It's not the most common way people choose when they go north into the New England States but it has certain benefits and a big draw-back. I am talking about the outer route to avoid being swallowed up in big city traffic through Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Leaving our camp in South Carolina, we went north on the I-95 to Emporia, North Carolina. From there Highway 58 is heading east via Suffolk to Norfolk. From Norfolk we took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. But the problem is getting through Norfolk, a city-monster of the worst imaginable. Not only it is the horrible traffic, but worse still is missing signage to the Chesapeake BBT.
Once we reached it, our stress turned to relaxation. There is a low speed limit of 55mph and seemingly they enforce it as well. So exciting to drive on a road which all-of-a-sudden dives under the surface of the bay, while ships are happily sailing above crossing the tunnel. And then the road appears like a new-born Poseidon out from the depth and continues along bridges. But like Poseidon you get another chance to explore the depth of the Chesapeake Bay when the second tunnel swallows your vehicle. The tunnel then spits you out to more bridges until you reach Cape Charles, VA.
We stayed overnight in a big parking lot where the bridges are ending. There is a beautiful nature trail with overlook across the salt mashes. What a pleasure to walk there in utter peace after the stressful crossing through Norfolk.
The area once was of strategic importance under WWII when German submarines and warships were feared. A huge cannon was built, able to shoot at targets 25 miles away. The cannon I measured to be 23m (82ft) long. A true monster. However, it was never fired!
 |
| Overlook salt marsh |
The trip to Lewes took 3 hours and just like in Norfolk,VA the signage to the ferry terminal was abysmal. But we made it to the ferry terminal 2.5hrs. early. We were let into the staging lines as the first vehicle for the ferry departure at 12:15pm.
 |
| Our arrival at Lewes,DE ferry terminal Courtesy WEBCAM |
We knew that the ticket building has a webcam from where the full staging area can be seen. So we called our family in Germany. They went online and could see us, waving at them. So much fun! Bea's brother even watched our arrival at Cape May on the New Jersey side.
The next 2.5hours we drove along the Garden State Parkway (toll road) ending our day at the Walmart in Freehold, NJ. We have used this overnight location a couple of times earlier. It is rather quiet and peaceful here.
Because of expected frost, we bought plumbing antifreeze here to fill into our fresh water tank. Yes, we can't use it for anything else than the toilet, but that way we can let it go into water lines.
.jpg)
Approaching Cape May 
This image shows the arrival of our ferry at Cape May, NJ
Courtesy WEBCAM