Virginia Beach and Beyond – 08/05 to 10/05

We completed our work commitment at Virginia Beach KOA Campground after Labor Day as Hurricane Florence started threatening the East Coast. After nearly two weeks of traveling around, we wound up in our home area of Louisville, Kentucky for our annual layover before heading south for the winter.

The Virginia Beach KOA is the largest at which we’ve ever worked as far

as the total number of sites, including tent, RV, Kamping Kabins, and

Deluxe Cabins. Shown here is a family enjoying dinner the

cul-de-sac area of the campground.

These beautiful flowers were on a berm between the front door of the

campground store/office and the swimming pools.

As we moved through August, we continued to experience heat and humidity in keeping with being near the beach. We did venture out on one warm day to visit the last item on our summer “to do” list: The Military Aviation Museum.

This museum is home to one of the largest private collections of military aircraft that date as far back as World I. The most amazing thing about this place is that nearly all of the planes are airworthy and flown either at the museum during flight demonstrations or at airshows. One can even schedule a flight in one of the planes. The collection was extensive and quite amazing. It consists of the main museum area, which houses planes and other memorabilia, and then another hangar, which houses an extensive collection. A third building is the mechanical workshop where restorations and repairs are conducted. The idea for the museum took developed in the fall of 1994 when the museum’s founder was attending a convention in Hamilton, Ontario. Shortly after returning to Virginia Beach, he started looking for World War II-era aircraft to acquire. The first plane to be restored was a wrecked Curtiss P-40E Warhawk recovered from the Arctic Circle. As they say, the rest is history. They now are displaying seventeen plane from WW I and more than 40 from WW II. Of course, the museum’s holdings increase year over year.

Byron is pictured in front of the Sopwith Strutter, a British aircraft of

the First World War. It was the first British aircraft to 

enter service with a synchronized machine gun.

Martha stand in front of a fully restored B-25J. The WWII bomber

is named “Wild Cargo” (not referring to Martha). The Mitchell medium 

bomber was in the opening months of the war. The entire air bombardment

concept owed itself to Gen. “Billy” Mitchell. The B-25 is 

the only U.S. aircraft to be named after a person.

August morphed into September with the campground winding down to a leisurely pace as travelers returned home. Labor Day saw us quite busy, and then there was Hurricane Florence. Not sure of Hurricane Flo’s exact route and the lack of business, we departed Virginia Beach on September 10th in hopes of finding ourselves out of the path of the rain and wind.

The campground at Virginia Beach looked rather empty

on the day that Florence was to make landfall. Those with

reservations for Customer Appreciation Weekend had

cancelled in fear of being caught by the hurricane.

Had we stayed, there would have been no guests

for whom customer service was needed.

We spent a couple of nights in Lenoir, North Carolina, about 30 miles south of Boone and east of Asheville. However, once we saw all the other guests leaving with their rigs, we decided moving on north and west across the Appalichians into Tennessee might be a wiser choice. We were parked on a creek, back in a holler, and under power lines: nice spot for more casual weather but not for what we could see coming. We decided riding out a flood and the possibility of downed power lines was not our best option. So, we packed up and headed toward the western side of the Smokey Mountains.

Our site at Green Mountain RV Park was nice with a babbling creek

behind and a concrete pad on which to park.

We spent six nights in Sevierville, Tennessee on the banks of the French Lick River at Two Rivers Landing RV Resort. This was, perhaps, the nicest location at which we have ever stayed. The location was 14 years old but well maintained. The price was very competitive. And, we were safe here.

Our motorhome is nestled in between the shrubbery that divide each site at

Two Rivers Landing. Each site is also marked by a crepe myrtle bush.

And, handy to the highway while away from the heavy traffic in Sevierville.

We attended the United Methodist Church on Sunday and heard what churches in the area were doing for expectant mothers on oppioids at Susannah’s House in Knoxville. Other exploits while here took us to eat at the Apple Valley Grill and a day drive into and around Townsend and Cades Cove.

No caption necessary.

From Sevierville, we traveled to one of our favorite parks, Riverpark Campgound on the banks of the Nolichucky River in Jonesborough, Tennessee for a visit with Byron’s brother and sister-in-law, Lewis and Marcia Songer.

On the banks of the Nolichucky south of Jonesborough, Tennessee.

After dinner in the refurbished area of downtown Johnson City, Tennessee.

After our visit with Lewis and Marcia, we spent one night at Bean Pot Campground in Crossville, Tennessee before moving on to Diamond Caverns Campground just inside Mammouth Cave National Park. While there we took a the 2-hour Domes and Dripstones tour seeing a very small portion of the 412-mile cave system known as Mammouth Cave.

The Domes and Dripstones Tour ends in an area of Mammoth Cave,

one of the dying-cave sections. This is where the

stalactites and stalagmites are formed. To us, it isn’t dying.

However, our ranger and guide presented a good

explanation as to the meaning and the

differences in the cave environments. 

While in the area we went to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. Yes, the vehicles recovered from the sink hole colapse several years ago are on display along with many other Vettes spanning the history which began in 1953.

There are a vew “period” areas of the museum in which some

of the vintage Corvettes are shown. A 1958 model is shown in this image.

As we recall, there were five of the damaged Vettes on display.

Upon checking with our “home” campground, we found that we could arive two days earlier than planned since they had a few cancellations. We headed for Add-More Campground in Clarksville, Indiana on Saturday, September 29. Now we can catch-up with friends and family before moving onto Florida for our winter jobs and taking some opportunities to visit with our grandchildren and daughter and son-in-law, Michael and Ashley.

Fourth Month in Virginia Beach - 07/04 to 08/04

Welcome back (if you’ve been on our Blogspot before). Or, welcome (if you’ve not been here before).

As the title of this entry states, it is our fourth month in Virginia Beach. Though we haven’t seen all there is to see within a 75-mile radius, the rain has slowed us down a good bit. July was a very wet month for the area and the wettest in weather history. August it, typically, the wettest month in the year for Virginia Beach.

For July 4 the KOA had an Independence Day parade. Shown here

on a rental unit is one of our co-workers. Brianna is from Texas

and her husband was stationed here for a while. Sadly, they

have moved on and left the campground. This photo just

shows a bit of Brianna’s joyful spirit.

Having displayed one photo (above), we’ll show some others so you can get a look around the KOA where we’re working as “Work Kampers” (a KOA term) for the summer.

This is the official image of the campground map for 2018. We are parked

In the Extended Stay area of the campground (#521 on the lower left) which

is separated from the itinerant portion of the park (the rest of the campground).

It is a long walk from our motorhome to the store we work out of (upper right).

New to the KOA here in Virginia Beach is something called a “pocket park”

where there are several game areas. The photo shows the permanent ping-pong

table (the table surface is manufactured granite and quite heavy).

There is also bocce ball, gaga ball, horseshoes, bolo toss, chess, and

other game areas. In the background you see the blow-up slide.

The inflatable slide is quite popular here. During the summer it is open

for one hour, three times a day. Around here it has the nickname of

“Wedgie” for which the managers have created a photo contest.

Nearly every KOA now has cabins available. There are the basic

Kamping Kabins (as shown here) and Deluxe Cabins which

offer self-contained bathrooms and kitchenettes. Most of

the basic cabins here in Virginia Beach have been located in

a wooded area. Each has air conditioning (not all Kamping Kabins

in other campgrounds have air conditioners or concrete patios).

When it rains, it pours -- and can get muddy. Shown above is a tent

that survived a storm but not the deluge of water.

As mentioned in a previous blog, this is the largest campground in which we have worked. More than one-half of the summer staff is made up of local employees though there are twelve of us who are working campers. Martha works in the store handling registrations and sales of store merchandise. Byron works outside escorting guests to their sites, cleaning the sites before arrivals or after departures, and delivering firewood or ice when requested. At present, our plan is to leave here in the middle of September and work our way back to home base in the Louisville area after a couple of weeks “on the road”.

Now, for the things we’ve managed to see when it hasn’t been raining.

Our first trip was to the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown. This museum is owned by the same organization that operates Jamestown Settlement. (We’ve learned that most attractions in the area are commercial establishments and not operated by the National Park Service or state government). The building, in which most of the displays reside, is only a few years old just as was the case at Jamestown Settlement. This time, we knew to go through the display gallery in chronological order. We did it backward at Jamestown.

The focal center of the American Revolution Museum is impressive and

rather new. The building is based on the architecture of the period with

Large display halls on either side of the main entrance.

Shown here is a display of uniforms of officers and small weapons

used during the period. The displays are well and offer several

viewing angles.

Of course, a modern museum will have some type of media display. Shown

here is the small theater that covers the Seige of Yorktown by the British.

The British attacked from ships on Chesapeake Bay while the

soldiers of the revolution fired on them from canons placed

above the hilly coastline.

Many of the displays also feature art and artifacts as well

as other material related to the Revolutionary War period.

For the outside display, the museum has recreated an encampment and

small village typical of the time.

This is what a the mess area and the food would have looked like 

during the Revolutionary War. Anyone for KP duty?

No visit to a museum about the Revolution would be complete

without some type of tribute to George Washington. Shown here is

a marble statue displayed under a small rotunda in a separate room

paying tribute to Washington.

The Hampton History Museum and the Carousel was the next afternoon adventure. It wasn’t particularly thrilling. It was just included in our multi-venue ticket we had purchased in June. To get our money’s worth, we returned for these.

The Hampton History Museum is, after all, about the history of Hampton which includes the city’s early inhabitance by the Kecoughtan tribe and contributions of African-American residents. Ten permanent galleries span Hampton’s settlement to the city’s role as the founding site for the U.S. space program (NASA at Langley Field). The galleries show a narrative beginning with the Virginia Colony and continue through phases of Coastal Virginia life which includes Blackbeard the Pirate. The burning of Hampton during the Civil War as well as the Contraband decision (the first step toward freedom for millions of African-Americans) is also depicted. The museum shares space with a gift shop and the Hampton Visitor Center.

An original fire apparatus is on display in the Hampton History Museum.

Across the street is the carousel that his housed in its own pavilion.

The band organ for the carousel isn’t played regularly

but appropriate carousel music is.

Selfie on a Carousel — how is that for a title?

Hampton’s Carousel is a whirling tribute to the skill of its creators. It still has its original mirrors and oil paintings, as well as 48 intricately decorated horses. Hampton’s restored 1920 merry-go-round is an interesting attraction for the city’s downtown waterfront. One of only 70 antique carousels still in the United States, the Hampton Carousel is a rare and beautiful example of American folk art. The horses and chariots were originally painted by German, Italian and Russian immigrant artisans.

Our final trip of the month was to the fantastic Mariners’ Museum in Newport News. It is about a seventy-five-minute drive from the KOA in Virginia Beach. So, once again, we headed out on I-64 through the tunnel-bridge one gets used to traveling in the Hampton Roads area (the designation for the body of water connected to Chesapeake Bay).

A visit here is one of the “must see” attractions for the area. The mission statement is: “The Mariners’ Museum and Park connects people to the world’s waters, because through the waters—through our shared maritime heritage—we are connected to one another.” The museum carries out that mission quite well.

The meticulously carved Eagle figurehead from the USS Lancaster

is situated inside the main entryway of the Museum. It has been restored to its

original glittering finish with a wingspan of eighteen feet and weight of 3,200 pounds.

When the US Navy was rebuilding the frigate in 1880 (adding steam),

they commissioned the object paying the artist $2.32 a day

to carve the enormous Eagle.

The museum was originally founded in 1930 by the son of a railroad and shipbuilding magnate, Archer Huntington, and another gentleman who was head of Newport News Shipbuilding at the time. They provided the basis on which a great museum has been made. Now in a relatively new home within a city park, the museum provides a comprehensive glimpse at how the people who made up sea travel and shipping provided us with a great foundation.

The 17,500 square foot facility houses a collection that features nearly 150 boats from 42 countries and is one of the few internationally focused collections in the world. A primary feature of the museum is The USS Monitor Center.

A view inside the building where small boats from 42 countries are displayed.

Just inside the entrance to the museum, one sees the large wall with

a scale drawing of the plans for the USS Monitor, one of the

ironclad ships that were instrumental in making a fundamental

change to how future navies would do battle.

One might wonder why all the emphasis on the USS Monitor and not an equal emphasis on the former USS Merrimack (renamed and refurbished as the CSS Virginia when under Confederate command). There is likely one, big reason. Though both ships later sank after their initial confrontation, it was the Monitor that was discovered and raised on August 5, 2002, nearly 140 years after the sinking of the historic, Civil War ironclad. In fact, Monitor’s turret was raised 240 feet from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and taken to the museum where it has been engaged in a desalination process that will take many years.

As can be easily seen in this photograph, the crew’s quarters, engine room, and

store for the artillery were below the deck which rode just a couple of feet

above the water line. The only thing sticking above the water line of any

significance was the turret which housed only two guns mounted

on a rotating base. The base, however, was constantly turning

to make the taking of aim very difficult. Still, the ironclad was

able to inflict as much damage as it escaped or repelled.

This is a full-scale representation of the condition of the turret when

first discovered earlier in this century. The rusting caused by the

ocean's water and other debris has had an effect on the iron.

The replica, above, is shown at full scale. The two, XI-inch Dahlgrens

(canons) were constantly in rotation. One of the crew members noted

that, when under attack, it became difficult to tell when a canon

was actually pointed in the correct direction since it was always

moving (in relation to the ship) with smoke in the turret

becoming so heavy and thick. “Which way is starboard?” It became

difficult to define so firing on the CSS Virginia was more of

a calculated guess than anything based on dead reckoning.

Also on display is a full-sized mockup of the forward one-half of

the CSS Virginia. In the foreground is a scale model of the ironclad

ship. Layers of iron were placed above a base of thick lumber with

the lumber serving as a cushion. The raised hull of the sunken frigate,

USS Merrimack, was used as the basis for the Virginia.

Though the iron superstructure helped in deflecting cannonballs or other projectiles, the ship was still hard to maneuver compared to the smaller Monitor. Virginia was also designed for standard naval battle which called for pulling parallel to an opposing ship and firing until a boarding party could take the enemy ship and carry on with hand-to-hand combat.

The Battle of Hampton Roads, however, was not a typical battle between opposing ships. The design of the Monitor enabled it to fire from nearly any position and not just from the side. Not only did the canons spin on an axis, but they could be raised or lowered. Compare this design to the guns of the Virginia (which had more than the Monitor) and one begins to see how “less is more” really did apply in this situation.

Since photography was still in its early stages of development, only

paintings could be made to capture how the battle may have looked.

Interestingly, each ship pulled away from the other which brought

about the end of the battle in which neither side had really defeated

the other. The decisive thing was naval warfare would now be fought

from ironclad ships with large guns mounted on rotating turrets.

Though this entry in our blog has been lengthy, we do hope you found it interesting and educational in some way. For sure, we have witnessed a fascinating view of the history of both Colonial America and Civil War America. The good thing to know is that it is still the United States of America and that we get to explore some of it each summer.

Third Month in Virginia Beach - 06/04 to 07/04

The warmer temperatures of summer have come to Virginia Beach and so have the guests at the KOA. As the approach of Father’s Day and the ending of school came, the number of guests in the campground through the middle of the week increased. With the schedule firmly in place to accommodate the business of hosting guests, our regular days off fell into place. Each Monday and Tuesday we have been allowed the opportunity to rest and to see the area. Our KOA work camper friends, Russell and Sherry, are off on Tuesdays. That day became our day to “hit the road” for an adventure in the area.

During the final week, we took an evening to see the LanternAsia exhibit at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It featured a walk through a mile of large Asian lanterns; silk-like fabric stretched over framing to create large objects of colorful artwork. Of course, the exhibit was set up in the midst of the Garden’s landscape which made it a bit of a double treat. The exhibit had been in Norfolk in previous years. New this year were some underwater scenes, representing Coastal Virginia. In all, there were nearly three dozen displays. What follows are several photos of the LanternAsia exhibit.

Entrance to the exhibit.

The whale actually changed colors three times on a revolving basis.

A depiction of a dragon being carried in a New Year Parade.

 An elaborate frog (enlarged to see the intricacies of the patterns of colored fabric.

 The largest display (in length) was of a dragon that stretched for nearly 150 feet.

Our next visit was to Cape Henry and First Landing State Park. The original lighthouse at Cape Henry was built as America’s first public works project. The building of a lighthouse was first proposed in 1720. Cape Henry sits at a point on the Chesapeake Bay and can be seen from Maryland as well as Virginia. It was not until the USA had won independence that the original lighthouse was constructed. The 90-foot structure is significant in that the stone for it was from the same quarry that provided stone for Mount Vernon, the US Capitol, and White House. It was completed in 1791 at a cost of $17,500.

The lighthouse is no longer in operation but remains as an attraction for visitors.

In the late 1800's a “new” lighthouse replaced the original. It is still in use

today under the control of the US Coast Guard.

It went into service in 1881.

Martha stands beside a monument at First Landing State Park. It was in

this area that colonists first landed and spent time before moving

inland to Jamestown and an adequate supply of fresh water.

On our visit to the NASA Langley Welcome Center and the Virginia Air and Space Museum we purchased tickets for a harbor cruise on Miss Hampton II. It was a nice day, as to the clouds in the sky, but a little warm. By the way, it was just a three-hour cruise.

Miss Hampton II at the dock before leaving on the cruise.

Two of three carriers seen while on the cruise of the ship base. The George H W Bush on the left and Abraham Lincoln on the right. We also sailed past the Gerald R. Ford which has yet

to be deployed but has made the initial “sea trials” cruise several months ago. It is now

about one year from commissioning.

A supply ship and two destroyers in port. The supply vessel is named

USNS Medgar Evers and did sail out later that afternoon.

Fort Wool, originally constructed prior to the Civil War, was also

on the cruise itinerary. This shows a view of the battery made

of stone. The fort was built on a man-made island, quite

a feat for the time. We were allowed to walk around the

fort which is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Some portions of the fort have additions built from concrete

added during World War II. Those portions are crumbling

and will not last as long as the stone areas.

After lunch with our friends, Russell and Sherry who also work at the KOA, we then went to Fort Monroe, another historic fort in the Hampton area. The fort was also constructed during 1834 at the same time Fort Wool was being built. Fort Monroe is now decommissioned. Much of the housing has been sold to developers who have made renovations. The fort sits on Old Point Comfort. Around the fort is a five-sided mote. A portion of the fort is now designated by the National Park Service as a National Monument. Within its wall is the Casement Museum. Jefferson Davis, who was president of the CSA, was imprisoned here near the end of the Civil War and remained here until a couple years after the war.

A Civil War display in the Casement Museum

The mote around Fort Monroe though built at the southern tip

of the Virginia Peninsula.

One day a good friend from our RV resort in Kissimmee showed up at the campground. She was a grandson in the area and wanted to get by to see us. Byron saw her walking across the parking lot and did a double-take. Martha did the same from within the store while looking out from her position at the registration desk. During the summer Minnie lives near Syracuse, New York. Thanks for dropping by, Minnie. We’ll see you when we return to Great Oak at Kissimmee.

Our final trip of the month was made to Jamestown Settlement. The museum and outside display of Jamestown Settlement is operated by a private agency and different from Historic Jamestown, which is operated by the National Park Service. Still, there is a lot of history shown that is worth the trip. We did make a mistake, however, in that we viewed the outside displays immediately after viewing the introductory video. As a result, we came into the museum building and went through the gallery, which is set up chronologically, in reverse order starting with the end of the seventeenth century. It is better to go through in chronological order as it begins showing a contrast between England of the 1600’s and the native Virginia area under the control of the Powhatan tribe.

A plaque inside the Jamestown Settlement museum.

The replica of the Powhatan village. Huts, constructed as shown,

provided covered housing for the Powhatan inhabitants.

The settlement village is inside a fort that was built in order

to comply with English laws for financial support though there

was no hostility between the inhabitants and the Powhatan tribe.

A display showing the path of the voyage of the three ships that

originally came to Virginia.

This is a true-scale replica of the largest of the three ships that

came across the Atlantic Ocean after leaving England in

March of 1607. The colonists first landed in Virginia

on May 13, 1607. After a period of rest, the continued on

up the James River until they found an area where fresh

water was in plentiful supply. Oddly, the settlement

did not survive into the 1700’s.

To those of you that have made positive comments regarding our blog, we thank you. We are glad you enjoy traveling with us in a virtual manner. Our blog started as a way to allow our children to keep up with us. It has also become a good supplement to our memory since it provides a digitized way of looking back at where we’ve been and what we did.