More Virginia

Cloudy day. We haven't seen much sun so far this trip. As soon as we got up, Jean noticed that one of the shades had come loose at the top. Now what?  RVs use what are called day/night shades. They consist of two parts, both pleated, that pull down on taut strings. The day part comes down first and cuts way down on the light. The night part pulls down behind that and is opaque. Investigation revealed that they are fastened to the top of the window with clips. Nothing seemed to be broken and I was able to put the top back onto the clip with some difficulty. I'm not sure whether the clip is broken or damaged so for the time being we are not pulling down the shade.

That problem solved (we hope), we went into the Walmart for some last-minute purchases, then headed back south to go to the Turner sculpture gallery. It is a father-and-son operation that does beautiful (and expensive) wildlife bronzes.

The gallery includes paintings by various people as well as the Turners' amazing sculpture.

 Then we headed back north again, destination Chincoteague. However, looking through an Eastern Shore guidebook on the way, Jean spotted a couple of interesting-looking side trips.

The first one was the town of Parksley, off the highway to the west. It's main attractions seem to be a number of Victorian homes and a railroad museum. So we drove in and took a look.

The houses were on one side of the railroad track, the museum on the other. There were a variety of cars, which I was too interested in to take pictures, except for one car with the steel structure on the outside (sort of like a crab).

In the same parking area was a produce stand. We bought two tomatoes and a cucumber. Fresh food tonight! Then we went across the street to see what was in this typical

small town. Among the stores we found a Carribean grocery store, run by a woman from Haiti. Lots of interesting smells.

At the end of the street there is an actual five-and-dime. We haven't seen one of those in years. We went in and, of course, couldn't resist buying something.










The next side trip we made was to a memorial to Francis Makemie, the founder of Presbyterianism in America. Jean was raised as a Presbyterian but had never heard of him. So of course we had to go find it. It is in a field overlooking a creek and extensive salt marsh.

The place was well-kept and very nice, but full of mosquitoes. So we retreated into the Roadtrek and made a late lunch of one of the tomatoes. Some of the simplest things can be the most pleasant: sitting in the van, soybeans behind us, forest in front, a quiet meal together in a quiet place. What more could you ask?

After lunch we checked out campsites and found one that had what we needed. So we finally headed to Chincoteague. It had been several years since either one of us had been there, so it was almost like new to us.

The campground is kind of funky, but it has reliable wifi and full hookups. The ground, being basically a barrier island, is sandy. I  tried to level up by driving up on blocks on the front. Instead I spun the rear wheels and we ended up digging a hole in the back. Oh well, that works as well; so I put the blocks away.

So here we are, Jean is watching television while I write this blog. Tomorrow we visit Chincoteague and Assateague. Then on to Maryland.