Our Monday morning drive from Virginia Beach to get to our RV in Chesapeake had an unexpected detour. Sadly, there was a pedestrian fatality on the road by our campground earlier that morning (due to fog?), so we had to take an alternate and definitely longer route- a 5-mile detour.
Hooking the Mini up to the Winnie went smoothly, and we were on our way. We took route 460 across Virginia, rather than taking I-81. While 460 was slower, it provided some nice scenery to drive through. And different scenery than what we would see on I-81, especially not driving through Richmond.
We also were able to stop at Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Site along the way (another stamp in our book!). This site is a recreation of the village where General Lee surrendered to General Grant, ending the civil war. While the site is steeped in history, the information displayed and museum were underwhelming. During the summer there are re-enactments of the surrender, but those weren’t set up in March.
We made it to Radford and parked outside Dennis and Margaret’s house. Jeb and Catherine came over and we celebrated their recent marriage. Dennis and Margaret provided fine wines and great food for the evening. Vicki and I provided spiritual support: we prayed a blessing to Catherine and Jeb’s marriage.
Jeb and Catherine brought their two doodle dogs along, and Lexie got some play time with them. She seems more open to the company of other dogs these days. V: with such a big yard to explore with some other dogs, Lexie had a good time.
Tuesday was a relaxing day with Dennis and Margaret. We played some games (I got killed in pool, getting progressively worse as Dennis progressively improved), ate more food and had more wine. Games included Qwirkle, Carbles and a new game: Anomia (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/67877/anomia)
V: one of my favorite wines shown here, Chatauneuf du Pape.
Wednesday we took off early to return to Cleveland. Dennis and Margaret were also leaving a couple hours after us to go watch grandchildren. Our trip home, while long, was fairly smooth. The weather cooperated, except for a couple of wind bursts that caught the RV and pushed it around a bit. We made it home around 5:30, sliding through rush hour traffic in Akron.
Our home at Cindy Lane was still there. And spring had arrived. Some of the bulbs had blossomed, and there were buds on some of the trees. And all the snow was gone. For the moment.
The map on the left shows the route we took this winter. This doesn’t include any rest areas or pit stops except for Buc-ee’s.
We visited two National Parks on this trip (Everglades, Biscayne), and an additional National Historic Site. Those trees on the map are starting to grow!
It was a great trip, 3,250 miles and we learned after we got home that we avoided a lot of snow and cold weather in Cleveland in February. Our snowbird plan succeeded and we missed the worst part of winter in Ohio.
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