Leaving the Beach for the Mountains

Today is our last day in Virginia Beach so we had lunch with the Clements' to say our "goodbyes". We spent some quality time and Karen really got to know these two special people from my past. Virginia Beach has been a great place to hang out and visit. We still need to get to the many sights we missed. We look forward to seeing them again when we return south in the Fall.

This afternoon, we then started getting the trailer rigged for travel. All the outside chairs are stowed and the electric bikes are back on their travel rack. Tomorrow we will hook up to the truck, finish cleaning and stowing the inside gear before bringing in all the slides. We need to dump all our tanks and check our tire pressure before we hit the road.

On the next leg of our adventures we depart Virginia Beach headed northwest towards Richmond, VA on Interstate 64 and our eventual camping destination at Powhatan State Park, VA. Powhatan State Park is only 341 feet above sea level in the northwest corner of Powhatan County on the historic James River and is about two and a half hours away, so not a long driving day ahead of us. Our two day stay at this particular campground will put us strategically between Richmond, VA and about an hour southeast of Charlottesville, VA.

Richmond, the capital of Virginia, is among America’s oldest major cities. Patrick Henry, a U.S. Founding Father, famously declared “Give me liberty or give me death” at its St. John's Church in 1775, leading to the Revolutionary War. The White House of the Confederacy, home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the Civil War, is now a museum in Court End, a neighborhood known for Federal-style mansions.

Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia, with its core campus designed by Thomas Jefferson. On the outskirts, Jefferson’s mountain-top plantation, Monticello, includes a mansion and rebuilt slave quarters. Also in Charlottesville is President James Monroe’s home, Highland, retains many original furnishings. The city is a gateway to Shenandoah National Park, along a section of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Let see what awaits us as we journey towards the Appalachian Mountains!