We woke this morning after our first luxurious night’s sleep of the trip — thanks to the king size bed — and headed off to the boardwalk in Atlantic Beach. We played in the sand, watched the birds, and headed to the Four Corners Restaurant for a nice breakfast. These people were the friendliest we’d encountered, and really served up a mean breakfast — I had waffles with strawberries!

We started talking about our journey to see the Cape Lookout Lighthouse yesterday, and decided we could see about getting a ferry over to the island. Being Sunday, we weren’t too sure if the ferries were running. We called, and found someone who was running, so back to Harkers Island we went.

We found Calico Jacks, and talked to them about a ride to the island. They told us it was a 10-15 minute ferry ride, so we paid, and caught the boat over. The seas were choppy, and the boat really pounded the waves, but we got there safe and sound, and began to explore. We walked to the old lighthousekeeper’s quarters, and walked around the displays and talked with the Park Service attendant. She said that on Friday, they’d had well over 200 visitors out to the island, but only a handful yesterday due to the weather, and only four today (including us). We couldn’t go up in the lighthouse, but learned that in about two years, it would be opened up for climbing. That’ll be nice.

We caught our boat back, and a few minutes into the return trip we stopped to let some rain squalls get past our destination. A few minutes later, we were off again, only to stop off Shackleford Banks to let rain stop at the main dock. Shackleford is home to another herd of wild horses, and we could see them from the boat. There are ferries to that island, too — we got a pretty good look at it from our rain impeded return journey, though.

When we got back to shore, we thanked the crew for a safe trip, and backtracked again toward Morehead City. After the cold and rain on the ferry, we were ready for lunch, and stopped in at the Sanitary Restaurant. They serve fresh fish, and some wonderful sweet tea. I had fresh bluefish, and Beck had fresh mullet. I really liked the consistency of the bluefish over the mullet. I’m sure I’ve had mullet before — I can remember hearing about it at Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Bokeelia FL — but I didn’t so much care for it this time.

We continued our drive toward Carolina Beach, and travelled through Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. Highway 172 runs right through it. At the entrance, I had a nice chat with the MP about GPS equipment — he saw mine in the truck. I tell ya, there’s probably nothing more boring than standing guard over a small highway guard stand at the entrance to the base, but I, for one, am glad they’re there!

We arrived at Carolina Beach just before dinner, and checked in to the Courtyard Marriott. This was by far the nicest place we stayed, and afforded us another king size bed. In this hotel, every room has an oceanfront view with a balcony. The hotel is one room thick, and towers over everything else at a height of ten stories. The room was great, and was the first place since Lexington KY a week ago that had connectivity.

We asked the desk staff about someplace for dinner, and they pointed us to The Deck House, just a few blocks away. We walked over, and had a great dinner — filet mignon and lobster tails. Yum! We talked over dinner about staying two nights in Carolina Beach, and kinda having a down day to get some relaxation.

When we walked back to the hotel, we told them to extend us a day, and we went upstairs to relax and look at our photos from the trip.

This morning, very early, we awoke to a storm hammering the island, and the inevitable power outage that would come with it. Not anything big, as the weather was cool enough to have the windows open, but it did make for an interesting night.

So, as Beck and I were giggling about the rain, the little island and whatever else was hitting our brains at 2am, we heard the folks in the neighboring room start to walkabout and mumble. Well, mumble wasn’t exactly it — we could hear just about everything they said. I guess when this place was built, paperthin walls were in, and were still in place. We quickly started whispering to each other, giggling and lying there in bed, waiting for sleep or sunrise to come.

Once the sky got light, we got up, cleaned up, collected up our stuff, disconnected all the various electrical devices — laptop and battery chargers — and checked out of the hotel. Nice place to stay, and I would do it again, but it ain’t the Ritz! We asked about breakfast, and the deskclerk pointed us once again to the Pony Island Restaurant, so back we went there for breakfast. Nice spread for breakfast, and reasonably priced.

Our ferry reservation wasn’t until Noon, so we wandered around Ocracoke, and shopped a little. We went into one shop, the owner of which is descended from the original owner of the island. Very interesting lineage he had posted in his store, and fun to dawdle on the history of this little piece of land.

We took the long ferry ride from Ocracoke to Cedar Island. This was the longest ferry ride of the trip, and lasted just over two hours. The ferry was pleasant, and the ride wasn’t too choppy, despite the water being whipped up by the wind. What was amazing to me was the line of gulls that followed the boat. I talked with one of the deckhands, and he told me that the birds will follow the boat all the way to Cedar Island and back. They are looking for little fish to be kicked up in the wake of the engines, and will descend, en masse, to eat whatever they find. How’s that for survival of the fittest!

Upon hitting land, we made a bee-line for food, and ended up at a nice pizza and sandwich joint in Beaufort. We had kinda thought to stay there for the night, but kinda thought that accomodations could be tight — there was a music festival in town, that would continue through the weekend.

Along the way to Beaufort, we passed the sign for Harkers Island — the location of the Cape Lookout lighthouse. This was a lighthouse that we had been told we would not likely be able to see well, as the only opportunities were boat charters that only went around the location, and didn’t actually land. When we doubled back, we discovered that the official visitor’s center was many miles away from the actual lighthouse, and though you could see it, even with my long lens and tripod, it was a tough view from there. We also found out that there were ferries that would take you to the island, where there was another visitors center, and that you could camp, fish and do pretty much whatever you wanted. It was late in the day, so we elected to only view this lighthouse from afar.

We continued on to Atlantic Beach, and checked into the Days Inn. This was a nice looking place with huge rooms, and the first king size bed we’d had on the trip. That was glorious! We had access to laundry facilities and even got our laundry done while watching the NASCAR night race from Phoenix, and dining on one of the few “fast food” meals of the trip — a pizza from Domino’s!

I walked down to the beach this morning to photograph our last sunrise in the Kill Devil Hills area. It wasn’t a spectacular sunrise — there were just too many clouds to make a real pretty sunrise like we’d seen yesterday in Corolla — but I did enjoy watching the birds gathering food from whatever had washed up on the shore.

The other thing I saw were the pelicans. I had no idea that pelicans flew in formation, much like Canadian geese. That was cool to see, and I was in awe of the beautiful majesty of these avian giants as they flew overhead from one end of the beach to the other. Truly beautiful.

I returned to the hotel room and woke Darla. We got ready, packed, checked out, and headed off for breakfast. We’d seen a place yesterday called Bob’s Grill, whose motto was “Eat and Get the Hell Out”. We figured we couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that, so we stopped in for some huge blueberry pancakes and coffee that could’ve stood up and walked on its own. Still, a good start for the day. We ate, and got the hell out.

On the slate today was a visit to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and possibly the Ocracoke Lighthouse if our schedule worked out. Agressive, but doable.

We drove south on Highway 12, and stopped along the way at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. This is an immense area of land that is Atlantic Ocean shores on the east side, and just a few hundred yards west becomes a marshland that is incredibly full of life — birds, turtles, snakes… you name it, they had it. Darla and I walked along the beach, looking at seashells, and watching a huge bunch of birds floating on the water farther up the beach. We walked up toward them, shoes in hand, and photographed as it seemed necessary.

For me, the most impressive part of this place were the pelicans. These giant birds were flying just inches above the ocean froth, in the troughs between waves. Dipping and diving, they were amazing to watch as they flew, almost on patrol, up and down the coastline. I could’ve watched them for hours.

We discovered that the Kuralt Trail has been set up through the outer banks to immortalize the memory of Charles Kuralt. He was a journalist for CBS, and was host of CBS’ Sunday Morning for many, many years. He was one of my favorites, and I really enjoyed his broadcasts and books. It’s nice to see him remembered in this way.

We pulled ourselves away from the teeming life in Pea Island NWR, and continued down Highway 12 toward Hatteras. Of course, all that fresh air made us hungry, and we started watching for someplace to have lunch. This stretch of drive is pretty desolate from a human perspective, so the places were few and far between. We finally ran across a place called the Down Under Restaurant and Bar in Rodanthe. It looked to be an Aussie joint, and had some of the best sweet tea we found on the trip. (Which, BTW, was a terrific perk on this trip — no one looked at you strange when you ordered sweet tea, and you didn’t have too many places that only served unsweetened tea, and told you the sugar was on the table. Sweet tea is its own amazing combination of ingredients, and no amount of unsweetened tea and table sweetener can come close to duplicating it.) I opted for a Roo Burger — yup, marsupial on a bun. Good, somewhat drier, kinda like buffalo meat, and supposedly a lot less fat. A little thinner than I would’ve liked — especially for $10 — but I can now put one more animal on my personal endangered species list! 🙂

We also stopped in Frisco at Scotch Bonnet Candies. This was a huge shop with every rubber snake known to man, but what will stick in my memory is the fudge. They have incredible fudge, made right there…. soft, moist…. wonderful stuff! In fact, it’s so good that it was recently featured on the Food Network’s Food Finds show. Apparently, this exposure has been keeping them a little busy, but they still seemed to have time to chat with us and make us feel real welcome.

We drove on down Highway 12 to the well-known Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This is a massive lighthouse, recently moved from it’s original location due to coastal erosion. We walked around the grounds, and had kinda decided not to climb it, as Becky was still a little under the weather. The more we talked about it though, the more I wanted to climb the 250+ steps up the interior. I bought my ticket and started climbing. The first couple of landings were easy. By halfway, I was huffing and puffing, and a couple of landings from the top, I had to take a rest — fortunately, the temperature was about 65 inside, so that wasn’t too brutal. I climbed the rest of the steps, and emerged onto the viewing platform. What a view! You could see both the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound, as well as the town of Hatteras. The wind was blowing strongly at the top, which made things a little chilly, but that felt great after ascending 200 feet vertically. I am thrilled that I hiked up this lighthouse! Much like we did with one of the pyramids in Mexico, I turned, waved to Darla on the ground, and we took each other’s pictures, and then began the much easier descent.

We drove to the old site of the lighthouse (before its move), but I still had jelly legs from the climb. Darla got out, and shot the old site, as well as shooting the lighthouse as viewed from there. I drank tons of water, and we headed south again.

Near the tip of the island, we came to our first ferry ride, a 40-minute jaunt between Hatteras and Ocracoke Island. All the way, the gulls followed us — dozens of them! At times they would get so close you could almost touch them. Great opportunity for taking a few closeup photos.

Once we got to Ocracoke Island, we drove a bit, and stopped to see the Banker Ponies. These are part of a wild herd that could be the descendants of horses brought from Spain in the 16th century. When the ships would get in trouble, the first thing to be tossed over to lighten the load was the livestock. I guess the theory is that the ponies swam to shore, and started their new, wilder lives. The herd is restricted in size, and where we stopped, we were able to look at them pretty close up.

Driving on down Highway 12, we finally got to the little hamlet of Ocracoke. This was a tiny little place, and kinda felt like you’d been tossed back in time forty years. Almost everyone was walking or riding bikes from place to place on tiny roads that were barely big enough for a couple of cars to pass each other.

We found our hotel, the Bluff Shoal Motel. This was a little throwback strip-like hotel with a dozen or so rooms, filled with the quaintness that this village exuded — a small bed, a tiny fridge and tv, a window air conditioner, panelling on the walls, and a phone stand next to the bed. It was like stepping back into the 1960s!

We asked the desk clerk where we could get a nice dinner, and she suggested the Pony Island Restaurant. We drove the really long five minute drive up to the restaurant and were seated quickly. I kinda felt a little like an outsider, as everyone seemed to know everyone else — lotsa conversations crossing between tables.

We listened to the waitress answer questions about property values in Ocracoke. She has a little piece of land, with a single-wide on it. The trailer was worth almost nothing, but the land value was over $350k! She was talking about how the property taxes are out of sight in Ocracoke — with land values like that, I can see why. We kinda figured that the only way you could have a place down there, and work as a seasonal worker, or shop cashier, or waitress was that your family gave you the land for your home.

After some good grub, we drove to the Ocracoke Lighthouse, which was being lit up by a early evening setting sun. This one has a little strip of land that gives you access to it, while being surrounded by old homes. The lighthouse isn’t terribly remarkable, but it was fun to add another one to our list.

I thought that sunset might be pretty, so we drove to the ferry landing to see what we could see. I really thought the clouds were gonna be like the clouds we photographed at sunrise in Corolla, but they were too thick, so the sun simply disappeared behind them. Oh well! It was still nice — although a little chilly for Darla.

We drove back to the hotel, and ran to the hotel’s dock to look at the lighthouse across the bay, and enjoy the simple pleasures of a quiet night in a quiet hamlet.

After our little snooze, we awoke, and started toward the Bodie Island Lighthouse. We saw the Kitty Hawk Kite Shop, and just had to stop. We had a little discussion with one of the salesfolk, and settled on a nice, easy-to-fly kite that included everything needed for a fun afternoon of flying a kite on the beach.

Bodie Island Lighthouse was our first stop, and the second lighthouse of our tour. This one sits in a quiet field, and is not as approachable as others. It also seems to be the home to gazillions of hornets. In fact, North Carolina and Virginia, in general, had more hornets than I’ve seen in my life!

Continuing south, we found a real access to the beach, and drove down onto the sand. This was a fantastic spot for flying a kite, so Beck and I assembled the kite, and easily launched it. What fun! There was hardly anyone on the beach, and it was like having it to ourselves. Unbelievable to have that kind of resource, and it be so vacant.

While on the beach, a giant military helicopter flew down the beach and back again, just off the waterline. I have no idea if that was a Coast Guard chopper, or some other military craft, but man it was BIG!

After flying my kite for a while, we loaded up the truck, and I had Beck get the videocam out to tape me driving back off the beach again. That was a hoot! It was so much fun, I drove down on the beach, and escaped it again. We were off to Roanoke Island for our next stop.

Another place we had seen signs for on the trek down the coast was Big Al’s Soda Fountain and Grill — a hamburger joint. We stumbled across Big Al’s on our journey to Manteo (on Roanoke Island), and decided to try them out. This place was almost like a shrine to all things Coca-Cola, and was like being thrown back to a joint from the 50s. Naturally, I had a Coke, along with a terrific burger. We ate, we window shopped at the gift shop — almost every place we stopped had a gift shop — and continued on to see the recreation of the Elizabeth II sailing vessel.

The Elizabeth II is a replica of a 16th century sailing vessel, complete with characters explaining the ship, and giving hints about life in those days. Someone from the staff even came to wish one of the characters a happy birthday — their 435th! 🙂 It was a very interesting stop, and was more like what we had expected to see at Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg could learn a thing or two from this operation!

We drove back, and crashed for a short while. After a little nap — why does all this touristy stuff tire us out so much?! — it was time for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at Mama Kwan’s Tiki Bar and Grill. We’d seen signs for it as we drove down, and figured with a name like that, it deserved a shot at our dinner money. Walking in, it was nothing too remarkable — kinda Gilligan’s Island meets the Brady Bunch. The food, though, was terrific! I had a plate of sauteed scallops that were amazing. As we sat there, I noticed that the place got busier and busier, mostly with younger folks, surfers and sailboarders and other watersport enthusiasts. It really was the first place we’d been where the locals really hung out. And, I got a “monkey glass” from the drink I ordered — seems fitting!

Today, we wanted to get up before the sun, and try to catch sunrise at Currituck Lighthouse. We hopped in the car at the crack before dawn, and headed north toward Corolla. The drive was nice and slow, through some cute little towns. At times it looked like we wouldn’t get to Currituck in time. We did though… and found that you can’t get to the lighthouse at that time of morning — it doesn’t open until 10am. We had about fifteen minutes until sunrise, so we started looking around for a place to shoot.

We found a little waypath down to the beach, and saw tire tracks down it, so I figured I could make it, too. Down we drove on to the beach, and watched the most incredible sunrise. The clouds were layed, and the sun was simply astounding. By far, the best sunrise or sunset on the trip.

We figured it was time to go, and realized…. I couldn’t get the truck back up the dune to get off the beach. We tried a couple of times, and even tried to get some speed to launch over it, but still couldn’t get back over the dune. We saw tracks leading off to the the north, so we headed that way on the beach, asking along the way if anyone knew a way off the beach. We finally ran into someone who knew of a lower dune we could go over, and after driving five miles up the beach, we finally got the truck off the beach. Now that was an adventure!

Our little crisis on the beach had made us hungry, so we headed for the Jolly Roger again, this time for breakfast. A huge breakfast later, we decided to head to the hotel and sleep for a bit.

This morning’s agenda was to continue our vacation, and head to Williamsburg, looking to explore the historical city. We wanted to get a taste of the 18th century, and forget about the 21st century for a while.

After saying our goodbyes to Morgan’s family, we drove the short jog from Morgan’s to Colonial Williamsburg, and pulled into the parking lot of the visitor’s center. The lot was HUGE, and was filling rapidly as we unloaded ourselves and our gear. After the short walk to the visitor’s center, we discovered that Colonial Williamsburg is full of history, and it comes with a price tag.

We talked at length with a ticket and lodging salesperson, and the more she told us, the more we realized that Colonial Williamsburg is Historic Disneyland, and it’s priced just like it! In fact, if we stayed a night, the price of history would be LOWERED to the low, low price of $30 each. I realize that these folks put a tremendous amount of effort into the effect of transporting you back to the 1700’s, but the price was simply too high for us, and the rules a little more complex than we wanted to deal with. We could have definitely looked around for free, but if you can’t enter the buildings, or look at the museums, then what’s the use? Ala carte pricing would’ve made much more sense!

We decided to scrap that idea, and head for North Carolina. Aside from the stay at Morgan’s, Virginia had been kinda tough for us on the tourism front.

The drive was uneventful, but I have to mention the tunnel we hit — the Monitor-Merrimack Memorial Bridge and Tunnel — just before we crossed into North Carolina. We dropped to -105 feet (according to the GPS) — the lowest point that I’ve carried the unit to. In fact, the crossing on the bridge that followed was interesting to watch on the GPS. It includes lots of naval navigation aids, and we got to watch them whiz by on the display as we continued south.

The drive toward the outer banks was beautiful, and kinda reminded me a little of the drive to Branson — lots of billboards (something noticeably missing in Virginia) for all kinds of stuff all the way down the outer banks. Yeah, there were areas that were obviously rundown and poverty stricken, but the land itself was amazing.

We pulled into Kitty Hawk, and stopped at the Welcome Center to get our bearings, and figure out where to stay and where to eat. We got some fine maps from a very helpful civil servant, and some good ideas for lunch and lodging. Lodging would be easy — this isn’t the busy season — lunch would be more challenging. Most places were already closed after the lunch rush.

On the advice of the welcome center, we stopped at the Black Pelican for lunch. It was good, but I was really expecting more seafood. The atmosphere was very much like an oceanside venue, and that set it apart. Cool, but unremarkable.

The site though, has some history, as it was the location of the site where the Wright Brothers telegraphed the message of their successful first flight.

Once we finished at the Pelican, we called the Days Inn Mariner and found they had a queen room, oceanside, at a great rate. We got checked in, and started unpacking. The room was hot, so we turned on the air conditioner, and roamed along the beach to see what we could see, along with taking some pictures of the birds and surf. After a hour or so of wandering up the beach, we got back to the room, and it was still sweltering — the temperature had even gone up! Beck talked to the manager on duty, and got us moved to another room, and it started cooling instantly. Yay!

We spent the afternoon at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. This was a beautiful site, and was just full of first flight information and memorabilia. We walked around the museum and gift shop, and then went out to look at the stones commemorating each of the flights. Finally, we drove down to the foot of the big monument. The monument is much older than I thought — built in the 1930s I think — and is massive. It is well worth the drive to Kitty Hawk, and worth the hike up the hill to see it.

We ended up just down the road at the Jolly Roger for dinner. From the outside, it looked like a little dive, and the inside… well, it still looked like a dive! 🙂 But, the food was amazing! I had a pound of crab legs ($21) that were simply fantastic, along with a spud and veggies. Man, what a meal!

After Jolly Riger kicked our tails, we went back to hotel, and crashed into a food-induced coma.

We got up this morning, planning to visit Jefferson’s home, and to see what else was up near Charlottesville. We hit the road, eager, and drove the two hours to see Monticello.

We got to the visitors center just before lunch, and started getting our bearings about what there was to see. The civil servant behind the desk was very helpful, and told us that a couple of schoolgroups had just hit Monticello, and that the wait times were horrendous — over two hours for the tour. She suggested we get some lunch, and then try again in the afternoon. Seemed like good advice.

We got a bite to eat, visited Michie Tavern to shop, and then headed back up to Monticello about 3pm. The folks at that desk informed us that the the last tours were at 3.30 and 4pm, and that there was a two-hour wait. In other words, you could buy a ticket, but you might be there a long, long time waiting your turn to look around.

We opted to not wait that long and head back to Morgan’s. And that’s when the schoolkids descended. Like locusts. No kidding.

I was in line behind a couple of them to get a Coke from the machine, and suddenly dozens of them inserted themselves ahead of me. Not in anything as orderly as a line, but in this great massive blob, oozing and undulating as they flitted from one machine to the next, from one acquaintance or friend to the next. It was chaotic, at best. Needless to say, I didn’t get my Coke. 🙂

So, Beck and I turned the family truckster back toward Richmond, a little wiser, a little less educated about our third president, and yet still as satisfied about the day as we could be.

We ended up having a big dinner with Morgan’s family, and that was a wonderful way to spend the day.

Morgan and Elizabeth took us into Richmond to see the downtown area, and tour the capitol building.

The short drive was met with disappointment though — the capitol building was closed for renovations. 🙁 We got over it though, and went to the Strawberry Street Cafe for lunch. This is one of Morgan and Elizabeth’s favorite places to eat, and I can see why. Their food is really good.

We went down the street, and started walking from shop to shop, looking for souvenirs and goodies. Darla found a shop that had some frogs in the window — she walked out having purchased a rug! It’s a neat little rug for the basement, and complements our couches very nicely. It’s to be shipped home, and should be waiting for us when we get there.

We got back to Morgan’s, collected up all the kids, and went to Rachel’s tennis match. That gave me a pretty good opportunity to practice shooting a tennis match, something I’d never done before. Overall, it was a pretty good shoot, and a lot of fun.

Afterward, it was off to Williamsburg, and a little hibachi action for dinner — yum!

This morning, we arose in Lexington, and after enjoying our complementary breakfast on Best Western’s nickel, we pointed the TrailBlazer east, and continued our trek toward Richmond. This would be a day that would include the highest (2800 feet) and lowest (130 feet) points in our journey so far.

Eastern Kentucky is beautiful country to drive through, and we had a great time watching the ribbon of road become more hilly as we continued east. This is the first time I’ve driven this route, and it seems to capture the sense of the Old South. There are plantation-looking homes, there are small communities nestled in tiny valleys. It is an exquisite place to drive through. I wish we’d had more time to stop and look!

We made our way to West Virginia, this being our second journey into this state. The last time was the far northern tip, in Wheeling, for the 2002 BMDCA National Speciality. This time, we were going to cut across the girth of the state.

Our first stop was a Welcome Center just outside Huntington. There we found a very helpful civil servant, who was more eager to talk about the coast of North Carolina than his own state. 🙂 We gathered our requisite maps, and headed out again.

We’d seen information about an artisans shop at a mall in downtown Huntington. We stopped at the mall, only to discover that the place was only a store — not a big craft-making facility — and that it was closed, and moving to another location. We did a little more shopping, but our memory of this part of the trip will forever be tied to an interesting she-male we saw in the mall. This was obviously a guy, dressed as a lady, and trying to walk in high heels that he/she wasn’t very comfortable with. Us, and the cops in the mall, got a big chuckle out of that.

As beautiful as the drive is through Kentucky, it is eclipsed by the drive through West Virginia. West Virginia is a tough drive on I-64 — rapid descents, and long grinding hills carry you through the old mountains of the Appalachians. It is beautiful, and there needs to be more scenic pulloffs for photographers.

Once we got on the turnpike, we kept seeing signs for Tamarack. We had no idea what it was, but after 50 miles of these signs, we succumbed to visting this well-advertised spot near Beckley. What it was was exactly what we thought we’d find in Huntington: a showcase of local artisans and their work. This was a great stop, and we had a terrific time, and the best bread pudding Becky has ever had. (I had pecan pie — it was good, but not as good as I remember Aunt Merilyn’s being!)

We continued on, driving toward Virginia, and finally found the Virginia Welcome Center, just inside the state on I-64. We caught them just before they were closing, and grabbed maps and info on the area, while avoiding the large number of hornets that were buzzing around.

We took a look at one of the brochures, and found that one of the longest curved wooden bridges — the Humpback Bridge — was right around the corner from the welcome center. We jogged over to it, and took a look. This is a wonderful structure, no longer in use for traffic, and converted to footpath use. The inside is full of graffiti from its visitors over the years. I’m sure there were older pieces of graffiti, but the oldest I saw was on an overhead span that dated from about thirty years ago.

While there, a strange little couple and child wandered up, loud and obnoxious. The woman was from Chicago, and the man was apparently a local. They bellowed, argued, and yelled at each other, and at the child that was with them. If it wasn’t such an uncomfortable thing to witness, it’d be funny!

Sunset quickly came as we continued east into the heart of Virginia, and we found two pulloffs from which to shoot the clouds underlit by the setting of the sun over the gentle valleys. This beautiful country yielded its colors and quiet tranquility, none of which can really be captured on film.

We continued on through Richmond, and to Quinton, where Morgan lives, and finally found our rest for the night.

$2.159

Today, we began The Big Drive, with the goal of hitting Richmond, VA, tomorrow sometime. We’re in pretty good shape to do that.

Given that it was vacation, we didn’t exactly rush to get out of the house. So after packing last night, packing this morning, and loading up, we finally got out the door around 10am….. the first time. About two miles down the road, I remembered that my “No Problem Mon” necklace from Jamaica was not in the truck, nor on my neck. I travel with that on, and it’s to remind me to simmer down, take it easy, and not to sweat the little stuff. Since I couldn’t leave without it, we doubled back, grabbed the necklace (and the spare one from a previous Jamaican excursion), and hit the road.

And travelled just about five miles.

Uncle Bill’s Pancake House was beckoning to us, so we stopped in, and had a nice breakfast. Today was the first day of their non-smoking Saturday mornings, which only made the meal that much better. Good for them.

One trip back to the house, a gruling five miles of travel, a big breakfast, and we finally got on the road around noon or so. Woo-hoo!

Illinois was uneventful, with nothing too remarkable. Once we got to Indiana, though, we stopped at a rest area, and started getting our bearings, maps, and flyers. Beck remembered a place called Santa Claus IN, and the kind civil servant behind the desk told us where to get information on the small burg, and what might be found there. To Santa Claus we went!

If you’ve never been to Santa Claus, Indiana, you’ve missed very little! 🙂 It’s a little place that is waaaaay hung up on their name. Kinda reminded me of Roswell in that regard — way too taken with itself. So there was Kringle-this, Santa-that, Frosty-whatever, Rudolph-blah…… Lots of stuff like this. However, the best thing of all for us was the Santa Claus Cemetary. Presumably, this is where old Clauses are taken to their final rest. We had a good laugh, and took some photos of the entrance. Very cool.

Why, by the way, are houses in little towns near Santa Claus all slightly askew on their property? That was weird, and most of ’em looked crooked as we drove down the main street — I thought the car was travelling sideways!

After a hour’s diversion, and never seeing the Big Guy, we headed back to I-64 to continue our eastward trek.

Kentucky was next, and we stopped at another rest area just east of Louisville. It was sunset, and was setting up to be beautiful. We quickly grabbed maps and brochures, and took some photos of the flora and fauna, as well as some of the sky. It was pretty, but the location wasn’t the best. Oh well!

So our travel tonight ends in Lexington, at a Best Western, with high speed connection and a free breakfast in the morning — all this and a coupon to lower the nightly rate. Who could ask for more! 😉

The good news is that Becky slept through much of Illinois, and part of Indiana, and is feeling as good as can be expected. She’s not coughing nearly as much, or nearly as hard, so that’s great news. I’ll be keeping my eye on her.

Tomorrow, off to Richmond, and visiting Morgan and crew…