Touching the Atlantic

Last night we drove about 4 hours of the 11-hour trip to Virginia, stopping in Portsmouth, OH.  "Boondocking" is the RV term for camping somewhere without water, electricity or sewer hookups.  We know that occasionally along the trip there won't be campgrounds along desolate stretches, so we decided to get a practice night in the first night.  We engaged in a true American classic: Staying the night in a camper in a Walmart parking lot!  It really does make sense to stay somewhere well-lit with people around and security if you're going to be free camping, and I think it's great that Walmart has a policy to allow RVers to do this.  Once I got used to the periodic cart-gathering noises, I actually slept pretty well.

We got a decently early start thanks to August waking up about an hour before his usual.  It was a pretty long day of driving, but thankfully he did fine and only got fussy a few times from boredom and being strapped in the car seat for hours.  We stopped at a Panera for a late lunch and were so thankful that this particular location had a kids' play area, which I had never seen at other ones.  It had chairs, books, a play table and a whole wall of chalkboard with big chalk pieces.  He was in heaven and we were glad to give him a play break!

Finally, in the early evening we made it to Yorktown, the official start of the TransAmerica Trail.  Chris did the ceremonial dipping of the rear tire into the Atlantic:

Then, the ceremonial dipping of the August into the Atlantic:

Here we parted ways with Chris so he could ride the first 20 miles, and we did our first exploration.  Yorktown is built on a sort of bluff, with the official visitor center and historic homes on top of the bluff, and the shore down below the hill.  The Yorktown beach and pier area was lively with lots of people wading, hanging out on the pier and walking along the boardwalk.  We took a nice stroll up and down it (not sure which one of us enjoys people-watching more), and then happened upon a trail which I hoped would take us back up the hill to the RV so we wouldn't have to walk along the road again.  The Tobacco Road Trail goes from the beach and winds up to the visitor center.  It was an absolutely charming path, mostly shaded and lush with trees and grasses.

After that, Auggie and I made the short drive to the campground for the night.  Chris arrived not too long after, and they were happy to get in some cuddling on the couch before bedtime.