We drove our coach 156 miles, about two hours of driving, from Chocowinity, North Carolina to Cape Charles, Virginia. Another new state.
This was a late change in our plans. We were originally going to head more directly north, but we realized that we’d be traveling over the Memorial Day weekend, which is one of the busiest camper weekends. And checking in to a first-come-first-served Thousand Trails park during that weekend, so would probably struggle to find a good site. So we decided to add a stop elsewhere between the two, to avoid both issues. In retrospect, we chose poorly (okay, I chose poorly), since we didn’t realize that the route would involve some narrow tunnels.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast:
An interactive map:
Washington, North Carolina:
13 / 17 North:
Not a lot of stopping opportunities on this route. I found a nice big parking lot that worked well, also a convenient walk to a McDonald’s for lunch:
Paladin sat in his nest on the dash as we headed out again, until we got back on the highway:
Roanoke River:
Chowan River:
Future I-87:
Paladin asleep:
Perquimans River:
Exit to Chesapeake:
Future I-87 again:
A break at the Dismal Swamp Canal Visitor Center rest area:
Snuggling with Paladin:
Paladin on the dash:
As we left this rest area, we had a strange wobble — it felt like the wheels of the coach were loose or something, but on looking at the 360 camera footage from the truck later, it looks like the front truck tires possibly weren’t pointing in the right direction as we made a turn out of the rest area, and they hopped a few times. We pulled over, then resumed while keeping any eye on things; it was fine after that. Rather disconcerting, but no harm done as far as we can tell.
That issue did occur again on a subsequent trip. But we have since replaced our truck tires, as the front ones were getting a bit bald on the outer edges, so hopefully it won’t occur again.
“Welcome to Virginia”:
Exit:
Bainbridge?! To us, Bainbridge is an island in the Puget Sound, across from Seattle:
Southern Branch Elizabeth River:
Exit:
We hadn’t seen a “Signal Red Ahead” warning before:
I wonder what was on “Pleasure House Road”?
Toll plaza:
A bridge-tunnel across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay; part bridges, part two tunnels under the water:
13’ 6” height restriction. Our coach is 12’ 7”. 11 inches of clearance is totally fine, not at all concerning!
They’re working on adding a second tunnel for opposing traffic, but for now both ways goes through the same tunnel:
A couple of snapshots from the 360 camera on the truck; look at all those inches of clearance (remember too that our AC units stick up a little higher than the roof rail):
An animated GIF:
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A ship going over the second tunnel:
Our destination:
Guided to our site:
We originally were going to go back through those tunnels, and a third tunnel and roadworks north of Virginia Beach, but decided to change our plans again to avoid those; more on that next week.
And check out the video today; it includes views from the truck, and lots of interesting bits including an instant replay of the truck wobble thing, and the truck and coach views of going through the two tunnels, and more.
