Day 13

We continued northwest to I-81 and headed on toward Altmar.  It was a nice drive and we arrived at Tom and Julie’s about 5 pm.  It was a beautiful evening.  The scene from Tom's backyard was breathtaking.

Day 12

We left Turkey Swamp with little planning for our next stop.  Yesterday, we decided to change course and head on over to Tom and Julie’s at Altmar, NY.  We were relatively close and in need of a long rest stop anyway.  Our original plan had us continuing up the coast through New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  But, since we had to head west a little to avoid New York City, we decided to go to Altmar.  Now I’ll have to plan a whole new northeast leg of our trip.

Finding a campground wasn’t as easy as it had been.  We decided to stay at a Passport America campground because others in the area were quite expensive.  But, when we arrived, the office was closed and the gate was, too.  There was no easy way offered to register, so we just kept going.  I found Valley View Farm and Campground a ways off so we headed there.  The only problem was it was way off in the middle of rural whatever and I had to depend on Gypsy (GPS) to guide us there.  She did, but it was the long way around, I’m sure.

We finally reached the campground just about dark.  What we found was a nice little park, but nary a level spot in the place.  We drove around and tried several spots, but no luck.  Finally, the lady that ran the place showed up and told us we could park in the parking area for one of the occupied sites.  No one was in that camper and she didn’t expect them until the weekend.  It still wasn’t level, but at least we didn’t roll out of bed.

The campground was not much more than a cow pasture.

Day 11

We got up and around, had breakfast and headed out.  I stopped and dumped the waste tanks on the way out then stopped at the main gate to pay for our night’s stay.  No one was there, but they had self-pay envelopes, so I picked one up and got back in the RV.  We were about to write a check when I noticed, it said “no checks or credit cards for self-pay”.  All I had was $20 bills and the price was $25.  Hmmm.  Sorry, Delaware.  Guess we owe you one.

We headed on up around Delaware Bay and crossed the Delaware River on US Hwy 40 on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.  From there, we wandered the back roads up through New Jersey.  I’m not sure just how we got where we are now because I more or less let Gypsy lead the way.  Joyce tried to figure out where we were on the Atlas but gave up.  Interestingly, while wondering around, we passed the McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base.  I didn’t know we were anywhere near it.  I’d heard of Naval Air Station Lakehurst years ago while in the Navy, but never thought about it except to know it was in New Jersey.  It used to be the Navy's main derrigable base and is where the Hindenburg met its end. 

We kept truckin’ through the backwoods and stopped at a private campground, but couldn’t find anyone to check us in, so we kept going.  It was about 4 pm then.  We finally made it to Turkey Swamp Park up near West Freehold.  What?!  You don’t know where that is?  Look it up.  Google knows.

Day 10

Up and at ‘em!  Well, maybe not so ambitious as that, but we left Kiptopeke State Park and headed up the coast to Lewes Point, Delaware.  There’s a ferry from there over to Cape May and we considered taking it but opted out.  On the way up, we took a side trip to Onancock Wharf Harbor.

While there, we saw Julie's bicycle.

We headed east until we hit Delaware Hwy 1 and followed it up the barrier islands toward Lewes Point.  We took a little break at the Indian River Inlet bridge.

Instead of taking the ferry, we left the east shore madness and headed inland.  We were running pretty late by then so it was just about dark when we pulled into Killens Pond State Park.  Inside the park campground, it was very dark.  We stumbled around a bit finding a spot and hooking up, but then we had some microwave pot roast and hit the sack.  I got up with Ditto about 4:30 am and while outside, I realized I had left one of the rear doors open when I had gotten out the power cord.  I shut the door and Ditto and I got back in and went to bed.  It seemed like it was about the time my head hit the pillow that it started to rain.  Sure glad Ditto woke me up to pee.

Day 9

Messed around this morning, was in no hurry.  Watched as a couple of White Hats made their way toward the geedunk.

After leaving the park we headed to NAS Oceana to see how things had changed.  They had.  The area outside what used to be the main gate was now the biggest Navy Exchange complex we’ve ever seen.  I went in to see if they had any GPS that I might be interested in.  Amazingly, they didn’t.  But, the building reminded me a lot of the Springfield Mall with shops of all kinds, a food court, etc.  This whole thing was sitting almost smack dab where our old Navy housing apartment was back in the 70’s.

We went on the base, through the zig-zag of concrete barriers and past the gate security.  It’s funny, but back in my day, the gate security was mainly concerned about whether or not you had auto insurance and wasn’t wearing blue jeans.  Today, all I needed was my ID card, but there was no way I was going to drive a truck loaded with fertilizer through that gate.  At least, not very rapidly.

My old squadron, VF-41, has since been decommissioned, but our hanger is still there.  It felt a little strange driving around the base seeing some familiar sights but many strange ones.  They have a real nice Navy aircraft park with about a dozen different planes on display.

We left NAS Oceana and headed over to Corvette Court where we lived for a few months.  It looked much the same.  A guy that was living there came out and talked with us for a while.  Looked like he had just mowed the lawn and it looked nice.  The little tree the boys were playing under when lightning struck next door was gone as was the chain link fence that ran down to the street between the houses.

We checked out Dodge Street where Bob and Judy Gee lived, but we weren’t positive which house.  One looked familiar, though.

From there, we drove up Shore Drive to the Oceanview area where we lived immediately after I returned from Vietnam in 1968.  We lived in a little duplex on Pleasant Ave.  That whole area is now big new tightly situated beach homes and apartments.  Movin’ on up!

After Oceanview, we drove over to the Norfolk Naval Station to see what carriers were in.  Sadly, only the USS George Washington was there in dry dock and it didn’t look too pretty.  So, we left there, stopped to eat and then headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.   Crossing the bay, we decided to spend tonight in the Kiptopeke State Park just across the bridge/tunnel  on the Virginia Eastern Shore.  It’s been a full day.

Day 8

Nice slow day, only about 3 hours driving time to the Virginia Beach area.  I wanted to stay at Fort Story (Cape Hatteras) campground, but when I called, they said they were booked up.  So, here we are at Dam Neck Navy Base.  It is a nice, rather new, campground with just a smallish sand dune between us and the beach.  It was hot today, but a front has since moved in and the wind is blowing in off the ocean quite cool.  In fact, I’m going to have to close the door.  Ought to sleep cool tonight.

Joyce fixed some chicken breasts for sandwiches right after we arrived.  We were all three starving.  After dinner cleanup, we took a stroll through the park and planned on going out on the beach.  But, to get to the beach was actually quite a walk and neither Joyce nor I was up to it.  We’ll check it out tomorrow as we leave.  However, this cool front is just that, cool and the high tomorrow is predicted to be below 80 and cloudy.  So, no sunshiny beach here.

Day 7

I checked the Internet and found I had not used the recommended amount of bleach for the amount of onboard water.  I should have used ½ cup instead.  Oh well, an extra day of treatment won’t hurt.  So, I added more bleach and filled some more empty water bottles at the spigot.  Phew!  The water really smells of bleach now.  If any bugs survive that, they’ll kill us for sure.

I was hoping to make it to Virginia Beach tomorrow, but it’s just too far for us.  So, we’ve opted to stop at the next Corp park along our route.  Appropriately, it is Kerr Lake, or rather, John H. Kerr Reservoir.  It was a short 3-hour drive so we took advantage of the free time this afternoon and took sorely needed showers.

Now, we’re just sitting quietly in a crowded but also quiet campground just doing nothing.  Well, I am writing this and Joyce is poking around on the Internet…and the water is still swimming pool water.  I’ll drain and refill the water tank tomorrow.