needs the work done. Anyway I did a bunch of chores while Alayne chatted away with Mom.      In the morning we went out for breakfast before hitting the road again. I must have been hiding in a closet for the past couple of months as there were an enormous amount of people out driving. It was a beautiful day and the roads were just filled with folks traveling. We drove through a very populated part of New England and every highway we meandered down was filled with cars.     We stopped at a Walmart to pick up some supplies and that place was crazy. The parking lot was at maximum capacity. I generally like people but usually only in twos or threes. This was overwhelming. Afte...