On the road

July 24, 2008 Departed Richmond, VA for Maryland. Crossed the Potomac River on the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge, a 1.7 mile, two-lane continuous truss bridge. One of many spectacular bridges in the Northeast, the land of many bridges. Noticed rampant amounts of crepe myrtles in this area…the land of many myrtles!

Stopped in Solomons, MD, situated at the Patuxent River mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Dry camped one night next to a lovely corn field, on Dan McManus’s sister’s land on the river. Managing to reconnect with good friends is a special highlight for our travels. Dan lives in Tulsa, but was in Solomons for his annual family vacation. We all went to a Kenny Loggins concert that evening for a big flashback of the ’80’s. The outdoor concert was a pleasantly short walk from our campsite in the cornfield.

July 25-28, 2008 Annapolis, MD. We stayed at Duncan’s Family Campground in Lothian, MD. Looked at several sailboats in Annapolis. We test drove a Smart car at the local Mercedes dealership. I think it’s a fantastic concept. An eco-friendly car made out of recyclable materials. You can easily change it’s color with changeable body panels! To get out on the water of the Chesapeake Bay, we took a sunset cruise on the 72′ Woodwind Schooner. It was a wet and wild ride at speeds around 10-12 knots.

July 28-31, 2008 Baltimore, MD. Stayed at Bar Harbor RV park in Abingdon, Maryland. Corn fields everywhere. Lots of fresh produce stands. Lots of small graveyards next to churches.

Baltimore was a fun and funky city with a special spark. We took the water taxi to several destinations in the Inner Harbor, including Fort McHenry where, during the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the “Star Spangled Banner”.

July 18-24, 2008. A hunker down and work week. One week in Richmond was plenty! Hot, humid and yes, tons of hungry mosquitoes. Stayed at Kosmo RV Park. Bare bones park with a great rocket ship that I was delighted to play on. One evening we attended a 3rd division soccer game. Our sightseeing consisted of a drive through (but did not stay thank God) Hollywood Cemetery. It’s the final resting place for many Civil War soldiers and Generals, and Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler. I must say that it was the most beautiful cemetery I’ve ever seen.

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July10-18. Interesting drive from Kitty Hawk to Williamsburg — all the places you’ve heard of — Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Hampton Roads, Portsmouth, Chesapeake. Stayed at the American Heritage RV Park in North Williamsburg, ventured out to Jamestown, took a ferry to Surry, drove through Newport News and Hampton, then celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being on the road in Yorktown, VA. We strolled through Historic Williamsburg one evening and got out of there before the ghost tours started!

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The Outer Banks

July 5-10, 2008. Northern coast of North Carolina: lots of quaint cities with marinas. Some of our stops included: Wilmington, Morehead City, New Bern, Ocracoke, Waves and Kitty Hawk. New Bern, NC. is a nice place to visit. Donny Helbich with Neptune Yacht Sales showed us several fine sailboats. He was a wealth of knowledge, as he had spent many years living and sailing on boats, with wife and two large dogs at first. Then they starting having children, which they homeschooled while living and traveling the Caribbean on a 38′, then 42 footer after the 2nd child came along.

A 2 hour ferry ride from Cedar Island to Ocracoke, NC. Bus rocked along with the ferry. Met an interesting character, Ricardo, who has been living on the road for a few years. His mode of transportation is a bicycle. He crochets hats for children to sell as his only source of income. He finds things on the highways and byways, such as a digital camera with a tripod. Hmmm. He plans to write a book about his life, and will title it “Ricky”. He talked of his disgruntled attitude about the government, health care system, and particular family members. He was hungry and tired. I made a huge sandwich and gave him some other food for the road. He was very thankful. Disembarking the ferry we had to drive through the main part of the village that had very narrow roads, with lots of foot and bicycle traffic. It was harrowing. Found a beach side parking lot to dry camp in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Rode bikes through the village and had dinner by the water. It rained that evening and the next day.

To finish off the Outer Bank, we visited the Wright Brothers National Park and Memorial in Kitty Hawk. I had to see the grounds where man’s first flight occurred in a wheelchair…some bizarre foot ailment besieged my left foot. I think it was gout! :-/

July 2, 2008 left Charlotte for Conway, SC to the Glendinning factory parking lot. The next morning they molded a new head on the end of our 50 amp power cord while the cord was still attached to the power reel inside our bus. Pretty cool. This was a repair that had been delayed because of the complications of removing the reel and shipping. Jim is elated that he can use the power reel and not lug the separate power cord in and out of the bus every time we hook up.

We spent one night at a lovely RV resort in Longs, SC. Willow Creek had spacious sites, nice landscaping, a lake with paddle boats, huge pool, and game room with the works.

July 4, 2008 drove to Cherry Grove, SC, a beach town north of Myrtle Beach. Mainly tourist cottages and restaurants. We found a great spot to dry camp, behind a seafood warehouse! Spent the day and evening on the beach and in the ocean. Kept moving our beach “camp” back towards the sand dunes because of high tide. We were up against it with dune-to-dune people to watch fireworks. It was perfect weather and the water temp was inviting. We were absolutely “blown away” by the fireworks display that was launched from a pier very near to us. The reflections of the explosions in the Atlantic Ocean were not only beautiful, but included the significance of our independence from GB. Don’t miss the pics of Flaming Amy’s.