We both woke up earlier than anticipated. Who knows why? It's been beautiful sleeping weather and we've been able to have the doors and windows open most days. We wanted to get an early start because we were going around Washington D.C., Richmond, and Norfolk today, so we left at 9:00 hoping to avoid some of the traffic. We have 262 miles to go today to get to our destination in Virginia Beach. At first, traffic was less congested due to it being Sunday. Going around Washington D.C. was not a problem. We could see the White House dome and the Washington Monument way off in the distance, but the road was too bumpy to capture a decent picture. We crossed the Potomac River into Virginia.
We stopped for gas outside of Richmond where gas was $2.15/gal. ($2.10/gal.with our Good Sam discount at a Flying J gas station). We've had to stop for gas with the trailer attached only one or twice on our trip so far and when we do our Next Exit book comes in very handy. (It's a guide for Exit services on the Interstate system that are RV friendly.) We crossed the James, Rappahonnock, and Elizabeth Rivers before leaving the Interstate to take secondary Hwy. 460 towards Norfolk.
Traffic was very light on I-295 around Richmond, but traffic was pretty heavy everywhere else for the most part. We drove along the northern tip of the Dismal Swamp. It doesn't look like much from the highway.
The Dismal Swamp Canal is a waterway that we've been through on our boat in 2011 on our way to Chesapeake Bay. The Great Dismal Swamp is a swamp in SE Virginia and NE North Carolina. The Dismal Swamp Canal is on the eastern edge of the swamp. It's the oldest continually operated man-made canal in the U.S. It was opened in 1805 and is part of the Intracoastal Waterway with a lock on each end. This cool bridge over the southern arm of the Elizabeth River looked like the same design as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay.
We finally arrived in Virginia Beach and got into our KOA campground at 2:30.
We are here for 4 nights, so we are looking forward to staying in one place to explore some of the sights. We are in site # 241 with no one on either side of us….for now.
Auggie took up residence in the next site and claimed it for his own. He was on the lookout for that one elusive squirrel we saw coming in here.
The thermometer said 81 degrees, but we had a nice cooling breeze. We sat outside with Auggie. He was persistent and finally his wish came through. Two squirrels finally appeared and tempted him until he couldn't stand it anymore.
We distracted him until the squirrels ran off. This will be our home-sweet-home for only 2 more weeks and then we'll be home, unless a hurricane threatens our location and we have to return sooner.
We're watching the weather and the next tropical depression which is near Barbados and headed for the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. We should know more by Wednesday. We had dinner and took a walk around the campground which is pretty empty tonight. We'll all rest well after the long drive today.
