A bridge–tunnel adventure and settling in for a longer stay

For our final travel day, we needed to cross the Chesapeake Bay.  Years ago, a ferry was the only way to get across, but that was before the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Now for $39.00, we could take our 5-axle vehicle (MH + Jeep) 17 miles across the Bay, through a series of bridge and tunnel sections.  It was definitely an adventure!

Nicolas warned us that our propane needed to be off in the tunnel sections and that they may stop us for an inspection at the entrance to the 1st bridge section.  Tom almost forgot . . . but remembered as we were pulling out of the RV Resort and was able to stop and turn it off.

The gate attendant asked if it was off as we passed through the toll gate, but they did not inspect it at all.  Better safe than sorry, though.

The bridge sections are two lanes in each direction, and separated into two bridges.  It’s not a very tall bridge . . . but it’s very long!

This part wasn’t too bad!

As we approached the first tunnel, the two side-by-side bridges each went down to a single lane and fed into a single tunnel.

Now this was narrow!  Each tunnel section is only 1 mile long, though, so before you know it you are going back up above the surface!

It sure didn’t feel like we were far enough below the surface for an aircraft carrier to pass over the top of the tunnel, but this is the way they get out to the ocean, so the tunnel must be deep enough . . . I guess they only go out at high tide!

Whew – it was good to be back above the surface of the ocean!

One more tunnel, another bridge, and then we were in Virginia Beach.  Nicolas recommended that we take the inner loop (I-64) through Chesapeake, rather than going straight through Norfolk, and that was definitely a good suggestion.  Traffic was fairly light, and we had no trouble finding our way to Suffolk.

We pulled into Davis Lakes Campground right at noon.

We weren’t sure what site they were going to put us on – whether it would be in the monthly section where Nicolas is,

or in the daily sites.  We ended up in the daily sites, but backed up to the monthly area, so we’re still pretty close to Nick.  We had a quick lunch, and were just finishing getting set up when Nicolas drove up – he was home early from work!

It’s a nice little campground he found for his home!

In addition to the monthly sites and the daily sites, there are seasonal sites around the perimeter of each of the lakes.

After our walk around the campground, we stopped by Nicolas’ camper to check it out --  we’d only seen pictures so far.

It’s a great little camper for him – in great condition, and just the right size!

He’s got some projects he want to work on with Tom, and they need to get it ready for winter . . . so that will keep Tom busy for the next several weeks!

The campground was having their Halloween weekend, so as the afternoon went on, the campground filled up.  Decorations started popping up all around us!

Saturday was Nicolas’ 24-hour duty day, so he wasn’t there to join in the festivities, but Tom and I joined in and met many of the long-term residents.

On Saturday morning, the witches stew went into the big cauldron – everybody contributed meat and vegetables,

and then gathered in the pavilion at 1 pm to enjoy the final product.  It was pretty good!  There was a ton of it, too . . . everybody had their fill, and took home containers of stew to enjoy later!

Trick – or – Treating was not until 7pm, so we had time to run a few errands and go to church.  We were home by 6pm and had a quick dinner before the kids started coming around.

There were quite a few kids, but the campground had them all gather at the pavilion first and then sent them around in groups, so the whole process went really smoothly and quickly – it was over by 7:45.  It was a fun evening, and the weather was beautiful, so everyone had a great time!  We love seeing all the little kids in their costumes!

On Sunday when Nicolas got home from work, he and Tom got started on their first project – washing and polishing Nick’s camper.  They made pretty good progress on it, and Tom finished it up on Monday while Nick was back at work.

I took some measurements in his camper for new valences and a couple other things I am making for him, did his laundry and made grill pizza for dinner.

It turned out really good this time!

We’ll be here through Thanksgiving weekend, so that should give us plenty of time to complete our many projects, as well as explore the area a little on Nick’s days off.  We’re looking forward to it!