USA - Warming up

 

We arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia on Saturday, April 26th at The Anvil RV campsite, conveniently close to about a gazillion outlet stores "in case we get tired of sightseeing". Not a chance - the sightseeing was excellent and who would want to exchange that for a shopathon?

 

Our Campsite- more than we could imagine in our wildest dreams!!

When we checked in at the campsite we had great expectations. Bernice was the lady checking us in - a nice lady. Quite relaxed, very friendly and as it turns out a master (or is it mistress or Ms. these days?) of deception. We had noticed a rail line backing on to the campsite. I asked Bernice how often the train comes through. "Oh 2 - 3 times a night" she says with a straight face. “Most folks don't even notice them after the first night”. We took her at (straight) face value and dutifully parked our Baby backing onto the railroad line, about ten feet away, as directed. Something you probably don't know is that our bedroom is in the back of the RV. Well we were still hooking up our water and hydro when the first train roared through. It was like a Jumbo touching down in our living room. The first night was awful and it got worse from there. We stopped counting at about 25 trains and needless to say cut our stay down by a day there as our peace of mind was suffering to say the least.

 

Despite that minor deception, we enjoyed our stay. I have figured why everyone at the campsite, including guests, looked so laid back and dozy - because they were. I choose to forgive Bernice. I mean she has a business to run and it would cease to exist if she gave full disclosure. And now I have a good story to tell.

 

Lock the Doors and Preach till they surrender

Now that we had established a trusting relationship with Bernice we asked her to recommend a good church to go to on Sunday morning. “We had noticed a nice looking Bible Church on the way in. Was that worth trying?” we asked. Bernice looked us in the eye and told us with a straight face that the last she heard they lock the doors of that church once everyone’s in and nobody leaves until they have reached their giving target for that day. We knew we could trust her, so we went to a nice little Charismatic church which played beautiful, restful, melodious music and the preacher preached about how to wash the feet of the needy in this world. We left straightaway as we had filled about a quarter of their parking lot with our Beautiful Baby and I didn’t feel like being parked in for the second service.

Williamsburg’s Historic Triangle

I love history so had a ball getting a better grip on the Historic Triangle which covered the first 150 years of modern day USA history.

Jamestown – The Mayflower with a third rate Marketing Manager

The first 100 or so settlers arrived in Jamestown in 1607, thirteen years before the Mayflower touched down (in Massachusets?). They suffered incredible hardship, with only 20 of the original party left standing within a year. They had a patchy relationship with the local Powhatin Indians which improved a bit when one of the party married Pocahontas ( remember her from the school of Disney?) the main chief’s daughter, but the relationship soon went south again. Bottom line, by the mid 1620’s the little colony was finding its feet and the local farmers had discovered “Brown Gold” ie  Virginia tobacco which formed the basis of an increasingly successful economy and they were all set to go. The Mayflower Mob were still trying to figure out which way the bathwater goes down the hole in the western hemisphere, when the Virginians were sitting on their decks with a good cigar in hand, watching the sun go down.

 

Colonial Williamsburg in 1870 -  Wealth and talk of War

Oh my goodness the Americans do know how to tell a good story and do it all on a grand scale. We discovered we could park our Baby in the massive parking lot and bus it from there to all the major attractions. We noticed one family with four kids dragging themselves home (to the parking lot) late one night and all hopping into their long camper trailer and sleeping over in the parking lot for a night of free accommodation. They were still there when we got back the next morning – a nice idea but we wouldn’t have missed our night of train spotting at our campsite for anything.

All of the staff in Colonial Williamsburg (CW) were dressed the part and could not have been more helpful. We started our day in the garden of the Governor of the Colony and were addressed by the not quite yet President, George Washington. Such a good way to get into the thinking of the day and the part so well played and researched by the actors – also an excellent insight into the reasons for the Colonists throwing off the yoke of Britain. We then ambled through the town and made our way to listen to Martha Washington give her Devotions in which we heard from a woman’s perspective how the war days were. It was inspiring to hear how her faith in God carried her through the death of four children, two husbands, and all of her siblings.

In the afternoon we watched various street scenes including a black preacher who was celebrating the additional freedom he was finding, and celebrating being the first black church to be accepted into the Baptist association and then a very excited French General, Lafayette, announcing the victory at Yorktown against the Brits, which turned out to be one of the War of Independence’s major turning points. Who would have thought that the French played a significant role in helping the Colonists defeat the British?

We ended with an evening show depicting a typical theatre show. It’s amazing how much fun and evening of simple entertainment can be minus all of the modern day gadgetry.

 

Yorktown 1781 – third leg of the Triangle

That morning we decided to cut our losses at our campsite, having been exposed to enough trains for a lifetime, so we packed up and did a quick run through the Yorktown Battlefield site and Yorktown Victory Centre. Once again everything is presented so well and on such a large scale – no wonder the Americans have done so well in this world – they tell their story so much better than the rest of us.

We watched a mock firing of a mortar, which impressed me enough not to want to be on the receiving end of one. Probably my abiding memory of Yorktown though was the demonstration of the best medical techniques and treatments for the soldiers of the day. Oh my goodness – how did anyone ever survive? Apparently George Washington died from having the blood letting go a little far when something ailed him. Give me OHIP and our lines up any day. I’ll never complain again.

 

Virginia Beach – Long Bridges and Wet Tunnels

Having gained a day by easing up on the hammering a day early, we reinstated our original plan to visit Kitty Hawk, on the North Carolina Outerbanks, the sight of the first powered flight in 2003.

We swung by Virginia Beach on our way down. It’s pretty much a huge city with a very long waterfront.  In crossing over to it we were on a bridge over water which then became a tunnel and we never got wet. We are still wondering how they ever built that without the tunnel filling up with water. Something for the engineers to enlighten me on.

We were doing fine at Virginia Beach until we tried to navigate our way out at rush hour. My problem is that I had two women telling me to do different things simultaneously. Cher one the one hand and that ever so patient and yet, very frustrating lady on the other hand who lives inside my GPS. She is patient and never gives up, even when she is clearly wrong. We made it through eventually, an hour later than planned, our marriage barely intact and only one bump on the RV from an overactive school bus. The less said about that the better.

 

Kitty Hawk – and Naked in the Parking Lot!!!

How’s that for an attention grabber? When we got to KH we had the choice of a very grubby looking RV campsite for $50 or staying for free in the clean and quiet Walmart parking lot. We had heard this was an option so decided to try it. No sooner had we parked than we were joined by two beautiful big buses complete with matching trailers and another guy in a camping trailer. We felt a bit less conspicuous.

We slept well but it was this morning that Cheryl commented, after coming out of the shower (inside the RV) that was the first time she had had a shower in the middle of a parking lot. We’re never too old to try new things I reckon.

This morning we had an easy start – we picked up a coffee on the way to the beach and then spent an hour or so looking for shells for the grandchildren. Mind you sea shells don’t have batteries, sing or flash lights, so they may not be that appealing. We’ll have to see what the reaction is. Elaine and Julia you have two weeks to coach your kids in how to respond to such a gift.

Then we went on down to the Kitty Hawk museum. It was very impressive.

All I can say is that the State Park guy who gave us the demonstration was almost as entertaining as the Kitty Hawk itself. He said he loves to tell grade 8 students that the Wright brothers conquered the mysteries of flight by doing high school math.

We ended our drive today with a 3 hour drive through beautiful countryside and are now parked in our second Walmart parking lot – hey it’s hard to beat free. Tomorrow it’s Myrtle Beach – Yiaaaa!