Day 7 Virginia - Maryland - Delaware

Today was a good day for me. Not too hot, it wasn't raining, no hail or wind. Just nice shirtsleeve riding weather. I got up early and was on the road before 6 AM. I wanted to make up some time today. After an hour on the road I stopped in at "The Waffle House." I had an omlet (I know...).
After breakfast, it took me about 3 more hours to get into Virginia. A couple hours more I was at Petersburg, which is just below Richmond.

Petersburg was a battle that was near the end of the war. It lasted 18 months. Petersburg was a supply hub for the confederates. When Petersburg was lost, Richmond (their capital) followed.

There were lots of these sitting around on display. I'd like to have some on my front lawn.

This is "Battery 5" for the Confederates. Notice the earth walls around the battery. This is what made it so tough for the Union boys to climb up the hill and get in there w/o getting any holes anywhere.

This motor was called "The Dictator." It shot 200 pound shells into the fort for the Confederates to enjoy. They got a blast out of it, I'm sure.

I could have spent a lot more time poking around and looking at things, but I had to make time and I don't want to bog this blog down, so on we go...

I left the battle field and made my way up to Williamsburg and the Jamestown Settlement. They are very close together (about 2 miles apart).

I saw some of the after aftermath of the storms I had been riding through these couple of days. There were a lot of trees down, so there was no power in some places. They had a few lightning strikes also.

This was GOOD FOR ME becaue the main gate at Jamestown was not working and I got to keep my $10. They said to just go around the gate and have a look around if I wanted to. None of the buildings were open to go into and read all the info.

This is a mock-up of what the first Settlement looked like. It's what started this whole country.

Most of the settlers died of disease or Indians. They nearly starved or froze to death.

Here is an example of one of the structures inside the settlement. They should have used more insulation.

The black area in the foreground is where Archeologists are digging around looking for things.

It was a hard life. Just think, no cell phones, pizza delivery or blogging. What the heck did they do all day? What would Capt John Smith think of things today, I wonder?

A couple of the road signs along the Historic Highway.

I ran into this guy in Williamsburg. There are characters all over the historic part of the city. They tell people all about what was going on and how things were done back then.

There were blacksmiths and people doing everyday tasks: baking bread, doing laundry, sewing things etc.

They have the historic distric fixed up real nice. You can park and take a shuttle down there (no parking is allowed down there) but I didn't have time for the whole show. I just stopped here and there and took a couple snap shots (I just gave you a couple here).


This is the Chesepeake Bridge-Tunnel toll booth. Cost me $6.35.

This is a plaque they had showing the layout. I am not sure if it will turn out good enough to read on your computer or not.

From shore to shore it spans 17 miles. There are two one mile sections of tunnel. That is where the huge freighters and Navy ships pass by.

At the southern most tunnel is a man made island They made a protrusion for people to fish from. Pretty clever considering it is miles from shore.

After the bridge about an hour and a half I came to Maryland. I just passed through part of it today on the way to Delaware. I will go back into Maryland tomorrow. That is where my class is. The only thing I did in Maryland today was buy gas and cross the bridge.

Delaware was the first state according to the sign. No sales tax. I should have brought a truck to fill. I ate an early dinner at Doyle's Diner.... "Yankee Pot Roast" - It was lip smack'n good.

After 7 days and over 3,700 miles I made it to the Atlantic Ocean. The water was calm and the sand on the beach was "short" compared to the west coast stuff I have seen. I am sure it "has it's stormy days."

This shot (below) reminded me of the movie "Jaws." I mean people sitting on the beach with umbrellas and all of that. The water doesn't pound the sand like I am used to.

But they do have Pirates.

There is a long boardwalk with little "Gig Harbor style shops." It's where the tourists become seperated from their money.

Most of the Motels were full at Dewey Beach. I did find one room for $175 and another for $225. I kept going. I ended up at a Motel 8 about 30 miles away. It was MUCH less.

Today my exhaust sounded a bit louder (on the bike). I may have vibrated a bolt lose on my header pipe. Of course I have no tools to get in there to check. It's in a place where tools have to go around corners. Tomorrow I will stop at a Harley Shop if I can find one.

It is now after 11 PM. It's been a long, full day.

All together on this trip I have logged 3767.4 miles. 440 miles of that was today.

Tomorrow I will go to Washington DC, see more Civil War Battlefields and also Arlington Cemetery.