Started out the day by using the first of two nicotine patches. I smoked one cigarette before putting it on, and felt a little nauseous for a short while this morning.

We ‘broke camp’ and headed back across the street to the restaurant / gas station / convenience store. Bought 2 disposable cameras to cover us until we can talk to Jeanine about hers. I also bought a new pair of shades. I found yesterday that mine just aren’t cutting it.

Stopped a short while after the restaurant at Kiptopeak State Park to get water and soil samples from the Chesapeak Bay shore.

Continued on and reached the Chesapeak Bay Bridge Tunnel right about lunch time. We stopped on Bridge 2 at the Seagull Pier Restaurant / Gift Shop for brunch. At the Seagull Pier we order a combination of meals which we split. Mark got the flounder sandwich (which was excellent) and I ordered 2 eggs, french toast, and grits (good, but not Momma Edmundson’s). Still haven’t smoked another cigarette!!

Continued on I-64 towards Richmond, and then I-5 when we saw some signs for plantations. The first of the plantations (“Edgewood”) we stopped at was currently a Bed and Breakfast where we stayed long enough to take a few pictures of an adorable litter of kittens.

Moved on to the second plantation which appeared a bit more traditional. No one from the plantation proper appeared to be around, so Mark and I payed our $2.00 entry fee and picked up a couple of guide booklets and showed ourselves around. We walked the grounds and gardens of “Westover Plantation” and Mark took a water sample from the river the plantation borders.

The place was built by William Byrd II approximately in 1730 – he was the founder of Richmond. Impressive site including a secret passage built as an escape route from the natives which lead to the water’s edge.

Near Westover (and on the grounds – though we did not visit) is the third oldest tombstone in America – that of Captain William Perry – died August 6th, 1637.

Personal note – Mark mentioned that he learned to water ski on that river in his childhood. This brought a huge smile to my face.

We stopped briefly in Historic Williamsburg, but before we left the bikes too far behind we reviewed our time table and realized that we had a very long way to go in order to make it to Mom and Dad Edmundsons’ in time, so we left Williamsburg behind for another day.

Later that 犀利士 evening, we pulled off the road into a Texaco gas station. Mark’s bike was 7/10 of a mile shy of flipping the 10,000 mile mark on the odometer. The guy who was running the Texaco didn’t understand what the big deal was. I did try to explain, but he still didn’t find it to be a call for celebration. Mark rode around the parking lot of the place to kill the 7/10 mile, and we took some photos. We would have liked to kill the 7/10 mile by going somewhere ‘cool’, but no place was open at time of night in that area. The attendant definitely thought we were nuts when we grabbed a cardboard standee of some sexy soda model and had her ‘pose’ with Mark and the bike. After all that we fueled up and headed out again.

That night we took a series of country roads (read as: gravel in the dark) to Small’s Country Camping. The sign read that all campers must register at the office. Kinda hard to do at 2am when everything is pitch black and no one is manning the front desk (even if we could find the office). So we found a spot in the dark, pitched camp, and figured we would find the folks in charge in the morning and pay then.

Editor’s note: I find it funny that I already started to slip into a more nature ‘voice’ in this second entry. Again – I will be updating/fleshing out these entries later on. Just trying to get the originals into a digital format first.

  • Current Location: on the road in my mind.
  • Current Music: Pink – Don’t Let Me Get Me (S K Y . F M – Top Hits Music – who cares about the chart order, less rap