Day 48-54 - Virginia Beach, VA

Holiday Trav-L-Park  3/4/2015 - 3/10/2015
1075 General Booth Boulevard
Virginia Beach, VA 23451

The 4+ hour drive yesterday from Newport, NC, was very interesting.  I did stop in Elizabeth City when a sushi restaurant, Volcano, caught my eye.  It was a good time to take a break from driving as well. 

Spanish Volcano Roll:
Shrimp Tempura, Avocado, Cream Cheese
topped with Crab Salad and Tobiko

 I woke up Tuesday morning at 2:45 a.m.  I made the mistake of going to bed around 9:30-10:00. p.m.  The ride from Myrtle Beach most likely contributed to the drooping eyelids.  So, without a fight, I arose, had coffee, and a scrambled egg and cheese on an English muffin. Eyes got droopy again about 5:30, so I returned to bed and slept till 8 a.m.  I packed up, made a cup of coffee for the road and off I went by 9:45 a.m.

The fog was quite dense with visibility no more that .1 mile.  About 15 miles into the 216 mile trip the sun came out and the temperature rose from the low 60's to 73°. What a treat to drive with the windows open.  The noise in the coach as well as the progressing overcast that hid the sun resulted in my partially closing the  windows. Temperature dropped a noticeable 10°.

Most of the trip took me along Highway 17 and while I admired the landscape, it struck me just how extensive the poverty along this highway was....something I've written about in previous blogs.  Mile after mile after mile, a passenger next to me with a camera could take a photo every 20-30 seconds of a property that made you take a double take.  What I saw would fill a coffee table book....a series of books... whose theme would bring awareness of the extensive poverty displayed almost the entire length of SR-17. Most were trailers set upon some type of foundation. They were abandoned, I think; doors, if present, off hinges or wide open; windows, if present, broken; ripped or torn screens still in their frames. Metals roofs, were rusted or dangling over the side.  Some were covered with blue tarpaulins probably to be fixed "in the near future."  Fallen branches and limbs rested on many.  It was difficult to ascertain whether anyone lived in these homes.  I could not imagine anyone could but maybe they did. Then there was the junk and debris scattered around the property. Vintage car buffs would be amazed at what rusted in the yard near these homes.  In a few years, vegetation will completely obliterate them.  If that weren't enough, the second in the series of table top photo journals would be about the associated crumbling sheds and barns that were on the same property.  I have seen such books.  Beautiful photos that gave the reader a hint of what magnificent structures barns were back in the day even as you viewed them in person seemingly ready to collapse; hauntingly artistic.  Adjectives like abandoned, run down, dilapidated, shuttered, boarded or condemned do not do justice to my observations; and this, mile after mile on a single road.  You can only imagine what you would see on the back roads "off the beaten track." The same could be said as I drove through the other coastal eastern states. Very depressing.  I wish I was the passenger with the camera rather then the driver who had to keep his eyes on the road. A picture would have been worth a thousand words.

When I arrived at the Virginia Beach campground, it had turned out to be a gorgeous, spring like day.  Birds were singing, temperature about 73° with sunny skies.  I had to change out of damp clothing once I finished setting up.  Shorts were the order of the remainder of the day....that is, till the sunset.  It's 50° now as I write this blog.  The big surprise was that on the other side of SR-651, Oceana Blvd, was the Oceana Naval Air Station. The rest of the daylight hours was given to the tremendous, thunderous roar of Navy jet fighters taking off and landing a mere 2 miles away.  Fortunately, the jet noise subsided around 6 p.m. but persisted intermittently until around 8:00 p.m.  I've got to catch some of those fighters as they pass overhead.  Their landing flight path is right over the campground.  

The first snow I've seen this winter season.
Remember, I left Jan. 19th, a week before the
"blizzard" and missed the next 6 consecutive
weekend storms.

The spring like weather that seemed to enliven those in the registration office doesn't look like it will last.  My check of the local weather reads:

Thursday Rain before 3pm, then rain or freezing rain. High near 38. Breezy, with a north wind 17 to 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no ice accumulation expected.

Thursday Night Snow and sleet likely, mainly before 9pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 22. Blustery, with a north wind around 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Meanwhile, this very same night weather at home reads:

Thursday Snow likely...mainly in the morning. Total snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Colder with highs in the mid 20s. Northwest winds around 10 mph. Gusts up to 20 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 70 percent.

Just to give you an idea of
the size of the campground.

Very few winter campers....

It's Thursday and the low flying jets are passing overhead now following their landing procedure but the low cloud cover and rain prohibits photos at this time.  If this is how they'll proceed in the next few days, landing at the rate of a jet per minute or two, I'll surely capture great photos of these low flying, awesome, powerful machines and be able to see their powerful armament as well.  Stay tuned.

...practically an empty campground.  This is
not exactly camping season so getting out and
about to "meet and greet" has not been an
objective or priority during any part of this trip.