Across The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

 When we returned from our winter stay in California last March, we went a route to avoid the mountains of Pennsylvania. We crossed the southern states on the I-20 and turned straight north after reaching the I-95 then chose the Chesapeake Bay route crossing on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Besides of a beautiful scenery and the ferry ride between Delaware and New Jersey one avoids the big traffic in the Philly and Washington/Baltimore .

And today, we again crossed the Chesapeake Bay again. The weather was more than beautiful (a little too hot) and reaching the turn-out behind the toll station, we stopped there for lunch. 

There was not the slightest movement of any wave on the water. The bay lay before us like a mirror.

Of course, at the southern end of the bridge is Virginia Beach with a traffic chaos of its own. You gotta make your way through Norfolk as well. We opted for HWY 58 which runs west to the small city of Emporia, VA.

There is a small Walmart with a huge parking lot right beside the I-95. We could access it from Hwy 58. Now, it was only 3:30pm when we pulled in, but soon after 5 other rigs came in.

I went shopping at WallyMart searching for beer, and lo and behold, I lucked out this time.

Since darkness comes early these days we retired inside waiting for cooler nightly air. 

Tomorrow we will catch up with the trusty old I-95 again sliding farther south into the Carolinas

In "THE FIRST STATE"

 "The First State" or Delaware is our current location. This morning we took off from Lakewood, NJ heading towards the coast. After only about 2hrs. we reached Cape May and the ferry point terminal for the Cape May - Lewes ferry. Our reservation was for 1pm, but we were early and they took us across on the 9:30 departure. 

               At ferry terminal, waiting for the ferry

Now, there has always been something special with being on a ship for me. A sense of excitement, anticipation and fun fills me, and so I went around "exploring" the ferry, though I have used it 2 times earlier. 

           "All aboard" Looking down to our rig

        Part of the ferry terminal buildings at Cape May

                 2 tug boats beside the ferry dock

                     Heading out

                Part of the Cape May coast line

                                                                                                      Bea looking for birds

                   Ferry leaving Lewes again

I had to buy a cup of coffee which I took with me back into the van where Dixie had fallen into a deep sleep, despite a considerable noise level from the ship's engines. Bea kept her camera directed towards seabirds, hoping to discover the rare species, she hasn't seen before. She has become a whole-hearted birder.

So when the ferry arrived at Lewes, DE it was only 11am. We had planned to make this a relaxing day by checking in at Henlopen State Park, but check-in was not before 1pm. Meanwhile, we parked in the ferry terminal parking lot, had lunch until it was 12 noon. A try to call the State Park went unsuccessful, so we just took a chance and went the 2miles up to the park entrance. Registration was at the Camp store where the friendly lady thought she could park us in a 35ft-long site. But that turned out to be impossible with the trailer being 32ft and the van another 20ft. At the end we got one of the biggest sites at over 120ft, even though we had to pay another 10bucks.

After setting up camp we left with Dixie for a walk - destination: beach. 

The trail leads through a beautiful forest area with pine trees, some of which are really huge. After crossing a road the trail goes down to a beautiful beach. Quite a big surf was crashing onto the shore, the whole scenery absolutely stunningly beautiful.

 

BUT it was hot. Even the water temps are amazingly high, around 66F, I guess. (I almost got my feet wet) In the distance we saw a bunch of surfers in the water. A lot of people were here too, all enjoying the beautiful unseasonably warm weather.

Getting back to camp we were soaked, and Dixie had her tongue out. After a change of clothes to a more summerly outfit, we recovered from the hot walk in the shade of the trees in front of our rig.

The stay at Henlopen State Park will be a lasting positive memory with us.

We avoided "The Big Apple"

 If you live in New England or the East Coast of Canada (like we) and you intend to travel south along the coast, you would want to avoid NYC or, as it is called "The Big Apple".

        Crossing the mighty Hudson River at Newburgh

We did just that today and it did go quite well, though I must say there were a lot of nutcases on the road. 

Not too much traffic in Hartford CT

I was thinking of my dashcam which has filming every hazardous action out there. Quite a few people on the road must have a secret desire to kill themselves.

The "Hunt is on"

Pulling a trailer down the road however, keeps you mostly in the right lane and with moderate speeds. So I noticed that all the lanes on my left were way more busy than the one I was keeping my eyes on. I couldn't but wonder how many people don't know how to join traffic when the come from a side road. Some just never speed up and others try to drive right beside of you until their lane ends, just to hit the brakes before colliding with you. Others seem to be completely unaware that their vehicle is equipped with turn lights, and others yet, don't know that their car has brakes. The steering wheel and the accelerator seem to be the only thing they know how to use.

I haven't yet reported about our 4-legged passenger Dixie. After 2 days on the road she has fully adapted to travelling in the van.

                     Ms. Dixie - traveling luxury class

She is an unbelievable darling and when we are parked somewhere, she observes our surroundings, and if anyone should try to get close to the rig her bark rings out and we must investigate.

So how far did we get today? We are parked at Camp Walmart along Hwy 9, and we have about 2hrs to the Cape May - Lewes Ferry.

  Camp Walmart

In NY- State

Being at Walmart I thought to get a 6-pack of beer, but I had to learn that the state of New Jersey has strict alcohol laws and does not permit their people to enjoy a beer. At least not bought in a grocery place. Across the road is a LOWES, would they have beer? Oh sorry, yes I know, they don't, just glue for sniffing there.

We Are Heading South - YAHOO!!!

Hello everyone.

time has come to start the trail south. As of this morning we are rolling south towards what hopefully will be our "winter summer".

Even though the weather at home did not put any pressure on us to get out of Dodge, after all it was still 67-69F, but we also know it won't last forever and who wants to take off in a rain storm - or worse, a snow storm?

The early morning hours had been chilly enough lately, and soon it will get really cold.

We probably have run a couple of miles back and forth between the house and the trailer until everything was stowed away, some of which found space in the huge cargo box in our van.

So today we rolled off the homey premises and hit the highway. Now, I was extremely curious how the new rear differential we had installed would work out, towing the 7500lbs of trailer weight. After all, I had spent $1800 on the change-over.

Now, at the end of the day, and 314miles of hilly driving through Maine, I am happy to say that driving was finally back to normal, (that was Bea's term) And "normal" was what we once had with our old 4-speed Chev Express, keeping up with the flow of traffic. Our newer Express has a 6-speed and driving it with the old differential of 3:42 was just awful. The new 4:10 brings lots of more torque to the table.

We had a great day in beautiful weather and found the same parking spot as we had last year, the NH Liquor and Wine sales along the I-95. Needless to say, I paid a visit to this outstanding collection of the finest from all over the world. (lol.) And I didn't emerge empty-handed from said visit.

One can hear the highway from here but a tired driver and co-pilot will find great sleep here, once traffic declines on the interstate.

So, this is going to be an interesting trip, and YOU can follow it if you re-visit this blog daily.