Two bridges and two tunnels to the other side

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Planned another easy day today so late start for a simple breakfast on offer at the Super 8 at Virginia Beach.After watching Regis and Kelly,a show you can get hooked on just to see who they are going to have on and what they are going to talk about,it was time to hit the road.By the way they interviewed the delicious Diane Lane who is starring opposite Richard Gere in Nights at Rodanthe which opens here soon.Must put it on the list as it looks a good movie.The GMA show interviewed Richard Gere beforehand.
Headed down to Fort Story where the first English settlement in USA was.Pulled up tot the entry only to find we and the car would be subject to a full searchas we were entering a military base.Hadnt taken that into account when deciding on the visit.However despite the revolvers in their holsters and handcuffs on their hips the 5 soldiers that did us and the car over were freindly.Dont think they had seen anyone from NZ recently and probably didnt really know where our home country actually is like many Americans we have met.
It was blowing a fair bit so gave the lighthouse a miss and as you couldnt go any further we headed back out and off to our second destination for the day.
Worked our way to the toll gate for the Chesapeake Bridge and Tunnel.$12 to go one way and as long as you came back within 24 hours the return trip was only $5.
The road was fairly quiet with few trucks which pleased Gretchen as she wasnt keen on the tunnel bits with trucks after hearing what happened recently in the Chunnel.We headed onto the first bridge which was a trestle type of over 3 miles which took us a fair distance in the first step across the Chesapeake Bay with the Atlantic ocean being whipped up by a strong north Easter.We stopped at a restaurant and gift shop built on an island that had been formed when the first bridge was built in 1964.It is an odd feeling being that far out at sea with land bareley in view and getting out of a car to look around.
Then it was down into the first tunnel which is a mile long under the channel that the huge container ships that use Newport and other ports up the Chesapeake Bay.Then it was up to another few miles of trestle bridge.The road is two laned in each direction and with little traffic it made it easy to drive and still take in the scenery.One thing we did notice was the large number of seabirds that were dead on the side on the roadway.We had worked out that as they hover on or near the bridge they probably get sucked in by the trucks whizzing by at 50mphand killed.We presume that the road maintenance people go out and clear the dead birds on a regular basis as the dead birds didnt look like they had been dead too long.This would create another role for someone at Fulton Hogan if NZ had the same type of roadway !! eh Brent !!
After 19 odd miles we were on the far shore of Virginia and headed for the small settlement of Cape Charles for lunch.The wind here was much less than at Virginia Beach and enjoyed our lunch in the band rotunda.
The trip back didnt seem to take as long s the trip over but it often works out like that when you know the road you are travelling over.
Traffic was still very light.One sign that made us laugh was one that said "Keep Right" which was on the right hand side of the road and if we had taken it literally we would have been in the ocean !!
Coming home a US Navy warship was entering the Hampton Roads and it would have been close by to going overhead as we passed thru the last tunnel.
Gretchen had mapped a course for Williamsburg with the idea to visit Jamestown which is a town where the first permanent English settlement was.But after we had found the Super 8 motel and negostiated the price and had a coffee there wasnt enough time to do the settlement visit justice.So we opted for a visit to the Brand Outlet Centre where there are over 100 shops selling clothes mainly,at huge discounts.All the big labels were represented and we happily wandered around for nearly 3 hours before dark came and we felt it was time to head home and have dinner.So we left with bags of purchases made at ridiculous prices hanging off us.After 2 delicous Mrie Callendar chicken meals we were ready to settle down for session 2 of Dancing with the Stars US version which is kicking off he new TV season.

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Comments

[KJ]

Following along
Good to keep track of you guys-sending edited bits-no photos- to DD seeing as she is not electronically linked. Got your wild west postcard thanks