I’m beginning to feel like I have my very own personal rain cloud hanging over my head, dumping on me every time I turn around. It rained three out of the seven days we were in the Washington D.C. area, two of those days so hard that we couldn’t go out and sightsee. Now we’re at the Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails campground near Gloucester, Virginia, and it’s been raining since we got here. Yeah, I know, it’s good for farmers and ducks. But even though I waddle when I walk, I’m neither.
We left Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland yesterday morning at 9 a.m., got on the Beltway and scooted around the west side of the Washington area with moderately light traffic.
To avoid the normal gridlock on the Beltway, we had planned to take U.S. Highway 301 south out of the D.C. area, but the more I thought about the high, narrow Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River, the more I decided that the Beltway traffic wouldn’t be all that bad on a Sunday morning.
Yeah, go ahead, call me a wimp. But I drove the Mackinac Bridge a while back, so I know I can do it if I have to, but why should I, if I can take an alternative route? I kind of feel like President George Bush when he said “I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!” I may not be president, but I’m a demigod in my own mind, and I’m not driving over any more bridges if I can avoid them!
As I said, traffic was light, on the Beltway. There was some road construction, but nothing to slow us down.
We cruised right along, and we made good time to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where we got onto U.S. Highway 17 and followed it for about 75 miles through rolling hill country, with thick forests, passing through a few small communities. For the first 25 miles or so, the road was good two lane, then it opened up to divided four lane highway. There is a lot of history in this part of the country, and we passed one historical marker after another.
It started to rain about 30 minutes before we arrived at the Thousand Trails campground, but let up long enough to allow us to get backed into a full hookup 50 amp RV site and get the rig leveled out and hooked up. Then it really began to come down, and it rained all day, and the rest of the evening.
We covered 161 miles, and were settled into our campsite by 1 p.m. I like this kind of traveling!
Unfortunately, between the rain and a tree that is partially blocking our satellite signal, the TV kept going in and out. Even in the nasty storms last week in College Park, we never lost the signal, so I think the tree is more of the problem than the rain. If it were not so wet, and if we were not already all leveled out and had the slide rooms extended, and if I wasn’t so lazy, I could have moved the motorhome a little bit, since we have a big, roomy site. I may do that once the weather clears up. However, the forecast for today is more of the same, so maybe not. I’ll check my rain cloud and see what it has to say.
Meanwhile, Bad Nick took advantage of the rainy afternoon to write a new Bad Nick Blog titled I Don’t Need Facts, My Mind’s Made Up! Check it out and leave a comment.
Thought For The Day – I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
We’re in Charlotte NC and we’ve had rain for 2 days now. My daughter and I had a long discussion on how to entertain a 10 and 6-year-old in an RV on days like that!
In regards to Thousand Trails, we were in the Lexington, NC area last week and passed by a Thousand Trails park that had a sign outside advising they annual sites were available.
Now that Thousand Trails is owned by ELS, what else will they come up with?
Nick–What is the white building with the spires?? LOVED your Bad Nick blog today! I’m going to forward a link to it to several of our friends who believe anything they see on TV, read in an email, etc.
That is the Mormon Temple. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?
Don’t blame you one bit for going out of your way to bypass that bridge. I drove over it once, and never will again. At least the Mac has four lanes, but I hate it too!
Not very far from the spot where you photographed the LDS church is a railroad overpass, above which the spires also are visible. For a number of years, just below the spires, was spray painted “Run Dorothy, Run!”.
I’m with you on the 301 bridge. That one, along with the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and others give me the willies too. Besides, there are 1001 traffic lights on 301.
Enjoy your journey, and travel safe.
Keith, my daughter said it didn’t say “run Dorothy run,” it said “Surrender Dorothy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_Dorothy
In their picture you can see there are three overpasses in a row. It was on the middle one, the green railroad one. You can still see where the letters are painted over. The Wikipedia article is astoundingly detailed about its location and description.
Interesting either way!
We were a few days ahead of you …left Andrews AFB and went down 301 and the Nice bridge …I prefer that to I-95 S out of DC …at least this time the power sunshade didn’t fall from its brackets and hang there blocking my vision on the way down the backside of the bridge!! …it isn’t near as challenging driving the bridge with a clear view ahead. We had the 4 days of rain in Hampton, and are now enjoying sunny days at Ft Bragg.