See You In March

After a wonderful few months traveling, we are putting the ShoreXplorer to bed for the winter.

We will be back in March!

Sandbridge Beach (Virginia) November 26 - December 2, 2013

The Place
 
We traveled about 20 miles down the road from First Landing State Park (see entry below) to the lovely beach community of Sandbridge Beach.  On a map, both locations are in Virginia Beach.  Sandbridge bills itself as the "Outer Banks of Virginia", which has been geologically confirmed by our Oceanographer daughter.  It is a narrow bridge of sand with two parallel roads running down the length and a few cross streets tying them together.  Most of the houses are rentals and they vary from 1950's bungalows to 2013 multi-family mansions.

We came here to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and needed lodgings (and an oven) larger than those provided by the motor home.  We rented an older house right on the dunes with a beautiful view of the surf.  This was our second visit to Sandbridge.  We love that it is quiet, noncommercial and has a beautiful wide beach perfect for long walks and for playing fetch with Tiki.  If you walk north far enough, you come to Virginia Beach.  If you walk south far enough, you come to North Carolina.  If you are thinking of coming to Sandbridge, we rented our house through Sandbridge Realty.

We took advantage of the spacious storage compartments in the motor home when we packed for the stay in the Sandbridge house.  Our challenge was what to do with the frozen turkey.  We had to plan for 4 days at First Landing before we got to the house, and the freezer in the motor home just wasn't designed for a large bird.  But, it was cold outside.  So we stuck the turkey in a cooler with blue ice packs and tucked it into one of the compartments.  It was still frozen when we arrived.

The Adventure

One of the many assets of Sandbridge is the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge that forms the southern boundary of Sandbridge Beach.  The refuge provides feeding and resting habitat for migratory birds traveling the Atlantic Flyway.  Parts of it are closed to the public during the winter to provide safe havens for the tundra swans, snow and Canada geese and a large variety of ducks that find refuge there during the winter migration.  You can see and hear them from a distance in the bay.  There is also a viewing stand, but we didn't see any birds there.

We rode our bicycles the 5 miles down to the Refuge from our house in the northern part of Sandbridge and then another several miles inside the refuge itself. It is a fun ride past the crazy assortment of beach houses and then in the natural area along the dikes.

The Motor Home

We needed to choose a house to rent where we could also park the motor home.  That meant it had to have a long enough and wide enough driveway and space for the cars of the rest of the family.  We also had other criteria (beach front, allows pets, numbers of bedrooms and baths, location in the northern part of community).  We narrowed our search down to several possible homes.  Then we went on Google maps Satellite View and "measured" the length of the driveways to find the best fit for us.

We arrived at our rental in a rain storm.  The driveway was long enough and (barely) wide enough but it had these wood bollards on both sides of the entrance restricting angle access for backing the motor home in.  However, it also had an auxiliary parking area that we hadn't seen on the map in the front yard that was the perfect size for the motor home.

First Landing State Park (Virginia) November 23 - 26, 2013

The Place

We really enjoyed First Landing State Park. The campsites are nestled into ancient sand dunes among gnarled live oak trees, with sufficient separation so that you have some sense of privacy. There are beach access points with boardwalks across the dune ridges to a wide sloping beach.

The beach is along the Chesapeake Bay so the water is shallow, and without the surf you would find around the corner on Virginia Beach. In the distance you see enormous ocean going cargo and Navy ships entering and leaving the Bay.

On the other side Shore Dr, the First Landing "Trails" section features quite a few well marked trails and a wonderful visitors center.  The Park also rents cute 2 bedroom cabins in a pine forested area. Like the campsites, they are thoughtfully situated for privacy.


The Adventure

It was very cold and windy our first day at the park, so we retreated inland to the hike in the Trails area where we were more protected from the wind.  One of the trails was the the Bald Cypress Trail which goes through a cypress swamp.  We were bundled up against the frigid winds and looking at cypress knees and trees draped with Spanish Moss. It looked like Florida and felt like Maine.  In fact, according to the trail guide, this is the northernmost occurrence of Spanish Moss. 

The Motor Home

We supplemented the heating system in the motor home with electric space heaters.  They worked really well as long as we didn't use any other appliances.  In the late afternoon, we tripped a circuit breaker running two space heaters and the TV.  We found the fuse panel and learned how to reset the switch, and then plugged the second space heater onto another circuit.  We didn't know that this would be a dress rehearsal for when we blew the main circuit breaker with two space heaters, two TVs and the blue-ray player later that night. It became pitch black inside.  It is good to know your limitations...and where the flashlights are kept!

Point Lookout State Park (Maryland) October 26, 2013

The Place

There is a lot to do at Point Lookout State Park with beaches along both the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, Lake Conoy, boating, fishing, crabbing, and history all jammed together.  It is located on the point of land where the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay meet and was the site of Civil War forts, a military hospital, and prisoner of war camp. 

The park is long and skinny.  The campground is in the northern part of the park. There is a small, sweet history museum and nature center in the campground.  You have to cross a narrow causeway to get to the southern part of the park where the beaches, boat rental, fishing pier, lighthouse, and restored Civil War fort are located.  There are 2 pet areas; one adjoins a Bay-side beach where Tiki fetched and frolicked.

The Adventures

There must have been a storm prior to our arrival at the campground, because the internal part of our “loop” of campsites was flooded when we got there.  The driveways and the tent pad areas are elevated 3 feet above the surrounding land, and rose nice and dry a foot or so above the water.  Imagine each campsite as an island connected by a driveway to the road.  Yikes!  We pulled over.  We got out.  We walked the driveway.  We looked at the water on each side.  Hmmm, there’s no room for deviation.  Russ drove, Dana directed from the driveway and we backed that sucker into place.  The next day we talked to neighbors who said, “We thought you guys were experienced RVers.  You got out, scratched your chins, and then drove that thing right in.  We were glad that you weren’t here when we were trying to back our trailer in…”  In any event, we had a waterfront (and side and back) campsite at no extra charge.

Even though it is apparent that the park is laid out for cars, we decided to explore on foot.  We walked along Hwy 5 to the causeway, the Pier and Fort Lincoln, a partially restored Union Civil War fort.  A costumed guide at the fort taught us about military history and the construction of the forts on the peninsula.  It is well worth the visit, though a little hard to find.  We didn’t make it by foot to the Potomac River beaches or to the lighthouse (we drove there later) but our entire trek was still 6 miles long.  On the way back we found a cut-through path from the campgrounds to the causeway that cut about a mile off of our return trip.  Note to self – look closely at the map they give you when you sign in.

The Motor Home

We prefer to eat “in”, enjoying the taste and healthiness of home cooking. However, preparing meals in the motor home requires planning.  To begin with, the motor home kitchen is tiny.  Well, actually for the RV world ours is quite spacious, but it doesn’t have nearly the space we need to store ingredients and create a home cooked meal.  We don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking, because we want to be out exploring and enjoying where we are.  We also don’t want to create a load of dirty dishes, because everything has to be washed up by hand.  We’ve given this puzzle some thought, and on this trip we tested our “solution” and it worked!

When we cook at home we often have left overs.  Instead of saving them for another night, we froze them to be reheated later in the motor home.  So, while we were at Point Lookout, we heated up yummy spaghetti sauce loaded with eggplant, zucchini and Italian sausage.  We cooked fresh noodles to go under the sauce and sprinkled parmesan on top.  To be extra fancy, we chopped up some garlic, heated it with butter in a coffee cup in the microwave, and then spread it on sliced bread.  A feast!  Preparation time:  15 minutes.  Dirty dishes: 2 pans, 2 bowls, 2 forks, 2 spoons, 2 glasses, and 1 buttery coffee cup.

Maiden Voyage of the ShoreXplorer (October 12-14, 2013)

After several weekends of camping in our driveway and learning how to use our new (to us) 6 year old motor home, the ShoreXplorers first road trip was to family property on the Rappahannock River near Topping VA.  Yes, the first adventure was to a familiar place along familiar roads.   

The Place

Locust Lodge (aka The Rivah) is located on the shores of the Rappahannock River a few miles from where the River meets the Chesapeake Bay.  It is quiet and beautiful with sandy beaches edged by woods of tulip tree, locust and holly. 

The Adventure

We arrived at the end of a Nor’Easter and the beach was impassable, so we, our friends, and accompanying dogs explored the woods instead.  Along the path the dogs ran past this rather brave turtle who never withdrew into his shell.  I guess he didn’t smell as interesting to the dogs as the scent they were following.  We also saw this Indian Pipe plant just emerging from the leaves.  That was a special treat! 

The next day we went to the Deltaville Maritime Museum.  Located on the banks of Mill Creek, the museum has restored boats you can board, a lovely sculpture garden, a children’s garden, sheds where boat restoration is taking place, a trailer with an historical exhibit and a butterfly bush alive with monarch butterflies (we were in luck).  The museum suffered a tragic fire a few years ago and is in the process of rebuilding its exhibit hall and meeting area.

The Motor Home

As new RV’ers, every new trip is a learning opportunity.  This trip we learned just how big the ShoreXplorer is.  It is wide and long and tall.  During the drive to the Rivah we passed through a town where a 2-lane road had been re-purposed to 4 lanes without actually widening the road.  Not only were the lanes themselves very narrow, the telephone poles were right at the curb and leaned toward the road.  Even if we could have fit into the tiny right lane (which I doubt) we would have surely clipped a pole.  After a harrowing ride in the right lane on the way there, we drove in the left lane on the way back, straddling into the right lane to move ourselves a few inches away from oncoming traffic on the left.  This must not be an uncommon occurrence as the other drivers were very courteous, hanging back and letting us pig up essentially both lanes until we were through the worst of it.  Then (of course) they sped around us as soon as the road opened up and we got over into the right lane again.  Rookie RV Drivers!

The road into The Rivah is a one-lane gravel road laid out to gently curve around every sizable tree.  Negotiating a 29.5 foot long vehicle through the frequent curves around large trees was painstaking – the rear end had not yet passed the first tree, before you had to move the front end out of the way of the next one.  The branches along the road are regularly trimmed so that cars and pick-up trucks can drive through without scratching sides or roofs.  Not so for 12.5 foot tall motor homes!  Our friend walked in front and cut the branches that could be reached from ground level.  Some of the branches were at the height of the precious equipment that is attached to the roof of the motor home.  Russ rode on the roof holding on to the satellite dish and trimming branches as Dana inched the vehicle down the road.