On the Road to Virginia

(Richmond, VA) Hi 78 Lo 68 – I need to finish last night's activities.  We went out for a snack with Mike and his wife Gaye. Mike was a co-worker of Jim's in his previous (working) life. It was nice to catch up on what's happening in their lives. Thank you Mike and Gaye for a nice get together.

We took our time getting going this morning. We even had a big breakfast, which we seldom do on moving day. We were hitched up and out of the fairgrounds at 9:50am.  It was great getting on the road again, but there was a slow down in Durham due to road maintenance. It took us a good 45 minutes to get through Durham and onto I-85. After that delay it was smooth sailing for the four-hour trip to Ashland, VA, just north of Richmond.

For those who are interested, Jim says the new trailer tires did very well; he couldn't feel any difference from the old ones. He was worried that the larger, H-rated tires would ride rougher, but that wasn't the case. He checked the tire temps when we stopped at a rest stop. He got a consistent 115 degrees on each tire, and about 135 degrees on each hub. That's a little cooler than the old (E-rated) tires. That give us very good peace of mind!

We pulled into the Richmond North Americamp KOA around 2pm. We don't usually stay at  KOA's because they're a bit pricey for us. However, we made an exception this time because our friends Mike and Terri are staying at this park in their Excel fifth wheel. They are living in their rig while they sell their house. So technically they're full-timers, just not "on the road" yet. The same situation we were in when we started out by staying in Raleigh the first few months in our rig. After we got setup I contacted them and they came over to sit and talk for a while. We're going to be here a week so it's going to be nice to get to know them better.

The park is very nice. We’re right next to I-95 with some traffic noise, but with our dual-pane windows it’s not bad at all. The white noise machine we use at night will also help.   This park is large, with a swimming pool. We're in a back-in site that was very easy to maneuver into. It’s full hookups and very few trees.  The park advertises free wi-fi, but the signal is so weak that we can't connect. So we're using our tethered Droids for internet.  Jim got the satellite dish set up, but a line of trees just outside the park kept him from locking onto the satellite that has the hi-def, so we're watching standard def for now (oh the horror!). But all the local channels come in through the roof antenna in hi-def.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)
 


We went out with Terri and Mike for dinner at a local calabash seafood restaurant. We both love calabash seafood (lightly breaded and fried). This place didn’t let us down. What a great meal, and the conversation was even better.

We came back to the RV and relaxed the rest of the evening. It was a busy day and we’re both tired.