Dolphin watching

Rain in the wee small hours but brighter by 0800. Got an all day pass on the excellent shuttle service (electric bus) from campsite to the beach area Still very cloudy but warm when we embark the boat. Considering it's the holiday weekend the boat was only about half full. ! One and a half hour trip along the front of the beach/coast. We got to see lots of dolphins, even with my telephoto though I only managed to get mainly tails and one snout ! No one has told them to stay out of the water for the photo call. (Flipper alaway did that !!! ummm ) Anyway it was great to see them, we were quite amazed that they were so close to the coast line.
Perhaps the look is "yesterday I saw how much this boat rocked on the water while I was sitting quietly on the beach" !!!

No folks we have not jetted back to Blighty. It was also very warm even though looking grey !

Considering all of the effort put into the boardwalk area this is a very rickety looking pier !!

Pelicans in flight

Ah ha there is Flipper, did manage to get one of his nose !

Back to campsite for a spot of lunch and right on cue as Michael says shall we head back down to the beach it's starts to rain !! However just a short shower so off we go. It remainded cloudy and we had a few spit spots but still very warm so we were able to read our books and people watch.

T & M we hope you had an uneventful flight home to Manchester, looking foward to catching up with you later in June.

A day out at the beach

Second to last camp site !
Rain early morning (you really know when it rains in a motorhome !) but all over by 7 ish and then sunny and hot all day. Staff here working frantically to get the site ready for the holiday weekend, we think they have left it a bit late, the pools are certainly not looking well ! They were re-grading the drive at 07.30 and they still haven't spread the bark mulch, I would so love a rake and get stuck in !! Perhaps we could get a free night here if I volunteered ! Enough thinking about work and off to the beach on our bikes. Well the 2 miles was actually 3 and what with the 3 miles of broadwalk that we traversed several times we did about 15 miles by the time we got back home.....very saddle sore !!!!
Harbour area at Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach to the left

Virginia Beach to the right

Beach very similar to Mytle Beach

Commerative area to the history of aircraft carriers

ummmm !

I did venture into the sea and it was surprisingly not that cold.

We had to laugh when one chap we spoke to thought that Michael sounded like Jeremy Clarkson, he didn't know wether to be flattered or insulted !

I do have to mention the jets! The largest naval base in the world is minutes away in Norfolk, along with Naval Air Station Oceana and Langley Air Force Base in Hampton so never a dull moment. Our waitress in the restaurant at lunch time said "you're not from around these parts are you" when we looked for the planes flying over ! I guess it could get tedious but we have fun watching the air display.

We have booked onto a dolphin watching cruise tomorrow

On the road again to Virginia Beach

Alarm at 06.30 to be off back to Virginia. Another long day in the saddle travelling along the I-64 (it's I-64 all the way to the ocean) back over the Appelachians but a beautiful morning and temps up into the 90's by midday. Our first song of the day was Harper Valley PTA as we have just passed Harper Valley Road. This changed to The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia as we headed farther east. A good 2 lane interstate most of the way with mainly good road surfaces just the usual potholes around the cities !!
Put this in as it was a fantastic sky

We went up and down and up and down the mountains etc etc but a very pretty scenic drive

We did get plenty of heavy traffic when we got near to Virginia Beach in fact the most traffic we have encountered on our travels with delays for 4 miles or so. This was to be expected as very much a high density area

Welcome back to Virginia. We have noticed that the Harley-Davidson riders are mainly silver haired and 60+

Our first glimpse of the ocean

The tunnel from Hampton/Newport News to Norfolk and Virginia Beach. We have travelled approx 1,200 miles since leaving Sandy and Jack's in Wisconsin but worth it. KOA campsite large as expected but not exactly ready for the holiday weekend, well the swimming pools look rather unhappy !! And I itch to get a rake to the piles of bark mulch !!! Feeling quite tired but looking forward to taking the bikes to the beach tomorrow, they say there is a 2 mile easy ride !

New River Gorge and a rest

A visit 2 miles down the road to New River Gorge Bridge.

Walked down 60 steps for the better view point. Sadly to really get down in amongst it we would need a car so a quick top up of vitals at Wal-Mart and refuel the rig and back to the campsite for an afternoon rest !! It's hot 90 degrees.

The bridge is the longest single span bridge in the world

The New River is actually one of the oldest in North America

Tuesday 25th Indiana to West Virginia

Up at 06.30 to get a good start as another long one today to get to West Virginia. We got lost after 5 mins. I do have to say here that my navigating skills have improved a great deal and it wasn't my fault that there were no signs for the US124 in the town centre ! Anyway a very helpful girl at the gas station and we are on our way again towards Columbus Ohio where the flat farmlands give way to farmland with trees and rolling hills. Negotiated around Columbus over really terrible roads full of potholes so a bit stressy at that point but soon onto a really good 2 lane highway and then the I-75. We knew at some point our song for the day would be "I Like Trucks I like Big Trucks" by Kendel Carson (a favourite of Johnnie Walker on radio 2) so we thought it would be today.

Columbus Ohio

We love roads like this !

Ohio River and State Line

Welcome back to West Virginia.

We love road works !

Charleston WV

Railroad runs along side of road but sadly no trains!

The last part of our journey today is along the US60 The Midland Trail. The start of the mountians and a very winding single track road but very pretty, with views of the New River Gorge.

Ah ha a train !

Rifrafters Campsite here for 2 nights. Strange site, small and could be really good, in need of refurb but very quiet and peaceful.